And when they were all together, with him, he gave them orders not to go away from Jerusalem, but to keep there, waiting till the word of the Father was put into effect, of which, he said, I have given you knowledge:

So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, are You restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”

After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing after Him into heaven, two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them,

They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.”

For he was one of our number and had his part allotted him in this work of ours."

(This man bought a piece of land with the money paid him for his treachery, and his body swelled up and burst open in the middle and all his vitals poured out.

and they prayed, "O Lord, who readest the hearts of all, do thou single out from these two men him whom thou hast chosen

Then they drew lots between them. The lot fell on Matthias, and a place among the eleven Apostles was voted to him.

Then Peter stood with the Eleven around him, and raising his voice he addressed them, "Men of Judea and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and give close attention to my words.

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: This Jesus the Nazarene was a man pointed out to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through Him, just as you yourselves know.

Though He was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him.

God raised Him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

For David says of Him:

I saw the Lord ever before me;
because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne.

assuredly, therefore, let all the house of Israel know, that both Lord and Christ did God make him -- this Jesus whom ye did crucify.'

For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

And a certain man, who was lame from his mother's womb, was being carried. And they laid him daily at that temple gate which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered into the temple.

So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them to give him something.

Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.”

He looked at them, supposing that they were going to give him something.

Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.

All the people saw him walking and praising God,

and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

but ye renounced him that was holy and just; you interceeded for the life of a murderer,

and you killed the Prince of life, but God raised Him from the dead, to which fact we are witnesses.

By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

So now repent and turn to Him, to have your sins wiped out, that times of revival may come from the presence of the Lord,

and when God shall send him, which before was preached unto you,

Heaven must welcome Him until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about by the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning.

Moses said:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you.

“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also announced these days.

God raised up His Servant and sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil 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 and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy.

And Salvation is in him alone; for there is no other Name in the whole world, given to men, to which we must look for our Salvation."

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

Now the group of those who believed were one heart and soul, and no one said anything of what belonged to him was his own, but all [things] were theirs in common.

sold a field that belonged to him [and] brought the money and placed [it] at the feet of the apostles.

and kept back a part from the price, his wife knowing it along with him; and having brought a certain part, laid it at the feet of the apostles.

And at these words, Ananias went down on the earth, and his life went from him: and great fear came on all who were present.

The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.

And instantly she fell dead right in front of him, and her spirit left her body. [Just then the] young men came in and found her dead. They carried her out and buried her with her husband.

More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number,

Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

In obedience to this, they entered the temple complex at daybreak and began to teach.

When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full Senate of the sons of Israel—and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging Him on a tree.

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

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

Not long ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed, and all his partisans were dispersed and came to nothing.

After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” So they were persuaded by him.

And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

But they were not able to get the better of him, for his words were full of wisdom and of the Spirit.

Then they persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!”

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, dragged him off, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

For we heard him say that Jesus, this Nazarene, will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Then the High Priest asked him, "Are these statements true?"

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, And said to him,

and said to him:

Get out of your country
and away from your relatives,
and come to the land
that I will show you.

“Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land you now live in.

He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

And God spake thus unto him, "that his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and they shall in slave and abuse them four hundred years:"

Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the 12 patriarchs.

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

and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.

Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

and they removed him to Sychem, and laid him in the sepulchre which Abraham had bought, at a price paid in silver, of the sons of Emmor, the father of Shechem.

and when he was left outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.

'And when forty years were fulfilled to him, it came upon his heart to look after his brethren, the sons of Israel;

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

He assumed his brothers would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

“But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed him away, saying:

Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

At those words Moses fled, and went and lived for a time in Midian, and two sons were born to him there.

After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

“Then the Lord said to him:

Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a redeemer by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him, but pushed him away, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

They told Aaron:

Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

But it was Solomon who built Him a house.

Which of the prophets did your forefathers fail to persecute? They killed the prophets who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have betrayed and murdered Him,

When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory [the great splendor and majesty] of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.

They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Saul agreed with putting him to death.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

And the crowds with one mind were paying attention to what was being said by Philip, [as] they heard [him] and saw the signs that he was performing.

They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!”

They were attentive to him because he had astounded them with his sorceries for a long time.

And [this] Simon also believed [Philip's message] and was immersed. [After that] he continued [to travel] with Philip and was amazed by the [supernatural] signs and great miracles he saw [him perform].

But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought the gift of God could be obtained with money!

So the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join him in his chariot."

When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”