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Acts 7:22-43
Common English Bible
Acts 7:22-43
Common English Bible
22 Moses learned everything Egyptian wisdom had to offer, and he was a man of powerful words and deeds.
23 “When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his family, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being wronged so he came to his rescue and evened the score by killing the Egyptian. 25 He expected his own kin to understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t. 26 The next day he came upon some Israelites who were caught up in an argument. He tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘You are brothers! Why are you harming each other?’ 27 The one who started the fight against his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge? 28 Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’[a] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he lived as an immigrant and had two sons.
30 “Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near Mount Sinai. 31 Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the Lord’s voice: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’[b] Trembling with fear, Moses didn’t dare to investigate any further. 33 The Lord continued, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen the oppression my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt.’[c]
35 “This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?’ This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the angel who appeared before him in the bush. 36 This man led them out after he performed wonders and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[d] 38 This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us. 39 He’s also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him!’[e] 41 That’s when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the stars in the sky, just as it is written in the scroll of the Prophets:
Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me
for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?
43 No! Instead, you took the tent of Moloch with you,
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made in order to worship them.
Therefore, I will send you far away, farther than Babylon.[f]
Acts 7:22-43
New International Version
Acts 7:22-43
New International Version
22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians(A) and was powerful in speech and action.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?(B) 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[a] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.(C)
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 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:(D) 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers,(E) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[b] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.(F)
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.(G) 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’[c](H)
35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’(I) He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt(J) and performed wonders and signs(K) in Egypt, at the Red Sea(L) and for forty years in the wilderness.(M)
37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[d](N) 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel(O) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;(P) and he received living words(Q) to pass on to us.(R)
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.(S) 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’[e](T) 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.(U) 42 But God turned away from them(V) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.(W) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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