Acts 7:2‑53,55• 2And 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,
3and said unto him, Go out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4Then 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.
5And 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.
6God 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.
7And 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.
8And 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.
9And the patriarchs through jealousy sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,
10and 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.
11Now there came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance.
12But Jacob, having heard that there was corn in Egypt, sent forth our fathers first;
13and at the second [time] Joseph was made known to his brethren, and his race became manifest unto Pharaoh.
14And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15And Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers;
16and 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.
17But as the time of the promise was drawing nigh which God vouchsafed to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
18till there arose another king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.
19He 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.
20At which season Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, who was nourished three months in his father's house;
21and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.
22And Moses was instructed in all [the] wisdom of [the] Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works.
23But when he was about forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the sons of Israel;
24and seeing one wronged, he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed, smiting the Egyptian.
25For he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not.
26And 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?
27But he that was wronging his neighbour thrust him away, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge over us?
28Dost thou wish to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?
29And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in [the] land of Midian where he begat two sons.
30And 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.
31And Moses on seeing, wondered at the sight, and as he went up to observe, there came a voice of [the] Lord .
32I [am] the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not observe.
33And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
34I 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.
35This 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.
36This [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.
37This is the Moses that said to the sons of Israel, A prophet will God raise up to you out of your brethren, like me.
38This 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:
39to whom our fathers would not be subject but thrust [him] away and turned in their hearts into Egypt
40saying 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.
41And they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
42But 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?
43Yea, 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.
44Our 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;
45which 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;
46who found favour before God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob;
47but Solomon built him a house.
48But the Highest dwelleth not in [places] made with hands; even as the prophet saith,
49The 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?
50Did not my hand make all these things?
51Stiffnecked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers so ye.
52Which 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,
53ye, which received the law as ordinances of angels and kept it not.
55But 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, (Acts 7:2‑53,55)
Acts 26:1‑32• 1And Agrippa said to Paul, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and entered on his defence.
2Touching all things of which I am accused by Jews, King Agrippa, I count myself happy that I am to make my defence before thee today;
3especially as thou art skilled in all customs and questions that are among the Jews. Wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
4My manner of life then from my youth which was from the beginning among my nation and at Jerusalem know all Jews,
5knowing me before from the outset, if they be willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6And now I stand to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers;
7unto which our twelve tribes earnestly serving night and day hope to arrive. And concerning this hope I am accused by Jews, O King.
8Why is it judged incredible with you, if God raiseth dead [men]?
9I therefore thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazarene;
10which things I also did in Jerusalem; and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received the authority from the chief priests, and I railed against [them] when they were put to death;
11and throughout all the synagogues, often punishing I was compelling them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them I was pursuing them even as far as to the outside cities.
12On which [business] when proceeding unto Damascus with authority and commission of the chief priests,
13at mid-day on the road I saw, O King, a light above the brightness of the sun shining round me and those that were proceeding with me.
14And when we all fell to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [It is] hard for thee to kick against goads.
15And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16But rise up and stand on thy feet, for to this end I appeared to thee, to appoint thee a servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen and of those things wherein I shall appear to thee,
17taking thee out from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I send thee,
18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness unto light and the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among those that are sanctified by faith that is in me.
19Whence, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20but reported both to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem, and through all the country of Judea and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
21On account of these things the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to slay me.
22Having, therefore obtained help that is from God I stand unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said should come,
23whether Christ should suffer, whether he first by resurrection of [the] dead should announce light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
24And as he thus defended himself, Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad: much learning doth turn thee to madness.
25But Paul saith, I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but speak forth words of truth and soberness.
26For the king is cognizant of these things, unto whom also I speak with openness; for I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this hath not been done in a corner.
27Believest thou, King Agrippa, the prophets? I know that thou believest.
28And Agrippa [said] unto Paul, With little [pains] thou art persuading a to make me a Christian.
29And Paul [said], I would to God that both with little and with great [pains] b not thou only but also all that hear me this day should become, as I too am, except these bonds.
30And c the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them;
31and when they had retired, they spoke one to another, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or bonds.
32And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar. (Acts 26:1‑32)