The Daily Audio Bible

7 ¹ And the high priest said, “Do these things hold so?”

Stephen Defends Himself Before The Sanhedrin:

² And the one said, “Men, brothers, and fathers, listen—

God Promised Abraham’s Descendants Would Inherit The Land

“The God of ^[a] glory appeared to our father Abraham while being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelled in Haran, ³ and said to him [in Gen 12:1], ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you’. ⁴ Then having gone out from the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, He removed^[b] him to this land in which you are now dwelling. ⁵ And He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even the step of a foot. And He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him— there not being a child for him! ⁶ But God spoke as follows [in Gen 15:13-14]: that his seed ‘will be a foreigner in a land belonging-to-another. And they will enslave it^[c] and mistreat it for four-hundred years. ⁷ And I will judge the nation in whichever they will serve-as-slaves’, said God. ‘And after these things, they will come out and worship Me’ in this place. ⁸ And He gave him the covenant of circumcision.

Abraham’s Children Moved To Egypt During a Famine

“And so he fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs. ⁹ And the patriarchs, having become-jealous-of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. And God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he appointed him to be ruling over Egypt, and over his whole house. ¹¹ And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and a great affliction. And our fathers were not finding food. ¹² But Jacob, having heard-of grain being in Egypt, sent-forth our fathers first. ¹³ And during the second visit, Joseph was made-known-again to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ And having sent-forth his brothers, Joseph summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, amounting-to seventy five^[d] souls. ¹⁵ And Jacob went down to Egypt. And he came-to-an-end^[e], and our fathers. ¹⁶ And they were transferred to Shechem, and placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

When The Time Came, God Raised Up Moses, Whom The People Rejected

¹⁷ “Now as the time of the promise which God declared to Abraham was drawing-near, our people grew and were multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until which time another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ This one, having dealt-shrewdly-with our nation^[f], mistreated our fathers, so that he^[g] caused their babies to be exposed^[h] that they might not be kept-alive; ²⁰ at which time Moses was born— and he was beautiful to God— who was brought-up for three months in the house of his father. ²¹ And he having been exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and brought him up for herself for a son. ²² And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was powerful in his words and deeds. ²³ And as a forty-year period was being fulfilled for him, it came-up^[i] on his heart to visit^[j] his brothers, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And having seen someone being wronged^[k], he defended him, and executed vengeance for the one being oppressed, having struck the Egyptian. ²⁵ Now he was thinking that his brothers were understanding that God was granting them deliverance by his hand. But the ones did not understand. ²⁶ And on the following day, he appeared to them while they were fighting. And he was reconciling^[l] them to peace, having said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?’ [Ex 2:13]. ²⁷ But the one wronging his neighbor rejected him, having said, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ You do not intend to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ [Ex 2:14]. ²⁹ And Moses fled at this word. And he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.