have filled Urishlem with your doctrine, and you will to bring upon us the blood of this man! XIII. SHEMUN answered with the apostles and said to them, Aloha must we obey rather than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jeshu whom you killed and hanged on the tree. Him hath Aloha constituted a Prince and a Saviour, and elevated him at his right hand, to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. And we are witnesses of these words, and the Spirit of Holiness himself, whom Aloha hath given to them who believe in him. And And when they heard these words they were transported with rage, and were mindful to kill them. one of the Pharishee arose, whose name was Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, and honoured by all the people, and commanded to take the apostles without a little time. And he said to them, Men, sons of Israel, beware of yourselves, and consider what it behoves you to do concerning these men. For before this time arose Thuda, and said of himself that he was something great, and there went after him four hundred men: and he was slain, and they who went after him were scattered and became as nothing. Afterward arose Jihuda Galiloya in the days when men were enregistered for the headsilver, and tempted much people after him; and he died, and all they who went after him were scattered. And now I say to you, keep aloof from these men, and dismiss them; for if from men be this imagination 3 and this work, it will be dissolved and end; but if it be from Aloha, there is no power in your hands to bring it to an end: lest you should be found to have arisen against Aloha. 3 Or, thought. 3 And they were persuaded by him, and called the apostles, and scourged them, and commanded them that they should not teach in the name of Jeshu, and loosed them. And they went out from before them, rejoicing to be worthy for the sake of the Name to be ill treated. And they ceased not daily to teach in the temple, and in the house, and to preach concerning our Lord Jeshu Meshiha. XIV. AND in those days the disciples being many, the Javnoyee disciples murmured against the Ebroyee because their widows were slighted in the daily ministration. And the twelve apostles called all the assembly of the disciples and said to them, It is not fit that we should leave the word of Aloha, and serve tables. Look out therefore, brethren, and choose seven men from you who have testimony concerning them, and are full of the Spirit of the Lord and wisdom, and we will appoint them over" this matter. And we will be constant in prayer, and in the ministration of the word. And this saying was pleasing before all the people; and they chose Estephanos, a man who was full of faith and the Spirit of Holiness; and Philipos, and Prokoros, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmena, and Nikolos, a proselyte of Antiokia. And these they set before the apostles and while praying they laid upon them the hand. : And the word of Aloha increased, and the number of the disciples increased in Urishlem greatly: and much people of the Jihudoyee were obedient to the faith. But Estephanos was filled with grace and power, and wrought signs and miracles among the people. And men arose from the congregation which was called Libertinu, Kyrainoyee, and Aleksandroyee, and from Cilicia, and from Asia, and disputed with Estephanos, and were not able to stand against the wisdom and the spirit which spake in him. Then they sent men and instructed them to say, We have heard him speak words of blasphemy against Musha and against Aloha. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the sophree, and came and rose upon him, and carried him away and brought him into the midst of the assembly. XV. AND witnesses of falsehood arose, and said, This man ceases not from speaking words contrary to the law and against this holy place. For we have heard him say that this Jeshu Natsroya shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Musha delivered unto us. And all they who sat in the assembly looked upon him, and saw his face as the face of an angel. And the chief of the priests demanded if these (things) were so? But he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was between the rivers, [and while] he had not yet come to dwell in Charan, and said to him, Go forth from thy country and from (being) with the sons of thy family, and come to the land that I will show thee. Then went forth Abraham from the land of the Kaldoyee, and came and dwelt in Charan: and from thence, his father being dead, Aloha caused him to pass into this land in which you dwell to-day. And (yet) he gave him no inheritance in it, nor a place of the feet, but he promised to give it to him for an heritage to himself and to his seed, while as yet he had not a son. And Aloha spake with him, telling him that his seed should be a sojourner in a strange land, and that they would enslave and ill treat them four hundred years. And the nation whom they will serve (in) bondage will I judge, saith 772 Aloha and afterward they shall come forth and serve me in this place. And he gave to him the covenant of circumcision. And then begat he Ishok, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Ishok begat Jakub, and Jakub begat our twelve fathers. And these our fathers were incited against Jauseph, and sold him into Mitsreen. And Aloha was with him: and he delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pherun king of Mitsreen, and he appointed him prince over Mitsreen, and over all his house. XVI. AND there was a famine and great affliction in all Mitsreen, and in the land of Kenaan, and our fathers had nothing to satisfy them. And when Jakub heard that there was corn in Mitsreen, he sent forth our fathers before. And when they had gone the second time, Jauseph made himself known to his brethren, and the family of Jauseph were made known unto Pherun. And Jauseph sent and brought his father Jakub and all his family, and they were in number seventy and five souls. And Jakub went down into Mitsreen and died there; he and our fathers. And he was removed to Shechem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought with silver from the B'nai Chamur. And when was come the time of that which Aloha promised with an oath unto Abraham, the people had multiplied and increased in Mitsreen until another king had arisen over Mitsreen, who knew not Jauseph, and he dealt fraudulently against our kindred, and shamefully entreated our fathers, and commanded that their children should be cast away, that they might not live. In that time Musha was born, and was beloved of Aloha, and was 4 Or destroyed. a son. brought up three months in the house of his father. And when he was outcast from his people, the daughter of Pherun found him, and brought him up unto her for And Musha was instructed in all the wisdom of the Mitsroyee, and was excellent in words (and) also in deeds. And when he became a son of forty years, it arose upon his heart to visit his brethren the sons of Israel. And he saw one of the sons of his tribe treated with violence, and he avenged him, and did him justice, and he killed the Mitsroya who had offended him, and hoped that his brethren, the sons of Israel, would understand that Aloha by his hand would give them deliverance ; but they understood not. And the day after he appeared to them while they strove one with another; and he persuaded them to be pacified, saying, Men, you are brethren; why offend you one the other? But he who had offended his neighbour removed himself from him, and said to him, Who appointed thee over us a prince and a judge? Seekest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Mitsroya yesterday? And Musha fled at that word, and became a sojourner in the land of Median, and there were to him two sons. XVII. AND when forty years were there fulfilled to him, there appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai the angel of the Lord in a flame that burned in a bush. And while Musha looked, he wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to gaze, the Lord spake to him with the voice I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and of Ishok and of Jakub. : trembling, dared not look upon the sight. said to him, Loose thy sandals from thy And Musha, And the Lord. : feet for the ground on which thou standest is holy. Seeing I have seen the affliction of my people who [are] in Mitsreen, |