Part 8

006:014 For we have heard him say that Jesus, the Nazarene, will pull this place down to the ground and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us."

006:015 At once the eyes of all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin were fastened on him, and they saw his face looking just like the face of an angel.

007:001 Then the High Priest asked him, "Are these statements true?"

007:002 The reply of Stephen was, "Sirs--brethren and fathers--listen to me. God Most Glorious appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

007:003 and said to him, "`Leave your country and your relatives, and go into whatever land I point out to you.'

007:004 "Thereupon he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran till after the death of his father, when God caused him to remove into this country where you now live.

007:005 But he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not a single square yard of ground. And yet He promised to bestow the land as a permanent possession on him and his posterity after him-- and promised this at a time when Abraham was childless.

007:006 And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

007:007 "`And the nation, whichever it is, that enslaves them, I will judge,' said God; `and afterwards they shall come out, and they shall worship Me in this place.'

007:008 "Then He gave him the Covenant of circumcision, and under this Covenant he became the father of Isaac--whom he circumcised on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve Patriarchs.

007:009 "The Patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him

007:010 and delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him governor over Egypt and all the royal household.

007:011 But there came a famine throughout the whole of Egypt and Canaan-- and great distress--so that our forefathers could find no food.

007:012 When, however, Jacob heard that there was wheat to be had, he sent our forefathers into Egypt; that was the first time.

007:013 On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed of Joseph's parentage.

007:014 Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his family, numbering seventy-five persons, to come to him,

007:015 and Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and so did our forefathers,

007:016 and they were taken to Shechem and were laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money paid in silver.

007:017 "But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,

007:018 until there arose a foreign king over Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph.

007:019 He adopted a crafty policy towards our race, and oppressed our forefathers, making them cast out their infants so that they might not be permitted to live.

007:020 At this time Moses was born--a wonderfully beautiful child; and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.

007:021 At length he was cast out, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him, and brought him up as her own son.

007:022 So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and possessed great influence through his eloquence and his achievements.

007:023 "And when he was just forty years old, it occurred to him to visit his brethren the descendants of Israel.

007:024 Seeing one of them wrongfully treated he took his part, and secured justice for the ill-treated man by striking down the Egyptian.

007:025 He supposed his brethren to be aware that by him God was sending them deliverance; this, however, they did not understand.

007:026 The next day, also, he came and found two of them fighting, and he endeavoured to make peace between them. "`Sirs,' he said, `you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?'