Now when they met, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time you are going to restore the Realm to Israel?"

On saying this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him out of sight.

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."

With the money paid him for his crime he purchased an estate; but swelling up he burst in two, and all his bowels poured out ??19 a fact which became known to all the residents in Jerusalem, so that the estate got the name, in their language, of Akeldamach or The Ground of Blood.

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

Men of Israel, listen to my words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man accredited to you by God through miracles, wonders, and signs which God performed by him among you (as you yourselves know),

but God raised him by checking the pangs of death. Death could not hold him.

For David says of him, I saw the Lord before me evermore; lest I be shaken, he is at my right hand.

(He was a prophet; he knew God had sworn an oath to him that he would seat one of his descendants on his throne;

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."

Peter looked at him steadily, as did John, and said, "Look at us."

And catching him by the right hand he raised him. Instantly his feet and ankles grew strong,

When all the people saw him walking and praising God,

and when they recognized this was the very man who used to sit and beg at the Gate Beautiful, they were lost in awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

But when Peter saw this, he said to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? Why do you stare at us, as if we had made him walk by any power or piety of ours?

The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified Jesus his servant, whom you delivered up and repudiated before Pilate. Pilate had decided to release him,

and you killed the pioneer of Life. But God raised him from the dead, as we can bear witness.

It was for you first that God raised up his Servant, and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."

sold a farm belonging to him and brought the money, which he placed before the feet of the apostles.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you murdered by hanging him on a gibbet.

God lifted him up to his right hand as our pioneer and saviour, in order to grant repentance and remission of sins to Israel.

To these facts we bear witness, with the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him."

In days gone by Theudas started up, claiming to be a person of importance; a number of men, about four hundred of them, rallied to him, but he was slain, and all his followers were dispersed and wiped out.

After him Judas the Galilean started up at the time of the census, and got people to desert to him; but he perished too, and all his followers were scattered.

They gave in to him, and after summoning the apostles and giving them a flogging, they released them with instructions that they were not to speak about the name of Jesus.

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

In this way they excited the people, the elders, and the scribes, who rushed on him, dragged him away, and took him before the Sanhedrin.

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

Then all who were seated in the Sanhedrin fixed their eyes on him, and saw that his face shone like the face of an angel.

and said to him, 'Leave your land and your countrymen and come to whatever land I show you.'

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and stayed in Haran. From Haran God shifted him, after his father's death, to this land which you now inhabit.

But he did not give him any inheritance in it, not even a foot of the land. All be did was to promise that he would give it as a possession to him and to his offspring after him (he at the time being childless).

God also gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised on the eighth day, Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Out of jealousy the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him,

rescuing him from all his troubles and allowing him to find favour for his wisdom with Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him viceroy over Egypt and over all his own household.

then he was exposed, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

When he had completed his fortieth year, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.

He saw one of them being badly treated, so he defended him, struck down the Egyptian, and thus avenged the man who had been wronged.

(He thought his brothers would understand God was going to bring them deliverance by means of him, but they did not understand.)

But the man who was injuring his neighbour pushed him aside. "Who made you ruler and umpire over us?" he asked.

At that Moses fled; he became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he had two sons born to him.

At the close of forty years an angel [of the Lord] appeared to him in the flames of a burning thorn-bush, in the desert of mount Sinai.

But the Lord said to him, 'Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is sacred ground.

The Moses they refused, when they said, 'Who made you ruler and umpire?' ??that was the very man whom God sent to rule and to redeem them, by aid of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

This was the man who at the assembly in the desert intervened between the angel who spoke to him on mount Sinai and our fathers; he received living Words to be given to us.

But our fathers would not submit to him; they pushed him aside and hankered secretly after Egypt.

They told Aaron, 'Make gods that will march in front of us! As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him!'

In the desert our fathers had the tent of witness as arranged by Him who told Moses to make it after the pattern he had seen.

It was Solomon, however, who built him a house.

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!"

When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

With a loud shriek they shut their ears and rushed at him like one man.

Putting him outside the city, they proceeded to stone him (the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a youth called Saul).

Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him,

And the crowds attended like one man to what was said by Philip, listening to him and watching the miracles he performed.

and all sorts and conditions of people attached themselves to him, declaring he was that Power of God which is known as 'the Great Power.'

They attached themselves to him because he had dazzled them with his skill in magic for a considerable time.

Peter said to him, "Death to you and your money, for dreaming you could buy the gift of God!

When Philip ran up, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. "Do you really understand what you are reading?"

he asked. "Why, how can I possibly understand it," said the eunuch, "unless some one puts me on the right track?" And he begged Philip to get up and sit beside him.

Then Philip opened his lips, and starting from this scripture preached the gospel of Jesus to him.

When they came up from the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch lost sight of him. He went on his way rejoicing,

and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus empowering him to put any man or woman in chains whom he could find belonging to the Way, and bring them to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus in the course of his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed round him;

he dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

Saul got up from the ground, but though his eyes were open he could see nothing; so they took his hand and led him to Damascus.

Now there was a disciple called Ananias in Damascus. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He said, "I am here, Lord."

And the Lord said to him, "Go away to the street called 'The Straight Street,' and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus called Saul. He is praying at this very moment,

and he has seen a man called Ananias enter and lay his hands upon him to bring back his sight."

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.

I will show him all he has to suffer for the sake of my Name."

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."

and the Jews, after a number of days had elapsed, conspired to make away with him.

But their plot came to the ears of Saul, and, although they kept watch on the gates day and night in order to make away with him,

his disciples managed one night to let him down over the wall by lowering him in a basket.

He got to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, unable to believe he was really a disciple.

Barnabas, however, got hold of him and brought him to the apostles. To them he related how he had seen the Lord upon the road, how He had spoken to him, and how he had spoken freely in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

he also held conversations and debates with the Hellenists. But when the brothers learned that the Hellenists were attempting to make away with him,

they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

And all the inhabitants of Lydda and Saron saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

When the disciples heard that Peter was at Lydda (for Joppa is not far from Lydda), they sent two men to beg him to "Come on to us without delay."

So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him up to the room, where all the widows stood beside him crying as they showed him the garments and dresses that Dorcas used to make when she was with them.

About three o'clock in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God entering and saying to him, "Cornelius."

When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his menservants and a religiously minded soldier who belonged to his personal retinue,

He became very hungry and longed for some food. But as they were getting the meal ready, a trance came over him.

A voice came to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat."

A second time the voice came back to him, "What God has cleansed, you must not regard as common."

and on the next day he reached Caesarea. [vs 24b transposed to follow vs 27] (For Cornelius had been expecting him and had called his kinsfolk and intimate friends together.)

Peter was just going into the house when Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshipped him;

but Peter raised him, saying, "Get up, I am only a man myself."

Then talking to him he entered the house, to find a large company assembled.

but that he who reverences Him and lives a good life in any nation is welcomed by Him.

you know how it spread over the whole of Judaea, starting from Galilee after the baptism preached by John ??38 how God consecrated Jesus of Nazaret with the holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and curing all who were harassed by the devil; for God was with him.

As for what he did in the land of the Jews and of Jerusalem, we can testify to that. They slew him by hanging him on a gibbet,

but God raised him on the third day, and allowed him to be seen

not by all the People but by witnesses whom God had previously selected, by us who ate and drank with him after his resurrection from the dead,

All the prophets testify that everyone who believes in him is to receive remission of sins through his Name."

And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to remain for some days.

So when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party fell foul of him.

and on finding him he brought him to Antioch, where for a whole year they were guests of the church and taught considerable numbers. It was at Antioch too that the disciples were originally called "Christians."