At that time, Jesus responded and said: "I acknowledge you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to little ones.
And whoever has received the seed among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the falseness of riches suffocate the word, and he is effectively without fruit.
Therefore, they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered: "You know neither me, nor my Father. If you did know me, perhaps you would know my Father also."
For those who were living in Jerusalem, and its rulers, heeding neither him, nor the voices of the Prophets that are read on every Sabbath, fulfilled these by judging him.
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.
Now, we do speak wisdom among the perfect, yet truly, this is not the wisdom of this age, nor that of the leaders of this age, which shall be reduced to nothing.
for their minds were obtuse. And, even until this present day, the very same veil, in the readings from the Old Testament, remains not taken away (though, in Christ, it is taken away).
having their intellect obscured, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is within them, because of the blindness of their hearts.
though previously I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and contemptuous. But then I obtained the mercy of God. For I had been acting ignorantly, in unbelief.