Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him;


To this Peter and the Apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging him on a cross. It is this Jesus whom God has exalted to his right hand, to be a Guide and a Savior, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. read more.
And we are witness to the truth of this, and so is the Holy Spirit--the gift of God to those who obey him."

So they called the Apostles in, and ordered them not to speak or teach in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied: "Whether it is right, in the sight of God, to listen to you rather than to him-- Judge for yourselves, for we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard."


Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him; Upon which Pilate questioned Jesus again. "Have you no reply to make?" he asked. "Listen, how many charges they are bringing against you." But Jesus still made no reply whatever; at which Pilate was astonished.

On this, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke as follows: "Leaders of the people and Councillors, Since we are on our trial to-day for a kind act done to a helpless man, and are asked in what way the man here before you has been cured, Let me tell you all and all the people of Israel, that it is by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead--it is, I say, by his Name that this man stands here before you lame no longer. read more.
Jesus is 'the stone which, scorned by you the builders, has yet become the corner stone.' And Salvation is in him alone; for there is no other Name in the whole world, given to men, to which we must look for our Salvation."

Then the High Priest asked: "Is this true?" And, upon that, Stephen spoke as follows: "Brothers and Fathers, hear what I have to say. God, who manifests himself in the Glory, appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, and before he settled in Haran, and said to him-- 'Leave your country and your kindred, and come into the country that I will show you.' read more.
On this, Abraham left the country of the Chaldaeans and settled in Haran; and from there, after his father's death, God caused him to migrate into this very country, in which you are now living. God did not at that time give him any part of it, not even a foot of ground. But he promised to 'give him possession of it and his descendants after him, though at that time he had no child. God's words were these--'Abraham's descendants shall live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years. But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will be enslaved,' God said, 'and after that they shall leave the country and worship me in this place.' Then God made with Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision; and under it Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him when he was eight days old; and Isaac became the father of Jacob; and Jacob of the Twelve Patriarchs. The Patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and show wisdom before Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who appointed him Governor of Egypt and of his whole household. Then a famine spread over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, causing great distress, and our ancestors could find no food. Hearing, however, that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors there on their first visit. In the course of their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent an urgent invitation to his father Jacob and to his relations, seventy-five persons in all; And so Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and our ancestors also, And their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people increased largely in numbers in Egypt, Until a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to the throne. This king acted deceitfully towards our race and ill-treated our ancestors, making them abandon their own infants, so that they should not be reared. It was just at this time that Moses was born. He was an exceedingly beautiful child, and for three months was brought up in his own father's house; And, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh found him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and proved his ability both by his words and actions. When he was in his fortieth year, he resolved to visit his brother Israelites; And, seeing an Israelite ill-treated, he defended him, and avenged the man, who was being wronged, by striking down the Egyptian. He thought his brothers would understand that God was using him to save them; but they failed to do so. The next day he again appeared upon the scene, when some of them were fighting, and tried to make peace between them. 'Men,' he said, 'you are brothers; how is it that you are ill-treating one another?' But the man who was ill-treating his fellow workman pushed Moses aside saying--'Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to make away with me as you did yesterday with that Egyptian?' At these words Moses took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he had two sons born to him. Forty years had passed when there appeared to him, in the Desert of Mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the vision; but on his going nearer to look at it more closely, the voice of the Lord was heard to say-- 'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses trembled, and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him--'Take your sandals off your feet, for the spot where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now and I will send you into Egypt.' This same Moses, whom they had disowned with the words--'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' was the very man whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, under the guidance of the angel that had appeared to him in the bush. He it was who led them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the Desert during forty years. This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel--'God will raise up for you, from among your brothers, a Prophet, as he raised up me.' He, too, it was who was present at the assembly in the Desert, with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and who received living truths to impart to you. Yet our ancestors refused him obedience; more than that, they rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, While they said to Aaron--'Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' That was the time when they made the Calf and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held festivities in honor of their own handiwork! So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the Starry Host, as is written in the Book of the Prophets--'Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, O House of Israel, all those forty years in the Desert? You took with you the tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of the god Rephan--the images which you had made to worship. Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.' Our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Revelation in the Desert, constructed, just as he who spoke to Moses had directed him to make it, after the model which he had seen. This Tabernacle, which was handed down to them, was brought into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua (at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their advance), and remained here until the time of David. David found favor with God, and prayed that he might find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a House for God. Yet it is not in buildings made by hands that the Most High dwells. As the Prophet says-- 'The heavens are a throne for me, and the earth a stool for my feet. What manner of House will you build me, says the Lord, or what place is there where I may rest? Was it not my hand that made all these things?' O! stubborn race, heathen in heart and ears, you are for ever resisting the Holy Spirit; your ancestors did it, and you are doing it still. Which of the Prophets escaped persecution at their hands? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One; of whom you, in your turn, have now become the betrayers and murderers-- You who received the Law as transmitted by angels and yet failed to keep it." As they listened to this, the Council grew frantic with rage, and gnashed their teeth at Stephen. He, filled as he was with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes intently on the heavens, and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand. "Look," he exclaimed, "I see Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!"

Paul fixed his eyes upon the Council, and began: "Brothers, for my part, I have always ordered my life before God, with a clear conscience, up to this very day." At this, the High Priest Ananias ordered the men standing near to strike him on the mouth; Whereupon Paul turned to him and said: "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to try me in accordance with law, and yet, in defiance of law, order me to be struck?" read more.
The people standing near said to Paul: "Do you know that you are insulting God's High Priest?" "I did not know, Brothers, that it was the High Priest," said Paul, "for Scripture says--'Of the Ruler of thy People thou shalt speak no ill'." Noticing that some of those present were Sadducees and others Pharisees, Paul called out in the Council: "Brothers, I am a Pharisee and a son of Pharisees. It is on the question of hope for the dead and of their resurrection that I am on my trial." As soon as he said this, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and there was a sharp division of opinion among those present.


At daybreak all the Chief Priests and the Councillors of the Nation consulted together against Jesus, to bring about his death. They put him in chains and led him away, and gave him up to the Roman Governor, Pilate.

Meanwhile Jesus was brought before the Roman Governor. "Are you the King of the Jews?" asked the Governor. "It is true," answered Jesus. While charges were being brought against him by the Chief Priests and Councillors, Jesus made no reply. Then Pilate said to him: "Do not you hear how many accusations they are making against you?" read more.
Yet Jesus made no reply--not even a single word; at which the Governor was greatly astonished.

As soon as it was daylight, the Chief Priests, after holding a consultation with the Councillors and Teachers of the Law--that is to say, the whole High Council--put Jesus in chains, and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate. "Are you the King of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "It is true," replied Jesus. Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him; read more.
Upon which Pilate questioned Jesus again. "Have you no reply to make?" he asked. "Listen, how many charges they are bringing against you." But Jesus still made no reply whatever; at which Pilate was astonished.

Then they all rose in a body and led Jesus before Pilate. And they began to accuse him: "This is a man whom we found misleading our people, preventing them from paying taxes to the Emperor, and giving out that he himself is 'Christ, a King.'" "Are you the King of the Jews?" Pilate asked him. "It is true," replied Jesus. read more.
But Pilate, turning to the Chief Priests and the people, said: "I do not see anything to find fault with in this man." But they insisted: "He is stirring up the people by his teaching all through Judea; he began with Galilee and has now come here."

From Caiaphas they took Jesus to the Government House. It was early in the morning. But they did not enter the Government House themselves, lest they should become 'defiled,' and so be unable to eat the Passover. Therefore Pilate came outside to speak to them. "What charge do you bring against this man?" he asked. "If he had not been a criminal, we should not have given him up to you," they answered. read more.
"Take him yourselves," said Pilate, "and try him by your own Law." "We have no power to put any one to death," the Jews replied- - In fulfillment of what Jesus had said when indicating the death that he was destined to die. After that, Pilate went into the Government House again, and calling Jesus up, asked him: "Are you the King of the Jews?" "Do you ask me that yourself?" replied Jesus, "or did others say it to you about me?" "Do you take me for a Jew?" was Pilate's answer. "It is your own nation and the Chief Priests who have given you up to me. What have you done?" "My kingly power," replied Jesus, "is not due to this world. If it had been so, my servants would be doing their utmost to prevent my being given up to the Jews; but my kingly power is not from the world." "So you are a King after all!" exclaimed Pilate. "Yes, it is true I am a King," answered Jesus. "I was born for this, I have come into the world for this--to bear testimony to the Truth. Every one who is on the side of Truth listens to my voice." "What is Truth?" exclaimed Pilate. After saying this, he went out to the Jews again, and said: "For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged.


"Does our Law pass judgment on a man without first giving him a hearing, and finding out what he has been doing?"

On a sign from the Governor, Paul made this reply: "Knowing, as I do, for how many years you have acted as Judge to this nation, it is with confidence that I undertake my own defense. For you can easily ascertain that it is not more than twelve days ago that I went up to worship at Jerusalem, Where my prosecutors never found me holding discussions with any one, or causing a crowd to collect--either in the Temple, or in the Synagogues, or about the city; read more.
And they cannot establish the charges which they are now making against me. This, however, I do acknowledge to you, that it is as a believer in the Cause which they call heretical, that I worship the God of my ancestors. At the same time, I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the prophets; And I have a hope that rests in God--a hope which they also cherish--that there will one day be a resurrection of good and bad alike. This being so, I strive at all times to keep my conscience clear before both God and man. After some years' absence I had come to bring charitable gifts to my nation, and to make offerings; And it was while engaged in this that they found me in the Temple, after completing a period of purification, but not with any crowd or disorder. There were, however, some Jews from Roman Asia who ought to have been here before you, and to have made any charge that they may have against me-- Or else let my opponents here say what they found wrong in me when I was before the Council, Except as to the one sentence that I shouted out as I stood among them--'It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on my trial before you to-day'."

Meanwhile Jesus was brought before the Roman Governor. "Are you the King of the Jews?" asked the Governor. "It is true," answered Jesus. While charges were being brought against him by the Chief Priests and Councillors, Jesus made no reply. Then Pilate said to him: "Do not you hear how many accusations they are making against you?" read more.
Yet Jesus made no reply--not even a single word; at which the Governor was greatly astonished.


"Are you the King of the Jews?" asked Pilate. "It is true," replied Jesus. Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him; Upon which Pilate questioned Jesus again. "Have you no reply to make?" he asked. "Listen, how many charges they are bringing against you." read more.
But Jesus still made no reply whatever; at which Pilate was astonished.

When the people heard this, they were conscience-smitten, and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles: "Brothers, what can we do?" "Repent," answered Peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the Faith of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and also for all those now far away, who may be called by the Lord our God." read more.
With many other words Peter enforced his teaching, while the burden of his exhortations was--"Save yourselves from the perverse spirit of this age."



Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him;



Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him;


Then the Chief Priests brought a number of charges against him;