Also, as he ate with them, he charged them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father promised ??"for what you have heard me speak of," said he;

who said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven? This Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back, just as you have seen him depart to heaven."

Well then, of the men who have been associated with us all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

So let all the house of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this very Jesus whom you have crucified."

But Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, [get up and] walk!"

Repent then, and turn to have your sins blotted out, so that a breathing-space may be vouchsafed you,

and all the prophets who have spoken since Samuel and his successors have also announced these days.

They made the men stand before them and inquired, "By what authority, in whose name, have you done this?"

Certainly we cannot give up speaking of what we have seen and heard."

When it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And even after the sale, was the money not yours to do as you pleased about it? How could you think of doing a thing like this? You have not defrauded men but God."

Peter said to her, "How could you arrange to put the Lord's Spirit to the proof? Listen, there are the footsteps of the men who have buried your husband! They are at the door, and they will carry you out as well."

"We strictly forbade you to teach about this Name, did we not? And here you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine! You want to make us responsible for this man's death!"

They then instigated people to say, "We have heard him talking blasphemy against Moses and God."

Why, we have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this Place and change the customs handed down to us by Moses!"

I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you back to Egypt.'

Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Just One. And here you have betrayed him, murdered him! ??53 you who got the Law that angels transmitted, and have not obeyed it!"

Simon replied, "Beseech the Lord for me! Pray that nothing you have said may befall me!"

Get up and go into the city. There you will be told what you have to do."

"But, Lord," Ananias answered, "many people have told me about all the mischief this man has done to thy saints at Jerusalem!

But the Lord said to him, "Go; I have chosen him to be the means of bringing my Name before the Gentiles and their kings as well as before the sons of Israel.

So Ananias went off and entered the house, laying his hands on him with these words, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord, by Jesus who appeared to you on the road, to let you regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."

He stared at the angel in terror, saying, "What is it?" He replied, "Your prayers and your alms have risen before God as a sacrifice to be remembered.

But Peter said, "No, no, my Lord; I have never eaten anything common or unclean."

Come, get up and go down, and have no hesitation about accompanying them, for it is I who have sent them."

and so I have come without any demur when I was sent for. Now I want to know why you sent for me?"

So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Well now, here we are all present before God to listen to what the Lord has commanded you to say."

"Can anyone refuse water for the baptism of these people ??people who have received the holy Spirit just as we ourselves have?"

The Spirit told me to have no hesitation in accompanying them; these six brothers went with me as well, and we entered the man's house.

The very night before Herod meant to have him produced, Peter lay asleep between two soldiers; he was fastened by two chains, and sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

Now when day broke there was a great commotion among the soldiers over what could have become of Peter.

As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Come! set me apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

and, after the reading of the Law and the prophets, the presidents of the synagogue sent to tell them, "Brothers, if you have any word of counsel for the people, say it."

After deposing him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he bore this testimony that 'In David, the son of Jessai, I have found a man after my own heart, who will obey all my will.'

though they could find him guilty of no crime that deserved death, they begged Pilate to have him put to death,

has been fulfilled by God for us their children, when he raised Jesus. As it is written in the second psalm, thou art my son, to-day have I become thy father.

As Paul and Barnabas went out, the people begged to have all this repeated to them on the following sabbath.

For these are the Lord's orders to us: I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the end of the earth."

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

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to hold by the faith, and telling them that "we have to get into the Realm of God through many a trouble."

but write them injunctions to abstain from whatever is contaminated by idols, from sexual vice, from the flesh of animals that have been strangled, and from tasting blood;

Having learned that some of our number, quite unauthorized by us, have unsettled you with their teaching and upset your souls,

we have decided unanimously to select some of our number and send them to you along with our beloved Paul and Barnabas

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

The holy Spirit and we have decided not to impose any extra burden on you, apart from these essential requirements:

abstain from food that has been offered to idols, from tasting blood, from the flesh of animals that have been strangled, and from sexual vice. Keep clear of all this and you will prosper. Goodbye."

Some days later, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come and let us go back to visit the brothers in every town where we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they are doing."

The jailer repeated this to Paul. "The praetors," he said, "have sent to release you. So come out and go in peace?"

but as they failed to find Paul and Silas they haled Jason and some of the brothers before the politarchs, yelling, "These upsetters of the whole world have come here too!

for it is in him that we live and move and exist ??as some of your own poets have said, 'We too belong to His race.'

And the Lord said to Paul in a vision by night, "Have no fear, speak on and never stop,

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

Now the danger is not only that we will have our trade discredited but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will fall into contempt and that she will be degraded from her majestic glory, she whom all Asia and the wide world worship."

Instead of that, you have brought these men here who are guilty neither of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against our goddess.

If Demetrius and his fellow tradesmen have a grievance against anybody, let both parties state their charges; assizes are held and there are always the proconsuls.

Now, they have heard that you teach all Jews who live among Gentiles to break away from Moses and not to circumcise their children, nor to follow the old customs.

What is to be done? They will be sure to hear you have arrived.

So do as we tell you. We have four men here under a vow;

associate yourself with them, purify yourself with them, pay their expenses so that they may be free to have their heads shaved, and then everybody will understand there is nothing in these stories about you, but that, on the contrary, you are guided by obedience to the Law.

As for Gentile believers, we have issued our decision that they must avoid food that has been offered to idols, the taste of blood, flesh of animals that have been strangled, and sexual vice."

For you are to be a witness for him before all men, a witness of what you have seen and heard.

Then those who were to have examined him left him at once alone; even the commander was alarmed to find that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

With a steady look at the Sanhedrin Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived with a perfectly good conscience before God down to the present day."

On the following night the Lord stood by Paul and said, "Courage! As you have testified to me at Jerusalem, so you must testify at Rome."

They then went to the high priests and elders, saying, "We have taken a solemn oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

Now you and the Sanhedrin must inform the commander that you propose to investigate this case in detail, so that he may have Paul brought down to you. We will be all ready to kill him on the way down."

The commander then took him by the hand aside and asked him in private, "What is the news you have for me?"

He answered, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to-morrow to the Sanhedrin, on the plea that they propose to examine his case in detail.

Now do not let them persuade you. More than forty of them are lying in ambush for him, and they have taken a solemn oath neither to eat nor to drink till they have murdered him. They are all ready at this moment, awaiting your consent."

Then the commander dismissed the youth, bidding him "Tell nobody that you have informed me of this."

I have no wish to weary you, but I beg of you to grant us in your courtesy a brief hearing.

The fact is, we have found this man is a perfect pest; he stirs up sedition among the Jews all over the world and he is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.

Then at a nod from the governor Paul made his reply. "As I know you have administered justice in this nation for a number of years," he said, "I feel encouraged to make my defence,

Hence I too endeavour to have a clear conscience before God and men all the time.

who ought to have been here before you with any charge they may have against me.

He gave orders to the officer to have Paul kept in custody but to allow him some freedom and not to prevent any of his own people from rendering him any service.

Paul's defence was, "I have committed no offence against the Law of the Jews, against the temple, or against Caesar."

Paul said, "I am standing before Caesar's tribunal; that is where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong whatever to the Jews ??you know that perfectly well.

If I am a criminal, if I have done anything that deserves death, I do not object to die; but if there is nothing in any of their charges against me, then no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!"

Then, after conferring with the council, Festus answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? Very well, you must go to Caesar! "

"King Agrippa and all here present," said Festus, "you see before you a man of whom the entire body of the Jews at Jerusalem and also here have complained to me. They loudly insist he ought not to live any longer.

Only, I have nothing definite to write to the sovereign about him. So I have brought him up before you all, and especially before you, O king Agrippa, in order that I may have something to write as the result of your cross-examination.

Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have our permission to speak upon your own behalf." At this Paul stretched out his hand and began his defence.

Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you in order to appoint you to my service as a witness to what you have seen and to the visions you shall have of me.

To this day I have had the help of God in standing, as I now do, to testify alike to low and high, never uttering a single syllable beyond what the prophets and Moses predicted was to take place.

"At this rate," Agrippa remarked, "it won't be long before you believe you have made a Christian of me!"

"He might have been released," said Agrippa to Festus, "if he had not appealed to Caesar."

When they had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and spared yourselves this hardship and loss by refusing to set sail from Crete.

saying, 'Have no fear, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And God has granted you the lives of all your fellow-voyagers.'

Cheer up, men! I believe God, I believe it will turn out just as I have been told.

Just before daybreak Paul begged them all to take some food. "For fourteen days," he said, "you have been on the watch all the time, without a proper meal.

Three days later, he called the leading Jews together, and when they met he said to them, "Brothers, although I have done nothing against the People or our ancestral customs, I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.

This is my reason for asking to see you and have a word with you. I am wearing this chain because I share Israel's hope."

They replied, "We have had no letters about you from Judaea, and no brother has come here with any bad report or story about you.

For the heart at this people is obtuse, their ears are heavy at hearing, their eyes they have closed, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they understand with their heart and turn again, and I cure them.