Acts 7:4

2 And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

3 and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’

So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.

6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.
KJV
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
WEB
Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land where you are now living.
ASV
Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Haran: and from thence, when his father was dead, [God] removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell:
DARBY
Then going out of the land of the Chaldeans he dwelt in Charran, and thence, after his father died, he removed him into this land in which *ye* now dwell.
BLB
Then, having gone out from the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran. And from there, after his father died, He transferred him into this land in which you⁺ now dwell.
ÅB
Så dro han ut fra kaldeernes land og bosatte seg i Karan. Og derfra lot Gud ham etter farens død flytte til dette land som dere nå bor i;
OTB
Så forlot Abraham kaldeernes land og bosatte seg i Haran. Etter farens død flyttet Gud ham til dette landet hvor dere nå bor.
B1930
Så drog han ut fra kaldeernes land og bosatte sig i Karan. Og derfra lot Gud ham efter farens død flytte til dette land som I nu bor i;

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Genesis 12:4–5

    So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 11:31–32

    And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 41:9

    I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 41:2

    Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

    Read in context