Acts 7:1-22

New King James Version

Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

7 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

² And he said, ^(A)“Brethren and fathers, listen: The ^(B)God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in ^(C)Haran, ³ and said to him, ^(D)‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ ⁴ Then ^(E)he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was ^(F)dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. ⁵ And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, ^(G)He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. ⁶ But God spoke in this way: ^(H)that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into ^(I)bondage and oppress them four hundred years. ^7 (J)‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will ^(K)judge,’ said God, ^(L)‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ ^8 (M)Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; ^(N)and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; ^(O)and Isaac begot Jacob, and ^(P)Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

The Patriarchs in Egypt

^9 (Q)“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, ^(R)sold Joseph into Egypt. ^(S)But God was with him ¹⁰ and delivered him out of all his troubles, ^(T)and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ^11 (U)Now a famine and great ^[a]trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. ^12 (V)But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. ¹³ And the ^(W)second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. ^14 (X)Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and ^(Y)all his relatives to him, ^[b]seventy-five people. ^15 (Z)So Jacob went down to Egypt; ^(AA)and he died, he and our fathers. ¹⁶ And ^(AB)they were carried back to Shechem and laid in ^(AC)the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

God Delivers Israel by Moses

¹⁷ “But when ^(AD)the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, ^(AE)the people grew and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸ till another king ^(AF)arose who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, ^(AG)making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. ^20 (AH)At this time Moses was born, and ^(AI)was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. ²¹ But ^(AJ)when he was set out, ^(AK)Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. ²² And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was ^(AL)mighty in words and deeds.