To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says,
‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men shall dream dreams;

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—

this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne,

This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.

Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God;

and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.

It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

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, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;

When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) on account of the people, because they were all glorifying God for what had happened;

And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross.

He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.

but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.

Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

‘And whatever nation to which they will be in bondage I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

“But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home.

And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.

“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’

But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?

You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.

David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.”

But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)

So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship,

[And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]

but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus.

And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized;

and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed.” Immediately he got up.

a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.

About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!”

And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God.

A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate;

But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.”

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.”

So he invited them in and gave them lodging.And on the next day he got up and went away with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.

and he *said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.

So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Opening his mouth, Peter said:“I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,

You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,

not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.

And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.

For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered,

Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’

Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;

for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands.

When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.