Acts Chapter 7
Showing all 60 verses for Acts Chapter 7.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Then said the high priest, Are these things so? "
"The high priest asked Stephen, 'Is this true, what you've been accused of?'"
When you're accused unfairly, you don't have to panic or grovel - you can answer with calm confidence, grounded in truth rather than fear of the room you're standing in.
"And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he in Charran, "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Stephen said, 'Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran.'"
Real disagreement works best when you first stand firmly on common ground - Stephen doesn't come in swinging, he starts by honouring what everyone in the room already believes.
"And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. "
"God told Abraham: 'Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you.'"
Sometimes growth means leaving behind what's comfortable and familiar before you can see where you're headed - that's not recklessness, it's the shape faith has always taken.
"Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"So Abraham left Chaldea and settled in Haran. After his father died, God moved him from there into the land you now live in."
Big life changes often happen in stages, not all at once - being willing to keep moving forward, even after loss (like the death of a parent), is part of following where you're called.
"And he gave him none 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 to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. "
"God gave Abraham no property in this land - not even a single square foot - yet he promised to give it to him and his descendants as their own, even though Abraham had no child at the time."
You don't need to see the whole outcome to trust the process - Abraham lived his entire life on a promise he never saw completed, and that patience is itself a kind of quiet courage worth having.
"And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. "
"God told him that his descendants would live as foreigners in a land not their own, and would be enslaved and mistreated there for four hundred years."
When you're going through a long, hard season, it can help to remember that difficult chapters don't erase the larger story - endurance now can be part of something that eventually turns towards freedom.
"And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. "
"'And I will judge whatever nation enslaves them,' God said, 'and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.'"
Freedom isn't just the absence of chains - it's what you're free to become afterwards. Think about what you'd actually do with real freedom, not just what you'd escape from.
"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 begat the twelve patriarchs. "
"God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham had Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had the twelve patriarchs."
Commitments and promises often get passed down and lived out generation by generation - what you build faithfully now can shape a family's story long after you're gone.
"And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, "
"Jealous of their brother, the patriarchs sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him."
Jealousy can push people to do real damage to those closest to them - but betrayal doesn't get the final word, because presence and purpose can survive even the worst treatment from people who should have loved you.
"And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. "
"God rescued Joseph from all his troubles, gave him wisdom and favour with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and Pharaoh put him in charge of Egypt and his entire household."
Whatever's been done against you doesn't have to define your future - real character and integrity, kept steady through hard times, can still lead somewhere good, even if the path there looks nothing like you expected.
"Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. "
"Then a severe famine struck all of Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our ancestors couldn't find food."
Sometimes a crisis you're going through connects to something good someone else went through earlier that you can't yet see - hardship in one person's life can quietly become provision for someone else's.
"But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. "
"When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time."
Ordinary, practical decisions - just trying to survive, just trying to provide - can end up being the very steps that lead you towards reconciliation you never saw coming.
"And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. "
"On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family background."
Real strength shows itself not in getting even, but in choosing forgiveness when you actually have the power to punish - that's a far harder and more meaningful kind of courage.
"Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. "
"Joseph then sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives - seventy-five people in total."
Families sometimes have to relocate entirely to survive and thrive - staying together through upheaval, even far from home, can be exactly what allows a future to unfold.
"So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, "
"So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he died - as did our ancestors."
Not every good life ends exactly where you expected it to - what matters is being faithful to what you were given, even if the full picture only comes together generations later.
"And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem. "
"Their bodies were carried back to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought there for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor."
Even honest storytelling compresses details for the sake of the bigger truth being told - what matters most here is the promise finally being kept: a resting place in the land God swore to give.
"But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, "
"As the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt grew and grew."
Growth often happens quietly, behind the scenes, long before anyone notices the promise starting to come true - patience during the slow build matters as much as the eventual breakthrough.
"Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. "
"Until a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph."
Don't assume good relationships or past favours will automatically protect you forever - people and circumstances change, so build your security on something more solid than other people's memory of your kindness.
"The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. "
"This king dealt deceitfully with our people and mistreated our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their newborn babies so that they would die."
Injustice against the most vulnerable - especially children - is never something to look away from or minimise; naming cruelty honestly is the first step towards standing against it.
"In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: "
"It was during this time that Moses was born - a strikingly beautiful child - and was cared for in his father's house for three months."
Protecting someone vulnerable, even in small, hidden ways, can be a genuine act of courage - and sometimes those quiet acts of love turn out to matter far more than anyone at the time could have known.
"And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. "
"When he was put outside (exposed to the elements), Pharaoh's daughter took him in and raised him as her own son."
Rescue and compassion can come from the most unexpected places - don't assume you know in advance who might end up being kind to you or part of your story's turning point.
"And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. "
"Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and became a powerful man, both in what he said and what he did."
Whatever skills, education or advantages you've been given aren't really about personal status - they become most valuable when you use them in service of something bigger than yourself.
"And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. "
"When Moses turned forty, he decided it was time to go and see how his own people, the Israelites, were doing."
At some point, real character means choosing to stand with the people who need you, even when it costs you comfort or status - that choice, more than any talent, is what actually shapes a life of purpose.
"And seeing one of them wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Seeing one of his people being mistreated, Moses stepped in to defend him and struck down the Egyptian who was doing the wrong."
Wanting to defend someone who's being wronged is a good instinct, but how you act on that instinct matters - impatience and force can undermine even a genuinely just cause.
"For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. "
"Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would understand that God was using him to rescue them - but they didn't get it."
Being ready to help someone doesn't mean they're ready to receive it - real change often requires patience with people who aren't yet able to see what you can already see.
"And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? "
"The next day, Moses came across two Israelites fighting and tried to make peace between them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers - why are you hurting each other?'"
Appealing to what people have in common - shared humanity, shared struggle - is often a better route to peace than force, even if it doesn't always work immediately.
"But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? "
"But the man doing the wrong shoved Moses aside and said, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?'"
Being rejected when you try to help doesn't necessarily mean you were wrong to try - sometimes people aren't ready to accept help, even good help, from the person offering it.
"Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? "
"'Are you going to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'"
Actions taken in anger, even for a good cause, can follow you and undermine trust later - it's worth thinking carefully about the long-term cost of a moment's reaction.
"Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. "
"At this, Moses fled and became a foreigner living in the land of Midian, where he had two sons."
Sometimes the path to what you're meant to do runs through a long, unglamorous stretch of obscurity first - don't assume a quiet, hidden season means your purpose has been forgotten.
"And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. "
"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the wilderness near Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush."
Callings and turning points often arrive in the middle of ordinary routine, not in some dramatic, expected setting - staying attentive during the quiet years matters, because you don't know when the moment will come.
"When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the LORD came unto him, "
"When Moses saw it, he was amazed, and as he went closer to look, he heard the voice of the Lord."
Being willing to pay attention to what surprises you, rather than walking past it, can open doors you didn't know were there - stay curious about the unusual moments in your life.
"Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. "
"'I am the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled and didn't dare look."
Awe and reverence in the face of something genuinely bigger than yourself - trembling before what you don't fully understand - is a healthy, honest response, not a weakness.
"Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. "
"The Lord told him, 'Take off your sandals - the place where you're standing is holy ground.'"
Approaching something significant - a serious conversation, a big decision, a moment of real consequence - with humility and respect, rather than casualness, tends to serve you better.
"I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. "
"'I have clearly seen the suffering of my people in Egypt, I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now go - I am sending you to Egypt.'"
If you're struggling and it feels like no one notices, this is worth holding onto: being truly seen and heard often comes before rescue arrives - and sometimes you become the answer to someone else's cry for help.
"This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee 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. "
"This is the same Moses they had rejected, saying 'Who made you ruler and judge?' - yet God sent him to be exactly that: ruler and deliverer, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush."
Being rejected by the people you're trying to help doesn't mean you weren't the right person for the job - sometimes it just means the timing, or their readiness, wasn't right yet.
"He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. "
"He led them out, after performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years."
The person you doubted or dismissed might turn out to accomplish far more than you expected - it's worth staying open to being wrong about people.
"This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. "
"This is the same Moses who told the Israelites: 'God will raise up a prophet like me from among your own people - listen to him.'"
Sometimes the clearest guidance for the future has already been given long ago, waiting to be recognised - staying open to unexpected fulfilments of old promises takes humility.
"This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: "
"This is the one who was with the assembly of Israel in the wilderness, together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors - he received the living words of God to pass on to us."
Genuine respect for what came before you doesn't stop you from honestly naming when people have drifted from it - you can love a tradition and still call out where it's been betrayed.
"To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, "
"But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they pushed him away and turned back towards Egypt in their hearts."
Sometimes the hardest part of real change isn't the external circumstances but your own heart quietly wanting to go back to what's familiar, even when that familiar thing was actually harmful to you.
"Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. "
"They told Aaron, 'Make us gods to lead us - because we don't know what has happened to this Moses who brought us out of Egypt.'"
When you're anxious or impatient, it's tempting to grab for something you can control right now rather than trust a process that takes time - but that shortcut often leads somewhere worse than where you started.
"And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. "
"So they made a calf, offered sacrifices to this idol, and celebrated what they had made with their own hands."
It's worth asking honestly what you actually put your energy and celebration into - sometimes we end up worshipping things we've made or achieved ourselves, rather than staying grounded in what genuinely gives life.
"Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? "
"So God turned away from them and let them worship the stars and heavenly bodies instead, just as it's written in the prophets: 'House of Israel, did you actually offer sacrifices and offerings to me for forty years in the wilderness?'"
Going through the motions of devotion while your heart is somewhere else eventually catches up with you - real faithfulness is about where your heart and attention actually are, not just outward appearances.
"Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. "
"'You carried the shrine of the god Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, images you made to worship - so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'"
Patterns of behaviour that seem small at first can compound over a long time into much bigger consequences - it's worth taking early drift seriously before it becomes a deeply set habit.
"Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. "
"Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony with them in the wilderness, made exactly as God had instructed, following the pattern Moses had been shown."
There's a real difference between worship shaped by careful attention to what actually matters, and worship built purely on your own preferences - it's worth checking which one you're actually practising.
"Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; "
"Our ancestors who came after brought this tabernacle with them, under Joshua, into the land taken from the nations God drove out ahead of them - and it remained until the time of David."
Sometimes the most faithful, functional version of something is the simple, flexible one - not everything valuable needs a grand, fixed structure to be genuine.
"Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. "
"David found favour with God and asked to be allowed to build a dwelling place for the God of Jacob."
Having a genuine, good desire to honour or help doesn't always mean you're the one meant to carry it out - sometimes the right response to a good desire is to prepare the way for someone else to finish it.
"But Solomon built him an house. "
"But it was Solomon who actually built God a house."
Even the best human achievements - grand buildings, impressive institutions - are still just tools, not the thing itself. It's worth staying clear on the difference between the container and what it's meant to hold.
"Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, "
"However, the Most High doesn't actually live in buildings made by human hands - as the prophet himself says."
It's worth examining whether you've ever confused the container for the thing itself - a building, a routine, an institution can hold meaning, but nothing physical can fully contain something as vast as what actually matters most.
"Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? "
"'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool - what kind of house could you possibly build for me? says the Lord. Where would such a resting place even be?'"
Trying to box in something truly vast - whether it's your understanding of what matters most in life, or your sense of your own potential - into one small, fixed space will always fall short. Stay open to something bigger than what fits neatly in a single building or belief.
"Hath not my hand made all these things? "
"'Didn't my hand make all these things?'"
The source of everything that matters in your life isn't something you can build, buy or contain - real gratitude means recognising you didn't create the good things you rely on; they were given.
"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. "
"'You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears - you always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors did.'"
Real courage sometimes means naming a pattern of behaviour directly, even when the people you're naming it to have the power to hurt you for saying it - truth matters more than personal safety in moments like this.
"Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: "
"'Was there ever a prophet your ancestors didn't persecute? They killed the ones who foretold the coming of the Righteous One - and now you have betrayed and murdered him.'"
Speaking hard truth to people in power, even when it puts you at real risk, is sometimes exactly what integrity requires - the cost of silence can be higher than the cost of honesty.
"Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. "
"'You received the law, delivered to you through angels - and yet you haven't kept it.'"
It's easy to defend the letter of a tradition while missing its actual heart - real faithfulness is measured by what you do, not just by how loudly you claim to honour something.
"When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. "
"When they heard this, they were furious - cut to the heart - and ground their teeth at him in rage."
Not everyone who hears hard truth will respond with reflection - some people respond with anger instead, and that reaction says more about them than about whether the truth was worth speaking.
"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, "
"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked steadily up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand."
It's possible to find real peace and clarity even in your most frightening moments, if your attention is fixed on something bigger than the immediate danger in front of you.
"And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. "
"He said, 'Look, I see heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand.'"
Staying true to what you believe, even out loud, in the very moment it's most dangerous to say so, is one of the purest expressions of integrity there is.
"Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, "
"At this they shouted loudly, covered their ears, and rushed at him together."
When people refuse to even listen anymore and resort to shutting you down by force, that's not a sign you were wrong - sometimes it's the clearest sign you'd touched something true they didn't want to face.
"And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. "
"They dragged him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid their coats down at the feet of a young man named Saul."
People can start out on completely the wrong side of something and still end up transformed - this moment, painful as it is, plants the seed of a story about how nobody is beyond the possibility of real change.
"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. "
"As they stoned him, Stephen called out, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'"
Facing your worst moment with trust rather than despair is possible - not because the pain isn't real, but because where you place your trust in that moment can carry you through it.
"And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. "
"Then he knelt down and cried out loudly, 'Lord, don't hold this sin against them.' And with that, he died."
Forgiving the people who are actively hurting you is one of the hardest and most powerful things you can ever do - it doesn't excuse what they've done, but it frees you from carrying hatred into whatever comes next.