Acts 7:35-8:1
New King James Version
35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, (A)‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer (B)by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 (C)He brought them out, after he had (D)shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, (E)and in the Red Sea, (F)and in the wilderness forty years.
Israel Rebels Against God
37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, (G)‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. (H)Him[a] you shall hear.’
38 (I)“This is he who was in the [b]congregation in the wilderness with (J)the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, (K)the one who received the living (L)oracles[c] to give to us, 39 whom our fathers (M)would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 (N)saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 (O)And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and (P)rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then (Q)God turned and gave them up to worship (R)the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
(S)‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And (T)I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
God’s True Tabernacle
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses (U)to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 (V)which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, (W)whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the (X)days of David, 46 (Y)who found favor before God and (Z)asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47 (AA)But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, (AB)the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven(AC) is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has My hand not (AD)made all these things?’
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 “You (AE)stiff-necked[d] and (AF)uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52 (AG)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of (AH)the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53 (AI)who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54 (AJ)When they heard these things they were [e]cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, (AK)being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the (AL)glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! (AM)I see the heavens opened and the (AN)Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And (AO)the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, (AP)receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, (AQ)“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Saul Persecutes the Church
8 Now Saul was consenting to his death.
At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and (AR)they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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