Acts 7:1-19 : Easy-to-Read Version
Stephen's Speech
7 1The high priest* said to Stephen, "Are these things true?" 2Stephen answered, "My Jewish fathers and brothers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our father.* Abraham was in Mesopotamia. This was before he lived in Haran. 3God said to Abraham, 'Leave your country and your people, and go to the country I will show you.'* 4So Abraham left the country of Chaldea.* He went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God sent him to this place here, where you live now. 5But God did not give Abraham any of this land. God did not give him even a foot of it. But God promised that in the future he would give Abraham this land for himself and for his children. (This was before Abraham had any children.) 6This is what God said to him: 'Your descendants* will live in another country. They will be strangers. The people there will make them slaves and do bad things to them for 400 years. 7But I will punish the nation that made them slaves.'* And God also said, 'After those things happen, your people will come out of that country. Then your people will worship me here in this place.'* 8God made an agreement with Abraham; the sign for this agreement was circumcision.* And so when Abraham had a son, he circumcised his son when he was eight days old. His son's name was Isaac. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob. And Jacob did the same for [his sons. These sons later became] the twelve fathers.* 9"These fathers* became jealous of Joseph (their younger brother). They sold Joseph to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with Joseph. 10Joseph had many troubles there, but God saved him from all those troubles. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. He liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom that God gave Joseph. Pharaoh gave Joseph the job of being a governor of Egypt. He even let Joseph rule over all the people in Pharaoh's house. 11But all the land of Egypt and of Canaan became dry. It became so dry that food could not grow there. This made the people suffer very much. Our fathers* could not find anything to eat. 12But Jacob heard that there was food [stored] in Egypt. So he sent our fathers (Jacob's sons) there. (This was their first trip to Egypt.) 13Then they went there a second time. This time, Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14Then Joseph sent some men to invite Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt. He also invited all his relatives (75 persons altogether). 15So Jacob went down to Egypt. Jacob and our fathers (ancestors) [lived there until they] died. 16Later their bodies were moved to Shechem. They were put in a grave there. (It was the same grave that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor. He paid them with silver.) 17"The number of Jewish people in Egypt grew. There were more and more of our people there. (The promise that God made to Abraham was soon to come true.) 18Then a different king began to rule Egypt. He knew nothing about Joseph. 19This king tricked (deceived) our people. He was bad to our fathers (ancestors). The king made them put their children outside to die.
high priest The most important Jewish priest and leader. father(s) Important ancestors of the Jews; the leaders of the twelve Jewish family groups. 'Leave ... show you' Quote from Gen. 12:1. Chaldea Or Babylonia, a land in the southern part of Mesopotamia. See verse 2. descendants All the people born in a person's family after that person dies. 'Your ... slaves' Quote from Gen. 15:13-14. 'After those ... place' Quote from Gen. 15:14; Ex. 3:12. circumcision Cutting off the foreskin. This was done to every Jewish baby boy. It was a mark of the agreement that God made with Abraham (Gen. 17:9-14).