I have given an earlier account, O Theophilus, of all the things which Jesus did, and of his teaching from the first,

from the day on which, having given commandment through the Holy Ghost to the apostles whom He had chosen, He was received up.

Now, following His death on the cross [and resurrection], Jesus appeared alive [to His apostles] for forty days, and demonstrated by many convincing proofs [that He had been raised bodily from the dead]. [During that time] He also spoke to them about the [coming] kingdom of God.

While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “This,” He said, “is what you heard from Me;

for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

But ye shall receive power from the holy Spirit coming upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.

And these things having said -- they beholding -- he was taken up, and a cloud did receive him up from their sight;

They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a Sabbath day’s journey away.

(Indeed therefore this man obtained a field from the reward of his unrighteousness, and having become headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

“Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—

beginning from the baptism of John until the day He was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

And they prayed and said, You, Lord, knower of all hearts, show which one You chose from these two,

to receive the share of this ministration and apostleship, from which Judas, by transgression, did fall, to go on to his proper place;'

Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.

There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Being so amazed and astounded [at something so unusual happening], they exclaimed, "Look! are not all these men who are speaking from [the country of] Galilee?

And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappodocia, Pontus, Asia,

Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

And it will be in the last days, says God, I will pour out from my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your elders will dream dreams.

And also on my bondmen and on my bondmaids in those days I will pour out from my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

"You people of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus from Nazareth was a man whom God [demonstrated] His approval of by powerful deeds, miracles and [supernatural] signs which He accomplished through Jesus in your very presence --- and you all know this!

having delivered him from the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be overpower'd by it.

For David says of Him,

‘I saw the Lord constantly before me;
For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken [from my state of security].

Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, to raise the Christ from the fruit of his loins according to flesh to sit upon his throne.

He, having knowledge of the future, was talking of the coming again of Christ from the dead, that he was not kept in hell and his body did not see destruction.

I mean Jesus whom God raised from the dead, to which fact we are all witnesses,

Therefore, since He has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, He has poured out what you both see and hear.

For David ascended not into the heavens: and he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit from my right hand,

And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

They would sell their lands and other property, and distribute the proceeds among all, just as any one from time had need.

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude,

praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

One day, as Peter and John were going up into the Temple Courts for the three o'clock Prayers, a man, who had been lame from his birth, was being carried by.

And a man who was lame from birth was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex.

So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.

But instead, Peter said, "I do not have any money [i.e., silver or gold], but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus from Nazareth [i.e., by His authority], get up and walk."

You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

And now, brothers, I know that ye did it from ignorance, as also your rulers.

Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send the Christ appointed for you--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.

Moses said:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you.

And everyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from the people.

“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also announced these days.

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

because they were provoked that they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead, using Jesus as the example.

and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all those who were from the high priest's family.

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy.

having therefore order'd them to withdraw from the council, they conferred among themselves,

But to keep it from spreading farther among the people, let us severely threaten them not to say anything at all to anyone else about this person."

For we are not able to refrain from speaking about [the things] that we have seen and heard."

When they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak messages from God boldly.

And with great power the Apostles gave witness of the coming back of the Lord Jesus from the dead; and grace was on them all.

For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales

And Joseph, who was called by the apostles, Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"), was a descendant of the Jewish tribe of Levi, whose family originated from [the island of] Cyprus.

and kept back from the price, his wife also having joint awareness. And having brought a certain part, he placed it at the apostles' feet.

Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?

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.

then Peter said to her, how comes it that you have conspir'd together, to tempt the spirit of the Lord? see there at the door the men that are come from burying thy husband, and they shall carry thee out likewise.

And straight away she went down at his feet, and her life went from her: and the young men came in and saw her dead, and they took her out and put her in the earth with her husband.

The others, in fear, kept back from joining them: but the people made much of them;

In addition, a large group came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Then the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out,

But an angel from the Lord one night [miraculously] opened the jail doors and released them, saying,

And then brought them before the Council. The High Priest demanded an explanation from them.

The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus [from the dead], whom you put to death by hanging Him on a tree [i.e., the cross].

God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior and Deliverer, in order to grant repentance to Israel, and [to grant] forgiveness of sins.

But a Pharisee of the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, held in honour by all the people, rose from his seat and requested that they should be sent outside the court for a few minutes.

And now, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will be overthrown;

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.

after the apostles were called in, and scourged, they charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then releas'd them. out they went from the council,

Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.

Every day, both in the temple [courts] and from house [to house], they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news [that] the Christ [was] Jesus.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from God in order to wait on tables.

Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

The proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch.

Then some from what is called the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and disputed with Stephen.

for we [ourselves] heard him saying that this Jesus from Nazareth would destroy the Temple and change the customs handed down to us by Moses."

and said to him:

Get out of your country
and away from your relatives,
and come to the land
that I will show you.

“Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land you now live in.

and rescued him from all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

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

He took a cunning method with our race; he oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to expose their infants, to prevent them from surviving.

At which time Moses was born, and was endued with singular beauty from God, who was brought up three months in the house of his father:

assuming his relatives would understand that God was using him to rescue them [from such abuse], but they did not [seem to] understand.

Then he who did his neighbour wrong thrust him from him, saying, Who appointed thee a ruler and a judge over us?

"Alarmed at this question, Moses fled from the country and went to live in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

But when Moses saw it, he marvelled at the sight: and as he was drawing nearer to observe it, a voice from the Lord came to him,

I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses, shaking with fear, kept his eyes from looking at it.

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

But the Hebrews refused [to acknowledge Moses as their leader], saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge [over us]?' [Nevertheless], God sent him [to Egypt] to be both a ruler and liberator [of the people] through the direction of [His] angel who appeared [to Moses] from the bush.

“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers.

This is the man who was with our forefathers and with the assembly [of Hebrews] in the wilderness [after] the angel had spoken to him at Mt. Sinai. He [is the one] who received the living messages [from God at Mt. Sinai] and gave them to us.

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

saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go on before us! For this Moses, who led us out from the land of Egypt--we do not know what has happened to him!'

But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?