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Acts 7

Stephen's Defense

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The high priest said, "Are these things so?"

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And he said, "Hear me,  abrethren and fathers!  bThe God of glory  cappeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in  1Haran,

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and said to him, ` aLEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.'

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aThen he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in  1Haran.  bFrom there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

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"But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child,  aHe promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM.

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"But  aGod spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD  1BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

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" `AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,' said God, `AND  aAFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND  1SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.'

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"And He  agave him  1the covenant of circumcision; and so  bAbraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and  cIsaac became the father of Jacob, and  dJacob of the twelve  epatriarchs.

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"The patriarchs  abecame jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

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and rescued him from all his afflictions, and  agranted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

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"Now  aa famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers  1could find no food.

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"But  awhen Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

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"On the second visit  aJoseph  1made himself known to his brothers, and  bJoseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh.

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"Then  aJoseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him,  bseventy-five  1 cpersons in all.

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"And  aJacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.

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"From there they were removed to  1 aShechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of  2Hamor in  1Shechem.

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"But as the  atime of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham,  bthe people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

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until  aTHERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH.

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"It was he who took  ashrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would  1 bexpose their infants and they would not survive.

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"It was at this time that  aMoses was born; and he was lovely  1in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home.

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"And after he had been set outside,  aPharaoh's daughter  1took him away and nurtured him as her own son.

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"Moses was educated in all  athe learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

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"But when he was approaching the age of forty,  ait entered his  1mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

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"And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.

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"And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them  1deliverance  2through him, but they did not understand.

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aOn the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, `Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?'

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"But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ` aWHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US?

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aYOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?'

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"At this remark,  aMOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF  1MIDIAN, where he  bbecame the father of two sons.

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"After forty years had passed,  aAN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH.

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"When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

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aI AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.' Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.

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aBUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ` bTAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND.

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aI HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM;  1 bCOME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.'

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"This Moses whom they  adisowned, saying, `WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?' is the one whom God  1sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the  2help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

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aThis man led them out, performing  bwonders and  1signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the  cwilderness for forty years.

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"This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ` aGOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET  1LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN.'

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"This is the one who was in  athe  1congregation in the wilderness together with  bthe angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received  cliving  doracles to pass on to you.

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"Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but  arepudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

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 aSAYING TO AARON, `MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT--WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.'

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1At that time  athey made a  2calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in  bthe works of their hands.

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"But God  aturned away and delivered them up to  1serve the  2host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ` bIT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES  cFORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?

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aYOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD  1ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.'

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"Our fathers had  athe tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it  baccording to the pattern which he had seen.

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"And having received it in their turn, our fathers  abrought it in with  1Joshua upon dispossessing the  2nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.

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aDavid found favor in God's sight, and  basked that he might find a dwelling place for the  1God of Jacob.

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"But it was  aSolomon who built a house for Him.

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"However,  athe Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

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aHEAVEN IS MY THRONE, 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?

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aWAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?'

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"You men who are  astiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.

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aWhich one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of  bthe Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers  cyou have now become;

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you who received the law as  aordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."

Stephen Put to Death

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Now when they heard this, they were  acut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

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But being  afull of the Holy Spirit, he  bgazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing  cat the right hand of God;

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and he said, "Behold, I see the  aheavens opened up and  bthe Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

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But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.

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When they had  adriven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and  bthe witnesses  claid aside their robes at the feet of  da young man named Saul.

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They went on stoning Stephen as he  acalled on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

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Then  afalling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord,  bdo not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he  1 cfell asleep.



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:18 2007)

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