He had shown himself alive to them after he had suffered, in many convincing ways, appearing to them through forty days, and telling them about the Kingdom of God.

It was at that time that Peter got up among the brothers??here were about a hundred and twenty persons present??nd said,

Cretans and Arabs??e all hear them tell in our native tongues the mighty deeds of God."

" 'It will come about in the last days, God says, That I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind; Your sons and daughters will become prophets, Your young men will have visions, And your old men will have dreams.

"Men of Israel, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you know, was a man whom God commended to you by the wonders, portents, and signs that God did right among you through him.

But you, by the fixed purpose and intention of God, handed him over to wicked men, and had him crucified.

But God set aside the pain of death and raised him up, for death could not control him.

But as he was a prophet, and knew that God had promised him with an oath that he would put one of his descendants upon his throne,

He is Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and to whose resurrection we are all witnesses.

So he has been exalted to God's right hand, and has received from his Father and poured over us the holy Spirit that had been promised, as you see and hear.

"Therefore the whole nation of Israel must understand that God has declared this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."

for the promise of it belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those far away whom the Lord our God calls to him."

constantly praising God and respected by all the people. And every day the Lord added people who were saved to their number.

when a man who had been lame from his birth was carried by. He used to be placed every day at what was known as the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, to beg from the people on their way into the Temple,

and he sprang to his feet and began to walk, and he went into the Temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God.

When all the people saw him walking about, praising God,

and recognized him as the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, they were perfectly astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has done this honor to his servant Jesus, whom you betrayed and disowned before Pilate, when he had decided to let him go.

and killed the very source of life. But God raised him from the dead, as we can testify.

it was in this way that God fulfilled what he by all the prophets foretold that his Christ must suffer.

So repent and turn to God, to have your sins wiped out, and happier times will come from the presence of the Lord,

Yet he must remain in heaven till the time for the universal reformation of which God told in ancient times by the lips of his holy prophets.

Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, as he raised me up. You must listen to everything that he tells you.

You are the descendants of the prophets and the heirs of the agreement that God made with your forefathers when he said to Abraham, 'Through your posterity all the families of the earth will be blessed.'

It was to you that God first sent his servant after he had raised him from the dead, to bless you by making every one of you turn from his wickedness."

you and the people of Israel must all know that it is through the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that he stands here before you well.

But Peter and John answered them, "You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you instead of him,

But after further threats they let them go, as they could find no way to punish them, on account of the people, who were all giving honor to God for what had happened,

When they heard it, with one impulse they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, it was you who made heaven, earth, and sea, and everything that is in them,

When they had prayed, the place where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit, and fearlessly uttered God's message.

The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and God's favor rested richly upon them.

As long as it was unsold was it not yours, and after it was sold was not the money under your control? How could you think of doing such a thing? You did not lie to men but to God!"

The younger men got up and wrapping his body up carried it out and buried it.

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

The God of our forefathers raised Jesus to life when you had hung him on a cross and killed him.

God took him up to his right hand as our leader and savior, in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We and the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him are witnesses to these things."

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law highly regarded by all the people, got up in the council and ordered the men to be removed for a while,

but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop it. You may actually find yourselves fighting God!"

and they did not for a single day stop teaching and preaching in the Temple and in private houses the good news of Jesus, the Christ.

So the Twelve called in the whole body of disciples and said to them, "It is not desirable that we should give up preaching the word of God to keep accounts.

You, brothers, must pick out from your number seven men of good standing, who are wise and full of the Spirit, and we will put them in charge of this matter,

So God's message continued to spread; the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a great many priests accepted the faith.

Stephen, greatly strengthened by God's favor, did remarkable signs and wonders among the people.

So they instigated people to say, "We have heard him use abusive language about Moses and about God."

He answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The glorious God appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran, and from there after the death of his father, God caused him to move into this country where you now live.

This was what God said: 'His descendants will be strangers, living in a foreign land, and they will be enslaved and misused for four hundred years,

and I will sentence the nation that has enslaved them,' God said, 'and afterward they will leave that country and worship me on this spot.'

The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him,

As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise God had made to Abraham, the people became more and more numerous in Egypt,

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him as the means of delivering them, but they did not.

'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses was terrified and did not dare to look at it.

The Moses whom they had refused, saying to him, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?' God sent both to rule and to deliver them, with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

This was the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will make a prophet rise from among your brothers to teach you, just as he made me rise.'

So God turned his back on them and left them to worship the starry host, just as the Book of the Prophets says, " 'Was it victims and sacrifices that you offered to me, O house of Israel, Those forty years in the desert?

You offered me the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rompha, The images you had made to worship! So I will deport you beyond Babylon.'

This tent was handed down to our forefathers and they brought it here with them when under Joshua they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, and it existed until the time of David.

He won the approval of God and begged to be allowed to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob,

But he, full of the holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at God's right hand.

And he said, "Look! I can see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!"

Those who were scattered went from place to place preaching the good news of the message.

Everyone there, high and low, made much of him, and said, "He must be what is known as the Great Power of God!"

But when they believed Philip's message of the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike accepted baptism.

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.

But Peter said to him, "Go to destruction with your money, for thinking you could buy God's gift with it!

You have no share or part in this movement, for your heart is not honest in the sight of God.

After they had given their testimony and delivered the Lord's message, they went back to Jerusalem, telling the good news in many Samaritan villages on the way.

But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south, by the road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." (The town is now deserted.)

So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a member of the court of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, her chief treasurer, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship,

"Why, how can I," he answered, "unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

Then Philip began, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus.

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

"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do."

When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus,

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

Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,

and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.

But Barnabas got hold of him and introduced him to the apostles, and he told them how on his journey he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how boldly he had spoken for the cause of Jesus at Damascus.

As Peter was traveling about among them all, he happened to visit God's people at Lydda.

Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you! Get up, and make your bed!" And he got up immediately.

Among the disciples at Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, which is in Greek Dorcas, that is, gazelle. She had devoted herself to doing good and to acts of charity.

He was a devout man, who feared God, as did all the members of his household. He was liberal in charities to the people, and always prayed to God.

One afternoon, about three o'clock, he had a vision, and distinctly saw an angel of God come into his room and say to him, "Cornelius!"

He stared at him in terror, and said, "What is it, sir?" "Your prayers and charities," the angel answered, "have gone up and been remembered before God.

He got very hungry, and wanted something to eat. While they were getting it ready, he fell into a trance,

And a voice came to him, "Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it!"

The voice came to him again a second time, "Do not call what God has cleansed unclean."

Get up and go down, and go with them without any hesitation, for I have sent them."

They answered, "Cornelius, who is a captain, and an upright and God-fearing man, and who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to what you have to say."

But Peter lifted him to his feet, and said, "Get up! I am only human myself."

and he said to them, "You know that it is against the Law for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit one; but God has taught me not to call anyone vulgar or unclean.

and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charities have been recalled to mind by God.

So I sent for you immediately, and you have very kindly come. Now we are all here in God's presence, to hear everything that the Lord has instructed you to say."

Then Peter began and said, "Now I really understand that God shows no partiality,

He has sent his message to Israel's descendants, and made the good news of peace known to them through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of us all.

about Jesus of Nazareth, and how God endowed him with the power of the holy Spirit, and he went about doing good and curing all who were in the power of the devil, because God was with him.

But God raised him to life on the third day and caused him to be plainly seen,

not by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had designated beforehand, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead.

He also directed us to announce to the people and bear solemn testimony that he is the one whom God has appointed to be the judge of the living and the dead.