Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

The high priest asks Stephen whether the charges are true, and Stephen begins with the God of glory appearing to Abraham in Mesopotamia and calling him onward. Abraham leaves the Chaldeans, lives in Haran, and is later brought into the land where Stephen's hearers now dwell.

T¹hen the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” ²And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’ ⁴So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

Stephen says God gave Abraham no inheritance there at first, yet promised the land to him and his descendants and foretold their future slavery and deliverance. He then names the covenant of circumcision and the line from Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs.

⁵He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child. ⁶God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. ⁷‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’ ⁸Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.