God Promises Action

6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for ^[a](A)under compulsion he will let them go, and ^[b]under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

⁶ Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘^(A)I am the Lord, and ^(B)I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also ^(C)redeem you with ^(D)an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

^14 (A)And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘^(B)With a ^[a]powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^[b]slavery.

¹⁶ So ^(A)it shall ^[a]serve as a sign on your hand and as ^[b]phylacteries ^[c]on your forehead, for with a ^[d]powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

⁶ For you are ^(A)a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(B)a people for His ^[a]own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[b]earth.

⁷ “^(C)The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because the Lord loved you and kept the ^(D)oath which He swore to your forefathers, ^(E)the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of ^[c]slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

¹⁷ “But as the ^(A)time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, ^(B)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until ^(C)there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. ¹⁹ It was he who took ^(D)shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would ^[a](E)expose their infants and they would not survive. ²⁰ It was at this time that ^(F)Moses was born; and he was lovely ^[b]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. ²¹ And after he had been set outside, ^(G)Pharaoh’s daughter ^[c]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all ^(H)the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. ²³ But when he was approaching the age of forty, ^(I)it entered his ^[d]mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them ^[e]deliverance ^[f]through him, but they did not understand. ^26 (J)On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ ²⁷ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘^(K)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? ^28 (L)You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ ²⁹ At this remark, ^(M)Moses fled and became an alien in the land of ^[g]Midian, where he ^(N)became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, ^(O)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: ³² ‘^(P)I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. ^33 (Q)But the Lord said to him, ‘^(R)Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ^34 (S)I have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them; ^[h](T)come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they ^(U)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ^[i]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ^[j]help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. ^36 (V)This man led them out, performing ^(W)wonders and ^[k]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the ^(X)wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^(Y)God will raise up for you a prophet ^[l]like me from your brethren.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in ^(Z)the ^[m]congregation in the wilderness together with ^(AA)the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^(AB)living ^(AC)oracles to pass on to you. ³⁹ Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but ^(AD)repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, ^40 (AE)saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ^41 [n]At that time ^(AF)they made a ^[o]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^(AG)the works of their hands. ⁴² But God ^(AH)turned away and delivered them up to ^[p]serve the ^[q]host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘^(AI)It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices ^(AJ)forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? ^43 (AK)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god ^[r]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had ^(AL)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^(AM)according to the pattern which he had seen. ⁴⁵ And having received it in their turn, our fathers ^(AN)brought it in with ^[s]Joshua upon dispossessing the ^[t]nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. ^46 (AO)David found favor in God’s sight, and ^(AP)asked that he might find a dwelling place for the ^[u]God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was ^(AQ)Solomon who built a house for Him. ⁴⁸ However, ^(AR)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁵¹ “You men who are ^(AU)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ^52 (AV)Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^(AW)the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers ^(AX)you have now become; ⁵³ you who received the law as ^(AY)ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴ Now when they heard this, they were ^(AZ)cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But being ^(BA)full of the Holy Spirit, he ^(BB)gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(BC)at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Behold, I see the ^(BD)heavens opened up and ^(BE)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. ⁵⁸ When they had ^(BF)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^(BG)the witnesses ^(BH)laid aside their robes at the feet of ^(BI)a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They went on stoning Stephen as he ^(BJ)called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then ^(BK)falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^(BL)do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he ^[v](BM)fell asleep.