---
title: "Acts 7 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/acts/7/
description: "Stephen's speech before the council. His martyrdom. Acts 7 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Acts 7

Acts 7 is chapter 7 of 28 in the Acts of the Apostles. Here are all 59 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Stephen's speech before the council. His martyrdom.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Acts 7 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
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.
3. And God said to him, ‘Depart from your country and from your kindred, and go into the land that I will show to you.’
4. Then he went away from the land of the Chaldeans, and he lived at Haran. And later, after his father was dead, God brought him into this land, in which you now dwell.
5. And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even the space of one step. But he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his offspring after him, though he did not have a son.
6. Then God told him that his offspring would be a settler in a foreign land, and that they would subjugate them, and treat them badly, for four hundred years.
7. ‘And the nation whom they will serve, I will judge,’ said the Lord. ‘And after these things, they shall depart and shall serve me in this place.’
8. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so he conceived Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac conceived Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve Patriarchs.
9. And the Patriarchs, being jealous, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him.
10. And he rescued him from all his tribulations. And he gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And he appointed him as governor over Egypt and over all his house.
11. Then a famine occurred in all of Egypt and Canaan, and a great tribulation. And our fathers did not find food.
12. But when Jacob had heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.
13. And on the second occasion, Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and his ancestry was made manifest to Pharaoh.
14. Then Joseph sent for and brought his father Jacob, with all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15. And Jacob descended into Egypt, and he passed away, and so did our fathers.
16. And they crossed over into Shechem, and they were placed in the sepulcher which Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the son of Shechem.
17. And when the time of the Promise that God had revealed to Abraham drew near, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt,
18. even until another king, who did not know Joseph, rose up in Egypt.
19. This one, encompassing our kindred, afflicted our fathers, so that they would expose their infants, lest they be kept alive.
20. In the same time, Moses was born. And he was in the grace of God, and he was nourished for three months in the house of his father.
21. Then, having been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him in, and she raised him as her own son.
22. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.
23. But when forty years of age were completed in him, it rose up in his heart that he should visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.
24. And when he had seen a certain one suffering injury, he defended him. And striking the Egyptian, he wrought a retribution for him who was enduring the injury.
25. Now he supposed that his brothers would understand that God would grant them salvation through his hand. But they did not understand it.
26. So truly, on the following day, he appeared before those who were arguing, and he would have reconciled them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. So why would you harm one another?’
27. But he who was causing the injury to his neighbor rejected him, saying: ‘Who has appointed you as leader and judge over us?
28. Could it be that you want to kill me, in the same way that you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29. Then, at this word, Moses fled. And he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he produced two sons.
30. And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an Angel, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31. And upon seeing this, Moses was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near in order to gaze at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying:
32. ‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses, being made to tremble, did not dare to look.
33. But the Lord said to him: ‘Loosen the shoes from your feet. For the place in which you stand is holy ground.
34. Certainly, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. And so, I am coming down to free them. And now, go forth and I will send you into Egypt.’
35. This Moses, whom they rejected by saying, ‘Who has appointed you as leader and judge?’ is the one God sent to be leader and redeemer, by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36. This man led them out, accomplishing signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the desert, for forty years.
37. This is Moses, who said to the sons of Israel: ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own brothers. You shall listen to him.’
38. This is he who was in the Church in the wilderness, with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. It is he who received the words of life to give to us.
39. It is he whom our fathers were not willing to obey. Instead, they rejected him, and in their hearts they turned away toward Egypt,
40. saying to Aaron: ‘Make gods for us, which may go before us. For this Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41. And so they fashioned a calf in those days, and they offered sacrifices to an idol, and they rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42. Then God turned, and he handed them over, to subservience to the armies of heaven, just as it was written in the Book of the Prophets: ‘Did you not offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43. And yet you took up for yourselves the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, figures which you yourselves formed in order to adore them. And so I will carry you away, beyond Babylon.’
44. The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, just as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, so that he would make it according to the form that he had seen.
45. But our fathers, receiving it, also brought it, with Joshua, into the land of the Gentiles, whom God expelled before the face of our fathers, even until the days of David,
46. who found grace before God and who asked that he might obtain a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47. But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48. Yet the Most High does not live in houses built by hands, just as he said through the prophet:
49. ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? says the Lord. And which is my resting place?
50. Has not my hand made all these things?’
51. Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you ever resist the Holy Spirit. Just as your fathers did, so also do you do.
52. Which of the Prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they killed those who foretold the advent of the Just One. And you have now become the betrayers and murderers of him.
53. You received the law by the actions of Angels, and yet you have not kept it.”
54. Then, upon hearing these things, they were deeply wounded in their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
55. But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and gazing intently toward heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”
56. Then they, crying out with a loud voice, blocked their ears and, with one accord, rushed violently toward him.
57. And driving him out, beyond the city, they stoned him. And witnesses placed their garments beside the feet of a youth, who was called Saul.
58. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
59. Then, having been brought to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his murder.

## Acts 7 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Dixit autem princeps sacerdotum: Si hæc ita se habent?
2. Qui ait: Viri fratres et patres, audite: Deus gloriæ apparuit patri nostro Abrahæ cum esset in Mesopotamia, priusquam moraretur in Charan,
3. et dixit ad illum: Exi de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et veni in terram quam monstravero tibi.
4. Tunc exiit de terra Chaldæorum, et habitavit in Charan. Et inde, postquam mortuus est pater ejus, transtulit illum in terram istam, in qua nunc vos habitatis.
5. Et non dedit illi hæreditatem in ea, nec passum pedis: sed repromisit dare illi eam in possessionem, et semini ejus post ipsum, cum non haberet filium.
6. Locutus est autem ei Deus: Quia erit semen ejus accola in terra aliena, et servituti eos subjicient, et male tractabunt eos annis quadringentis:
7. et gentem cui servierint, judicabo ego, dixit Dominus: et post hæc exibunt, et servient mihi in loco isto.
8. Et dedit illi testamentum circumcisionis: et sic genuit Isaac, et circumcidit eum die octavo: et Isaac, Jacob: et Jacob, duodecim patriarchas.
9. Et patriarchæ æmulantes, Joseph vendiderunt in Ægyptum: et erat Deus cum eo,
10. et eripuit eum ex omnibus tribulationibus ejus, et dedit ei gratiam et sapientiam in conspectu pharaonis regis Ægypti: et constituit eum præpositum super Ægyptum, et super omnem domum suam.
11. Venit autem fames in universam Ægyptum et Chanaan, et tribulatio magna: et non inveniebant cibos patres nostri.
12. Cum audisset autem Jacob esse frumentum in Ægypto, misit patres nostros primum:
13. et in secundo cognitus est Joseph a fratribus suis, et manifestatum est Pharaoni genus ejus.
14. Mittens autem Joseph, accersivit Jacob patrem suum et omnem cognationem suam, in animabus septuaginta quinque.
15. Et descendit Jacob in Ægyptum: et defunctus est ipse, et patres nostri.
16. Et translati sunt in Sichem, et positi sunt in sepulchro, quod emit Abraham pretio argenti a filiis Hemor filii Sichem.
17. Cum autem appropinquaret tempus promissionis quam confessus erat Deus Abrahæ, crevit populus, et multiplicatus est in Ægypto,
18. quoadusque surrexit alius rex in Ægypto, qui non sciebat Joseph.
19. Hic circumveniens genus nostrum, afflixit patres nostros ut exponerent infantes suos, ne vivificarentur.
20. Eodem tempore natus est Moyses, et fuit gratus Deo: qui nutritus est tribus mensibus in domo patris sui.
21. Exposito autem illo, sustulit eum filia Pharaonis, et nutrivit eum sibi in filium.
22. Et eruditus est Moyses omni sapientia Ægyptiorum, et erat potens in verbis et in operibus suis.
23. Cum autem impleretur ei quadraginta annorum tempus, ascendit in cor ejus ut visitaret fratres suos filios Israël.
24. Et cum vidisset quemdam injuriam patientem, vindicavit illum, et fecit ultionem ei qui injuriam sustinebat, percusso Ægyptio.
25. Existimabat autem intelligere fratres, quoniam Deus per manum ipsius daret salutem illis: at illi non intellexerunt.
26. Sequenti vero die apparuit illis litigantibus: et reconciliabat eos in pace, dicens: Viri, fratres estis: ut quid nocetis alterutrum?
27. Qui autem injuriam faciebat proximo, repulit eum, dicens: Quis te constituit principem et judicem super nos?
28. Numquid interficere me tu vis, quemadmodum interfecisti heri Ægyptium?
29. Fugit autem Moyses in verbo isto: et factus est advena in terra Madian, ubi generavit filios duos.
30. Et expletis annis quadraginta, apparuit illi in deserto montis Sina angelus in igne flammæ rubi.
31. Moyses autem videns, admiratus est visum. Et accedente illo ut consideraret, facta est ad eum vox Domini, dicens:
32. Ego sum Deus patrum tuorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob. Tremefactus autem Moyses, non audebat considerare.
33. Dixit autem illi Dominus: Solve calceamentum pedum tuorum: locus enim in quo stas, terra sancta est.
34. Videns vidi afflictionem populi mei qui est in Ægypto, et gemitum eorum audivi, et descendi liberare eos. Et nunc veni, et mittam te in Ægyptum.
35. Hunc Moysen, quem negaverunt, dicentes: Quis te constituit principem et judicem? hunc Deus principem et redemptorem misit, cum manu angeli qui apparuit illi in rubo.
36. Hic eduxit illos faciens prodigia et signa in terra Ægypti, et in rubro mari, et in deserto annis quadraginta.
37. Hic est Moyses, qui dixit filiis Israël: Prophetam suscitabit vobis Deus de fratribus vestris, tamquam me: ipsum audietis.
38. Hic est qui fuit in ecclesia in solitudine cum angelo, qui loquebatur ei in monte Sina, et cum patribus nostris: qui accepit verba vitæ dare nobis.
39. Cui noluerunt obedire patres nostri: sed repulerunt, et aversi sunt cordibus suis in Ægyptum,
40. dicentes ad Aaron: Fac nobis deos qui præcedant nos: Moyses enim hic, qui eduxit nos de terra Ægypti, nescimus quid factum sit ei.
41. Et vitulum fecerunt in diebus illis, et obtulerunt hostiam simulacro, et lætabantur in operibus manuum suarum.
42. Convertit autem Deus, et tradidit eos servire militiæ cæli, sicut scriptum est in libro prophetarum: Numquid victimas et hostias obtulistis mihi annis quadraginta in deserto, domus Israël?
43. Et suscepistis tabernaculum Moloch, et sidus dei vestri Rempham, figuras quas fecistis adorare eas: et transferam vos trans Babylonem.
44. Tabernaculum testimonii fuit cum patribus nostris in deserto, sicut disposuit illis Deus loquens ad Moysen, ut faceret illud secundum formam quam viderat.
45. Quod et induxerunt, suscipientes patres nostri cum Jesu in possessionem gentium quas expulit Deus a facie patrum nostrorum, usque in diebus David,
46. qui invenit gratiam ante Deum, et petiit ut inveniret tabernaculum Deo Jacob.
47. Salomon autem ædificavit illi domum.
48. Sed non Excelsus in manufactis habitat, sicut propheta dicit:
49. Cælum mihi sedes est: terra autem scabellum pedum meorum. Quam domum ædificabitis mihi? dicit Dominus: aut quis locus requietionis meæ est?
50. Nonne manus mea fecit hæc omnia?
51. Dura cervice, et incircumcisis cordibus et auribus, vos semper Spiritui Sancto resistitis: sicut patres vestri, ita et vos.
52. Quem prophetarum non sunt persecuti patres vestri? et occiderunt eos qui prænuntiabant de adventu Justi, cujus vos nunc proditores et homicidæ fuistis:
53. qui accepistis legem in dispositione angelorum, et non custodistis.
54. Audientes autem hæc, dissecabantur cordibus suis, et stridebant dentibus in eum.
55. Cum autem esset plenus Spiritu Sancto, intendens in cælum, vidit gloriam Dei, et Jesum stantem a dextris Dei. Et ait: Ecce video cælos apertos, et Filium hominis stantem a dextris Dei.
56. Exclamantes autem voce magna continuerunt aures suas, et impetum fecerunt unanimiter in eum.
57. Et ejicientes eum extra civitatem, lapidabant: et testes deposuerunt vestimenta sua secus pedes adolescentis qui vocabatur Saulus.
58. Et lapidabant Stephanum invocantem, et dicentem: Domine Jesu, suscipe spiritum meum.
59. Positis autem genibus, clamavit voce magna, dicens: Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Et cum hoc dixisset, obdormivit in Domino. Saulus autem erat consentiens neci ejus.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 432: Jesus ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 597: Jesus Died Crucified ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 601: Jesus Died Crucified ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 332: Heaven and Earth ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 659: "He Ascended Into Heaven and Is Seated At the Right Hand of the Father" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 2635: Prayer of Intercession ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 45: That is Josue, so called in Greek.
- Verse 48: That is, so as to stand in need of earthly dwellings, or to be contained, or circumscribed by them. Though, otherwise by his immense divinity, he is in our houses; and every where else; and Christ in his humanity dwelt in houses; and is now on our altars.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sat, Dec 26, 2026: St. Stephen, First Martyr — First Reading, Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
- Tue, Apr 13, 2027: Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter — First Reading, Acts 7:51—8:1a
- Tue, May 2, 2028 (computed): St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church — First Reading, Acts 7:51—8:1a
- Tue, Dec 26, 2028 (computed): St. Stephen, First Martyr — First Reading, Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).