Thematic Bible
Acts 7:1 (show verse)
The high priest said, “Are these things so?”
Acts 7:2 (show verse)
And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
Acts 7:3 (show verse)
and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’
Acts 7:4 (show verse)
Acts 7:5 (show verse)
But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.
Acts 7:6 (show verse)
But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.
Acts 7:7 (show verse)
‘And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’
Acts 7:8 (show verse)
And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
Acts 7:9 (show verse)
“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,
Acts 7:10 (show verse)
and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.
Acts 7:11 (show verse)
“Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.
Acts 7:12 (show verse)
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.
Acts 7:13 (show verse)
On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh.
Acts 7:14 (show verse)
Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.
Acts 7:15 (show verse)
And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.
Acts 7:16 (show verse)
From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Acts 7:17 (show verse)
“But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
Acts 7:18 (show verse)
until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.
Acts 7:19 (show verse)
It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.
Acts 7:20 (show verse)
It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home.
Acts 7:21 (show verse)
And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.
Acts 7:22 (show verse)
Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.
Acts 7:23 (show verse)
But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.
Acts 7:24 (show verse)
And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.
Acts 7:25 (show verse)
And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
Acts 7:26 (show verse)
Acts 7:27 (show verse)
But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
Acts 7:28 (show verse)
Acts 7:29 (show verse)
At this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Acts 7:30 (show verse)
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.
Acts 7:31 (show verse)
When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:
Acts 7:32 (show verse)
‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.
Acts 7:33 (show verse)
Acts 7:34 (show verse)
Acts 7:35 (show verse)
“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.
Acts 7:36 (show verse)
Acts 7:37 (show verse)
This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’
Acts 7:38 (show verse)
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.
Acts 7:39 (show verse)
Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,
Acts 7:40 (show verse)
Acts 7:41 (show verse)
Acts 7:42 (show verse)
But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?
Acts 7:43 (show verse)
Acts 7:44 (show verse)
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.
Acts 7:45 (show verse)
And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
Acts 7:46 (show verse)
Acts 7:47 (show verse)
But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
Acts 7:48 (show verse)
However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
Acts 7:49 (show verse)
And earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
‘Or what place is there for My repose?
Acts 7:50 (show verse)
Acts 7:51 (show verse)
“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.
Acts 7:52 (show verse)
Acts 7:53 (show verse)
you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Acts 7:54 (show verse)
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
Acts 7:55 (show verse)
But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
Acts 7:56 (show verse)
and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:57 (show verse)
But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
Acts 7:58 (show verse)
When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 7:59 (show verse)
They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
Acts 7:60 (show verse)
Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.