Stephen answered, "My Jewish fathers and brothers, listen to me. Our great and glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, when he was in Mesopotamia. This was before he lived in Haran.
But God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that in the future he would give Abraham this land for himself and for his children. (This was before Abraham had any children.)
"This is what God said to him: 'Your descendants will live in another country. They will be strangers. The people there will make them slaves and do bad things to them for 400 years.
But I will punish the nation that made them slaves.' And God also said, 'After those things happen, your people will come out of that country. Then they will worship me here in this place.'
"God made an agreement with Abraham; the sign for this agreement was circumcision. And so when Abraham had a son, he circumcised him when he was eight days old. His son's name was Isaac. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob. And Jacob did the same for his sons who became the twelve great ancestors of our people.
and saved him from all his troubles. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt then. He liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. Pharaoh gave Joseph the job of being a governor of Egypt. He even let him rule over all the people in Pharaoh's house.
But all the land of Egypt and of Canaan became dry. It became so dry that food could not grow, and the people suffered very much. Our people could not find anything to eat.
Later, their bodies were moved to Shechem, where they were put in a tomb. (It was the same tomb that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor. He paid them with silver.)
He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he defended him. Moses hit the Egyptian to pay him back for hurting the man. He hit him so hard that it killed him.
"The next day, Moses saw two of his own people fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, 'Men, you are brothers! Why are you trying to hurt each other?'
When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian, where he was a stranger. During the time he lived there, he had two sons.
The Lord said, 'I am the same God your ancestors had—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ' Moses began to shake with fear. He was afraid to look at the bush.
I have seen my people suffer much in Egypt. I have heard my people crying and have come down to save them. Come now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.'
"This Moses was the one his people said they did not want. They said, 'Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge?' But he is the one God sent to be a ruler and savior. God sent him with the help of an angel, the one Moses saw in the burning bush.
"This is the same Moses who said these words to the people of Israel: 'God will give you a prophet. That prophet will come from among your own people. He will be like me.'
This same Moses was with the gathering of God's people in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received life-giving words from God to give to us.
They said to Aaron, 'Moses led us out of the country of Egypt. But we don't know what has happened to him. So make some gods to go before us and lead us.'
So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. They were very happy with what they had made with their own hands.
But God turned against them and let them continue worshiping the army of false gods in the sky. This is what God says in the book that contains what the prophets wrote: 'People of Israel, you did not bring me blood offerings and sacrifices in the desert for 40 years;
You carried with you the tent for worshiping Moloch and the image of the star of your god Rephan. These were the idols you made to worship. So I will send you away beyond Babylon.'
Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in and God made the other people go out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same tent. Our people received this tent from their fathers, and our people kept it until the time of David.
Then Stephen said, "You stubborn Jewish leaders! You refuse to give your hearts to God or even listen to him. You are always against what the Holy Spirit wants you to do. That's how your ancestors were, and you are just like them!
They persecuted every prophet who ever lived. They even killed those who long ago said that the Righteous One would come. And now you have turned against that Righteous One and killed him.