And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

But, you apostles will receive power when the Holy Spirit descends on you and [then] you will become My witnesses [i.e., to tell what you know] in Jerusalem, in [the countries of] Judea and Samaria, and [even] to the distant regions of the earth."

and they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking at heaven? This Jesus taken up from you to heaven shall so come in the manner in which you have seen him go to heaven.

from His immersion by John [the Immerser] until He was received up from us [in a cloud]. Of these people [we must choose] someone to become a witness with us [i.e., to tell people] of Jesus' resurrection [from the dead]."

to replace Judas in this ministry and this group of apostles, from which he fell away to go to where he belonged" [i.e., to the place of punishment for unrepentant sinners].

He has been exalted to the right hand of God, has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has caused you to experience what you are seeing and hearing.

Stung to the heart by these words, they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, "Brethren, what are we to do?"

praising God and enjoying favor with all the people [of the area]. And every day the Lord added to their number [i.e., to the church] those who were being saved [i.e., upon their obedience to the Gospel].

One afternoon, Peter and John were on their way to the Temple for the three o'clock prayer time.

But Peter said, Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk.

God raised up His Servant and sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

As they were talking in this way to the people, the high priests, the commander of the Temple, and the Sadducees came up to them,

if we to-day are examined concerning the good deed to the ailing man, by whom he hath been saved,

saying, “What are we to do with these men? For the fact that an extraordinary miracle has taken place through them is public knowledge and clearly evident to all the residents of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

But Peter and John in answer said to them, It is for you to say if it is right in the eyes of God to give attention to you more than to God:

So [after] threatening [them] further, they released them, finding no way to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising God for what had happened.

And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But Peter said to Ananias, "Why has Satan filled your heart [causing you] to deceive the Holy Spirit by keeping back part of the selling price of the land [while representing it as the full price]?

And the younger men rose, wrapped the body up and carried it away to be buried.

And Peter said unto her, 'How was it agreed by you, to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? lo, the feet of those who did bury thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee forth;'

"We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"

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.

When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

And now I tell you to hold aloof from these men and leave them alone--for if this scheme or work is of human origin, it will come to nothing.

and we to prayer, and to the ministration of the word, will give ourselves continually.'

Then they enlisted men to say [i.e., to testify falsely against Stephen, verse 13], "We heard him criticizing Moses and [even] 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,

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.

But,' said God, 'I will pass sentence on the nation that has made them slaves, and then they will get away to worship me in this Place.'

{I have certainly seen} the mistreatment of my people [who are] in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

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.

Then God turned himself, and gave them up, that they should worship the stars of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'O ye of the house of Israel: gave ye to me sacrifices and meat offerings by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

[No], you set up a tent for Moloch [i.e., a heathen idol worshiped by the Ammonites] and [another one for] the star [representing the false god] Rephan and images used in worshiping them. I will allow you to be transported beyond [the country of] Babylon.'

You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.

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

As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

This was the passage of Scripture he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered, and like a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

while Philip found himself at Ashdod and went on telling the good news in all the towns all the way to Caesarea.

And Saul said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,

And the Lord said to him, "Go away to the street called 'The Straight Street,' and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus called Saul. He is praying at this very moment,

But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

And the brethren knowing it, brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

And Peter said to him: Aeneas, Jesus the Christ restores you to health; arise, and spread your bed for yourself. And he immediately arose;

But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

and having related all things to them, he sent them away to Joppa.

While Peter was still perplexed as to the meaning of the vision that he had seen, the men sent by Cornelius, having enquired the way to Simon's house, came up to the gate,

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man well spoken of by all the Jewish people, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear what you have to say.”

Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God."

Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

If then God has given them the same gift as also to us when we had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was I to be able to forbid God?

Those, however, who had been driven in various directions by the persecution which broke out on account of Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, delivering the Message to none but Jews.

When the church in Jerusalem heard this news, they sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch.

And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul.

And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

Peter signed to them with his hand to be silent, and then told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison, adding: "Tell James and the Brethren all this." Then he left the house, and went away to another place.

and Herod having sought for him, and not having found, having examined the guards, did command them to be led away to punishment, and having gone down from Judea to Caesarea, he was abiding there.

and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate ye to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,'

They therefore, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and thence sailed away to Cyprus.

Now look, the power of the Lord is coming on you to cause [such] blindness that you will not [even] be able to see the sun for awhile." And immediately a misty darkness fell on him and he kept trying to find people to lead him [around] by the hand.

And after reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, Men, brethren, if the word of encouragement is in you to the people, speak.

And when John was completing his work, he said, What do I seem to you to be? I am not he; but one is coming after me, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.

And we to you do proclaim good news -- that the promise made unto the fathers,

God hath in full completed this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also in the second Psalm it hath been written, My Son thou art -- I to-day have begotten thee.

For that is what the Lord has commanded us, saying,

‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles,
So that You may bring [the message of eternal] salvation to the end of the earth.’”

and saying, Men, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, preaching to you to turn from these vanities to the living God, who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things in them;

And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

and thence they sailed away to Antioch, whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.

When they arrived there, they called the church together, and reported how God had worked with them, and how he had opened the way to faith for the heathen.

But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

and after the question had been much canvass'd, Peter rose up, and said, my brethren, you know that a considerable time since God chose me from among you to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and bring them to the faith.

Now therefore why endeavour ye to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

So we send Judas and Silas to you, to give you this same message by word of mouth.

There arose therefore very warm feeling, so that they separated from one another; and Barnabas taking Mark sailed away to Cyprus;

And when he had seen the vision, we wanted at once to go away to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;

From there we made our way to Philippi, which is the principal city of that part of Macedonia, and also a Roman Settlement. In that city we spent several days.

It happened that as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination [that is, a demonic spirit claiming to foretell the future and discover hidden knowledge], and she brought her owners a good profit by fortune-telling.

She followed Paul and us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Supreme God and they are proclaiming to you the way to be saved."

She had been doing this for several days, when Paul, much vexed, turned and said to the spirit within her: "In the Name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave her." That very moment the spirit left her.

And took them out and said, Sirs, what have I to do to get salvation?

The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.

Now when they [Note: A change from the use of "we" to "they" suggests that the writer Luke remained behind in Philippi at this point] had traveled through the [Macedonian] towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to [the city of] Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue.

But the Jews giving away to jealousy, and receiving to themselves certain wicked men of those around the forum, and raising a mob, continued to put the city in an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they were seeking to lead them out to the people:

When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These men have turned the world upside down [i.e., disrupted society by their preaching] and have [now] come here also [i.e., to do the same thing in our community].

That night the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

So at that time the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go as far as the sea; but Silas and Timothy remained there [at Berea].

The men who escorted Paul took him all the way to Athens and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left.

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I to you.

That they might search for God, if by any means they might feel their way to him and find him. And yet he is not really far from any one of us;

for I am with you, and no one will attack you in order to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.

So Paul, [after] remaining many days longer, said farewell to the brothers [and] sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved [his] head at Cenchrea, because he had [taken] a vow.

When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, and Priscilla and Aquila, after hearing him, took him home and explained God's way to him more accurately.

so that even handkerchiefs or work aprons {that had touched his skin} were carried away to those who were sick, and [their] diseases left them and the evil spirits came out [of them].

After these things happened Paul decided to travel through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem. He said, "Then, after I have been there I want to visit Rome also."

[It appears that] Alexander was appointed out of the crowd by the Jews [i.e., to be their spokesman in defending them from the charges being made against Paul]. He motioned with his hand [to get attention] and attempted to speak to the assembly in defense [of the Jewish viewpoint].