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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

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

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.

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

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,

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.

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

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,

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.

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.

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?

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.

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;

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

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.

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.

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.

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

They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!”

An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip: “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is the desert road.)

In His humiliation justice was denied Him.
Who will describe His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.

So Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning from that Scripture.

As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?”

and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

Then Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

“Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there.

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.

And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

As Peter was traveling from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”

Peter then invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and set out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went with him.

You know the events that took place throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached:

not by all the people, but by us, witnesses appointed beforehand by God, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

“Can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me.

But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call common.’

At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.

When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with a firm resolve of the heart,

In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”

After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

He had been very angry with the Tyrians and Sidonians. Together they presented themselves before him. They won over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, and through him they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

Being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

But Elymas the sorcerer (this is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and went back to Jerusalem.

They continued their journey from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

“From this man’s descendants, according to the promise, God brought the Savior, Jesus, to Israel.

When they had fulfilled all that had been written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and put Him in a tomb.

But God raised Him from the dead,

and He appeared for many days to those who came with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people.

Since He raised Him from the dead, never to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, I will grant you the faithful covenant blessings made to David.

and everyone who believes in Him is justified from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.

But the Jews incited the prominent women, who worshiped God, and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

In Lystra a man without strength in his feet, lame from birth, and who had never walked, sat

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”

“Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

although He did not leave Himself without a witness, since He did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and satisfying your hearts with food and happiness.”

Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been entrusted to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved!”

But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses!”

Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for His name.

known from long ago.

Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

They wrote this letter to be delivered by them:

From the apostles and the elders, your brothers,

To the brothers among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

Because we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things.

Farewell.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia.

Then, setting sail from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for a number of days.

A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul.

As usual, Paul went to the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”

But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.

So taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that God’s message had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and disturbing the crowds.

From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.

He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”