So Paul stood up and motioning with his hand said, "Listen, men of Israel and you who reverence God.

Then it was that they begged for a king, and God gave them forty years of Saul, the son of Kish, who belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

After deposing him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he bore this testimony that 'In David, the son of Jessai, I have found a man after my own heart, who will obey all my will.'

Brothers, sons of Abraham's race and all among you who reverence God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us.

For many days he was seen by those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem; they are now his witnesses to the People.

but He whom God raised did not suffer decay.

and that by him everyone who believes is absolved from all that the law of Moses never could absolve you from.

When the Gentiles heard this they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord and believed, that is, all who had been ordained to eternal life;

But the Jews incited the devout women of high rank and the leading men in the town, who stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their territory.

Here they spent a considerable time, speaking fearlessly about the Lord, who attested the word of his grace by allowing signs and wonders to be performed by them.

At Lystra there was a man sitting, who was powerless in his feet, a lame man unable to walk ever since he was born.

shouting, "Men, what is this you are doing? We are but human, with natures like your own! The gospel we are preaching to you is to turn from such futile ways to the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that in them is.

But Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived, who won over the crowds, and after pelting Paul with stones they dragged him outside the town, thinking he was dead.

They chose presbyters for them in every church, and with prayer and fasting entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

But some of the believers who belonged to the Pharisaic party got up and said, "Gentiles must be circumcised and told to observe the law of Moses."

and a keen controversy sprang up; but Peter rose and said to them, "Brothers, you are well aware that from the earliest days God chose that of you all I should be the one by whom the Gentiles were to hear the word of the gospel and believe it.

The God who reads the hearts of all attested this by giving them the holy Spirit just as he gave it to us;

that the rest of men may seek for the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, saith the Lord,

who makes this known from of old.

Hence, in my opinion, we ought not to put fresh difficulties in the way of those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,

They conveyed the following letter. "The apostles and the presbyters of the brotherhood to the brothers who belong to the Gentiles throughout Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: greeting.

who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Then after some time had passed the brothers let them go with a greeting of peace to those who had sent them.

But while Barnabas wanted to take John (who was called Mark) along with them,

Paul held they should not take a man with them who had deserted them in Pamphylia, instead of accompanying them on active service.

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek.

On the sabbath we went outside the gate to the bank of the river, where as usual there was a place of prayer; we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered.

Among the listeners there was a woman called Lydia, a dealer in purple who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She reverenced God, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said.

Bringing them before the praetors they declared, "These fellows are Jews who are making an agitation in our town;

The lictors reported this to the praetors, who, on hearing the men were Roman citizens, became alarmed;

He argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout proselytes and also in the marketplace daily with those who chanced to be present.

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, as Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines that are made by human hands;

he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, for it is he who gives life and breath and all things to all men.

inasmuch as he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world justly by a man whom he has destined for this. And he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead."

There he came across a Jew called Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, as Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul accosted them,

who asked him to stay for a while. But he would not consent;

There came to Ephesus a Jew called Apollos, who was a native of Alexandria, a man of culture, strong in his knowledge of the scriptures.

As he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to give him a welcome. And on his arrival he proved of great service to those who by God's grace had believed,

whom he asked, "Did you receive the holy Spirit when you believed?" "No," they said, "we never even heard of its existence."

"John," said Paul, "baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

Some strolling Jewish exorcists also undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

But the evil spirit retorted, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but you ??who are you?"

And the man in whom the evil spirit resided leapt at them, overpowered them all, and belaboured them, till they rushed out of the house stripped and wounded.

and numbers who had practised magic arts collected their books and burned them in the presence of all. On adding up the value of them, it was found that they were worth two thousand pounds.

So he got them together, along with the workmen who belonged to similar trades, and said to them: "My men, you know this trade is the source of our wealth.

Now the danger is not only that we will have our trade discredited but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will fall into contempt and that she will be degraded from her majestic glory, she whom all Asia and the wide world worship."

So the city was filled with confusion. They rushed like one man into the amphitheatre, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were travelling with Paul.

Some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, also sent to beg him not to venture into the amphitheatre.)

The secretary of state then got the mob calmed down, and said to them, "Men of Ephesus, who on earth does not know that the city of Ephesus is Warden of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven?

Instead of that, you have brought these men here who are guilty neither of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against our goddess.

I know to-day that not one of you will ever see my face again ??not one of you among whom I moved as I preached the Reign.

I showed you how this was the way to work hard and succour the needy, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who said, 'To give is happier than to get.'"

and had four unmarried daughters who prophesied). We stayed with him.

accompanied by some of the disciples from Caesarea, who conducted us to the house of Mnason, a Cypriote, with whom we were to lodge. He was a disciple of old standing.

Now, they have heard that you teach all Jews who live among Gentiles to break away from Moses and not to circumcise their children, nor to follow the old customs.

shouting, "To the rescue, men of Israel! Here is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the People and the Law and this Place! And he has actually brought Greeks inside the temple and defiled this holy Place!"

Then the commander came up and seized him; he ordered him to be bound with a couple of chains, and asked "Who is he?" and "What has he done?"

"Then you are not the Egyptian who in days gone by raised the four thousand assassins and led them out into the desert?"

as the high priest and all the council of elders can testify. It was from them that I got letters to the brotherhood at Damascus, and then journeyed thither to bind those who had gathered there and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

'Who are you?' I asked. He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.'

(My companions saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of him who talked to me.)

Then a certain Ananias, a devout man in the Law, who had a good reputation among all the Jewish inhabitants,

'But, Lord,' I said, 'they surely know it was I who imprisoned and flogged those who believed in you throughout the synagogues,

They had strapped him up, when Paul said to the officer who was standing by, "Are you allowed to scourge a Roman citizen ??and to scourge him without a trial?"

Then those who were to have examined him left him at once alone; even the commander was alarmed to find that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

Then the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next Paul to strike him on the mouth.

Thus a loud clamour broke out. Some of the scribes who belonged to the Pharisaic party got up and contended, "We find nothing wrong about this man. What if some spirit or angel has spoken to him?"

who ought to have been here before you with any charge they may have against me.

Some days later Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and heard what he had to say about faith in Christ Jesus;

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and brought a number of serious charges against him, none of which they were able to prove.

As they were spending several days there, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. "There is a man," he said, "who was left in prison by Felix.

The questions at issue referred to their own religion and to a certain Jesus who had died. Paul said he was alive.

"King Agrippa and all here present," said Festus, "you see before you a man of whom the entire body of the Jews at Jerusalem and also here have complained to me. They loudly insist he ought not to live any longer.

'Who are you?' I asked. And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.

I will rescue you from the People and also from the Gentiles ??to whom I send you,

that their eyes may be opened and that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, to get remission of their sins and an inheritance among those who are consecrated by faith in me.'

Then the king rose, with the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated beside them.

but as the officer wanted to save Paul, he put a stop to their plan, ordering those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,

where we came across some of the brotherhood, who invited us to stay a week with them. In this way we reached Rome.

For two full years he remained in his private lodging, welcoming anyone who came to visit him;