Then they prayed, "Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen

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

However, Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I'll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth, walk!"

You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you,

Therefore, repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out,

"Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who followed him, also announced these days.

As long as it remained unsold, wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn't lie only to men, but also to God!"

"How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter asked her. "Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well."

"Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have."

After the apostles heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word to the prison to have the men brought in.

When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.

He said, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name, didn't we? Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man's blood on us!"

They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.

Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll put them in charge of this work.

So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I've heard their groans, and I've come down to rescue them. Now come, I'll send you to Egypt.'

Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.

You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven't obeyed it!"

You have no part or share in what we're saying, because your heart isn't right with God.

Simon answered, "Both of you pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you have said will happen to me."

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder to God. Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.

But Peter said, "Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

Get up, go downstairs, and don't hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

The men replied, "Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say."

"No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?"

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak."

Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, "I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.'

Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'

For that is what the Lord ordered us to do: "I have made you a light to the gentiles to be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.'"

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

that have been known from long ago.'

"Therefore, I have decided that we should not trouble these gentiles who are turning to God.

Greetings. We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

So we have unanimously decided to choose men and send them to you with our dear Barnabas and Paul,

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

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas to tell you the same things by word of mouth.

The jailer reported these words to Paul, and added, "The magistrates have sent word to release you. So come out now and go in peace."

But Paul told the guards, "The magistrates have had us beaten publicly without a trial and have thrown us into jail, even though we are Roman citizens. Now are they going to throw us out secretly? Certainly not! Have them come and escort us out."

When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These fellows who have turned the world upside down have come here, too,

The men who escorted Paul took him all the way to Athens and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left.

For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: ""Since we are his children, too.'

For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you or harm you, because I have many people in this city."

But since it is a question about words, names, and your own Law, you will have to take care of that yourselves. I refuse to be a judge in these matters."

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "No, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Moreover, many people who had practiced occult arts gathered their books and burned them in front of everybody. They estimated their value and found them to have been worth 50,000 silver coins.

After these things had happened, Paul decided to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. "After I have gone there," he told them, "I must also see Rome."

For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme our goddess.

So if Demetrius and his workers have a charge against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They should accuse one another there.

But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

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

Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.

As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality."

because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.'

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

That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Have courage! For just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome, too."

They went to the high priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to taste any food before we have killed Paul.

The tribune took him by the hand, stepped aside to be alone with him, and asked, "What have you got to tell me?"

He answered, "The Jewish leaders have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Council tomorrow as though they were going to examine his case more carefully.

For we have found this man a perfect pest and an agitator among all Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes

"Since I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I am pleased to present my defense. You can verify for yourself that I went up to worship in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago.

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

Therefore, I always do my best to have a clear conscience before God and people.

After many years, I have come back to my people to bring gifts for the poor and to offer sacrifices.

But some Jews from Asia were there, and they should be here before you to accuse me if they have anything against me.

He ordered the centurion to guard Paul but to let him have some freedom and not to keep any of his friends from caring for his needs.

and asking Festus to have Paul brought to Jerusalem as a favor. They were laying an ambush to kill him on the road.

"Therefore," he said, "have your authorities come down with me and present their charges against him there, if there is anything wrong with the man."

Paul said in his defense, "I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews, or of the Temple, or of the emperor."

But Paul said, "I am standing before the emperor's judgment seat where I ought to be tried. I haven't done anything wrong to the Jewish leaders, as you know very well.

If I'm guilty and have done something that deserves death, I'm willing to die. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor!"

Festus talked it over with the council and then answered, "To the emperor you have appealed; to the emperor you will go!"

I find that he has not done anything deserving of death. But since he has appealed to his Majesty, I have decided to send him.

I have nothing reliable to write our Sovereign about him, so I have brought him to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I will have something to write after he is cross-examined.

Then Agrippa told Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.

They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.

Agrippa told Festus, "This man could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to the emperor."

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among his shipmates and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would have avoided this hardship and damage.

But now I urge you to have courage, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss of the ship.

However, we will have to run aground on some island."

Right up to daybreak Paul kept urging all of them to eat something. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, not eating anything.

When the people who lived there saw the snake hanging from his hand, they told one another, "This man must be a murderer! He may have escaped from the sea, but Justice won't let him live."

Three days later, Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. When they assembled, he told them, "Brothers, although I haven't done anything against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

But the Jews objected and forced me to appeal to the emperor, even though I have no countercharge to bring against my own people.

The Jewish leaders told him, "We haven't received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you.

For this people's minds have become stupid, and their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes so that they may never see with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn and let me heal them."'