And once when he ate with them, he instructed them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. "You have heard me speak of it," he said,

"for John baptized people in water, but in a few days you will be baptized in the holy Spirit."

So those who were present asked him, "Master, is this the time when you are going to re-establish the kingdom for Israel?"

He said to them, "It is not for you to know times and dates which the Father has fixed by his own authority,

but you will be given power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem and all over Judea and Samaria and to the very ends of the earth."

"Brothers, the prediction of the Scriptures had to come true that the holy Spirit uttered by the lips of David, about Judas, who acted as guide for the men that arrested Jesus??17 for he was one of our number and a share in this ministry of ours fell to his lot."

(This man bought a piece of land with the money paid him for his treachery, and his body swelled up and burst open in the middle and all his vitals poured out.

"For in the Book of Psalms it is written, 'Let his estate be desolate, with no one to live on it,' and 'Let someone else take his position.'

These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only nine in the morning.

I will show wonders in the sky above, And signs on the earth below, Blood and fire and thick smoke.

But God set aside the pain of death and raised him up, for death could not control him.

For David says of him, 'I constantly regarded the Lord before me, For he is at my right hand, so that I may not be displaced.

For you will not desert my soul in death, You will not let your Holy One be destroyed.

he foresaw the resurrection of the Christ and told of it, for he was not deserted in death and his body was not destroyed.

"For David did not go up to heaven, but he said, 'The Lord said to my lord, Sit at my right hand,

for the promise of it belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those far away whom the Lord our God calls to him."

Peter and John were on their way up to the Temple for the three o'clock hour of prayer,

But you disowned the Holy, Righteous One. You asked to have a murderer released for you,

Yet he must remain in heaven till the time for the universal reformation of which God told in ancient times by the lips of his holy prophets.

Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, as he raised me up. You must listen to everything that he tells you.

if it is for a benefit conferred upon a helpless man, and as to how he was cured, that we are called to account here today,

There is no salvation through anyone else, for there is no one else in the world who has been named to men as their only means of being saved."

They said, "What are we to do with these men? For it is plain to everyone in Jerusalem that an extraordinary wonder has been done by them. We cannot deny that.

for we cannot help telling of what we have seen and heard."

But after further threats they let them go, as they could find no way to punish them, on account of the people, who were all giving honor to God for what had happened,

for the man on whom this wonder of healing had been done was more than forty years old.

For they have assembled here in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you had consecrated??erod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the peoples of Israel,

No one among them was in any want, for any who owned lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sale

Peter said to her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for such and such a sum?" "Yes," she said, "that was it."

But the attendants who went for them could not find them in the jail, and they came back and reported,

Then the commander and his men went and brought them back, but without using violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

So they brought them before the council. The high priest called on them for an explanation.

"We strictly forbade you," he said, "to teach on this authority, and here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and propose to hold us responsible for this man's death!"

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law highly regarded by all the people, got up in the council and ordered the men to be removed for a while,

For some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be a person of importance, and a group of men numbering some four hundred joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed and disappeared.

So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this idea or movement is of human origin, it will come to naught,

So they went out from before the council, glad that they had been thought worthy to bear disgrace for the sake of Jesus,

and they did not for a single day stop teaching and preaching in the Temple and in private houses the good news of Jesus, the Christ.

for we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will tear this place down and change the customs that have been handed down to us by Moses."

This was what God said: 'His descendants will be strangers, living in a foreign land, and they will be enslaved and misused for four hundred years,

and rescued him from all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

On their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh learned of Joseph's parentage.

and they were carried back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham, the people became more and more numerous in Egypt,

It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a wonderfully beautiful child, and for three months he was taken care of in his father's house.

When he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

At those words Moses fled, and went and lived for a time in Midian, and two sons were born to him there.

Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

It was he who brought them out of Egypt, and did wonders and signs there, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert.

for they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!'

He won the approval of God and begged to be allowed to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob,

and Solomon actually built a house for him.

" 'The sky is my throne, And the earth a footstool for my feet. What house can you build for me? says the Lord, Or what place is there where I can rest?

for with loud cries foul spirits came out of many who had been possessed by them, and many paralytics and lame people were cured.

They made much of him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

for it had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

But Peter said to him, "Go to destruction with your money, for thinking you could buy God's gift with it!

You have no share or part in this movement, for your heart is not honest in the sight of God.

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if you may not be forgiven for thinking of such a thing.

For I see that you are a bitter poison and a bundle of iniquity!"

Simon answered, "You must pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things you have said may happen to me!"

His sentence ended in his humiliation. Who will tell the story of his posterity? For his life is perished from the earth."

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there who belonged to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone.

and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank.

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

The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake."

and, after taking some food, regained his strength. Saul stayed for some time with the disciples at Damascus,

Everyone was astonished, and said, "Is not he the man who made such havoc of the people in Jerusalem who call upon that name, and who came here especially for the purpose of arresting such persons and taking them before the high priests?"

When he reached Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they could not believe that he was really a disciple.

But Barnabas got hold of him and introduced him to the apostles, and he told them how on his journey he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how boldly he had spoken for the cause of Jesus at Damascus.

and spoke boldly for the Lord's cause, talking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews. But they tried to kill him.

So the church all over Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace and became established. It lived in reverence for the Lord and, stimulated by the holy Spirit, it grew steadily in numbers.

There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.

So it came about that Peter stayed for some time in Joppa, at the house of a tanner named Simon.

Now send men to Joppa, for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter.

and saw the sky opened and a thing like a great sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by the four corners,

But Peter said, "Never, sir! For I have never eaten anything that was not ceremonially cleansed."

As Peter was pondering over his vision, the Spirit said to him, "There are two men looking for you.

Get up and go down, and go with them without any hesitation, for I have sent them."

Then Peter went down to see the men, and said to them, "I am the man you are asking for. What is the reason for your coming?"

They answered, "Cornelius, who is a captain, and an upright and God-fearing man, and who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to what you have to say."

and the day after, he reached Caesarea. Cornelius had invited in his relatives and his intimate friends and was waiting for them.

and he said to them, "You know that it is against the Law for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit one; but God has taught me not to call anyone vulgar or unclean.

That was why, when I was sent for, I came without any hesitation. And now I want to ask why you sent for me."

So I sent for you immediately, and you have very kindly come. Now we are all here in God's presence, to hear everything that the Lord has instructed you to say."

for they heard them speaking in foreign languages and declaring the greatness of God. Then Peter said,

"I was praying in the town of Joppa, and while in a trance I had a vision. Something like a great sheet came down out of the sky, lowered by its four corners. It came right down to me,

But I said, 'Never, sir! For nothing that was not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.'

Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for a man named Simon who is also called Peter,

for he was an excellent man, full of the holy Spirit and faith. So a considerable number of people came over to the Lord.

and found him and brought him to Antioch. The result was that for a whole year they met with the church, and taught large numbers of people, and it was at Antioch that the disciples first came to be known as Christians.

He had him seized and put in jail, with four squads of soldiers to guard him, meaning after the Passover to bring him out before the people.

So Peter was kept in the jail, but the church was praying earnestly to God for him.

So he followed him out without knowing that what the angel was doing was real, for he thought he was having a vision.

Herod had inquiries made for him, and when he could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he left Judea for Caesarea, and stayed there.

Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came before him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended upon the king's dominions for its food supply.

As they were engaged in worshiping the Lord and in fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me, for the work to which I have called them."

They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, and there they came across a Jewish magician and false prophet named Barjesus.