Thematic Bible




Acts 9:1 (show verse)

Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, went to the high priest,

Acts 9:2 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:3 (show verse)

But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven,

Acts 9:4 (show verse)

and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?"

Acts 9:5 (show verse)

"Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice.

Acts 9:6 (show verse)

"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do."

Acts 9:7 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:8 (show verse)

When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus,

Acts 9:9 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:10 (show verse)

There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!"

Acts 9:11 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:12 (show verse)

He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight."

Acts 9:13 (show verse)

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem.

Acts 9:14 (show verse)

He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name."

Acts 9:15 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:16 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:17 (show verse)

Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."

Acts 9:18 (show verse)

Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,

Acts 9:19 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:20 (show verse)

and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.

Acts 9:21 (show verse)

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?"

Acts 9:22 (show verse)

But Saul grew more and more powerful, and bewildered the Jews who lived in Damascus by his proofs that Jesus was the Christ.

Acts 9:23 (show verse)

After some time had passed, the Jews made a plot to kill him,

Acts 9:24 (show verse)

but Saul found out about the plot. They watched the city gates day and night, in order to kill him,

Acts 9:25 (show verse)

but his disciples took him one night and let him down over the wall, lowering him in a basket.

Acts 9:26 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:27 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:28 (show verse)

After that, he associated with them freely in Jerusalem,

Acts 9:29 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:30 (show verse)

When the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and sent him away to Tarsus.

Acts 9:31 (show verse)

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.

Acts 9:32 (show verse)

As Peter was traveling about among them all, he happened to visit God's people at Lydda.

Acts 9:33 (show verse)

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

Acts 9:34 (show verse)

Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you! Get up, and make your bed!" And he got up immediately.

Acts 9:35 (show verse)

And everybody who lived in Lydda or in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Acts 9:36 (show verse)

Among the disciples at Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, which is in Greek Dorcas, that is, gazelle. She had devoted herself to doing good and to acts of charity.

Acts 9:37 (show verse)

Just at that time it happened that she had been taken ill and had died, and they had washed her body and laid her out in a room upstairs.

Acts 9:38 (show verse)

As Joppa was near Lydda, the disciples heard that Peter was there, and they sent two men to him, urging him to come over without delay.

Acts 9:39 (show verse)

Peter went with them at once. When he arrived, they took him up to the room and all the widows stood around him crying and showing him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made when she was still with them.

Acts 9:40 (show verse)

But Peter put them all out of the room. Then he knelt down and prayed, and then turning to the body he said, "Tabitha, stand up!" She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

Acts 9:41 (show verse)

He gave her his hand and raised her to her feet, and calling in the believers and the widows, he gave her back to them alive.

Acts 9:42 (show verse)

This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord.

Acts 9:43 (show verse)

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