1
"Summon your brother Aaron and his sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Separate them from the people of Israel, so that they may serve me as priests.
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Make priestly garments for your brother Aaron, to provide him with dignity and beauty.
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Call all the skilled workers to whom I have given ability, and tell them to make Aaron's clothes, so that he may be dedicated as a priest in my service.
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Tell them to make a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered shirt, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these priestly garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they can serve me as priests.
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The skilled workers are to use blue, purple, and red wool, gold thread, and fine linen.
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"They are to make the ephod of blue, purple, and red wool, gold thread, and fine linen, decorated with embroidery.
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Two shoulder straps, by which it can be fastened, are to be attached to the sides.
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A finely woven belt made of the same materials is to be attached to the ephod so as to form one piece with it.
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Take two carnelian stones and engrave on them the names of the twelve sons of Jacob,
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in the order of their birth, with six on one stone and six on the other.
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Have a skillful jeweler engrave on the two stones the names of the sons of Jacob, and mount the stones in gold settings.
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Put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. In this way Aaron will carry their names on his shoulders, so that I, the LORD, will always remember my people.
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Make two gold settings
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and two chains of pure gold twisted like cords, and attach them to the settings.
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"Make a breastpiece for the High Priest to use in determining God's will. It is to be made of the same materials as the ephod and with similar embroidery.
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It is to be square and folded double, 9 inches long and 9 inches wide.
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Mount four rows of precious stones on it; in the first row mount a ruby, a topaz, and a garnet;
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in the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond;
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in the third row, a turquoise, an agate, and an amethyst;
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and in the fourth row, a beryl, a carnelian, and a jasper. These are to be mounted in gold settings.
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Each of these twelve stones is to have engraved on it the name of one of the sons of Jacob, to represent the tribes of Israel.
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For the breastpiece make chains of pure gold, twisted like cords.
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Make two gold rings and attach them to the upper corners of the breastpiece,
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and fasten the two gold cords to the two rings.
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Fasten the other two ends of the cords to the two settings, and in this way attach them in front to the shoulder straps of the ephod.
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Then make two rings of gold and attach them to the lower corners of the breastpiece on the inside edge next to the ephod.
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Make two more gold rings and attach them to the lower part of the front of the two shoulder straps of the ephod, near the seam and above the finely woven belt.
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Tie the rings of the breastpiece to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that the breastpiece rests above the belt and does not come loose.
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"When Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will wear this breastpiece engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel, so that I, the LORD, will always remember my people.
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Put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece, so that Aaron will carry them when he comes into my holy presence. At such times he must always wear this breastpiece, so that he can determine my will for the people of Israel.
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"The robe that goes under the ephod is to be made entirely of blue wool.
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It is to have a hole for the head, and this hole is to be reinforced with a woven binding to keep it from tearing.
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All around its lower hem put pomegranates of blue, purple, and red wool, alternating with gold bells.
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Aaron is to wear this robe when he serves as priest. When he comes into my presence in the Holy Place or when he leaves it, the sound of the bells will be heard, and he will not be killed.
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"Make an ornament of pure gold and engrave on it 'Dedicated to the LORD.'
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Tie it to the front of the turban with a blue cord.
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Aaron is to wear it on his forehead, so that I, the LORD, will accept all the offerings that the Israelites dedicate to me, even if the people commit some error in offering them.
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"Weave Aaron's shirt of fine linen and make a turban of fine linen and also a sash decorated with embroidery.
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"Make shirts, sashes, and caps for Aaron's sons, to provide them with dignity and beauty.
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Put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons. Then ordain them and dedicate them by anointing them with olive oil, so that they may serve me as priests.
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Make linen shorts for them, reaching from the waist to the thighs, so that they will not expose themselves.
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Aaron and his sons must always wear them when they go into the Tent of my presence or approach the altar to serve as priests in the Holy Place, so that they will not be killed for exposing themselves. This is a permanent rule for Aaron and his descendants.
1
"This is what you are to do to Aaron and his sons to dedicate them as priests in my service. Take one young bull and two rams without any defects.
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Use the best wheat flour, but no yeast, and make some bread with olive oil, some without it, and some in the form of thin cakes brushed with oil.
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Put them in a basket and offer them to me when you sacrifice the bull and the two rams.
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"Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of my presence, and have them take a ritual bath.
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Then dress Aaron in the priestly garments---the shirt, the robe that goes under the ephod, the ephod, the breastpiece, and the belt.
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Put the turban on him and tie on it the sacred sign of dedication engraved 'Dedicated to the LORD.'
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Then take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.
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"Bring his sons and put shirts on them;
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put sashes around their waists and tie caps on their heads. That is how you are to ordain Aaron and his sons. They and their descendants are to serve me as priests forever.
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"Bring the bull to the front of the Tent of my presence and tell Aaron and his sons to put their hands on its head.
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Kill the bull there in my holy presence at the entrance of the Tent.
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Take some of the bull's blood and with your finger put it on the projections of the altar. Then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.
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Next, take all the fat which covers the internal organs, the best part of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar as an offering to me.
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But burn the bull's flesh, its skin, and its intestines outside the camp. This is an offering to take away the sins of the priests.
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"Take one of the rams and tell Aaron and his sons to put their hands on its head.
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Kill it, and take its blood and throw it against all four sides of the altar.
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Cut the ram in pieces; wash its internal organs and its hind legs, and put them on top of the head and the other pieces.
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Burn the whole ram on the altar as a food offering. The odor of this offering pleases me.
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"Take the other ram---the ram used for dedication---and tell Aaron and his sons to put their hands on its head.
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Kill it, and take some of its blood and put it on the lobes of the right ears of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the rest of the blood against all four sides of the altar.
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Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his clothes and on his sons and their clothes. He, his sons, and their clothes will then be dedicated to me.
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"Cut away the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat covering the internal organs, the best part of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right thigh.
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From the basket of bread which has been offered to me, take one loaf of each kind: one loaf made with olive oil and one made without it and one thin cake.
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Put all this food in the hands of Aaron and his sons and have them dedicate it to me as a special gift.
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Then take it from them and burn it on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a food offering to me. The odor of this offering pleases me.
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"Take the breast of this ram and dedicate it to me as a special gift. This part of the animal will be yours.
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"When a priest is ordained, the breast and the thigh of the ram being used for the ordination are to be dedicated to me as a special gift and set aside for the priests.
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It is my unchanging decision that when my people make their fellowship offerings, the breast and the thigh of the animal belong to the priests. This is the people's gift to me, the LORD.
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"Aaron's priestly garments are to be handed on to his sons after his death, for them to wear when they are ordained.
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The son of Aaron who succeeds him as priest and who goes into the Tent of my presence to serve in the Holy Place is to wear these garments for seven days.
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"Take the meat of the ram used for the ordination of Aaron and his sons and boil it in a holy place.
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At the entrance of the Tent of my presence they are to eat it along with the bread left in the basket.
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They shall eat what was used in the ritual of forgiveness at their ordination. Only priests may eat this food, because it is sacred.
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If some of the meat or some of the bread is not eaten by morning, it is to be burned; it is not to be eaten, for it is sacred.
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"Perform the rites of ordination for Aaron and his sons for seven days exactly as I have commanded you.
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Each day you must offer a bull as a sacrifice, so that sin may be forgiven. This will purify the altar. Then anoint it with olive oil to make it holy.
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Do this every day for seven days. Then the altar will be completely holy, and anyone or anything that touches it will be harmed by the power of its holiness.
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"Every day for all time to come, sacrifice on the altar two one-year-old lambs.
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Sacrifice one of the lambs in the morning and the other in the evening.
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With the first lamb offer two pounds of fine wheat flour mixed with one quart of pure olive oil. Pour out one quart of wine as an offering.
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Sacrifice the second lamb in the evening, and offer with it the same amounts of flour, olive oil, and wine as in the morning. This is a food offering to me, the LORD, and its odor pleases me.
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For all time to come, this burnt offering is to be offered in my presence at the entrance of the Tent of my presence. That is where I will meet my people and speak to you.
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There I will meet the people of Israel, and the dazzling light of my presence will make the place holy.
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I will make the Tent and the altar holy, and I will set Aaron and his sons apart to serve me as priests.
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I will live among the people of Israel, and I will be their God.
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They will know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the LORD their God.
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
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and said to him, 'Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.'
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.'
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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.
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"Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him
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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.
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Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food,
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and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there.
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On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family.
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So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt.
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Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died.
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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.
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"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.
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At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt.
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He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.
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It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months,
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and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
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He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
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"When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated.
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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.
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(He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)
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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?'
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But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?' he asked.
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'Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'
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When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
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"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
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Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:
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'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.
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The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
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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.'
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"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.
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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.
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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.'
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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.
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"But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.
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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.'
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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.
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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.
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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.'
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"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.
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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.
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He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
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But it was Solomon who built him a house.
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"But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
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'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?
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Did not I myself make all these things?'
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"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!
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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.
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You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels---yet you have not obeyed it!"
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As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger.
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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.
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"Look!" he said. "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!"
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With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once,
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threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul.
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They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
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He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died.
