Acts 7:3

Modern

…and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’

Traditional

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

Literal

…and He said to him, ‘Go out of your country and from your kindred, and come into the land that I will show to you.’

Latin

…et dixit ad illum: Exi de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et veni in terram quam monstravero tibi.

Greek

English

…and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’

Stephen answered the accusations by speaking about his Lord (see Luke 21:12–17). Instead of defending himself, he became a witness in God's legal case against them. This revealed how contrary they were and their lack of loyalty. Stephen gave a history of Israel's past and reminded them of their repeated rejections of those who announced God's messages.
Stephen's review of Israel's history has three main parts:
1. The work of the patriarchs. This refers to Abraham and those descended from him who founded the nation of Israel (Acts 7:2–16).
2. The ministry of Moses (7:17–43).
3. The role of the tabernacle and the temple (7:44–50).
  Stephen ended his historical survey with a strong criticism of his people's lack of obedience. Like a prophet, he challenged them to stop resisting the Holy Spirit. He told them to turn to God with grief for their sins (repentance) and faith.

Theme notes and profiles

Genesis 12:1
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
Joshua 24:3
But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac,
Genesis 15:7
The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Luke 14:33
In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.
Matthew 10:37
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
2 Corinthians 6:17
“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
Nehemiah 9:8
You found his heart faithful before You, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites and Hittites, of the Amorites and Perizzites, of the Jebusites and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants. You have kept Your promise, because You are righteous.
Genesis 13:14–17
After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,