AC-7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
AC-7:2 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,
AC-7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy
kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
AC-7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and
dwelt in
Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed
him
into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
AC-7:5 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.
AC-7:6 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.
AC-7:7 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.
AC-7:8 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.
AC-7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into
Egypt:
but God was with him,
AC-7:10 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.
AC-7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and
Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no
sustenance.
AC-7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he
sent
out our fathers first.
AC-7:13 And at the second [time] Joseph was made known to his
brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
AC-7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to [him],
and
all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
AC-7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our
fathers,
AC-7:16 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.
AC-7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God
had
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
AC-7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
AC-7:19 The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil
entreated
our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the
end
they might not live.
AC-7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair,
and
nourished up in his father's house three months:
AC-7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him
up,
and nourished him for her own son.
AC-7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians,
and was mighty in words and in deeds.
AC-7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his
heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
AC-7:24 And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong, he defended
[him],
and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
AC-7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how
that
God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
AC-7:26 And the next day he showed 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?
AC-7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
AC-7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian
yesterday?
AC-7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in
the
land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
AC-7:30 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.
AC-7:31 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,
AC-7:32 [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.
AC-7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy
feet:
for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
AC-7:34 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.
AC-7:35 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.
AC-7:36 He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders
and
signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the
wilderness forty years.
AC-7:37 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.
AC-7:38 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:
AC-7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust [him]
from
them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
AC-7:40 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.
AC-7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered
sacrifice
unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
AC-7:42 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?
AC-7:43 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.
AC-7:44 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.
AC-7:45 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;
AC-7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a
tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
AC-7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
AC-7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet,
AC-7:49 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?
AC-7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
AC-7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye
do
always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers [did], so [do] ye.
AC-7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
and
they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the
Just
One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
AC-7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels,
and
have not kept [it].
AC-7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the
heart,
and they gnashed on him with [their] teeth.
AC-7:55 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,
AC-7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of
man standing on the right hand of God.
AC-7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their
ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
AC-7:58 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.
AC-7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon [God], and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
AC-7:60 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.
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