And when they were all together, with him, he gave them orders not to go away from Jerusalem, but to keep there, waiting till the word of the Father was put into effect, of which, he said, I have given you knowledge:

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing after him into the sky, two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them,

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

For Judas was reckoned as one of our number, and a share in this ministry was allotted to him."

(Now Judas Iscariot acquired a piece of land [indirectly] with the [money paid him as a] reward for his treachery, and falling headlong, his body burst open in the middle and all his intestines poured out.

and they prayed, "O Lord, who readest the hearts of all, do thou single out from these two men him whom thou hast chosen

Then they drew lots between them. The lot fell on Matthias, and a place among the eleven Apostles was voted to him.

Then Peter stood up with the eleven around him, and raising his voice addressed them. "Men of Judea," he said, "and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and pay attention to what I say.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

whom God did raise up, having loosed the pains of the death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it,

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

Now a man who had been crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day people would lay him at what was called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from those who were going into the Temple.

So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking [them] for coins.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

He looked at them, supposing that they were going to give him something.

And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this man? or why fasten ye your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

but ye renounced him that was holy and just; you interceeded for the life of a murderer,

The Prince of Life you put to death; but God has raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses as to that.

And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Therefore, repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out,

And he may send forth him who had been fore-appointed for you - Christ Jesus:

Heaven must welcome Him until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about by the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning.

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

And indeed all the prophets from Samuel and those in succession after him, as many as have spoken, have announced also these days.

Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

And Salvation is in him alone; for there is no other Name in the whole world, given to men, to which we must look for our Salvation."

But Peter and John replied, "You decide whether it is right before God to listen to you men or to Him;

Now the group of those who believed were one heart and soul, and no one said anything of what belonged to him was his own, but all [things] were theirs in common.

sold a field belonging to him and brought the money and set it at the apostles’ feet.

and kept back a part from the price, his wife knowing it along with him; and having brought a certain part, laid it at the feet of the apostles.

And at these words, Ananias went down on the earth, and his life went from him: and great fear came on all who were present.

And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

And instantly she fell dead right in front of him, and her spirit left her body. [Just then the] young men came in and found her dead. They carried her out and buried her with her husband.

More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number,

Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them, lest you even be found fighting against God." So they were persuaded by him.

And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

But they were not able to get the better of him, for his words were full of wisdom and of the Spirit.

Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,

For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Then the High Priest asked him, "Are these statements true?"

And he said, Men, brothers and fathers, hear ye; The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, while he was in Mesopotamia, before he migrated into Haran, and He said to him;

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

And this is, in effect, what God spoke [to him]: That his descendants would be aliens (strangers) in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

and they carried him back to Shechem and buried him in the tomb which Abraham bought for money of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem.

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

And when a period of forty years was fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to look upon his brethren, the sons of Israel;

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

He expected his countrymen to understand that God was granting them freedom through him [assuming that they would accept him], but they did not understand.

But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

At these words Moses took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he had two sons born to him.

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

The tabernacle of the testimony {belonged} to our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed [him] to make it according to the design that he had seen,

But Solomon built him an house.

Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Just One. And here you have betrayed him, murdered him! ??53 you who got the Law that angels transmitted, and have not obeyed it!"

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory [the great splendor and majesty] of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

Saul agreed with putting him to death.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

and the crowds with one accord gave heed to the things spoken by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he wrought.

They all paid [a great deal of] attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God!”

And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

Even Simon believed [Philip’s message of salvation]; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he watched the attesting signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.

But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

So the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join him in his chariot."

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?