Day 479 of 730

¹The high priest said, "Are these things so?"

²He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.'

⁴Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.

⁵He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he still had no child.

⁶God spoke in this way: that his seed would live as foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.'

⁸He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹"The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,

¹⁰and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

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

¹³On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers,

¹⁶and they were brought back to Shechem, and placed in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷"But as the time of the promise came close which God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until there arose a different king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they would not stay alive.

²⁰At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house.

²¹When he was thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

²²Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

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

²⁴Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they did not understand.

²⁶"The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?'

²⁷But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

²⁹Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰"When forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came,

³²'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' Moses trembled, and dared not look.

³³The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.'

³⁵"This Moses, whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'-God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.'

³⁸This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received words of life to give to us,

³⁹to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

⁴¹They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned, and abandoned them to serve the hosts of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

⁴⁴"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,

⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹'heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord; 'or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?'

⁵¹"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.

⁵²Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

⁵³You received the Law as it was ordained by angels, and did not keep it!"

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

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

⁵⁶and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

⁵⁷But they shouted out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.

⁵⁸They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

⁶⁰He kneeled down, and shouted out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.

¹Ascribe to the Lord, you sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in holy array.

³The Lord's voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even the Lord on many waters.

⁴The Lord's voice is powerful. The Lord's voice is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.

⁷The Lord's voice strikes with flashes of lightning.

⁸The Lord's voice shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The Lord's voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, "Glory!"

¹⁰The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.

¹¹The Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

³The fool's talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

⁵A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies.

⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn't find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

⁷Stay away from a foolish man, for you won't find knowledge on his lips.

⁸The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

⁹Fools mock at making atonement for sins, but among the upright there is good will.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.

¹⁴The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

¹⁵A simple man believes everything, but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.

¹⁶A wise man fears, and shuns evil, but the fool is hotheaded and reckless.

¹⁷He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated.

¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.

²¹He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who has pity on the poor.

²²Do they not go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.

²³In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.

²⁵A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the Lord is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children.

²⁷The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death.

²⁸In the multitude of people is the king's glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.

²⁹He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.

³⁰The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.

³¹He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

³³Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵The king's favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.