And the high priest said, Are these things so?
And he said, Brethren and fathers, hear. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
and said unto him, Go out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
Then came he out of [the] land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran; and thence, after his father died, he removed him into this land in which ye now dwell.
And he gave him none inheritance in it, not so much as a foot’s tread, and promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he had no child.
God thus spoke, that his seed should be a sojourner in a land not theirs, and that they should enslave and ill-treat them, four hundred years.
And the nation, to whom they shall be in slavery, will I judge, said God; and after these things shall they come out and serve me in this place.
And he gave him a covenant of circumcision, and thus he begat Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.
And the patriarchs through jealousy sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,
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.
Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance.
But Jacob, having heard that there was corn in Egypt, sent forth our fathers first;
and at the second [time] Joseph was made known to his brethren, and his race became manifest unto Pharaoh.
And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
And Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers;
and they were carried over unto Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in [son, of] Shechem.
But as the time of the promise was drawing nigh which God vouchsafed to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
till there arose another king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.
He dealt craftily with our race and evil-entreated our fathers, that they should expose their babes to the end they might not be preserved alive.
At which season Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, who was nourished three months in his father’s house;
and when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.
And Moses was instructed in all [the] wisdom of [the] Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.
But when he was about forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the sons of Israel;
and seeing one wronged, he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed, smiting the Egyptian.
For he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not.
And on the day following he appeared to them as they were striving, and compelled them to peace, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
But he that was wronging his neighbour thrust him away, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge over us?
Dost thou wish to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?
And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in [the] land of Midian where he begat two sons.
And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of the mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
And Moses on seeing, wondered at the sight, and as he went up to observe, there came a voice of [the] Lord .
I [am] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not observe.
And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people which is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and am come down to take them out for myself. And now come, I send thee into Egypt.
This Moses whom they denied, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge? him hath God sent [both] ruler and deliverer, with an angel’s hand that appeared to him in the bush.
This [man] led them out, having wrought wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
This is the Moses that said to the sons of Israel, A prophet will God raise up to you out of your brethren, like me.
This is he that was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received living oracles to give us:
to whom our fathers would not be subject but thrust [him] away and turned in their hearts into Egypt
saying to Aaron, Make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of [the] land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
And they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
But God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in [the] book of the prophets, Did ye offer me victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan, the forms which ye made to worship them; and I will transport you beyond Babylon.
Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he that spake to Moses commanded to make it according to the model which he had seen;
which also our fathers having in succession received brought [it] in with Joshua, in their taking possession of the Gentiles whom God drove out from [the] face of our fathers until the days of David;
who found favour before God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob;
but Solomon built him a house.
But the Highest dwelleth not in [places] made with hands; even as the prophet saith,
The heaven [is] my throne, and the earth a footstool of my feet: what sort of house will ye build me, saith [the] Lord, or what [is] my place of rest?
Did not my hand make all these things?
Stiffnecked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers so ye.
Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they slew those that announced beforehand of the coming of the Righteous One, of whom now ye became betrayers and murderers,
ye, which received the law as ordinances of angels and kept it not.
Now hearing these things they were deeply cut to their hearts, and gnashing their teeth at him.
But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking fixedly into heaven, he saw [the] glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.
But they crying with a loud voice held their ears and rushed upon him with one accord,
and cast out of the city and stoned [him]. And the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul,
and stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And kneeling down he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this he fell asleep.