Acts 7:2-12

²“Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “God in his glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he moved to Haran.

³God told him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the country that I'm going to show you.’

⁴So he left the country of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. After his father's death, God sent him here to this country where you now live.

⁵God didn't give Abraham an inheritance here, not even one square foot. But God did promise Abraham that he would give him and his descendants possession of the land, even though he had no children.

⁶God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign country, and that they would be enslaved there, and would be mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷God said, ‘I will punish the nation that enslaves them. Eventually they will leave and come here to worship me.’

⁸God also gave Abraham the agreement regarding circumcision, and so when Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹The patriarchs, who were jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him,

¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave him wisdom and helped him gain the favor of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and the royal household.

¹¹Now a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan. It caused terrible misery, and our forefathers had no food.

¹²When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt he sent our forefathers down on their first visit.