1 And the high priest {archiereus: chief religious leader} said, “Are these things so {houtos: in this manner}?”
2 But he said, “Men, brothers, and fathers, listen! The God of glory {Theos tes doxes, Majestic Revealer} appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia {Mesopotamia: land between rivers}, before he lived in Haran.”
3 And He {Theos, Sovereign Caller} said to him, “Go out from your land and from your kindred {syngeneia: extended family circle}, and come into the land which I will show to you.”
4 Then, after he went out from the land of the Chaldeans {Khaldaion: ancient Mesopotamian homeland}, he settled in Haran. And from there, after the death of his father, He {Theos, Faithful Relocator} relocated him into this land in which you now dwell.
5 And He {Theos, Sovereign Giver} gave him no inheritance in it, not even a step of a foot; but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, though he did not have a child {teknon: physical descendant}.
6 But God {Theos, Divine Foreteller} spoke in this way, that His seed would be a sojourner {paroikon: temporary resident} in a foreign land, and that they would enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years.
7 And the nation {ethnos: oppressive power} that they will serve, I, God {Theos, Righteous Judge}, will judge, He said; and after these things they will come out and serve Me in this place.
8 And He {Theos, Faithful Covenant Lord} gave to him the covenant of circumcision {diatheke peritomes: binding sign agreement}, and so he begat Isaac, and he circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs {patriarkhai: tribal ancestors}, having become jealous, sold Joseph into Egypt; but God {Theos, Guiding Protector} was with him.
10 And He {Theos, Saving Deliverer} rescued him out of all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and He appointed him as governor over Egypt and over all his house {oikos: royal household}.
11 But a famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers {pateres: male ancestors} could not find sustenance {chortasmata: food provisions}.
12 But when Jacob {Iakob: Covenant Patriarch} heard that there was grain {sitia: famine relief} in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.
13 And in the second {deuteros: later occasion} Joseph was made known to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh {Pharao: Egyptian ruler}.
14 Then, after sending, Joseph {Ioseph: wise provider} summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, in seventy-five souls {psyche: counted persons}.
15 And Jacob {Iakob: ancestral patriarch} went down into Egypt, and he died—he himself and our fathers {pateres: male ancestors}.
16 And they were carried over into Shechem, and they were placed in the tomb which Abraham {Abraam: covenant ancestor} bought for a price {time: full value} of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 But as the time of the promise which God {Theos, Covenant Fulfiller} had promised to Abraham {Abraam: many descendants} drew near, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt.
18 Until there arose another {heteros: of a different dynasty} king over Egypt who did not know Joseph {Ioseph: patriarch who preserved Israel}.
19 This one, having cunningly dealt with our people {genos: covenant family}, mistreated our fathers, to cause their infants to be exposed, so that they would not be kept alive {zoogonesthai: continue to live}.
20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God {Theos, Delighting Protector}; he was brought up for three months in his father's house {oikos: family dwelling}.
21 But when he had been exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh {Pharao: Egyptian royal figure} took him up and brought him up for herself as a son {huion: legally received heir}.
22 And Moses was educated {epaideuthe: thorough training} in all the wisdom {sophia: elite learning} of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 But when the forty-year period {chronos: measured span} was being completed for him, it arose in his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel {Israel: covenant people}.
24 And having seen someone being wronged, he defended him and carried out justice for the one being oppressed {kataponeo: treated harshly} by striking the Egyptian {Aigyptios: native Egyptian}.
25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God {Theos, Saving Initiator} was giving them salvation {soteria: rescuing deliverance} by his hand, but they did not understand.
26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting {machomenoi: hostile dispute} and was reconciling them toward peace {eirene: restored harmony}, saying, “Men, you are brothers; why are you doing wrong to one another?”
27 But the one who was doing wrong to his neighbor {plesion: nearby fellow} pushed him away, saying, “Who made you a ruler {archonta: civic leader} and a judge over us?”
28 Do you want to kill {anelein: put to death} me in the same manner you killed the Egyptian {Aigyption: man Moses killed} yesterday?
29 And Moses {Moyses: Prepared Deliverer} fled at this word and became a resident alien in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons {hyious: male descendants}.
30 And when forty years {tessarakonta: appointed span} had been completed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness {eremos: desolate region} of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire from a bush.
31 But when Moses saw, he was amazed at the vision {horama: supernatural appearance}, and as he was approaching to consider it, there was a voice of the Lord {Kyrios, Self-Revealing Lord}.
32 “I am the God {Theos, Ancestral Covenant God} of your fathers {pateron: forefathers in faith}, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.” Then, having become terrified, Moses did not dare to look closely.
33 Then the Lord {Kyrios, Divine Commander} said to him, “Take off the sandal from your feet, for the place upon which you are standing is holy ground {hagios: set apart}.”
34 Behold, I {Theos, Attentive Deliverer} have witnessed the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have hearkened to their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them {exelesthai: rescue from danger}. Now then, come; I will send you into Egypt.
35 This Moses, whom they refused, saying, “Who appointed you as a ruler and a judge?”, this one God {Theos, Sovereign Sender} has sent as both a ruler and a deliverer {lytrotes: redeeming agent} with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 This man {houtos: pointing to Moses} led them out, having performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years {tessarakonta: fixed duration}.
37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, "God {Theos, Raiser of Prophet} will raise up for you a prophet {prophetes: God's spokesman} from among your brothers, like me."
38 This is the one who was in the assembly {ekklesia: gathered people} in the wilderness with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers, who received living oracles {logia: sacred messages} to give to us.
39 To whom our fathers {pateres: Israelite forefathers} were not willing to be obedient, but they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt {Aiguptos: land of former bondage}.
40 They said to Aaron, “Make for us gods {theous: rival objects of worship} who will go before us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land {ges: physical territory} of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.”
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered up a sacrifice {thusia: ritual offering} to the idol {eidolon: man-made image}, and they were rejoicing in the works of their hands.
42 But God {Theos, Righteous Judge} turned and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, just as it has been written in the book of the prophets {propheton: inspired messengers}: “O house of Israel, did you offer to Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during the forty years in the wilderness?”
43 “And you took up the tabernacle {skene: cultic shrine} of Moloch and the star of your god {Theos, Foreign Deity} Rhaiphan, the images which you made to worship them; and I will exile you beyond Babylon.”
44 The tabernacle {skene: sacred dwelling} of testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as He {Theos, Heavenly Architect} who was speaking to Moses commanded, to make it according to the pattern he had seen.
45 Our fathers also, having received it in turn, brought it in with Joshua into the possession of the nations whom God {Theos, Covenant Fulfiller} drove out from the presence of our fathers, until the days of David {Dauid: Beloved King}.
46 Who found favor before God {Theos, Divine Approver} and asked to find a dwelling place {skēnōma: sacred tabernacle} for the God of Jacob {Theos Iakob, Ancestral Protector}.
47 But Solomon {Solomon: temple-building king} built a house for Him {Theos, Covenant Presence}.
48 But the Most High {hupsistos, Uncontainable God} does not dwell in things made by hands, just as the prophet {prophetes: Spirit-inspired speaker} says.
49 The heavens are My throne, and the earth is but a footstool beneath My feet. What sort of house will you build for Me, says the Lord {Kyrios, Sovereign Speaker}, or what place would contain My rest {katapausis: abiding cessation}?
50 Did not My {Kyrios, Sovereign Creator} hand {cheir: emblem of effective power} make all these things?