MODERN LITERAL VERSION

7:1 And the high-priest said, Are then these things so?

7:2 And he said, Brethren and fathers, listen: the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
7:3 and said to him, Come out of your land and from your relatives and come-here into the land which I will show you.
7:4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran and when his father was dead, God exiled him from there, into this land, in which you* are now dwelling.
7:5 And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a step of his foot and he promised to give it to him and to his seed after him *for his territory, when as of yet he had no child.
7:6 And God spoke thus: That his seed will be a foreigner in an alien land and they will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years.
7:7 And God said, I will judge the nation to which they may be enslaved and they will come forth and give-divine service to me in this place after these things.
7:8 And he gave him the covenant* of circumcision and so to Abraham was born Isaac and he circumcised him on the eighth day, and to Isaac was born Jacob and to Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
7:9 And the patriarchs, being jealous of Joseph, gave him into Egypt. And God was with him,
7:10 and liberated him from all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who designated him leader over Egypt and all his house.
7:11 Now there came a famine and great affliction upon all of Egypt and Canaan and our fathers found no sustenance.
7:12 But when Jacob heard of grain being in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time.
7:13 And by the second time, Joseph was recognized by his brethren, and Joseph's race became apparent to the Pharaoh.
7:14 And Joseph sent them and called to him Jacob, his father, and all the relatives, seventy five souls.
7:15 And Jacob went down into Egypt and is dead*, he himself and our fathers;
7:16 and were transferred to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham purchased for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
7:17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God swore to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
7:18 till there rose* up a different king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
7:19 This one dealt craftily with our race and mistreated our fathers, making* them place their babies outside in the elements, *that* they might not live.
7:20 In which season, Moses was born and was handsome to God, and he was nourished three months in his father's house.
7:21 And when he was placed outside in the elements, Pharaoh's daughter took him for herself and reared him *for her own son.

7:22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in his words and works.
7:23 But when the time of forty years was fulfilled with him, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.
7:24 And seeing one of them being hurt, he retaliated and avenged him who was subjugated, striking the Egyptian;
7:25 and he supposed that his brethren understood that God is giving them salvation through his hand. But they did not understand.
7:26 And he appeared the next day to those who were quarreling and drove them to make peace, saying, Men, you* are brethren! Why are you* wronging one another?
7:27 But he who hurt his neighbor thrust him away, saying, Who designated you a ruler and a justice over us?
7:28 You do not wish to assassinate me, in the manner you assassinated the Egyptian yesterday, do you?

7:29 And at this saying, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where two sons were born to him.
7:30 And when forty years were fulfilled, a messenger of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
7:31 And when Moses saw it, he marveled at the vision of it and as he came near to consider what it was, there came* a voice of the Lord to him,
7:32 I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And the trembling Moses came*, and did not dare to consider what it was.
7:33 And the Lord said to him, Loose the shoes from your feet; for* the place in which you stand is holy land.
7:34 In seeing, I have seen the mistreatment of my people that is in Egypt and have heard their groaning and I have come down to liberate them. And now come-here, I will send you into Egypt.
7:35 This Moses whom they deny, saying, Who designated you a ruler and a justice? God sent him to be both a ruler and a redeemer by the hand of the messenger that appeared to him in the bush.
7:36 This man led them forth, having done wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
7:37 This is that Moses, who said to the sons of Israel, The Lord our God will raise* up to you* a prophet out of your* brethren, like me.
7:38 This is he who came* to be in the congregation* in the wilderness with the messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers. This is he who accepted the living word to give to us;
7:39 to whom our fathers willed not to become obedient*, but thrust him from themselves and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,
7:40 saying to Aaron, Make* us gods that will travel before us. For* this Moses, who led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
7:41 And they made* a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol and were joyous in the works of their hands.
7:42 But God turned and gave them up to give-divine service to the host of heaven; as it has been written in the book of the prophets, ‘You* did not offer slaughtered beasts and sacrifices to me for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel, did you*?
7:43 And you* took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Remphan, the patterns which you* made* to worship and I will exile you* past Babylon.' {Amos 5:25-27}
7:44 The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, as he, who spoke to Moses, commanded him to make* it according to the pattern which he had seen.
7:45 Which also our fathers accepted in succession, brought in with Joshua when they entered in the territory of the nations, that God thrust out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David.
7:46 David, who found favor in the sight of God, asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
7:47 But Solomon built him a house.
7:48 But the Highest is not dwelling in temples made* with hands; as says the prophet,
7:49 ‘The heaven is my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet. What sort of house will you* build me? says the Lord. Or what is the place of my rest?
7:50 Did not my hand make* all these things?' {Is. 66:2}

7:51 You* are stiff-necked and non-circumcised in heart and ears. You* are habitually defying the Holy Spirit just like your* fathers did, so do you*!
7:52 Which of the prophets did your* fathers not persecute? And they killed those who proclaimed beforehand God's message concerning the coming of the Righteous One; of whom you* have now become betrayers and murderers.
7:53 You* who received the law at the commandment from God's messengers and did not keep it.

7:54 Now hearing these things, they were infuriated in their hearts and they were gnashing their teeth at him.
7:55 But possessing the full ness of the Holy Spirit, he stared into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
7:56 and said, Behold, I am viewing the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
7:57 But they cried out with a loud voice and held their ears together and united, rushed upon him;
7:58 and they cast him outside the city and stoned him. And the witnesses placed their garments by the feet of a young-man named Saul.
7:59 And they stoned Stephen, who was calling upon the Lord, saying, Lord Jesus, accept my spirit.
7:60 And placing his knees down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not weigh this, the sin, to them. And when he had said this, he fell-asleep.