Acts 7:30-8:3

New International Version

³⁰“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:^(A) ³²‘I am the God of your fathers,^(B) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’^[a] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.^(C)

³³“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^(D) ³⁴I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’^[b]^(E)

³⁵“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’^(F) He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶He led them out of Egypt^(G) and performed wonders and signs^(H) in Egypt, at the Red Sea^(I) and for forty years in the wilderness.^(J)

³⁷“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’^[c]^(K) ³⁸He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel^(L) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;^(M) and he received living words^(N) to pass on to us.^(O)

³⁹“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^(P) ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’^[d]^(Q) ⁴¹That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.^(R) ⁴²But God turned away from them^(S) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.^(T) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
⁴³You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’^[e]^(U) beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law^(V) with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.^(W) ⁴⁵After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.^(X) It remained in the land until the time of David,^(Y) ⁴⁶who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^[f]^(Z) ⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for him.^(AA)

⁴⁸“However, the Most High^(AB) does not live in houses made by human hands.^(AC) As the prophet says:

⁴⁹“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.^(AD)
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
⁵⁰Has not my hand made all these things?’^[g]^(AE)

⁵¹“You stiff-necked people!^(AF) Your hearts^(AG) and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵²Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?^(AH) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him^(AI)— ⁵³you who have received the law that was given through angels^(AJ) but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious^(AK) and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,^(AL) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^(AM) ⁵⁶“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open^(AN) and the Son of Man^(AO) standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city^(AP) and began to stone him.^(AQ) Meanwhile, the witnesses^(AR) laid their coats^(AS) at the feet of a young man named Saul.^(AT)

⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^(AU) ⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees^(AV) and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”^(AW) When he had said this, he fell asleep.^(AX)

8 And Saul^(AY) approved of their killing him.

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered^(AZ) throughout Judea and Samaria.^(BA) ²Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³But Saul^(BB) began to destroy the church.^(BC) Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.