Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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note
1 Then the High Priest asked: “Is this true?”
2 And, upon that, Stephen spoke as follows: note
“Brothers and Fathers, hear what I have to say. ⪆⪆God,
who manifests himself in the Glory, appeared to our ancestor
Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, and before
he settled in Haran,
3 and said to him—‘Leave your country
and your kindred, and come into the country that I will show
you.’ note
4 On this, Abraham left the country of the Chaldaeans
and settled in Haran; and from there, after his father's death,
God caused him to migrate into this very country, in which
you are now living.
5 God did not at that time give him any
part of it, not even a foot of ground. But he promised to
‘give him possession of it and his descendants after him,’
though at that time he had no child. note
6 God's words were
these—‘Abraham's descendants shall live in a foreign country,
where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred
years.
7 But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will
be enslaved,’ God said, ‘and after that they shall leave the
country and worship me in this place.’ note note
8 Then God made with
Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision; and under it Abraham
became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him when he was
eight days old; and Isaac became the father of Jacob; and
-- --
Jacob of the Twelve Patriarchs. note ⪆⪆
9 The Patriarchs, out
of jealousy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was
with him, note
10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and
enabled him to win favour and show wisdom before Pharaoh,
King of Egypt, who appointed him Governor of Egypt and of
his whole household. note
11 Then a famine spread over the whole
of Egypt and Canaan, causing great distress, and our ancestors
could find no food.
12 Hearing, however, that there was corn
in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors there on their first visit. note
13 In
the course of their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh. note
14 Then
Joseph sent an urgent invitation to his father Jacob and to
his relations, seventy-five persons in all;
15 and so Jacob went
down into Egypt. note
16 There he died, and our ancestors also, and
their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb
which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the
sons of Hamor in Shechem. note ⪆⪆
17 As the time drew near
for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to
Abraham, the people increased largely in numbers in Egypt,
until a new king,
18 who knew nothing of Joseph, came to the
throne.
19 This king acted deceitfully towards our race and
ill-treated our ancestors, making them abandon their own
infants, so that they should not be reared. note
20 It was just at this
time that Moses was born. He was an exceedingly beautiful
child, and for three months was brought up in his own father's
house;
21 and, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh
found him and brought him up as her own son.
22 So Moses
was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and proved
his ability both by his words and actions. ⪆⪆
23 When he
was in his fortieth year, he resolved to visit his brother
Israelites;
24 and, seeing an Israelite ill-treated, he defended
him, and avenged the man, who was being wronged, by
striking down the Egyptian.
25 He thought his brothers
would understand that God was using him to save them;
but they failed to do so.
26 The next day he again appeared
upon the scene, when some of them were fighting, and
tried to make peace between them. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you
are brothers; how is it that you are ill-treating one another?’
27 But the man who was ill-treating his fellow workman
pushed Moses aside saying—‘Who made you a ruler and
judge over us?
28 Do you mean to make away with me as you
did yesterday with that Egyptian?’
29 At these words Moses
took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he
had two sons born to him. note ⪆⪆
30 Forty years had passed
when there appeared to him, in the Desert of Mount Sinai, an
angel in a flame of fire in a bush. note
31 When Moses saw it, he was
-- --
astonished at the vision; but on his going nearer to look at it
more closely,
32 the voice of the Lord was heard to say—‘I am
the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.’
33 Moses trembled, and did not dare to look. Then
the Lord said to him—‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the
spot where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have seen the
oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their
groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now
and I will send you into Egypt.’ note ⪆⪆
35 This same Moses,
whom they had disowned with the words—‘Who made you a
ruler and a judge?’ was the very man whom God sent to be
both a ruler and a deliverer, under the guidance of the angel
that had appeared to him in the bush. note
36 He it was who led them
out, after he had shown wonders and signs in Egypt, in the
Red Sea, and in the Desert during forty years. note
37 This was the
Moses who said to the people of Israel—‘God will raise up for
you, from among your brothers, a Prophet, as he raised up me.’ note
38 He, too, it was who was present at the assembly in the Desert,
with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and with
our ancestors, and who received living truths to impart to you.
39 Yet our ancestors refused him obedience; more than that,
they rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, note
40 while they said to Aaron—‘Make us Gods who will lead the
way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of
Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
41 That was
the time when they made the Calf and offered sacrifice to their
idol, and held festivities in honour of their own handiwork! note
42 So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the
Starry Host, as is written in the Book of the Prophets—
‘Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, O House of Israel,
All those forty years in the Desert?
43
You took with you the tabernacle of Moloch
And the Star of the god Rephan—
The images which you had made to worship.
Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’ note
44 Our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Revelation in the
Desert, constructed, just as he who spoke to Moses had directed
him to make it, after the model which he had seen. note
45 This
Tabernacle, which was handed down to them, was brought
into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua
(at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their
advance), and remained here until the time of David. note
46 David
found favour with God, and prayed that he might find a
dwelling for the God of Jacob. note
47 But it was Solomon who
-- --
built a House for God. note
48 Yet it is not in buildings made by
hands that the Most High dwells. As the Prophet says—
49
‘The heavens are a throne for me,
And the earth a stool for my feet.
What manner of House will you build me, saith the Lord,
Or what place is there where I may rest?
50
Was it not my hand that made all these things?’ note
51 O! stubborn race, heathen in heart and ears, you are for
ever resisting the Holy Spirit; your ancestors did it, and you
are doing it still. note
52 Which of the Prophets escaped persecution
at their hands? They killed those who foretold the coming
of the Righteous One; of whom you, in your turn, have now
53 become the betrayers and murderers—you who received the
Law as transmitted by angels and yet failed to keep it.”
note
54 As they listened to this, the Council grew frantic
with rage, and gnashed their teeth at Stephen.
55 He, filled as he was with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes intently
on the heavens, and saw the Glory of God and Jesus
standing at God's right hand.
56 “Look,” he exclaimed, “I see Heaven open and the Son
of Man standing at God's right hand!”
57 At this, with a loud shout, they stopped their ears and all
rushed upon him,
58 forced him outside the city, and began to
stone him, the witnesses laying their clothes at the feet of a
young man named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, while he
cried to the Lord: “Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!”
60 Falling on his knees, he called out loudly:
“Lord! do not charge them with this sin;” and with these
words he fell asleep.
Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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