down to the day when, after issuing his orders by the holy Spirit to the disciples whom he had chosen, he was taken up to heaven.

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

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."

For the promise is meant for you and for your children and for all who are far off, for anyone whom the Lord our God may call to himself."

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,

(He it is who has given strength to this man whom you see and know, by faith in His name; it is the faith He inspires which has made the man thus hale and whole before you all.)

you and the people of Israel must all understand that he stands before you strong and well, thanks to the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead.

(the man on whom this miracle of healing had been performed, being more than forty years old).

In this very city they actually mustered against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst consecrate ??Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

Crowds gathered even from the towns round Jerusalem, bringing invalids and people troubled with unclean spirits, all of whom were healed.

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

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.

'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' Moses was so terrified that he did not dare to look at the bush.

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.

It was passed on and borne in by our fathers as with Joshua they took possession of the territory of the nations whom God drove out before our fathers. So it remained down to the days of David.

saying, "Let me share this power too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the holy Spirit."

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.

"Who are you?" he asked. "I am Jesus," he said, "and you persecute me.

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

Then Peter went down to the men, saying, "I am the man you are looking for. What is your reason for coming?"

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

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,

when he enjoined us to preach to the People, testifying that this was he whom God has appointed to be judge of the living and of the dead.

one of whom, named Agabus, showed by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to visit the whole world (the famine which occurred in the reign of Claudius).

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.'

And as John was closing his career he said, 'What do you take me for? I am not He; no, he is coming after me, and I am not fit to untie the sandals on his feet!'

but He whom God raised did not suffer decay.

They chose presbyters for them in every church, and with prayer and fasting entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

and a keen controversy sprang up; but Peter rose and said to them, "Brothers, you are well aware that from the earliest days God chose that of you all I should be the one by whom the Gentiles were to hear the word of the gospel and believe it.

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek.

When she was baptized, along with her household, she begged us, saying, "If you are convinced I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." She compelled us to come.

inasmuch as he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world justly by a man whom he has destined for this. And he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead."

But as they opposed and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, saying, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not responsible! After this I will go to the Gentiles."

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

whom he asked, "Did you receive the holy Spirit when you believed?" "No," they said, "we never even heard of its existence."

Some strolling Jewish exorcists also undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

And the man in whom the evil spirit resided leapt at them, overpowered them all, and belaboured them, till they rushed out of the house stripped and wounded.

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."

I know to-day that not one of you will ever see my face again ??not one of you among whom I moved as I preached the Reign.

Therefore do I protest before you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you;

I know that when I am gone, fierce wolves will get in among you, and they will not spare the flock; yes.

Then Paul replied, "What do you mean by weeping and disheartening me? I am ready not only to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

accompanied by some of the disciples from Caesarea, who conducted us to the house of Mnason, a Cypriote, with whom we were to lodge. He was a disciple of old standing.

Paul said, "I am a Jew, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, the citizen of a famous town. Pray let me speak to the people."

"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel in all the strictness of our ancestral Law, ardent for God as you all are to-day.

'Who are you?' I asked. He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.'

I said, 'What am I to do?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and make your way into Damascus; there?you shall be told about all you are destined to do.'

Then, finding half the Sanhedrin were Sadducees and the other half Pharisees, Paul shouted to them, "I am a Pharisee, brothers, the son of Pharisees! It is for the hope of the resurrection from the dead that I am on trial!"

I am informed a plot is to be laid against him, so I am sending him to you at once, telling his accusers that they must impeach him before you. Farewell."

Failing them, let these men yonder tell what fault they found with my appearance before the Sanhedrin! ??21 unless it was with the single sentence I uttered, when I stood and said, 'It is for the resurrection of the dead that I am on my trial to-day before you.'"

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!"

"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.

To-day I am standing my trial for hoping in the promise made by God to our fathers,

a promise which our twelve tribes hope to gain by serving God earnestly both night and day. And I am actually impeached by Jews for this hope, O king!

'Who are you?' I asked. And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.

I will rescue you from the People and also from the Gentiles ??to whom I send you,

"Your excellency," said Paul to Festus, "I am not mad, I am speaking the sober truth.

"Long or short," said Paul, "I would to God that not only you but all my hearers to-day could be what I am ??barring these chains!"

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."