Till the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had given his orders, through the Holy Spirit, to the Apostles of whom he had made selection:

And to whom he gave clear and certain signs that he was living, after his death; for he was seen by them for forty days, and gave them teaching about the kingdom of God:

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:

And he said to them, It is not for you to have knowledge of the time and the order of events which the Father has kept in his control.

And when he had said these things, while they were looking, he was taken up, and went from their view into a cloud.

For he was numbered among us, and had his part in our work.

Starting from the baptism of John till he went up from us, one will have to be a witness with us of his coming back from death.

To take that position as a servant and Apostle, from which Judas by his sin was shut out, so that he might go to his place.

And they put it to the decision of chance, and the decision was given for Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?

Him, when he was given up, by the decision and knowledge of God, you put to death on the cross, by the hands of evil men:

For David said of him, I saw the Lord before my face at all times, for he is at my right hand, so that I may not be moved:

He, having knowledge of the future, was talking of the coming again of Christ from the dead, that he was not kept in hell and his body did not see destruction.

And so, being lifted up to the right hand of God, and having the Father's word that the Holy Spirit would come, he has sent this thing, which now you see and have knowledge of.

And with more such words he gave his witness, offering them salvation and saying, Come out from this evil generation.

He then, seeing Peter and John going into the Temple, made a request to them.

And he gave attention to them, hoping to get something from them.

And he took him by his right hand, lifting him up; and straight away his feet and the bones of his legs became strong,

And, jumping up, he got on to his feet and went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping and giving praise to God.

And while he kept his hands on Peter and John, all the people came running together to the covered way which is named Solomon's, full of wonder.

And when Peter saw it he said to the people, You men of Israel, why are you so greatly surprised at this man? or why are you looking at us as if by our power or virtue we had given him the use of his legs?

But the things which God had made clear before, by the mouth of all the prophets, that the Christ would have to undergo, he has put into effect in this way.

And that he may send the Christ who was marked out for you from the first, even Jesus:

For Moses said, The Lord will give you a prophet from among your people, like me; you will give ear to everything which he will say to you.

And Annas, the high priest, was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all the relations of the high priest.

If we are questioned today about a good work done to a man who was ill, as to how he has been made well,

He is the stone which you builders had no use for, but which has been made the chief stone of the building.

And all those who were of the faith were one in heart and soul: and not one of them said that any of the things which he had was his property only; but they had all things in common.

And put it at the feet of the Apostles for distribution to everyone as he had need.

While you had it, was it not your property? and after you had given it in exchange, was it not still in your power? how has this purpose come into your mind? you have been false, not to men, but to God.

But the high priest and those who were with him (the Sadducees) were full of envy,

And hearing this, they went into the Temple at dawn, and were teaching. But the high priest and those who were with him got together the Sanhedrin and the representatives of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to get them.

And they took them into the Sanhedrin, and the high priest said to them,

Him God has put on high at his right hand, as a Ruler and a Saviour, to give to Israel a change of heart and forgiveness of sins.

But one of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a man of learning in the law, of whom all the people had a high opinion, got up and made a suggestion for the men to be put outside for a little time.

And he said to them, Men of Israel, take care what you do about these men.

For before this there was Theudas, who said he was someone important, to whom about four hundred men gave their support: he was put to death, and his band was broken up and came to nothing.

After this man, there was Judas of Galilee, at the time of the numbering, and some of the people went after him: he was put to death, and all his supporters were put to flight.

And he seemed to them to be right: and they sent for the Apostles, and, after having them whipped and giving them orders to give no teaching in the name of Jesus, they let them go.

Then they got men to say, He has said evil against Moses and against God, in our hearing.

For he has said in our hearing that this Jesus of Nazareth will put this place to destruction and make changes in the rules which were handed down to us by Moses.

Then the high priest said, Are these things true?

And he said, My brothers and fathers, give hearing. The God of glory came to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he was living in Haran,

Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and went into Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he was guided by God into this land, where you are living now:

And God gave him no heritage in it, not even enough to put his foot on: but he gave him an undertaking that he would give it to him and to his children after him, though he had no child at that time.

And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel.

He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.

At which time Moses came to birth, and he was very beautiful; and he was kept for three months in his father's house:

And when he was put out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and kept him as her son.

But when he was almost forty years old, it came into his heart to go and see his brothers, the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them being attacked, he went to his help and gave the Egyptian a death-blow:

And he was hoping that his brothers would see that God had sent him to be their saviour; but they did not see.

And the day after, he came to them, while they were having a fight, and would have made peace between them, saying, Sirs, you are brothers; why do you do wrong to one another?

And Moses, seeing it, was full of wonder, and when he came up to have a nearer view of it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,

This Moses, whom they would not have, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent to be a ruler and a saviour, by the hand of the angel whom he saw in the thorn-tree.

This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.

Our fathers had the Tent of witness in the waste land, as God gave orders to Moses to make it after the design which he had seen.

Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.

But still, the Most High has not his resting-place in houses made with hands, as the prophet says,

But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looking up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God.

And he said, Now I see heaven open, and the Son of man at the right hand of God.

And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, Lord Jesus, take my spirit.

And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.

And all the people gave attention to the words which Philip said, when they saw the signs which he did.

But there was a certain man named Simon, who in the past had been a wonder-worker and a cause of surprise to the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was a great man:

And Simon himself had faith and, having had baptism, he went with Philip and, seeing the signs and the great wonders which he did, he was full of surprise.

For up to that time he had not come on any of them; only baptism had been given to them in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the touch of the Apostles' hands, he made them an offering of money, saying,

Give me this power, so that when I put my hands on anyone he may get the Holy Spirit.

And he went and there was a man of Ethiopia, a servant of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and controller of all her property, who had come up to Jerusalem for worship;

He was going back, seated in his carriage, and was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah.

And Philip, running up to him, saw that he was reading Isaiah the prophet, and said to him, Is the sense of what you are reading clear to you?

And he said, How is that possible when I have no guide? And he made Philip get up by his side.

Now the place in the book where he was reading was this: He was taken, like a sheep, to be put to death; and as a lamb is quiet when its wool is being cut, so he made no sound:

And he gave orders for the carriage to be stopped, and the two of them went down into the water, and Philip gave him baptism.

And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away; and the Ethiopian saw him no more, for he went on his way full of joy.

But Philip came to Azotus, and went through all the towns, preaching the good news, till he came to Caesarea.

But Saul, still burning with desire to put to death the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

And made a request for letters from him to the Synagogues of Damascus, so that if there were any of the Way there, men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

And while he was journeying, he came near Damascus; and suddenly he saw a light from heaven shining round him;

And he went down on the earth, and a voice said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly?

And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are attacking:

And Saul got up from the earth, and when his eyes were open, he saw nothing; and he was guided by the hand into Damascus.

And for three days he was not able to see, and he took no food or drink.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias! and he said, Here I am, Lord.

And the Lord said to him, Get up, and go to the street which is named Straight, and make search at the house of Judas for one named Saul of Tarsus: for he is at prayer;

And he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him, so that he may be able to see.

But Ananias said, Lord, I have had accounts of this man from a number of people, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem:

And here he has authority from the chief priests to make prisoners all who give worship to your name.

But the Lord said, Go without fear: for he is a special vessel for me, to give to the Gentiles and kings and to the children of Israel the knowledge of my name:

For I will make clear to him what troubles he will have to undergo for me.

And straight away it seemed as if a veil was taken from his eyes, and he was able to see; and he got up, and had baptism;

And when he had taken food his strength came back. And for some days he kept with the disciples who were in Damascus.

And straight away, in the Synagogues, he was preaching Jesus as the Son of God.

And all those hearing him were full of wonder and said, Is not this the man who in Jerusalem was attacking all the worshippers of this name? and he had come here so that he might take them as prisoners before the chief priests.

But Saul went on increasing in power, and the Jews in Damascus were not able to give answers to the arguments by which he made it clear that Jesus was the Christ.

And when he came to Jerusalem, he made an attempt to be joined to the disciples, but they were all in fear of him, not taking him for a disciple.

But Barnabas took him to the Apostles and gave them an account of how he had seen the Lord on the road, and had given hearing to his words, and how at Damascus he had been preaching in the name of Jesus without fear.

And he was with them, going in and out at Jerusalem,

Preaching in the name of the Lord without fear; and he had discussions with the Greek Jews; but they were working for his death.