While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me;

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority.

After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.

They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

During these days Peter stood up among the brothers—the number of people who were together was about 120—and said:

But some sneered and said, “They’re full of new wine!”

For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says:

The Lord declared to my Lord,
‘Sit at My right hand

When they heard this, they came under deep conviction and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what must we do?”

“Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.”

But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”

Moses said:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you.

Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders:

After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, “Master, You are the One who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.

You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Your servant:

Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot futile things?

Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?

“Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the field for this price?”

“Yes,” she said, “for that price.”

Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”

But an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail during the night, brought them out, and said,

He said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you’re going to do to these men.

Then the Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching about God to handle financial matters.

They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

“Brothers and fathers,” he said, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

and said to him:

Get out of your country
and away from your relatives,
and come to the land
that I will show you.

I will judge the nation
that they will serve as slaves, God said.
After this, they will come out
and worship Me in this place.

“Then the Lord said to him:

Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a redeemer by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers.

But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said,

The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the signs he was performing.

They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!”

“Please pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?”

[And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]

“Who are You, Lord?” he said.

“I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,” He replied.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Here I am, Lord!” he said.

“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.

But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites.

So Ananias left and entered the house. Then he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you can regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

But all who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man who, in Jerusalem, was destroying those who called on this name and then came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed,” and immediately he got up.

Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.

About three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius!”

Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, “What is it, lord?”

The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God.

Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”

“No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common and ritually unclean!”

Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.”

Then Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the one you’re looking for. What is the reason you’re here?”

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”

But Peter helped him up and said, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”

Peter said to them, “You know it’s forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner. But God has shown me that I must not call any person common or unclean.

and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your acts of charity have been remembered in God’s sight.

“‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing common or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’

Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” Then the chains fell off his wrists.

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

“You’re crazy!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true. Then they said, “It’s his angel!”

Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Report these things to James and the brothers,” he said. Then he departed and went to a different place.

As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.”

and said, “You son of the Devil, full of all deceit and all fraud, enemy of all righteousness! Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord?

Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’

So beware that what is said in the prophets does not happen to you:

Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles!

Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” And he jumped up and started to walk around.

Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses!”

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

And she did this for many days.

But Paul was greatly aggravated and turning to the spirit, said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

Then he escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to smuggle us out secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out!”

Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.

They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of?

Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.

For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

“This man,” they said, “persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!”

As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of a crime or of moral evil, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because he had taken a vow.

but he said good-bye and stated, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

When these events were over, Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well!”

When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.

However, when the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “Men of Ephesus! What man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?

But Paul went down, fell on him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him!”

And when they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time—

In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

So we found some disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

we said good-bye to one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into Gentile hands.’”

Since he would not be persuaded, we stopped talking and simply said, “The Lord’s will be done!”

When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.