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1 And the high priest said, Whether these things are so? 2 And he said, Men, brethren and fathers, hear: The God of the Glory appeared to our :father Abraham when in :Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said unto him, Come out of thy :land, and thy :kindred, and come hither into the land which I shall show thee. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Haran: and thence, after his :father’s death God removed him into this :land, wherein YE now dwell: 5 and he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: and he promised to give it to him in possession, and to his :seed after him, when yet he had no child. 6 And :God spake thus, that his :seed should be sojourner in a strange land, and that they should bring it into bondage, and ill-treat for four hundred years. 7 And the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, said :God: and after these 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 the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, jealous against :Joseph, sold him into Egypt: and :God was with him, 10 and delivered him out of all his :tribulations, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his :house. 11 Now a famine came, over all :Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation: and our :fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our :fathers the first time. 13 And at the second, Joseph was made known to his :brethren; and Joseph’s :race became manifest to :Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent, and called to him Jacob his :father, and all his :kindred, seventy-five souls. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt; and HE died, and our :fathers; 16 and they were carried over unto Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver of the sons of Emmōr in Shechem. 17 But as the time of the promise drew nigh which :God vouchsafed to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 till another king arose over Egypt, who knew not :Joseph. 19 The same dealt craftily with our :race, and ill-treated our :fathers, as to make outcasts of their :babes to the end they might not †live. 20 At which season Moses was born, and was fair unto :God; and he was nourished three months in the house of his :father: 21 and when he was cast out, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and nourished him for her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works. 23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his :heart to visit his :brethren the sons of Israel. 24 And seeing one being wronged, he defended him, and avenged the one oppressed, smiting the Egyptian: 25 and he supposed that his :brethren understood that :God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not. 26 And the day following he appeared to them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Men, ye are brethren; why wrong ye one another? 27 But who did his :neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee ruler and judge over us? 28 Wouldest thou kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday? 29 And Moses fled at this :saying, and became a sojourner in Midian land, where he begat two sons. 30 And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of :Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 And when :Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he came near to behold, the Lord’s voice came, 32 I am the God of thy :fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And Moses became affrighted, and durst not behold. 33 And the Lord said to him, Loose the shoes from thy :feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 34 Seeing I have seen the affliction of my :people that is in Egypt, and have heard its :groaning, and I am come down to deliver them: and now come hither, I will send thee into Egypt. 35 This :Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee ruler and judge? him hath :God sent both as ruler and redeemer with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them forth, having done wonders and signs in :Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37 This is the Moses, who said to the sons of Israel, A prophet shall :God raise up for you from among your :brethren, as he raised me up. 38 This is he who was in the church in the wilderness with the angel of Him who spake to him in :Mount Sinai, and with our :fathers: who received living oracles to give to you: 39 to whom our :fathers would not become obedient, but thrust him away, and turned back in their :hearts unto Egypt, 40 saying to :Aaron, Make us gods that shall go before us: for this :Moses, who led us forth out of Egypt land, we know not what is become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those :days, and brought sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their :hands. 42 But :God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of :heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets,

Did ye offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 And ye took up the tabernacle of :Moloch, And the constellation of the god Rompha, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

44 Our :fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spake to :Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen. 45 Which also our :fathers, in their turn, brought in with †Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations that God thrust out before the face of our :fathers, unto the days of David; 46 who found grace in God’s sight, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as saith the prophet,
 
49 The heaven is my throne,
And the earth the footstool of my :feet:
What manner of house will ye build me? saith the Lord:
Or what is the place of my :rest?
50 Did not my :hand make all these things?
51 YE, stiffnecked and uncircumcised in hearts and :ears, always resist the Holy Spirit: as your :fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets did not your :fathers :persecute? and they killed them that showed before of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and murderers; 53 ye who received the law unto ordinances of angels, and kept it not. 54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut in their :hearts, and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he fixed his eyes on the heaven, and saw God’s glory, and Jesus standing at :God’s right hand, 56 and he said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of :man standing at :God’s right hand. 57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their :ears, and rushed upon him with one accord; 58 and cast him out of the city, and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their :garments at the feet of a youth :called Saul. 59 And they stoned :Stephen, calling upon†the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my :spirit. 60 And he kneeled, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this :sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting to his :death.