Stephen's Speech
1 The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2 Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4 And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. 5 God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. 6 This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years. 7 But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’ 8 Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
9 “Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household. 11 Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, 12 and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. 13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. 14 So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt. 15 Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16 Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.
17 “When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger. 18 At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. 19 He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. 20 It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, 21 and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. ( 25 He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) 26 The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’ 27 But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. 33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. 36 He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 37 Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.’ 38 He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. 40 So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ 41 It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘People of Israel! It was not to me
that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals
for forty years in the desert.
43 It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried,
and the image of Rephan, your star god;
they were idols that you had made to worship.
And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. 45 Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. 46 He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48 “But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne, says the Lord,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house would you build for me?
Where is the place for me to live in?
50 Did not I myself make all these things?’
51 “How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. 53 You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels—yet you have not obeyed it!”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”
57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.
Ata Setepano ro Taäyi'bai Yudai ro ri
1 Kohani Fopara eji Setepano te ekye: “Takicu se kwoi ndi endaro ya?” 2 Setepano zatadrite ekye: “Ädrupii ndi täpii be, nyèri ta maro! Teinye zutu amaro Abarayama ri oyiako Arana ya Lu 'desi para ka'darute ndäri Mesopotamia ya 3 ago atate nda ri ekye: ‘Nye'be katidri miro ndi 'bädri be ago nyoyi wari se maka'dana 'da miri ya.’ 4 Ago nda e'be 'bädri ndaro te ago oyite Arana ya. Odra täpi Abarayama ro ro vosi, Lu 'ba nda te iswene wari se nyàbe ori kigye yauono ya. 5 Lu ozo telesi na aza kote Abarayama ri a'done modo ndaro ro ca käkpu kode oca kadra alo gyini ro ronye. Oko Lu 'ba ta te ozone ndäri, a'done ndaro zelevoi ndaro ri. Tuse Lu ko'ba tao'ba ono be si, 'dooko Abarayama dri teinye ŋgwa ako. 6 Ono ni tase Lu katabe ndäri owo ekye: ‘Zelevoi miro orina 'da 'bädri atra ya, se ànya a'donayi 'da iyeäṛi ro kigye ago ayena ànya 'da koziro ndroa na kama su. 7 Oko lidri se ànya kayibe oye ruindu rigye ana mayena vurena 'da, ago voigyesi oko ànya efonayi 'da tesi ni 'bädri ana yasi ago mätunayi ma 'da vo ono ya.’ 8 'Dooko Lu ozo la'bi 'di olo ŋbiṛi ro rote Abarayama ri taka'da tao'baro ro. Ago Abarayama lo Yisika te ŋbiṛi ro u'du njidriena uti ndaro vosi, Yisika lo ŋgwa agoro ndaro Yakoba te ŋbiṛi ro ago Yakoba lo ŋgwàagoro ndaro 'butealo foritu te ŋbiṛi ro, ànya ni zutui likuekye tu'de amaro ro owo.
9 “Ŋgwàagoro Yakoba ro a'doyite yaoko be Yosepa ädrupi ànyaro lomvo ago gyeyi nda te a'done iyeäṛi ro Ezipeto ya. Oko Lu orivoya tro nda be 10 ago lofo nda te londroro ni rriti cini ndaro yasi. Ondro Yosepa kefote 'bädri'ba Ezipeto ro kandra oko, Lu ozo a'do kado te ndäri ndi tavouni be, ago 'bädri'ba 'ba Yosepa te wari'ba ro 'bädri dri ndi 'di zo 'bädri'ba roya be dri. 11 'Dooko mä'bu 'dete Ezipeto cini ya ndi Kanana be, se ozo rueza amba te. Zutui amaro ni kote ŋgaonya aza usune, 12 ago ondro Yakoba keri tate inya orivoya Ezipeto ya oko, nda zo ŋgwàagoro ndaro, zutui amaro te, tu käti si lau. 13 Pere ṛiri oyi rosi Yosepa 'ba andivo ndaro te unine ädrupii ndaro ri, ago 'bädri'ba Ezipeto ro ni katidri Yosepa ro tana te. 14 Ago Yosepa zo lazo te täpi ndaro Yakoba ri, taitine ndäri ndi katidri cini ndaro be, lidri cini kigye orivoya 'butenjidrieri fonji, ikyine Ezipeto ya. 15 'Dooko Yakoba oyite Ezipeto ya, vose nda drate kigye, ndi ŋgwàagoro ndaro be. 16 Avo ànyaro äŋgyite Sekeme ya, ase ànya te lau 'budri se Abarayama kogyebe ni käläsikala Amora ro rigye parata si ana ya.
17 “Ondro tu kesate ti Lu ri tao'ba se nda ko'babe Abarayama ri ana ätine oko, oti lidri amaro ro Ezipeto ya a'dote amba. 18 Äduro oko 'bädri'ba se ni ta Yosepa ro kote eto 'dimiri te Ezipeto ya. 19 Nda odo zutui amaro te ago ye ànya te siomba si, gbiri ànya te ŋgwàŋwai ànyaro lofone tesi ni 'bai ànyaro yasi, tana ànya kotodra robe. 20 Äti Musa te tuna gi ono si, nda orivoya ŋgwa liŋgyiekye yi, andre vonate 'bäru imba na nätu, 21 ago ondro olofo nda teni 'ba ndaro yasi oko, ŋguti 'bädri'ba ro ru nda te ago eca nda te ŋgwa ro modo anyaro ri. 22 Emba nda te tavouni cini Ezipeto'bai rosi ago a'dote mano para ro ata ya ndi taoye be.
23 “Ondro ndroa Musa rote 'butesu oko, nda usu tate oyine ori Yisaraele'bai azi ndaro ro ondrene. 24 Nda ndre Ezipeto'ba alo ka aza ànyaro oyena koziro, ago nda oyite nda opane ago logovota rote nda ufu si. 25 (Nda kusu iro be ekye lidri modo ndaro ro unina ndi anjioko Lu ka ugu ànya opa nda si ànya o'baza dritai ro, oko ànya niyi kote.) 26 Kyenonosi nda ndre Yisaraele'bai ritu kayi kyila oye, ago nda ojote taliatokpe o'bane lakole ànyaro ya. Nda atate ekye: ‘Nyeri, mano kwoi, ami orivoya Yisaraele'bai azi yi, nyà kyila oye inye etaya?’ 27 Oko nda se kabe azi oye koziro ana du'du Musa te. Nda eji tate ekye: ‘A'di 'ba mi ni 'dimiri'ba ro ago vureope'ba ro ämädri ya? 28 Inye'do mile kpa ma ufune oso, se mifu Ezipeto'ba ana be tandrobe ronye ya?’ 29 Ondro Musa keri ta ono te oko, nda mute ni Ezipeto yasi, ago oyite orine wari Midiana roya. Nda a'dote ŋgwàagoro ritu be lau.
30 “Ago ondro ndroa 'butesu kälävute oko, malaika aza ka'darute Musa ri leko asi roya ka ce kumvuŋwa uje vocowa ya loto 'Bereŋwa Sinai pa. 31 Musa a'dote lä'bilä'biro ŋgase nda kondrebe ana ta, ago oyite loto cekumvuŋwa re ondrene kado. Oko nda eri ata Opi rote ekye: 32 ‘Ma ni Lu zutu miro ro, Lu Abarayama, Yisika ndi Yakoba be ro.’ Musa a'dote turi ro ago le kote ondrene. 33 Opi atate ndäri ekye: ‘Mitri mvoka miro, tana vose nyedrebe kigye ono orivoya gyini alokado yi. 34 Mandre lidri maro abe ugu ezana siomba si Ezipeto ya ono te, meri leri ànyaro te, mikyite vuru ànya o'bane dritai ro, ka'do inye nyikyi mazo mi robe Ezipeto ya.’
35 “Musa ni se lidri Yisaraele ro kogabezo owo. Se ànya ejiyi ta te ekye: ‘A'di 'ba mi ni 'dimiri'ba ro ago vureope'ba ro ämädri ya?’ Nda ni se Lu zote lidri mirine ago ànya o'bane dritai ro ŋgaopa malaika se ka'darute ndäri uje cekumvuŋwa roya owo. 36 Nda lofo lidri teni Ezipeto yasi, ye talaro ro ndi rubä be te Ezipeto ya ago Gyi'desi Okaro kala ago ndroa na 'butesu vocowa ya. 37 Musa ni se katabe lidri Yisaraele ro ri ekye: ‘Lu ezina nebi 'da ämiri, kpa oso nda kezo mabe ronye, ago nda a'dona 'da alo aza lidri modo amiro ro.’ 38 Nda ni se a'dote lidri Yisaraele robe se mbikala be vocowa ya ana; nda a'dote lau zutui amaro be ago malaika se atate ndäri 'Bereŋwa Sinai dri ana be, ago nda usu lazo lidriidriro Lu rote ugu copene ämäri.
39 “Oko zutui amaro gatezo nda orone; ànya diyi nda te ago leyite gialo ogone ànyari kovole Ezipeto ya. 40 Ago ànya atayite Arona ri ekye: ‘Nyede lu azaka ämäri ama lepene. Mä̀ni tase ka'dobe mano se Musa ono ri kote, se lofo ama teni Ezipeto yasi ono.’ 41 'Dooko ànya edeyi ŋga awi te beti 'daŋgo ro ronye, loyi tori te rigye, ago yeyi karama te ŋgase ànya kedeyibe andivo ànyaro si oroza. 42 Ago Lu anarute pere ni ànya resi ago e'be ànya te 'bi'bii vo'buyakuru ro mätune, oso se egyi tana be buku nebii roya ronye ekye:
‘Lidri Yisaraele ro!
Nyùtufu ago nyòtola koronyai 'ba ro ndroa na 'butesu vocowa ya ana kote märi.
43 Mìŋgyite Mutuguṛi lu Moleka ro,
ndi beti Refona lu 'bi'bi ro amiro robe ayani;
ànya orivoya ŋga awi yi se nyèdete mätune.
Ta'doro mazona ami 'da midiro le Babelona kundusi.’
44 “Zutui amaro a'dote Mutuguṛi a'do lototi Opi ro robe vocowa ya. Edete oso se Lu kiti tana be Musa ri edene ronye, oso se betina aka'dabe Musa ri ronye. 45 Ono vosi, zutui amaro se ruyi Mutuguṛi teni täpii ànyaro rigyesi ŋgyiyi te tro ànya be ondro ànya kayite oyi Yosua be wari se Lu konja tu'dei be ni mile ànyaro ya si ana rigyesi. Ago rite lau madale tu Dawidi rosi. 46 Ta ndaro si Lu te ago eji Lu te ndäri nda o'bane vo oriro ozone Lu Yakoba ro ri. 47 Oko Solomo ni se be zo te ndäri owo.
48 “Oko Lu Fopara Ndra ri ko zo se abebe lidri si ya; oso nebi katabe ronye ekye:
49 ‘Opi ekye vo'buyakuru ni giti maro,
ago 'bädri orivoya kotopa pa maro otoro.
Beti zo eŋwani ro mile omone märi ya?
Vo oriza märi eŋwaro ya?
50 Inye'do andivo maro ma'ba ŋgase cini kwoi ṛo ko niya?’ ”
51 Setepano ugu atate ekye: “Ami orivoya taeriako! Ya amiro luako'ba ronye, ami orivoya biako ata Lu ro erine! Ami kpa oso zutui amiro ronye; nyà kpa ondoalo gboto Tori Alokado be! 52 Nebi aza gi be se zutui amiro ezayi ko ya? Ànya fuyi lazo'bai Lu rote, se ayoyi ikyi Ruindu'ba taŋgye ndaro rote ṛo kyeno. Ago yauono nyòzo drí ndaro te ago äfu nda te. 53 Ami ni se nyùsu ota Lu rote, se ṛo malaika ozote ami rigye, caoko miro kote.”
Ovo Setepano ro Kuni si
54 Ondro gboko Taäyi'bai ro keriyi ta Setepano rote oko, ànya a'doyite kyilaro ago siyi si ànyaro te nda lomvo kyila si. 55 Oko Setepano, twi Tori Alokado be ndrevote vo'buyakuru ya ago ndre 'desi Lu rote ago Yesu edrevoya drígwo Lu roya. 56 Nda atate ekye: “Mìndre! Mandre vo'buyakuru äpite ago Ŋgwa Lidri ro edrevoya drígwo Lu roya!”
57 Otre amba si Taäyi'bai tisiyi bi ànyaro te drí si. Ago ànya cini lasote äru nda dri, 58 lofoyi nda te tesi 'bakici kundu, ago voyi nda te kuni si. Tazevoedre'bai e'beyi boŋgoi ànyaro te mano agoanji ro se äzibe Saulo ana ri vona ondrene. 59 Ànya kayi ugu Setepano ovo kuni si oko, nda zi Opi te ṛeṛe ekye: “Opi Yesu, miru adri maro!” 60 Nda sokayate vuru ago trete ṛe otre amba si ekye: “Opi! Mi'ba takozi ono ko ànya dri!” Nda kata ta ono te oko ndi drate.