And once when he ate with them, he instructed them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised. "You have heard me speak of it," he said,

and said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This very Jesus who has been caught up from you into heaven will come in just the way that you have seen him go up to heaven."

And they prayed, saying, "Lord, you who know all hearts, show us which one of these two you have chosen

But others said derisively, "They have had too much new wine!"

" '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.

You have made the ways of life known to me, And you will fill me with joy in your presence.'

Peter said to them, "You must repent, and every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, in order to have your sins forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit,

But Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but I will give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!"

But you disowned the Holy, Righteous One. You asked to have a murderer released for you,

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

Why, all the prophets from Samuel down, who have spoken, have also foretold these days.

They had the apostles brought before them and demanded of them, "By what power or authority have men like you done this?"

for we cannot help telling of what we have seen and heard."

For they have assembled here in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you had consecrated??erod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the peoples of Israel,

so that people would carry their sick out into the streets, and lay them down on beds and mats, to have at least Peter's shadow fall on some of them as he went by.

And they obeyed, and about daybreak went into the Temple and began to teach. The high priest and his party came over and called together the council and indeed the whole senate of the Israelites, and sent to the prison to have the apostles brought in.

"We strictly forbade you," he said, "to teach on this authority, and here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and propose to hold us responsible for this man's death!"

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

for we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will tear this place down and change the customs that have been handed down to us by Moses."

I have seen all the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to save them. So come! I will make you my messenger to Egypt!'

Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? They killed the men who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and killed??53 you who had the Law given to you by angels, and did not obey it!"

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

Simon answered, "You must pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things you have said may happen to me!"

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem.

The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake."

Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."

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.

But Peter said, "Never, sir! For I have never eaten anything that was not ceremonially cleansed."

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."

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."

It is of him that all the prophets bear witness that everyone that believes in him will have his sins forgiven in his name."

"Can anyone refuse the use of water to baptize these people when they have received the holy Spirit just as we did?"

But when morning came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.

As they were engaged in worshiping the Lord and in fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me, for the work to which I have called them."

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue authorities sent to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any appeal to make to the people, proceed."

Then he removed him and raised David up to be their king, bearing this testimony to him: 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all that I desire.'

that God has fulfilled to us, their children, the promise that he made to our forefathers, by raising Jesus to life, just as the Scripture says in the second psalm, You are my Son! Today I have become your Father!'

As they were going out, the people begged to have all this said to them again on the following Sabbath,

For these are the orders the Lord has given us: " 'I have made you a light for the heathen, To be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth!' "

The crowds, seeing what Paul had done, shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

reassuring the disciples and encouraging them to stand by the faith and reminding them that we have to undergo many hardships to get into the Kingdom of God.

Then why do you now try to test God, by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?

As we have heard that some of our number, without any instructions from us, have disturbed you by their teaching and unsettled your minds,

we have unanimously resolved to select representatives and send them to you with our dear brothers Barnabas and Paul,

who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For the holy Spirit and we have decided not to lay upon you any burden but this indispensable one,

that you avoid whatever has been sacrificed to idols, the tasting of blood and of the meat of animals that have been strangled, and immorality. Keep yourselves free from these things and you will get on well. Goodbye."

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested."

But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!"

As they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "The men who have made trouble all over the world have come here too,

For it is through union with him that we live and move and exist, as some of your poets have said, " 'For we are also his offspring.'

for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city."

After these events, Paul, under the Spirit's guidance, resolved to go to Jerusalem, and to revisit Macedonia and Greece on the way. "After I have gone there," he said, "I must see Rome also."

For you have brought these men here, though they have not been guilty of disloyalty nor uttered any blasphemy against our goddess.

If Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen have a charge to bring against anyone, there are the courts and the governors; let them take legal action.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to lose any time in Asia, for he was hurrying to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of the Harvest Festival.

for I have not shrunk from letting you know God's purpose without reserve.

I have never coveted anyone's gold or silver or clothes.

They have been told that you teach all Jews who live among the heathen to turn away from Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children nor to observe the old customs.

What then? They will be sure to hear that you have come.

So do what we tell you. We have four men here who are under a vow.

Join them, undergo the rites of purification with them, and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will understand that there is no truth in the stories about you, but that you yourself observe the Law.

As for the heathen who have become believers, we have written them our decision that they must avoid anything that has been contaminated by idols, the tasting of blood, the meat of strangled animals, and immorality."

"Brothers and fathers," he said, "listen to what I have to say in my defense."

for you shall be his witness before all men of what you have seen and heard.

Paul looked steadily at the council and said, "Brothers, I have done my duty to God with a perfectly clear conscience up to this very day."

On the following night the Lord stood beside him and said, "Courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome also."

and they went to the high priests and elders and said to them, "We have taken a solemn oath not to touch anything to eat till we have killed Paul.

Now you and the council must suggest to the colonel that he should have Paul brought down to you, as you mean to look into his case more carefully, and we will be ready to kill him before he gets down."

So the colonel took him by the arm and stepping aside where they could be alone, asked, "What is it that you have to tell me?"

"The Jews," he answered, "have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, on the ground that you mean to have a fuller inquiry made into his case.

But do not let them persuade you, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, and they have taken an oath not to eat or drink till they have killed him. They are all ready now, and are only waiting to get your promise."

As I have been informed that a plot against him is brewing, I am sending him on to you at once, and directing his accusers to present their charges against him before you."

For we have found this man a pest and a disturber of the peace among Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect,

The governor made a sign to Paul to speak, and he answered, "As I know that for many years you have acted as judge for this nation, I cheerfully undertake my defense,

and they have never found me debating with anyone in the Temple, or creating a disturbance among the people in the synagogues or about the city,

and they cannot sustain the charges they have just made against me.

and I have the same hope in God that they themselves hold, that there is to be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked.

Therefore I strive always to have a clear conscience before God and men.

who ought to be here before you and to present their charges if they have any to make against me.

"So have your principal men go down with me," he said, "and present charges against the man, if there is anything wrong with him."

Paul said in his own defense, "I have committed no offense against the Jewish Law or the Temple or the emperor."

But Paul said, "I am standing before the emperor's court, where I ought to be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you can easily see.

If I am guilty and have done anything that deserves death, I do not refuse to die; but if there is no truth in the charges that these men make against me, no one can give me up to them; I appeal to the emperor."

Then Festus after conferring with the council answered, "You have appealed to the emperor, and to the emperor you shall go!"

But Paul appealed to have his case reserved for his Majesty's decision, and I have ordered him kept in custody until I can send him to the emperor."

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all who are present, you see here the man about whom the whole Jewish people have applied to me both at Jerusalem and here, clamoring that he ought not to live any longer.

Yet I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign about him. So I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, in order to get from your examination of him something to put in writing.

for they have known from the first, if they are willing to give evidence, that I was a Pharisee and my life was that of the strictest sect of our religion.

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the express purpose of appointing you to serve me and to testify to what you have seen and to the visions you will have of me.

to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may have their sins forgiven and have a place among those who are consecrated through faith in me.'

but first to the people of Damascus and Jerusalem and then all over Judea, and even to the heathen I preached that they must repent and turn to God and live as men who have repented should.

To this day I have had God's help and I stand here to testify to high and low alike, without adding a thing to what Moses and the prophets declared would happen,

"He might have been set at liberty," said Agrippa to Festus, "if he had not appealed to the emperor."

Then, when they had gone a long time without food, Paul got up among them, and said, "Gentlemen, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.

So keep up your courage, gentlemen! For I have faith in God that it will be just as I was told.

Until daybreak Paul kept urging them all to take something to eat. "For fourteen days," he said, "you have been constantly on the watch, without taking anything to eat.