Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin
1Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
2To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’7:3 Gen. 12:1
4“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’7:7 Gen. 15:13,14 8Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
17“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’7:18 Exodus 1:8 19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
20“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.7:20 Or was fair in the sight of God For three months he was cared for by his family. 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’7:28 Exodus 2:14 29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
30“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’7:32 Exodus 3:6 Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’7:34 Exodus 3:5,7,8,10
35“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.
37“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’7:37 Deut. 18:15 38He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
39“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’7:40 Exodus 32:1 41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“ ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’7:43 Amos 5:25-27 (see Septuagint) beyond Babylon.
44“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. 45After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, 46who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.7:46 Some early manuscripts the house of Jacob 47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49“ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
50Has not my hand made all these things?’7:50 Isaiah 66:1,2
51“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
司提凡的申辯
1大祭司問：「這是真的嗎？」 2司提凡說：「各位父老兄弟，請聽我說！我們的祖先亞伯拉罕遷到哈蘭之前，住在美索不達米亞，榮耀的上帝向他顯現，說， 3『你要離開家鄉和親族，到我要指示你的地方去。』7·3 創世記12·1。 4亞伯拉罕就離開迦勒底人的地方，在哈蘭住了下來。他父親過世以後，上帝又領他到你們現在住的地方。 5當時在這片土地上，上帝沒有給他任何產業，他甚至連立足之地也沒有。但上帝應許要把這片土地賜給他和他的後裔作產業，儘管那時候亞伯拉罕還沒有兒子。 6上帝又說，『你的後裔必流落異鄉，被奴役和虐待四百年。 7但我必懲罰那奴役他們的國家，之後他們必離開那裡，在這片土地上事奉我。』7·7 創世記15·13、14。 8上帝又賜給亞伯拉罕割禮之約。所以，亞伯拉罕生以撒後第八天為他行了割禮。後來，以撒生了雅各，雅各生了十二位先祖。
9「先祖們嫉妒自己的弟弟約瑟，把他賣到了埃及。但上帝一直與他同在， 10救他脫離一切危難，又賜他過人的智慧，使他在埃及法老面前得到恩寵，官拜宰相治理全國，並管理王室。
11「後來，埃及和迦南全境遭遇饑荒，災情嚴重，我們的先祖們斷了糧。 12雅各聽說埃及有糧，就派先祖們去那裡買糧，那是我們的先祖初次去埃及。 13他們第二次去的時候，約瑟才和弟兄們相認，法老也知道了他的家族。 14後來，約瑟派人去把父親雅各和全族七十五人都接到埃及。 15雅各和其他先祖們便定居埃及，直到去世。 16後來他們的遺體被帶回示劍，安葬在亞伯拉罕買自哈抹子孫的墓地裡。
17「上帝對亞伯拉罕應許的日子快到的時侯，以色列人在埃及的人口已大大增加。 18後來埃及有一位不認識約瑟的新王登基。7·18 出埃及記1·8。 19他用毒計苦害我們的同胞，虐待我們的祖先，強令他們把嬰孩拋棄，不讓嬰孩存活。 20那時，摩西出生了，長得俊美非凡7·20 「長得」或譯「在上帝眼中」。。他的父母在家裡偷偷地撫養了他三個月， 21最後把他放到外面。法老的女兒救了他，收為養子。
22「摩西學會了埃及人一切的學問，成為一個說話辦事很有能力的人。 23他四十歲那年決定去探望自己的同胞以色列人。 24他到了他們那裡，看見一個埃及人正在欺負以色列人，就打抱不平，殺了那個埃及人。 25摩西以為同胞們會明白上帝要藉著他的手拯救他們，可是他們並不明白。 26第二天，他看見兩個以色列人在打架，就上前勸解說，『你們二位是同胞，為什麼互相傷害呢？』 27不料那個欺負人的推開摩西說，『誰立你作我們的首領和審判官？ 28難道你要殺我，像昨天殺那個埃及人一樣嗎？』7·28 出埃及記2·14。 29摩西聽了這話，就逃到米甸寄居，在那裡生了兩個兒子。
30「過了四十年，在西奈山的曠野，有天使在荊棘的火焰中向摩西顯現。 31摩西見狀很驚奇，正要上前看個究竟，就聽見主說， 32『我是你祖先的上帝，是亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的上帝。』7·32 出埃及記3·6。摩西戰戰兢兢，不敢觀看。 33主又說，『脫下你腳上的鞋，因為你所站的地方是聖地。 34我已清楚看見我子民在埃及所受的苦難，也聽見了他們的哀歎，我下來要救他們。你來，我要派你回埃及。』7·34 出埃及記3·5、7、8、10。
35「百姓曾拒絕這位摩西，說，『誰立你作我們的首領和審判官？』上帝卻藉著在荊棘中顯現的天使親自差遣他，立他為首領和拯救者。 36摩西帶領以色列人出埃及，過紅海，越曠野，四十年間行了許多神蹟奇事。 37就是這位摩西曾對以色列人說，『上帝要在你們中間興起一位像我一樣的先知。』7·37 申命記18·15。 38這位摩西曾在曠野的會眾中與我們祖先在一起，又在西奈山上與向他傳信息的天使在一起，並且領受了生命之道傳給我們。
39「可是我們的祖先不肯聽從他，甚至棄絕他，心裡對埃及戀戀不捨。 40他們對亞倫說，『為我們造一些神像來帶領我們吧！因為帶我們出埃及的那個摩西不知怎樣了。』7·40 出埃及記32·1。 41於是，他們造了一個牛犢像，向它獻祭，並為自己所做的事沾沾自喜。 42因此，上帝轉臉不顧他們，任由他們祭拜日月星辰，正如先知書的記載，
「『以色列家啊，
在曠野的四十年間，
你們向我獻過祭物和供物嗎？
43你們抬著為祭拜而造的神像，
就是摩洛的帳篷和你們理番神明的星，
所以我要把你們流放到比巴比倫還遠的地方。』7·43 阿摩司書5·25‑27。
44「我們的祖先在曠野的時候，一直帶著安放約櫃的聖幕，這聖幕是上帝吩咐摩西照他所看見的樣式造的。 45後來我們的祖先承受了聖幕。上帝從我們祖先面前趕走外族人，使他們得到了應許之地。他們同約書亞把聖幕帶到那裡，一直到大衛的時代。 46大衛蒙上帝悅納，祈求為雅各的上帝預備一個居所。 47結果是他的兒子所羅門為上帝建成了聖殿。
48「其實至高的上帝並不住人造的殿，祂曾藉著先知說， 49主說：『天是我的寶座，地是我的腳凳，你們要為我造怎樣的殿宇？哪裡可作我的安歇之處？ 50這一切不都是我親手創造的嗎？』7·50 以賽亞書66·1、2。
51「你們這些頑固不化、心與耳未受割禮的人，經常抗拒聖靈，所作所為和你們祖先如出一轍！ 52哪一位先知沒有被你們祖先迫害？那些預言義者彌賽亞要來的人也被你們的祖先殺害。如今你們竟出賣了那位義者，殺害了祂！ 53你們接受了上帝藉天使所傳的律法，竟不遵守！」
司提凡殉道
54眾人聽了這番話，怒火中燒，對司提凡咬牙切齒。 55司提凡卻被聖靈充滿，定睛望天，看見上帝的榮耀和站在上帝右邊的耶穌， 56就說：「看啊！我看見天開了，人子站在上帝的右邊。」
57眾人大喊大叫，捂著耳朵，一擁而上， 58把司提凡拉到城外，用石頭打他。指控他的人把他們的衣服交給一個名叫掃羅的青年保管。 59在亂石擊打之下，司提凡呼求說：「主耶穌啊，接收我的靈魂吧！」然後跪下高聲說： 60「主啊，不要追究他們的罪！」說完後，就斷氣了。
