Verse 1. Then the high priest said: Are these things so?
Verse 2. Who said: Ye men, brethren, and fathers, hear. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charan.
Verse 3. And said to him: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Verse 4. Then he went out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charan. And from thence, after his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein you now dwell.
Verse 5. And he gave him no inheritance in it; no, not the pace of a foot: but he promised to give it him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Verse 6. And God said to him: That his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and that they should bring them under bondage, and treat them evil four hundred years.
Verse 7. And the nation which they shall serve will I judge, said the Lord; and after these things they shall go out, and shall serve me in this place.
Verse 8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
Verse 9. And the patriarchs, through envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,
Verse 10. And delivered him out of all his tribulations: and he gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharao, the king of Egypt; and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and over all his house.
Verse 11. Now there came a famine upon all Egypt and Chanaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found no food.
Verse 12. But when Jacob had heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:
Verse 13. And at the second time, Joseph was known by his brethren, and his kindred was made known to Pharao.
Verse 14. And Joseph sending, called thither Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
Verse 15. So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers.
Verse 16. And they were translated into Sichem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem.
Verse 17. And when the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased, and were multiplied in Egypt,
Verse 18. Till another king arose in Egypt, who knew not Joseph.
Verse 19. This same dealing craftily with our race, afflicted our fathers, that they should expose their children, to the end they might not be kept alive.
Verse 20. At the same time was Moses born, and he was acceptable to God: who was nourished three months in his father's house.
Verse 21. And when he was exposed, Pharao's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
Verse 22. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.
Verse 23. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
Verse 24. And when he had seen one of them suffer wrong, he defended him; and striking the Egyptian, he avenged him who suffered the injury.
Verse 25. And he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand would save them; but they understood it not.
Verse 26. And the day following, he shewed himself to them when they were at strife; and would have reconciled them in peace, saying: Men, ye are brethren; why hurt you one another?
Verse 27. But he that did the injury to his neighbour thrust him away, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us?
Verse 28. What, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian?
Verse 29. And Moses fled upon this word, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.
Verse 30. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the desert of mount Sina, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.
Verse 31. And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
Verse 32. I am the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses being terrified, durst not behold.
Verse 33. And the Lord said to him: Loose the shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest, is holy ground.
Verse 34. Seeing 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, and I will send thee into Egypt.
Verse 35. This Moses, whom they refused, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge? him God sent to be prince and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Verse 36. He brought them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert forty years.
Verse 37. This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: A prophet shall God raise up to you of your own brethren, as myself: him shall you hear.
Verse 38. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us.
Verse 39. Whom our fathers would not obey; but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,
Verse 40. Saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us. For as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
Verse 41. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Verse 42. And God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the books of the prophets: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years, in the desert, O house of Israel?
Verse 43. And you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you made to adore them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Verse 44. The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen.
Verse 45. Which also our fathers receiving, brought in with Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David.
Verse 46. Who found grace before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Verse 47. But Solomon built him a house.
Verse 48. Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith:
Verse 49. Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What house will you build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my resting?
Verse 50. Hath not my hand made all these things?
Verse 51. You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also.
Verse 52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Verse 53. Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Verse 54. Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him.
Verse 55. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Verse 56. And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him.
Verse 57. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul.
Verse 58. And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Verse 59. And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death.