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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Acts 7 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/acts/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > Acts 7</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../acts/6.htm" title="Acts 6">◄</a> Acts 7 <a href="../acts/8.htm" title="Acts 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch51007" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn51007" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Stephen’s Discourses.</span> <span id="v51007001" class="ver">1</span>Then the high priest asked, “Is this so?” <span id="v51007002" class="ver">2</span><a id="ren51007002-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007002-a">a</a> And he replied,<a id="rfn51007002-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn51007002-1">*</a> “My brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia,<a id="rfn51007002-2" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn51007002-2">*</a> before he had settled in Haran, <span id="v51007003" class="ver">3</span>and said to him, ‘Go forth from your land and [from] your kinsfolk to the land that I will show you.’<a id="ren51007003-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007003-b">b</a> <span id="v51007004" class="ver">4</span>So he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he made him migrate to this land where you now dwell.<a id="ren51007004-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007004-c">c</a> <span id="v51007005" class="ver">5</span>Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but he did promise to give it to him and his descendants as a possession, even though he was childless.<a id="ren51007005-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007005-d">d</a> <span id="v51007006" class="ver">6</span>And God spoke thus,<a id="ren51007006-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007006-e">e</a> ‘His descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years; <span id="v51007007" class="ver">7</span>but I will bring judgment on the nation they serve,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.’<a id="ren51007007-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007007-f">f</a> <span id="v51007008" class="ver">8</span>Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, as Isaac did Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.<a id="ren51007008-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007008-g">g</a></p> <p><span id="v51007009" class="ver">9</span>“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him<a id="ren51007009-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007009-h">h</a> <span id="v51007010" class="ver">10</span>and rescued him from all his afflictions. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who put him in charge of Egypt and [of] his entire household.<a id="ren51007010-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007010-i">i</a> <span id="v51007011" class="ver">11</span>Then a famine and great affliction struck all Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food;<a id="ren51007011-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007011-j">j</a> <span id="v51007012" class="ver">12</span>but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there a first time.<a id="ren51007012-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007012-k">k</a> <span id="v51007013" class="ver">13</span>The second time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.<a id="ren51007013-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007013-l">l</a> <span id="v51007014" class="ver">14</span>Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, inviting him and his whole clan, seventy-five persons;<a id="ren51007014-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007014-m">m</a> <span id="v51007015" class="ver">15</span>and Jacob went down to Egypt. And he and our ancestors died<a id="ren51007015-n" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007015-n">n</a> <span id="v51007016" class="ver">16</span>and were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor at Shechem.<a id="ren51007016-o" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007016-o">o</a></p> <p><span id="v51007017" class="ver">17</span>“When the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God pledged to Abraham, the people had increased and become very numerous in Egypt,<a id="ren51007017-p" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007017-p">p</a> <span id="v51007018" class="ver">18</span>until another king who knew nothing of Joseph came to power [in Egypt].<a id="ren51007018-q" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007018-q">q</a> <span id="v51007019" class="ver">19</span>He dealt shrewdly with our people and oppressed [our] ancestors by forcing them to expose their infants, that they might not survive. <span id="v51007020" class="ver">20</span>At this time Moses was born, and he was extremely beautiful. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house;<a id="ren51007020-r" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007020-r">r</a> <span id="v51007021" class="ver">21</span>but when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.<a id="ren51007021-s" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007021-s">s</a> <span id="v51007022" class="ver">22</span>Moses was educated [in] all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.</p> <p><span id="v51007023" class="ver">23</span><a id="ren51007023-t" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007023-t">t</a> “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his kinsfolk, the Israelites. <span id="v51007024" class="ver">24</span>When he saw one of them treated unjustly, he defended and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. <span id="v51007025" class="ver">25</span>He assumed [his] kinsfolk would understand that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. <span id="v51007026" class="ver">26</span><a id="ren51007026-u" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007026-u">u</a> The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you harming one another?’ <span id="v51007027" class="ver">27</span>Then the one who was harming his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? <span id="v51007028" class="ver">28</span>Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ <span id="v51007029" class="ver">29</span>Moses fled when he heard this and settled as an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.<a id="ren51007029-v" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007029-v">v</a></p> <p><span id="v51007030" class="ver">30</span><a id="ren51007030-w" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007030-w">w</a> “Forty years later, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. <span id="v51007031" class="ver">31</span>When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came, <span id="v51007032" class="ver">32</span>‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Then Moses, trembling, did not dare to look at it. <span id="v51007033" class="ver">33</span>But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. <span id="v51007034" class="ver">34</span>I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’ <span id="v51007035" class="ver">35</span>This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ God sent as [both] ruler and deliverer, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.<a id="ren51007035-x" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007035-x">x</a> <span id="v51007036" class="ver">36</span>This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for forty years.<a id="ren51007036-y" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007036-y">y</a> <span id="v51007037" class="ver">37</span>It was this Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you, from among your own kinsfolk, a prophet like me.’<a id="ren51007037-z" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007037-z">z</a> <span id="v51007038" class="ver">38</span>It was he who, in the assembly in the desert, was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living utterances to hand on to us.<a id="ren51007038-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007038-a">a</a></p> <p><span id="v51007039" class="ver">39</span>“Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,<a id="ren51007039-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007039-b">b</a> <span id="v51007040" class="ver">40</span>saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will be our leaders. As for that Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’<a id="ren51007040-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007040-c">c</a> <span id="v51007041" class="ver">41</span><a id="ren51007041-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007041-d">d</a> So they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands. <span id="v51007042" class="ver">42</span>Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:<a id="ren51007042-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007042-e">e</a></p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings</p> <p class="sl1">for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?<a id="ren51007042-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007042-f">f</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v51007043" class="ver">43</span>No, you took up the tent of Moloch</p> <p class="sl1">and the star of [your] god Rephan,</p> <p class="sl2">the images that you made to worship.</p> <p class="sll">So I shall take you into exile beyond Babylon.’</p> </div> <p class="pcon"><span id="v51007044" class="ver">44</span>Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the desert just as the One who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.<a id="ren51007044-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007044-g">g</a> <span id="v51007045" class="ver">45</span>Our ancestors who inherited it brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out from before our ancestors, up to the time of David,<a id="ren51007045-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007045-h">h</a> <span id="v51007046" class="ver">46</span>who found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.<a id="ren51007046-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007046-i">i</a> <span id="v51007047" class="ver">47</span>But Solomon built a house for him.<a id="ren51007047-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007047-j">j</a> <span id="v51007048" class="ver">48</span>Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:<a id="ren51007048-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007048-k">k</a></p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf"><span id="v51007049" class="ver">49</span>‘The heavens are my throne,</p> <p class="sl1">the earth is my footstool.</p> <p class="sl">What kind of house can you build for me?</p> <p class="sl2">says the Lord,</p> <p class="sl1">or what is to be my resting place?<a id="ren51007049-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007049-l">l</a></p> <p class="sl"><span id="v51007050" class="ver">50</span>Did not my hand make all these things?’</p> </div> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Conclusion.</span> <span id="v51007051" class="ver">51</span>“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. <span id="v51007052" class="ver">52</span>Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.<a id="ren51007052-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007052-m">m</a> <span id="v51007053" class="ver">53</span>You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”<a id="ren51007053-n" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007053-n">n</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Stephen’s Martyrdom.</span> <span id="v51007054" class="ver">54</span>When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. <span id="v51007055" class="ver">55</span><a id="ren51007055-o" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007055-o">o</a> But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,<a id="rfn51007055-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn51007055-1">*</a> <span id="v51007056" class="ver">56</span>and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” <span id="v51007057" class="ver">57</span>But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,<a id="rfn51007057-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn51007057-1">*</a> and rushed upon him together. <span id="v51007058" class="ver">58</span>They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.<a id="ren51007058-p" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007058-p">p</a> <span id="v51007059" class="ver">59</span>As they were stoning Stephen,<a id="ren51007059-q" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007059-q">q</a> he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”<a id="rfn51007059-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn51007059-1">*</a> <span id="v51007060" class="ver">60</span>Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.<a id="ren51007060-r" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en51007060-r">r</a></p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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