1 The high priest said, "Are these things so?"
2 He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land where you are now living. 5 He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. 6 God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7 ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’ 8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 "The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13 On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15 Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers; 16 and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
17 "But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph. 19 The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 20 At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 21 When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. 22 Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
26 "The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 "When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look. 33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’
35 "This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ 38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ 41 They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets,
‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship,
so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45 which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
49 ‘heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord.
‘Or what is the place of my rest?
50 Didn’t my hand make all these things?’
51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52 Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!"
54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at 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 at the right hand of God!"
57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. 58 They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" 60 He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.
1 大祭司说： "真有这些事吗？"
2 司提反说： "各位父老兄弟请听！ 我们的祖宗亚伯拉罕， 在美索不达米亚， 还没有住在哈兰的时候， 荣耀的 神向他显现，
3 对他说： ‘你要离开本地本族， 到我指示你的地方去。’
4 他就离开迦勒底人的地方， 住在哈兰。他父亲死后， 神又叫他从那里迁到你们现在所住的地方。
5 在这里 神并没有赐他产业， 连立足之地也没有。但 神应许把这地赐给他和他的后裔为业， 虽然那时他还没有儿子。
6 神就这样说： ‘你的后裔必在外地寄居， 人要奴役、虐待他们四百年。’
7 神又说： ‘奴役他们的那个国家， 我要亲自惩罚。以后， 他们要出来， 在这地方事奉我。’
8 神也赐他割礼为约。这样， 亚伯拉罕生了以撒， 第八天就给他行了割礼。后来， 以撒生雅各， 雅各生了十二位祖先。
9 "祖先妒忌约瑟， 把他卖到埃及去， 然而 神与他同在，
10 救他脱离一切苦难， 使他在埃及王法老面前， 有智慧、得恩宠。法老立他为首相， 管理埃及和法老的全家。
11 后来埃及和迦南全地遭遇饥荒、大灾难， 我们的祖先找不到粮食。
12 雅各听见埃及有谷粮， 就派我们的祖先去， 这是第一次。
13 第二次的时候， 约瑟就向哥哥们表露自己的身世， 法老才知道约瑟的家世。
14 约瑟就派人去把他父亲雅各和全家七十五人都接来。
15 于是雅各下了埃及。后来他和我们祖先都死了，
16 运到示剑， 埋葬在亚伯拉罕用银子向哈抹子孙买来的坟地里。
17 " 神给亚伯拉罕的应许快要实现的时候， 以色列人在埃及人口繁盛增多；
18 但是， 到了另一位不认识约瑟的君王兴起统治埃及的时候，
19 他就谋害我们的同胞， 虐待我们的祖先， 逼他们拋弃自己的婴孩， 不容婴孩存活。
20 就在那时候， 摩西出生了， 他非常俊美， 在父亲的家中抚养了三个月。
21 他被拋弃的时候， 法老的女儿把他拾起来， 当作儿子抚养。
22 摩西学尽了埃及人的一切学问， 说话行事都有能力。
23 "到了四十岁， 他心中起了一个念头， 要去看望自己的同胞以色列人。
24 当他看见有一个人受欺负， 就去护卫， 为那受屈的抱不平， 打死了那个埃及人。
25 他以为同胞们都必知道 神要借着他的手拯救他们， 事实上他们却不知道。
26 第二天， 有人在打架， 摩西就出面调解， 说： ‘你们是弟兄， 为什么彼此欺负呢？’
27 那欺负人的把他推开， 说： ‘谁立了你作我们的领袖和审判官呢？
28 难道你想杀我， 像昨天杀那个埃及人一样吗？’
29 摩西因为这句话， 就逃到米甸地寄居， 在那里生了两个儿子。
30 "过了四十年， 在西奈山的旷野， 有一位使者， 在荆棘中的火焰里， 向摩西显现。
31 他见了这个异象， 十分惊奇； 他正上前察看的时候， 就有主的声音说：
32 ‘我是你祖宗的 神， 就是亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的 神。’摩西战战兢兢， 不敢观看。
33 主对他说： ‘把你脚上的鞋脱掉， 因为你所站的地方是圣地。
34 我的子民在埃及所受的痛苦， 我实在看见了； 他们的叹息我也听见了， 我下来是要救他们。你来， 我要派你到埃及去。’
35 他们拒绝了这位摩西， 说： ‘谁立了你作领袖和审判官呢？’但 神借着在荆棘中向他显现的使者的手， 派他作领袖和救赎者。
36 这人领他们出来， 并且在埃及地、红海和旷野， 行奇事神迹四十年。
37 以前那位对以色列人说‘ 神要从你们弟兄中间， 给你们兴起一位先知像我’的， 就是这摩西。
38 那曾经在旷野的大会中， 和那在西奈山上对他说话的使者同在， 也与我们的祖先同在的， 就是他。他领受了活的圣言， 传给我们。
39 我们的祖先不肯听从他， 反而把他推开， 他们的心已经转向了埃及，
40 就对亚伦说： ‘给我们做一些神像， 可以走在我们前头。因为把我们从埃及地领出来的那个摩西， 我们不知道他遭遇了什么事。’
41 在那些日子里， 他们做了一个牛犊， 把祭物献给那偶像， 并且因自己手所做的而欢乐。
42 于是 神转身离开， 任凭他们事奉天象， 正如先知书所说： ‘以色列家啊， 你们在旷野四十年， 岂是将祭牲和祭物献给我呢？
43 你们抬着摩洛的帐幕， 和理番神的星， 就是你们做来敬拜的像。所以我要把你们放逐到巴比伦那一边去。’
44 "我们的祖先在旷野有作证的帐幕， 就是跟摩西谈话的那位指示他， 依照他看见的样式做的。
45 我们的祖先相继承受了这帐幕， 神把外族人从他们面前赶走以后， 他们就同约书亚把帐幕带进所得为业的地方， 直到大卫的日子。
46 大卫在 神面前蒙了恩， 就求为雅各的 神找个居所，
47 而由所罗门为他建造殿宇。
48 其实至高者并不住人手所造的， 正如先知说：
49 ‘主说： 天是我的宝座， 地是我的脚凳， 你们要为我建造怎样的殿呢？哪里是我安息的地方呢？
50 这一切不都是我手所造的吗？’
51 "你们颈项刚硬、心和耳都未受割礼的人哪！ 你们时常抗拒圣灵， 你们的祖先怎样， 你们也怎样。
52 有哪一个先知， 你们的祖先不迫害呢？你们杀了那些预先宣告那义者要来的人， 现在又把那义者出卖了， 杀害了。
53 你们领受了由天使传达的律法， 却不遵守。"
54 众人听了这些话， 心中非常恼怒， 就向着司提反咬牙切齿。
55 但司提反被圣灵充满， 定睛望着天， 看见 神的荣耀， 并且看见耶稣站在 神的右边，
56 就说： "看哪！ 我看见天开了， 人子站在 神的右边。"
57 众人大声喊叫， 掩着耳朵， 一齐向他冲过去，
58 把他推出城外， 用石头打他。那些证人把自己的衣服， 放在一个名叫扫罗的青年人脚前。
59 他们用石头打司提反的时候， 他呼求说： "主耶稣啊， 求你接收我的灵魂！ "
60 然后跪下来大声喊着说： "主啊， 不要把这罪归给他们！ "说了这话， 就睡了。