Seven Men Chosen for a Special Work
1More and more people were becoming followers of Jesus. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers had an argument with the other Jewish followers. They said that their widows
2The twelve apostles
3So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your own men. They must be men that people say are good. They must be full of wisdom and full of the Spirit.
4Then we can use all our time to pray and to teach the word {of God}.”
5The whole group liked the idea. So they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit
6Then they put these men before the apostles.
7The word of God was reaching more and more people. The group of followers in Jerusalem became larger and larger. Even a big group of Jewish priests believed and obeyed.
Some Jews Against Stephen
8Stephen (one of the seven men) received a great blessing. God gave Stephen power to do miracles
9But some Jews came and argued with Stephen. These Jews were from a synagogue.
10But the Spirit
11So the Jews paid some men to say, “We heard Stephen say bad things against Moses
12By doing this, these Jews upset the people, the older Jewish leaders, and the teachers of the law. They became so angry that they came and grabbed Stephen. They took him to a meeting of the Jewish leaders.
13The Jews brought some men into the meeting. They told these men to tell lies about Stephen. The men said, “This man (Stephen) always says bad things about this holy place (the temple). And he always says bad things against the law {of Moses}.
14We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place. He also said that Jesus will change the things that Moses told us to do.”
15All the people sitting in the meeting watched Stephen closely. His face looked like the face of an angel, and they saw it.