2-4 Then Stephen said, “Listen to me, my countrymen and my leaders. Think about the story about our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. Our great God came to our grand-father Abraham, while he was still living in Mesopotamia country, where the Chaldia mob lived. God said to him, ‘Leave your country and your family. Go to the country that I will show you.’ Abraham listened to God, and he left that country, and he went to live in a place called Haran. He lived there until his father died. Then God brought him here, to this country that you live in now.
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
2 And he answered, Brethren and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before he [went to] live in Haran, [Gen. 11:31; 15:7; Ps. 29:3.]
2 Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran.
2 And Stephen said: "Noble brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he stayed in Haran.
Then Terah went away from Ur, in Chaldia country, and he took some of his family with him. They were his son Abram, and Abram’s wife Sarai, and his grand-son Lot. They all left Ur, and they started to go to the country called Canaan. But they stopped half-way, at a town called Haran, and they stayed there.
Paul said, “You mob are Jewish, and I am Jewish. I respect you like you are my family. Please listen to me now while I tell you that I haven’t done anything wrong.”
You see, the Word became a human being. He came and lived in a body, with us here on the earth. We saw that he was really powerful, just like God. Then we knew that he was God’s only special son, and he showed us what his father is like. He was a really good man, and everything he said was true.
Then God said to Abram, “I am God, and my name is Yahweh. I am the one that brought you out of your home country, from the town called Ur, in Chaldia country. And I am going to give you this country here. It will be yours. You will own all this country.”
He tells us to do these things now, while we wait for Jesus Christ to come back. He is our God, and he is the one that saves us. He will come back, and he will show everybody in the world that he is really great. Then we will be very happy.
This story about Abram started when God said to him, “Abram, I want you to leave your country, your father’s family and all your relatives, and go to the country that I will show you.
The big boss of the Jewish ceremonies said to Stephen, “These men are saying bad things about you. We think that they are telling the true story about you, but what do you say?”
I pray to our very great father, the God of our leader Jesus Christ. I pray that his spirit will help you to think properly and show you more about God, so that you will know him better.
Listen, my Christian friends, you know that our leader Jesus Christ is really great, and you believe in him. So you have to be good to everybody. You have to treat everybody the same way.