The Call of Abraham
THEN said the high priest: “Are these things so?”
2 And he said: “Men, brothers, and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran;
3 And said to him: “Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and come into the land which I shall show you.”
4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran: and from there, after his father died, he moved himself into this land, wherein you now dwell.”
5 ¶ “And He gave him no inheritance in it; no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and his seed after him; when as yet he had no child.
6 And God spoke thus: That his seed should sojourn in a foreign land; and they be brought into bondage, and mistreated four hundred years.
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: “and after that, shall they come out and worship me in this place.”
8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.”
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 ¶ “And the patriarchs, moved with jealousy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him;
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.”
11 ¶ “Now there came a famine upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And in the second time: Joseph was made known to his brothers; and Joseph’s kindred was made known to the Pharaoh.”
14 ¶ “Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred: seventy five souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt and died: he and our fathers;
16 And were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor at Shechem.”
God Delivers Israel by Moses
17 ¶ “Now when the time of the promise drew near; which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt;
18 Until another king arose, who knew not Joseph.
19 He cunningly exploited our kindred, and mistreated our fathers: that they were made to abandon their infants, to the end that, they might not live.”
20 ¶ “In which time Moses was born, and was beautiful to God; and was brought up in his father’s house three months.
21 But when he was put out, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him, and brought him up as her own son.
22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in words and in deeds.”
23 ¶ Now when he was fully forty years old; it came upon his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him that was mistreated, and struck the Egyptian:
25 Now he supposed his brothers would have understood that God, through his hand would give them deliverance: but they did not understand.”
26 ¶ “And the next day he showed himself to them as they fought, and would have reconciled them in peace, saying: “Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?”
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying: “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?””
29 ¶ “And Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.
30 And when forty years were passed; there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai the angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he marvelled at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him,
32 Saying: “I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold.”
33 ¶ “Then said the Lord to him: “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34 I have surely Seen the oppression of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come: I will send you into Egypt.”
35 This Moses whom they rejected, saying: “Who made you a ruler and a judge?” The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, showing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.”
Rebellion Against God
37 ¶ “This is that Moses, which said to the sons of Israel: “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you from your brothers, like me; Him shall you hear.”
38 This is he, that was in the congregation in the wilderness; with the angel which spoke to him in the mount Sinai; and with our fathers: who received the living words, to give to us;
39 To whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt;
40 Saying to Aaron: “Make us gods to go before us; for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.””
41 ¶ “And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; just as it is written in the book of the prophets: “O house of Israel, was it to me you offered slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness?
43 Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan; figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.””
God’s True Tabernacle
44 ¶ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness; just as He directed, speaking to Moses: that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen.
45 Which also our fathers that came after, brought in with Jesus into the taking possession of the nations; whom God drove out before the presence of our fathers, until the days of David;
46 Who found grace in the sight of God, and asked to find a place of dwelling for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built Him a house.”
48 ¶ “Howbeit the most High dwells not in temples made by human hands; as saith the prophet:
49 “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build me?” saith the Lord: “or what is the place of my rest?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?”
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51 ¶ You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have killed those which foretold of the coming of the Righteous One; of whom, now you have become the betrayers and murderers;
53 Who having received the law as instructed by Angels, have not obeyed it.”
Stephen Stoned to Death
54 ¶ Now when they heard this: they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed their teeth because of him.
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 on the right hand of God.”
57 ¶ Then they cried out with a loud voice, and refused to listen; and rushed upon him with one accord;
58 And drove him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their robes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, who called out, and said: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 And he knelt down, and cried with a loud voice: “Lord, place not this sin to their charge.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.