Acts 7:30-53

New American Standard Bible

³⁰“After forty years had passed, ^(A)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: ³²‘^(B)I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. ³³^(C)But the Lord said to him, ‘^[a]^(D)Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴^(E)I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and ^(F)now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses whom they ^(G)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ^[b]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ^[c]help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. ³⁶^(H)This man led them out, performing ^(I)wonders and ^[d]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the ^(J)wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^(K)God will raise up for you a prophet ^[e]like me from your countrymen.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in ^(L)the ^[f]assembly in the wilderness together with ^(M)the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^(N)living ^(O)words to pass on to you. ³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they ^(P)rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, ⁴⁰^(Q)saying to Aaron, ‘Make us ^[g]a god 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.’ ⁴¹^[h]At that time ^(R)they made a ^[i]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^(S)the works of their hands. ⁴²But God ^(T)turned away and gave them over to ^[j]serve the heavenly ^[k]lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘^(U)You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices ^(V)for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? ⁴³^(W)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god ^[l]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will deport you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had ^(X)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^(Y)according to the pattern which he had seen. ⁴⁵Our fathers in turn received it, and they also ^(Z)brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the ^[m]nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David. ⁴⁶^[n]^(AA)David found favor in God’s sight, and ^(AB)asked that he might ^[o]find a dwelling place for the ^[p]house of Jacob. ⁴⁷But it was ^(AC)Solomon who built a house for Him. ⁴⁸However, ^(AD)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘^(AE)Heaven is My throne,
And the 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 rest?
⁵⁰^(AF)Was it not My hand that made all these things?’

⁵¹“You men who are ^(AG)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ⁵²^(AH)Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^(AI)the Righteous One, and ^(AJ)you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; ⁵³you who received the Law as ^(AK)ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”