So those who were present began to ask Him, "Lord, is this the time when you are going to set up the kingdom again for Israel?"

After saying this, He was taken up while they were looking at Him, and a cloud swept under Him and carried Him out of their sight.

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

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

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.

"Fellow Israelites, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you yourselves well know, a man accredited to you by God through mighty deeds and wonders and wonder-works which God performed through Him right here among you,

this very Jesus, I say, after He was betrayed, in accordance with the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you had wicked men kill by nailing Him to a cross;

but God raised Him up by loosing Him from the pangs of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by the power of death.

For David says of Him: 'I always kept my eyes upon the Lord, for He is at my right hand, so that I may not be removed.

for the promise belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those who are far away whom the Lord our God may call to Him."

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

Peter looked him straight in the eye, and so did John, and said, "Look at us."

Then he took him by the right hand and lifted him, and his feet and ankles instantly grew strong,

When all the people saw him walking about and praising God,

and recognized him as the very man who used to sit at The Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg, they were completely astounded and bewildered at what occurred to him.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you yourselves betrayed and disowned before Pilate, although he had decided to set Him free.

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

It is His name, that is, on condition of faith in His name, that has made strong again this man whom you see and recognize -- yes, faith inspired by Him has given this man the perfect health you all see.

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,

Yet heaven must retain Him till the time for the universal restoration of which God in the early ages spoke through the lips of His holy prophets.

It was to you first that He sent His Servant, after raising Him from the dead, to bless you by causing every one of you to turn from his wicked ways."

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

The God of our forefathers raised Jesus to life after you had hanged Him on a cross and killed Him.

We and the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who practice obedience to Him are witnesses to these things."

After him, at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax, Judas the Galilean appeared and influenced people to desert and follow him, but he too perished and all his followers were scattered.

They were convinced by him, and after calling the apostles in and having them flogged, they charged them to stop speaking on the authority of Jesus, and then turned them loose.

So they instigated men to say, "We have heard him speaking abusive words against Moses and God."

By this means they excited the people, the elders, and the scribes, and so they rushed upon him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

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

Then all who were seated in the council fixed their eyes upon him and saw that his face was like that of an angel.

and said to him, 'Leave your country and your kinsmen and come to Whatever country I may show you.'

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and for a time made his home in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country in which you now live.

He gave him no property in it, not even a foot of land, and yet He promised to give it to him and his descendants after him, as a permanent possession, although he had no child at that time.

And with Abraham He made the sacred compact of circumcision, and he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

and delivered him from all his troubles, and allowed him to win favor and to show wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and so he appointed Joseph governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

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

As he was rounding out his fortieth year, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel.

But the man who was harming his brother pushed him aside, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?

When forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and when he went up to look at it, the voice of the Lord said to him,

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

That very Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?' was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer, by the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

This is the one who in the congregation in the desert went between the angel, who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and our forefathers, who also received, to be handed down to you, utterances that still live.

But our forefathers would not listen to him, but pushed him aside, and in their hearts they hankered after Egypt;

and they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!'

"In the desert our forefathers had the tent of the testimony, like the model Moses had seen, as God who spoke to him ordered him to make it.

but it was Solomon who came to build a house for Him.

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,

As they continued to listen to this address, they were becoming infuriated and began to grind their teeth at him.

But they raised a great shout and held their ears, and all together rushed upon him,

and dragged him out of the city and continued stoning him. The witnesses, in the meantime, laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation for him.

Everybody, high and low, kept running after him, saying, "He is certainly what is known as the Great Power of God!"

They kept running after him, because for a long time he had thrilled them with his magical performances.

But Peter said to him, "Your money go to perdition with you for even dreaming you could buy the gift of God with money!

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

Then Philip ran up and listened to him reading the prophet Isaiah, and he asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

He answered, "How in the world could I, unless someone teaches me?" And he begged him to get up and sit with him.

Justice was denied Him in His humiliation, who can tell of His times? For His life is removed from the earth."

Then Philip opened his mouth, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus.

So he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the official both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away; the official saw him no more, for he went on home rejoicing;

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that if he found any men or women belonging to The Way he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

As he traveled on he finally approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He dropped to the ground; then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Then Saul got up off the ground, but he could not see anything, although his eyes were wide open. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus,

Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord, I am here."

And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called 'The Straight Street,' and ask at the house of Judas for one named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is now praying there.

He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight."

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name to the heathen and their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake."

And all who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who harassed those who called upon this name in Jerusalem, and has come here expressly for the purpose of putting them in chains and taking them back to the high priests?"

After several days had gone by, the Jews laid a plot to murder him,

but their plot was found out by Saul. Day and night they kept guarding the city gates, to murder him,

but his disciples took him one night and let him down through the city wall, by lowering him in a hamper-basket.

Now when Saul arrived at Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples there, but they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe that he was really a disciple.

Barnabas, however, took him up and presented him to the apostles, and he told them how on the road he had seen the Lord, and how the Lord had spoken to him, and how courageously he had spoken in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

and he continued to speak courageously in the name of the Lord, and to speak and debate with the Greek-speaking Jews. But they kept trying to murder him.

So when the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and from there sent him back to Tarsus.

So Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ now cures you! Get up and make your bed!" And at once he got up.

Then all the people who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and so they turned to the Lord.

As Joppa was near Lydda, the disciples heard that Peter was there, and sent two men to him, begging him to come to them without delay.

So Peter at once got up and went with them. When he reached there, they took him to the room upstairs, and all the widows took their stand around him, crying and showing him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

One afternoon about three o'clock he had a vision and clearly saw an angel of God come to him and say, "Cornelius!"

He stared at him and in terror asked, "What is it, sir?" The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your deeds of charity have gone up and been remembered before God.

After the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants, and a religious soldier who was one of his devoted attendants,

A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it."

A second time the voice came to him, "The things that God has cleansed you must not call unclean."

While Peter was meditating on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "There are two men looking for you.

The next day he started off with them, and some of the brothers in Joppa went along with him. The day after that they reached Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for him, as he had invited in his kinsmen and close friends.

When Peter went into the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and did homage to him.

But Peter lifted him to his feet, saying, "Get up, I too am just a man myself."

As he continued to talk with him he went into the house and found a great crowd had gathered,

and he said to him, "You know that it is against the law for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit one, but God has taught me not to call any man vulgar or ceremonially unclean;

but in every nation the man who reveres God and practices doing right is acceptable to Him.

how God consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and then He went about doing good and curing all who were overpowered by the devil, because God was with Him.

We are witnesses of everything that He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Yet they murdered Him by hanging Him upon a tree.

But God raised Him to life on the third day, and permitted Him to be dearly seen,

not by all the people but by witnesses whom God had beforehand appointed, namely, by us who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from the dead.