by the unfoldingWord®

“ The high priest asked Stephen, “Are these men telling the truth about you?” Stephen began to say many things in order to answer the high priest. He said that God had done many wonderful things for the people of Israel from the time when Abraham lived to the time of Jesus. But the people had always disobeyed God. Stephen said, “You people are stubborn and rebellious against God. You always reject the Holy Spirit, just as our ancestors always rejected God and always killed his prophets. ”

“ When the time was near for Mary to give birth, she and Joseph made a long journey to the town of Bethlehem. They had to go there because the Roman officials wanted to count all the people in the land of Israel. They wanted everyone to go to where their ancestors had lived. King David had been born in Bethlehem, and he was the ancestor of both Mary and Joseph. ”

“ Mary was engaged to a righteous man named Joseph. When he heard that Mary was pregnant, he knew it was not his baby. However, he did not want to shame Mary, so he decided to have mercy on her and to divorce her quietly. But before he could do that, an angel came to him in a dream and spoke to him.
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The angel said, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The baby that is in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son. Name him Jesus (which means ‘Yahweh saves’) , because he will save the people from their sins.” ”