1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 And said unto him, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and come into the land which I shall show you.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran: and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, in which you now dwell.
5 And he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him, when as yet he had no child.
6 And God spoke in this way,
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16 And were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem.
17 But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt craftily with our kindred, and ill-treated our fathers, so that they exposed their infants, to the end that they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and was nourished in his father's house three months:
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26 And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have reconciled them again, saying, Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one to another?
27 But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was an exile in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.
30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32 Saying,
33 Then said the Lord to him,
34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt.
35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, after he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 This is that Moses, who said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall you hear.
38 This is he, that was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give unto us:
39 Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets,
43 Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the nations, which God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
46 Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him a house.
48 Yet the most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build me? says the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?
51 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them who showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53 Who have received the law as delivered by angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.