1 Now in these days,
2 So the twelve summoned the community of disciples
3 So, brothers, select from among you seven men
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 And the statement pleased the whole group, and they chose Stephen (a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit), and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a convert from Antioch),
6 whom they stood before the apostles. And they prayed
7 And the word of God kept spreading, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was increasing greatly, and a large number of priests began obeying
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
9 But some of those from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (
10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!”
12 And they incited the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came up
13 And they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking words against this holy place and the law!
14 For we have heard him saying that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
15 And