Acts 7 — KJV

7 Verse 1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so? ^{Verse 2} And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, ^{Verse 3} And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. ^{Verse 4} Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. ^{Verse 5} And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. ^{Verse 6} And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. ^{Verse 7} And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. ^{Verse 8} And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. ^{Verse 9} And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, ^{Verse 10} And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ^{Verse 11} Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. ^{Verse 12} But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. ^{Verse 13} And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. ^{Verse 14} Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. ^{Verse 15} So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, ^{Verse 16} And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. ^{Verse 17} But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, ^{Verse 18} Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. ^{Verse 19} The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. ^{Verse 20} In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: ^{Verse 21} And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. ^{Verse 22} And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. ^{Verse 23} And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. ^{Verse 24} And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: ^{Verse 25} For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. ^{Verse 26} And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? ^{Verse 27} But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? ^{Verse 28} Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? ^{Verse 29} Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. ^{Verse 30} And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. ^{Verse 31} When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, ^{Verse 32} Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. ^{Verse 33} Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. ^{Verse 34} I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. ^{Verse 35} This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. ^{Verse 36} He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. ^{Verse 37} This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. ^{Verse 38} This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: ^{Verse 39} To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, ^{Verse 40} Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. ^{Verse 41} And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. ^{Verse 42} Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? ^{Verse 43} Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. ^{Verse 44} Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. ^{Verse 45} Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; ^{Verse 46} Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. ^{Verse 47} But Solomon built him an house. ^{Verse 48} Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, ^{Verse 49} Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? ^{Verse 50} Hath not my hand made all these things? ^{Verse 51} Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. ^{Verse 52} Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: ^{Verse 53} Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. ^{Verse 54} When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. ^{Verse 55} But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ^{Verse 56} And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. ^{Verse 57} Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, ^{Verse 58} And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. ^{Verse 59} And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. ^{Verse 60} And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.