Acts 7 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

7 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

² And he said, ^(A)“Brethren and fathers, listen: The ^(B)God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in ^(C)Haran, ³ and said to him, ^(D)‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ ⁴ Then ^(E)he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was ^(F)dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. ⁵ And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, ^(G)He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. ⁶ But God spoke in this way: ^(H)that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into ^(I)bondage and oppress them four hundred years. ^{7 (J)}‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will ^(K)judge,’ said God, ^(L)‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ ^{8 (M)}Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; ^(N)and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; ^(O)and Isaac begot Jacob, and ^(P)Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

The Patriarchs in Egypt

^{9 (Q)}“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, ^(R)sold Joseph into Egypt. ^(S)But God was with him ¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his troubles, ^(T)and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ^{11 (U)}Now a famine and great ^[a]trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. ^{12 (V)}But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. ¹³ And the ^(W)second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. ^{14 (X)}Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and ^(Y)all his relatives to him, ^[b]seventy-five people. ^{15 (Z)}So Jacob went down to Egypt; ^(AA)and he died, he and our fathers. ¹⁶ And ^(AB)they were carried back to Shechem and laid in ^(AC)the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

God Delivers Israel by Moses

¹⁷ “But when ^(AD)the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, ^(AE)the people grew and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸ till another king ^(AF)arose who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, ^(AG)making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. ^{20 (AH)}At this time Moses was born, and ^(AI)was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. ²¹ But ^(AJ)when he was set out, ^(AK)Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. ²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was ^(AL)mighty in words and deeds.

^{23 (AM)}“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. ²⁵ For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶ And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ ²⁷ But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ^(AN)‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ ^{29 (AO)}Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he ^(AP)had two sons.

^{30 (AQ)}“And when forty years had passed, an Angel ^[c]of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, ³² saying, ^(AR)‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. ^{33 (AS)}‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely ^(AT)seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will ^(AU)send you to Egypt.” ’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ^(AV)‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer ^(AW)by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. ^{36 (AX)}He brought them out, after he had ^(AY)shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, ^(AZ)and in the Red Sea, ^(BA)and in the wilderness forty years.

Israel Rebels Against God

³⁷ “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ^(BB)‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. ^(BC)Him^[d] you shall hear.’

^{38 (BD)}“This is he who was in the ^[e]congregation in the wilderness with ^(BE)the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, ^(BF)the one who received the living ^(BG)oracles^[f] to give to us, ³⁹ whom our fathers ^(BH)would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ^{40 (BI)}saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ^{41 (BJ)}And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and ^(BK)rejoiced in the works of their own hands. ⁴² Then ^(BL)God turned and gave them up to worship ^(BM)the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

^(BN)‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
⁴³ You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And ^(BO)I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

God’s True Tabernacle

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses ^(BP)to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, ^{45 (BQ)}which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, ^(BR)whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the ^(BS)days of David, ^{46 (BT)}who found favor before God and ^(BU)asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. ^{47 (BV)}But Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸ “However, ^(BW)the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

⁴⁹ ‘Heaven^(BX) is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
⁵⁰ Has My hand not ^(BY)made all these things?’

Israel Resists the Holy Spirit

⁵¹ “You ^(BZ)stiff-necked^[g] and ^(CA)uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. ^{52 (CB)}Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of ^(CC)the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, ^{53 (CD)}who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

Stephen the Martyr

^{54 (CE)}When they heard these things they were ^[h]cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ But he, ^(CF)being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the ^(CG)glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, ⁵⁶ and said, “Look! ^(CH)I see the heavens opened and the ^(CI)Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; ⁵⁸ and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And ^(CJ)the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, ^(CK)receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ^(CL)“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Footnotes

1. Acts 7:11 affliction
2. Acts 7:14 Or seventy, Ex. 1:5
3. Acts 7:30 NU omits of the Lord
4. Acts 7:37 NU, M omit Him you shall hear
5. Acts 7:38 Gr. ekklesia, assembly or church
6. Acts 7:38 sayings
7. Acts 7:51 stubborn
8. Acts 7:54 furious

Cross references

1. Acts 7:2 : Acts 22:1
2. Acts 7:2 : Ps. 29:3; 1 Cor. 2:8
3. Acts 7:2 : Gen. 11:31, 32
4. Acts 7:3 : Gen. 12:1
5. Acts 7:4 : Gen. 11:31; 15:7; Heb. 11:8–10
6. Acts 7:4 : Gen. 11:32
7. Acts 7:5 : Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:3, 18; 17:8; 26:3
8. Acts 7:6 : Gen. 15:13, 14, 16; 47:11, 12
9. Acts 7:6 : Ex. 1:8–14; 12:40, 41; Gal. 3:17
10. Acts 7:7 : Gen. 15:14
11. Acts 7:7 : Ex. 14:13–31
12. Acts 7:7 : Ex. 3:12; Josh. 3:1–17
13. Acts 7:8 : Gen. 17:9–14
14. Acts 7:8 : Gen. 21:1–5
15. Acts 7:8 : Gen. 25:21–26
16. Acts 7:8 : Gen. 29:31—30:24; 35:18, 22–26
17. Acts 7:9 : Gen. 37:4, 11, 28; Ps. 105:17
18. Acts 7:9 : Gen. 37:28
19. Acts 7:9 : Gen. 39:2, 21, 23
20. Acts 7:10 : Gen. 41:38–44
21. Acts 7:11 : Gen. 41:54; 42:5
22. Acts 7:12 : Gen. 42:1, 2
23. Acts 7:13 : Gen. 45:4, 16
24. Acts 7:14 : Gen. 45:9, 27
25. Acts 7:14 : Gen. 46:26, 27; Deut. 10:22
26. Acts 7:15 : Gen. 46:1–7
27. Acts 7:15 : Gen. 49:33; Ex. 1:6
28. Acts 7:16 : Gen. 50:13; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32
29. Acts 7:16 : Gen. 23:16
30. Acts 7:17 : Gen. 15:13; Ex. 2:23–25; Acts 7:6, 7
31. Acts 7:17 : Ex. 1:7–9; Ps. 105:24, 25
32. Acts 7:18 : Ex. 1:8
33. Acts 7:19 : Ex. 1:22
34. Acts 7:20 : Ex. 2:1, 2
35. Acts 7:20 : Heb. 11:23
36. Acts 7:21 : Ex. 2:3, 4
37. Acts 7:21 : Ex. 2:5–10
38. Acts 7:22 : Luke 24:19
39. Acts 7:23 : Ex. 2:11, 12; Heb. 11:24–26
40. Acts 7:27 : Ex. 2:14; Luke 12:14; Acts 7:35
41. Acts 7:29 : Heb. 11:27
42. Acts 7:29 : Ex. 2:15, 21, 22; 4:20; 18:3
43. Acts 7:30 : Ex. 3:1–10; Is. 63:9
44. Acts 7:32 : Ex. 3:6, 15; [Matt. 22:32]; Heb. 11:16
45. Acts 7:33 : Ex. 3:5, 7, 8, 10
46. Acts 7:34 : Ex. 2:24, 25
47. Acts 7:34 : Ps. 105:26
48. Acts 7:35 : Ex. 2:14; Acts 7:27
49. Acts 7:35 : Ex. 14:21
50. Acts 7:36 : Ex. 12:41; 33:1; Deut. 6:21, 23; Heb. 8:9
51. Acts 7:36 : Ex. 7:8, 9; Deut. 6:22; Ps. 105:27; John 4:48
52. Acts 7:36 : Ex. 14:21
53. Acts 7:36 : Ex. 16:1, 35; Num. 14:33; Ps. 95:8–10; Acts 7:42; 13:18; Heb. 3:8
54. Acts 7:37 : Deut. 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 3:22
55. Acts 7:37 : Matt. 17:5
56. Acts 7:38 : Ex. 19:3
57. Acts 7:38 : Is. 63:9; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2
58. Acts 7:38 : Ex. 21:1; Deut. 5:27; John 1:17
59. Acts 7:38 : Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:11
60. Acts 7:39 : Ps. 95:8–11
61. Acts 7:40 : Ex. 32:1, 23
62. Acts 7:41 : Ex. 32:2–4; Deut. 9:16; Ps. 106:19
63. Acts 7:41 : Ex. 32:6, 18, 19
64. Acts 7:42 : Ps. 81:12; [2 Thess. 2:11]
65. Acts 7:42 : Deut. 4:19; 2 Kin. 21:3
66. Acts 7:42 : Amos 5:25–27
67. Acts 7:43 : 2 Chr. 36:11–21; Jer. 25:9–12
68. Acts 7:44 : Ex. 25:40; [Heb. 8:5]
69. Acts 7:45 : Deut. 32:49; Josh. 3:14; 18:1; 23:9
70. Acts 7:45 : Neh. 9:24; Ps. 44:2
71. Acts 7:45 : 2 Sam. 6:2–15
72. Acts 7:46 : 2 Sam. 7:1–13; 1 Kin. 8:17
73. Acts 7:46 : 1 Chr. 22:7; Ps. 132:4, 5
74. Acts 7:47 : 1 Kin. 6:1–38; 8:20, 21; 2 Chr. 3:1–17
75. Acts 7:48 : 1 Kin. 8:27; 2 Chr. 2:6; Acts 17:24
76. Acts 7:49 : Is. 66:1, 2; Matt. 5:34
77. Acts 7:50 : Ps. 102:25
78. Acts 7:51 : Ex. 32:9; Is. 6:10
79. Acts 7:51 : Lev. 26:41
80. Acts 7:52 : 2 Chr. 36:16; Matt. 21:35; 23:35; 1 Thess. 2:15
81. Acts 7:52 : Acts 3:14; 22:14; 1 John 2:1
82. Acts 7:53 : Ex. 20:1; Deut. 33:2; Acts 7:38; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2
83. Acts 7:54 : Acts 5:33
84. Acts 7:55 : Matt. 5:8; 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; Acts 6:5
85. Acts 7:55 : [Ex. 24:17]
86. Acts 7:56 : Matt. 3:16
87. Acts 7:56 : Dan. 7:13
88. Acts 7:58 : Acts 22:20
89. Acts 7:59 : Ps. 31:5
90. Acts 7:60 : Matt. 5:44; Luke 23:34