Acts 6 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 31-34, as the Jerusalem community grew past the size its leaders could manage directly
Location
Jerusalem, in the believing community and in a synagogue used by Jews who had come from abroad
Audience
Theophilus and Luke's Greek-speaking readers, many of whom lived in the same diaspora cities named in this chapter
Situation
A complaint that Greek-speaking widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution leads the apostles to appoint seven men to handle it, and one of them, Stephen, is soon seized on charges of speaking against the temple and the law.
Key Background
Jerusalem held two overlapping Jewish populations, locals who spoke Aramaic and returnees from across the Mediterranean who spoke Greek, and the friction here is that ordinary cultural divide showing up inside the church. Widows had no independent income and depended on organised charity, which the synagogues already ran, so a daily distribution was a familiar institution rather than an invention. Charges about the temple and the law of Moses were the gravest accusations available in Jerusalem, since both were the foundation of Jewish identity under Roman occupation, and they are the same charges that had been raised against Jesus.
Around this time, as the number of kept growing, the started complaining against the They said their were being overlooked in the of
So the called all the followers together and said, "It wouldn't be right for us to neglect getting out in order to
So, and pick out seven men from among you who are known to be full of the of and We'll put them in charge of this responsibility.
That way, we can focus on prayer and on the out."
The whole group liked this idea. So they chose a man overflowing with and the Breath of God, along with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus from Antioch, who had to
They brought these men to the who prayed and their on them.
And The number of followers in Jerusalem grew dramatically, and even a large number of started the
Now Stephen, overflowing with God's and power, was doing incredible things and among the people.
But some people from what was called the of the — Jews from Cilicia, and the province of Asia — stood up and started arguing with Stephen.
But they couldn't hold their own against the wisdom and the that Stephen spoke with.
So they some to claim, "We heard him say things against and against God."
This stirred up the people, the and the They seized Stephen and dragged him before the
They brought in who said, "This man never stops talking against this that to and against the
We've heard him say that this from will destroy this place and change the that Moses down to us."
Everyone sitting in the council at Stephen, and they saw that his looked like the of an