प्रेरित-चरित 7

1Then the high priest said: Are these things so?

2Who 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.

3And said to him: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

4Then 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.

5And 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.

6And 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.

7And 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.

8And 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.

9And the patriarchs, through envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,

10And 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.

11Now there came a famine upon all Egypt and Chanaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found no food.

12But when Jacob had heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:

13And at the second time, Joseph was known by his brethren, and his kindred was made known to Pharao.

14And Joseph sending, called thither Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.

15So Jacob went down into Egypt; and he died, and our fathers.

16And 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.

17And when the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased, and were multiplied in Egypt,

18Till another king arose in Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

19This same dealing craftily with our race, afflicted our fathers, that they should expose their children, to the end they might not be kept alive.

20At the same time was Moses born, and he was acceptable to God: who was nourished three months in his father’s house.

21And when he was exposed, Pharao’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 in his deeds.

23And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

24And when he had seen one of them suffer wrong, he defended him; and striking the Egyptian, he avenged him who suffered the injury.

25And he thought that his brethren understood that God by his hand would save them; but they understood it not.

26And 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?

27But he that did the injury to his neighbour thrust him away, saying: Who hath appointed thee prince and judge over us?

28What, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst yesterday kill the Egyptian?

29And Moses fled upon this word, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begot two sons.

30And 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.

31And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

32I 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.

33And the Lord said to him: Loose the shoes from thy feet, for the place wherein thou standest, is holy ground.

34Seeing 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.

35This 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.

36He brought them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert forty years.

37This 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.

38This 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.

39Whom our fathers would not obey; but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,

40Saying 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.

41And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42And 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?

43And 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.

44The 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.

45Which 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.

46Who found grace before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47But Solomon built him a house.

48Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith:

49Heaven 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?

50Hath not my hand made all these things?

51You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also.

52Which 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:

53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

54Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him.

55But 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.

56And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him.

57And 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.

58And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

59And 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.

1Dixit autem princeps sacerdotum: Si hæc ita se habent?

2Qui ait: Viri fratres et patres, audite: Deus gloriæ apparuit patri nostro Abrahæ cum esset in Mesopotamia, priusquam moraretur in Charan,

3et dixit ad illum: Exi de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et veni in terram quam monstravero tibi.

4Tunc exiit de terra Chaldæorum, et habitavit in Charan. Et inde, postquam mortuus est pater ejus, transtulit illum in terram istam, in qua nunc vos habitatis.

5Et non dedit illi hæreditatem in ea, nec passum pedis: sed repromisit dare illi eam in possessionem, et semini ejus post ipsum, cum non haberet filium.

6Locutus est autem ei Deus: Quia erit semen ejus accola in terra aliena, et servituti eos subjicient, et male tractabunt eos annis quadringentis:

7et gentem cui servierint, judicabo ego, dixit Dominus: et post hæc exibunt, et servient mihi in loco isto.

8Et dedit illi testamentum circumcisionis: et sic genuit Isaac, et circumcidit eum die octavo: et Isaac, Jacob: et Jacob, duodecim patriarchas.

9Et patriarchæ æmulantes, Joseph vendiderunt in Ægyptum: et erat Deus cum eo,

10et eripuit eum ex omnibus tribulationibus ejus, et dedit ei gratiam et sapientiam in conspectu pharaonis regis Ægypti: et constituit eum præpositum super Ægyptum, et super omnem domum suam.

11Venit autem fames in universam Ægyptum et Chanaan, et tribulatio magna: et non inveniebant cibos patres nostri.

12Cum audisset autem Jacob esse frumentum in Ægypto, misit patres nostros primum:

13et in secundo cognitus est Joseph a fratribus suis, et manifestatum est Pharaoni genus ejus.

14Mittens autem Joseph, accersivit Jacob patrem suum et omnem cognationem suam, in animabus septuaginta quinque.

15Et descendit Jacob in Ægyptum: et defunctus est ipse, et patres nostri.

16Et translati sunt in Sichem, et positi sunt in sepulchro, quod emit Abraham pretio argenti a filiis Hemor filii Sichem.

17Cum autem appropinquaret tempus promissionis quam confessus erat Deus Abrahæ, crevit populus, et multiplicatus est in Ægypto,

18quoadusque surrexit alius rex in Ægypto, qui non sciebat Joseph.

19Hic circumveniens genus nostrum, afflixit patres nostros ut exponerent infantes suos, ne vivificarentur.

20Eodem tempore natus est Moyses, et fuit gratus Deo: qui nutritus est tribus mensibus in domo patris sui.

21Exposito autem illo, sustulit eum filia Pharaonis, et nutrivit eum sibi in filium.

22Et eruditus est Moyses omni sapientia Ægyptiorum, et erat potens in verbis et in operibus suis.

23Cum autem impleretur ei quadraginta annorum tempus, ascendit in cor ejus ut visitaret fratres suos filios Israël.

24Et cum vidisset quemdam injuriam patientem, vindicavit illum, et fecit ultionem ei qui injuriam sustinebat, percusso Ægyptio.

25Existimabat autem intelligere fratres, quoniam Deus per manum ipsius daret salutem illis: at illi non intellexerunt.

26Sequenti vero die apparuit illis litigantibus: et reconciliabat eos in pace, dicens: Viri, fratres estis: ut quid nocetis alterutrum?

27Qui autem injuriam faciebat proximo, repulit eum, dicens: Quis te constituit principem et judicem super nos?

28Numquid interficere me tu vis, quemadmodum interfecisti heri Ægyptium?

29Fugit autem Moyses in verbo isto: et factus est advena in terra Madian, ubi generavit filios duos.

30Et expletis annis quadraginta, apparuit illi in deserto montis Sina angelus in igne flammæ rubi.

31Moyses autem videns, admiratus est visum. Et accedente illo ut consideraret, facta est ad eum vox Domini, dicens:

32Ego sum Deus patrum tuorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob. Tremefactus autem Moyses, non audebat considerare.

33Dixit autem illi Dominus: Solve calceamentum pedum tuorum: locus enim in quo stas, terra sancta est.

34Videns vidi afflictionem populi mei qui est in Ægypto, et gemitum eorum audivi, et descendi liberare eos. Et nunc veni, et mittam te in Ægyptum.

35Hunc Moysen, quem negaverunt, dicentes: Quis te constituit principem et judicem? hunc Deus principem et redemptorem misit, cum manu angeli qui apparuit illi in rubo.

36Hic eduxit illos faciens prodigia et signa in terra Ægypti, et in rubro mari, et in deserto annis quadraginta.

37Hic est Moyses, qui dixit filiis Israël: Prophetam suscitabit vobis Deus de fratribus vestris, tamquam me: ipsum audietis.

38Hic est qui fuit in ecclesia in solitudine cum angelo, qui loquebatur ei in monte Sina, et cum patribus nostris: qui accepit verba vitæ dare nobis.

39Cui noluerunt obedire patres nostri: sed repulerunt, et aversi sunt cordibus suis in Ægyptum,

40dicentes ad Aaron: Fac nobis deos qui præcedant nos: Moyses enim hic, qui eduxit nos de terra Ægypti, nescimus quid factum sit ei.

41Et vitulum fecerunt in diebus illis, et obtulerunt hostiam simulacro, et lætabantur in operibus manuum suarum.

42Convertit autem Deus, et tradidit eos servire militiæ cæli, sicut scriptum est in libro prophetarum: [Numquid victimas et hostias obtulistis mihi annis quadraginta in deserto, domus Israël?

43Et suscepistis tabernaculum Moloch, et sidus dei vestri Rempham, figuras quas fecistis adorare eas: et transferam vos trans Babylonem.]

44Tabernaculum testimonii fuit cum patribus nostris in deserto, sicut disposuit illis Deus loquens ad Moysen, ut faceret illud secundum formam quam viderat.

45Quod et induxerunt, suscipientes patres nostri cum Jesu in possessionem gentium quas expulit Deus a facie patrum nostrorum, usque in diebus David,

46qui invenit gratiam ante Deum, et petiit ut inveniret tabernaculum Deo Jacob.

47Salomon autem ædificavit illi domum.

48Sed non Excelsus in manufactis habitat, sicut propheta dicit:

49[Cælum mihi sedes est: terra autem scabellum pedum meorum. Quam domum ædificabitis mihi? dicit Dominus: aut quis locus requietionis meæ est?

50Nonne manus mea fecit hæc omnia?]

51Dura cervice, et incircumcisis cordibus et auribus, vos semper Spiritui Sancto resistitis: sicut patres vestri, ita et vos.

52Quem prophetarum non sunt persecuti patres vestri? et occiderunt eos qui prænuntiabant de adventu Justi, cujus vos nunc proditores et homicidæ fuistis:

53qui accepistis legem in dispositione angelorum, et non custodistis.

54Audientes autem hæc, dissecabantur cordibus suis, et stridebant dentibus in eum.

55Cum autem esset plenus Spiritu Sancto, intendens in cælum, vidit gloriam Dei, et Jesum stantem a dextris Dei. Et ait: Ecce video cælos apertos, et Filium hominis stantem a dextris Dei.

56Exclamantes autem voce magna continuerunt aures suas, et impetum fecerunt unanimiter in eum.

57Et ejicientes eum extra civitatem, lapidabant: et testes deposuerunt vestimenta sua secus pedes adolescentis qui vocabatur Saulus.

58Et lapidabant Stephanum invocantem, et dicentem: Domine Jesu, suscipe spiritum meum.

59Positis autem genibus, clamavit voce magna, dicens: Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Et cum hoc dixisset, obdormivit in Domino. Saulus autem erat consentiens neci ejus.

1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2And Stephen said: “Noble brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he stayed in Haran.

3And God said to him, ‘Depart from your country and from your kindred, and go into the land that I will show to you.’

4Then he went away from the land of the Chaldeans, and he lived at Haran. And later, after his father was dead, God brought him into this land, in which you now dwell.

5And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even the space of one step. But he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his offspring after him, though he did not have a son.

6Then God told him that his offspring would be a settler in a foreign land, and that they would subjugate them, and treat them badly, for four hundred years.

7‘And the nation whom they will serve, I will judge,’ said the Lord. ‘And after these things, they shall depart and shall serve me in this place.’

8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so he conceived Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac conceived Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve Patriarchs.

9And the Patriarchs, being jealous, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him.

10And he rescued him from all his tribulations. And he gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And he appointed him as governor over Egypt and over all his house.

11Then a famine occurred in all of Egypt and Canaan, and a great tribulation. And our fathers did not find food.

12But when Jacob had heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.

13And on the second occasion, Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and his ancestry was made manifest to Pharaoh.

14Then Joseph sent for and brought his father Jacob, with all his kindred, seventy-five souls.

15And Jacob descended into Egypt, and he passed away, and so did our fathers.

16And they crossed over into Shechem, and they were placed in the sepulcher which Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the son of Shechem.

17And when the time of the Promise that God had revealed to Abraham drew near, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt,

18even until another king, who did not know Joseph, rose up in Egypt.

19This one, encompassing our kindred, afflicted our fathers, so that they would expose their infants, lest they be kept alive.

20In the same time, Moses was born. And he was in the grace of God, and he was nourished for three months in the house of his father.

21Then, having been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him in, and she raised him as her own son.

22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.

23But when forty years of age were completed in him, it rose up in his heart that he should visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.

24And when he had seen a certain one suffering injury, he defended him. And striking the Egyptian, he wrought a retribution for him who was enduring the injury.

25Now he supposed that his brothers would understand that God would grant them salvation through his hand. But they did not understand it.

26So truly, on the following day, he appeared before those who were arguing, and he would have reconciled them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. So why would you harm one another?’

27But he who was causing the injury to his neighbor rejected him, saying: ‘Who has appointed you as leader and judge over us?

28Could it be that you want to kill me, in the same way that you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

29Then, at this word, Moses fled. And he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he produced two sons.

30And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an Angel, in a flame of fire in a bush.

31And upon seeing this, Moses was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near in order to gaze at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying:

32‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses, being made to tremble, did not dare to look.

33But the Lord said to him: ‘Loosen the shoes from your feet. For the place in which you stand is holy ground.

34Certainly, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. And so, I am coming down to free them. And now, go forth and I will send you into Egypt.’

35This Moses, whom they rejected by saying, ‘Who has appointed you as leader and judge?’ is the one God sent to be leader and redeemer, by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36This man led them out, accomplishing signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the desert, for forty years.

37This is Moses, who said to the sons of Israel: ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own brothers. You shall listen to him.’

38This is he who was in the Church in the wilderness, with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. It is he who received the words of life to give to us.

39It is he whom our fathers were not willing to obey. Instead, they rejected him, and in their hearts they turned away toward Egypt,

40saying to Aaron: ‘Make gods for us, which may go before us. For this Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

41And so they fashioned a calf in those days, and they offered sacrifices to an idol, and they rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42Then God turned, and he handed them over, to subservience to the armies of heaven, just as it was written in the Book of the Prophets: ‘Did you not offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?

43And yet you took up for yourselves the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, figures which you yourselves formed in order to adore them. And so I will carry you away, beyond Babylon.’

44The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, just as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, so that he would make it according to the form that he had seen.

45But our fathers, receiving it, also brought it, with Joshua, into the land of the Gentiles, whom God expelled before the face of our fathers, even until the days of David,

46who found grace before God and who asked that he might obtain a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

48Yet the Most High does not live in houses built by hands, just as he said through the prophet:

49‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? says the Lord. And which is my resting place?

50Has not my hand made all these things?’

51Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you ever resist the Holy Spirit. Just as your fathers did, so also do you do.

52Which of the Prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they killed those who foretold the advent of the Just One. And you have now become the betrayers and murderers of him.

53You received the law by the actions of Angels, and yet you have not kept it.”

54Then, upon hearing these things, they were deeply wounded in their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him.

55But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and gazing intently toward heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”

56Then they, crying out with a loud voice, blocked their ears and, with one accord, rushed violently toward him.

57And driving him out, beyond the city, they stoned him. And witnesses placed their garments beside the feet of a youth, who was called Saul.

58And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

59Then, having been brought to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his murder.