Acts 7:2-37

2And 1Stephen said, “Listen to me, 23brothers and fathers! 4The God of glory 5appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in 6Haran, 3and He said to him, ‘7Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ 48Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in 9Haran. And 10from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, 11He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. 6But 12God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and 13they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and 14after that they will come out and 15serve Me in this place.’ 8And He 16gave him 17the covenant of circumcision; and so 18Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and 19Isaac fathered Jacob, and 20Jacob, the twelve 21patriarchs.

9“The patriarchs 22became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10and rescued him from all his afflictions, and 23granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

11“Now 24a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers 25could find no food. 12But 26when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13And on the second visit, 27Joseph 28made himself known to his brothers, and 29Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14Then 30Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, 31seventy-five 3233people in all. 15And 34Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. 16And they were brought back from there to 3536Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of 37Hamor in 38Shechem.

17“But as the 39time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, 40the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18until 41another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19It was he who 42shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would 43abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. 20At this time 44Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. 21And after he had been put outside, 45Pharaoh’s daughter 46took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all 47the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in 48speaking and action. 23But when he was approaching the age of forty, 49it entered his 50mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. 24And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. 25And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them 51deliverance 52through him; but they did not understand. 2653And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ 27But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘54Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 2855You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 29At this remark, 56Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of 57Midian, where he 58fathered two sons.

30“After forty years had passed, 59an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. 31When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: 32‘60I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. 3361But the Lord said to him, ‘6263Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 3464I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and 65now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35“This Moses whom they 66disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God 67sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the 68help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. 3669This man led them out, performing 70wonders and 71signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the 72wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘73God will raise up for you a prophet 74like me from your countrymen.’