ABU(i)
1 AND the high priest said: Are then these things so?
2 And he said: Brethren, and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 and said to him: Go forth from thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4 Then he went forth from the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Haran; and from thence, after his father was dead, he caused him to remove into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot-breadth; and he promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he had no child.
6 And God spoke after this manner, that his seed shall be a sojourner in a strange land, and they will bring them into bondage, and afflict them four hundred years.
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage I will judge, said God; and after that they shall come forth, and shall serve me in this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and thus he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day, and Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. And God was with him,
10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 And there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and a great affliction; and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, first sent out our fathers.
13 And at the second time, Joseph was recognized by his brothers; and the race of Joseph was made known to Pharaoh.
14 Then Joseph sent, and called for Jacob his father, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers,
16 and were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God declared to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 until another king arose who knew not Joseph.
19 He, dealing subtly with our race, afflicted our fathers, so that they should cast out their infants, that they might not be preserved alive.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, who was nourished three months in his father's house.
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for herself as a son.
22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the sons of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged the one oppressed by smiting the Egyptian.
25 For he supposed his brethren would understand, that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not.
26 And on the following day he showed himself to them as they were contending, and urged them to peace, saying: Ye are brethren; why wrong ye one another?
27 But he who was wronging his neighbor thrust him away, saying: Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst kill the Egyptian yesterday?
29 And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.
30 And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of the mount Sinai an angel in a flame of fire, in a bush.
31 And Moses, seeing it, wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saving:
32 I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
33 And the Lord said to him: Loose the sandals from thy feet; for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34 Truly, I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I heard their groaning, and came down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35 This Moses whom they denied, saying: Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him did God send as a ruler and a redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, working wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel: A Prophet will God raise up to you of your brethren, like unto.
38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the living oracles to give to us;
39 to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 saying to Aaron: Make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 And God turned away, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did ye offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices, Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Remphan, The figures which ye made to worship them; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, as he who spoke to Moses commanded, that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen;
45 which also our fathers received, and brought in with Joshua into the possession of the heathen, whom God drove out before our fathers, unto the days of David;
46 who found favor before God, and asked that he might find a habitation for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built a house for him.
48 Yet the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet:
49 Heaven is my throne, And the earth is my footstool. What house will ye build for me, saith the Lord; Or what is my place of rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?
51 Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears! Ye always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they slew those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have now become the betrayers and murderers;
53 who received the law as the ordinances of angels, and kept it not.
54 Hearing these things, they were enraged in their hearts, and gnashed their teeth against him.
55 But, being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said:
56 Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord;
58 and having cast him out of the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid off their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul,
59 and stoned Stephen, calling and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And saying this, he fell asleep.