[Dear] Theophilus, in my former letter [i.e., the Gospel of Luke] I wrote to you concerning what all Jesus did and taught since the beginning [of His ministry],

[One day, as He was] gathered with these apostles, He urged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there until they received what the Father had promised them. (Jesus had previously discussed this with them). [See Luke 24:49].

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

beginning when he was baptized by John until the day he was taken up from us. Therefore, someone like this must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

Brothers, I would like to speak very plainly about the patriarch David [Note: A patriarch was the ruling father of the family]. He died and was buried and his grave can be seen today.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

at which he look'd very attentively, expecting to receive something of them.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

"And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance like your leaders.

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you. Any person who will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.'

They had Peter and John brought before them, and questioned them. "By what power," they asked, "Or in whose name have men like you done this thing?"

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."

And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness,

Now the whole body of believers were but one heart, and one soul: no one look'd upon what he possessed, as his own, but every thing was held in common.

for there was not any one among them who did lack, for as many as were possessors of fields, or houses, selling them, were bringing the prices of the thing sold,

When it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And even after the sale, was the money not yours to do as you pleased about it? How could you think of doing a thing like this? You have not defrauded men but God."

Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”

Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple complex and teaching the people.”

“Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man’s blood on us!”

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

And [as they] looked intently at him, all those who were sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face [was] like the face of an angel.

But God spoke like this: 'His descendants will be foreigners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and mistreat [them] four hundred years,

And when a period of forty years was fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to look upon his brethren, the sons of Israel;

You don't want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?'

And [when] Moses saw [it], he was astonished at the sight, and [when] he approached to look at [it], the voice of the Lord came:

‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

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.

In the desert our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony built like the model Moses had seen, just as he who spoke to him told him to make it.

"You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did!

and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened up [in welcome] and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

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

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

Simon answered, do you pray to the Lord for me, that nothing like what you mention may befall me.

The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

And as they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

And the Lord [said] to him, "Get up, go to the street called 'Straight' and in the house of Judas look for {a man named Saul from Tarsus}. For behold, he is praying,

and he saw a man, Ananias by name, coming in, and putting his hands on him, in order that he may look up.

And Ananias departed, and came into the house: and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, that appeared to you in the way in which thou didst come, hath sent me, that thou mayest look up, and he filled with the Holy Ghost.

Immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized;

He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while lunch was being prepared he was overcome by a "trance" [i.e., a semi-conscious, vision-like state]

and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet descending, lowered by its four corners to the earth,

And after this was done three times, the huge sheet-like container was lifted back up into the sky.

Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, "Look! Three men are looking for you.

then Peter went down to the messengers; and said, I am the person you look for: what occasion brought you hither?

Peter, however, lifted him up, saying as he did so: "Stand up, I am only a man like yourself."

said he, how unlawful it is for a Jew, to frequent a stranger, or even to go to his house: but God hath shewed me, that I should not look upon any man as common and unclean.

"Who can keep these people [i.e., Cornelius' household] from being immersed in water now that they have received the Holy Spirit just like we [apostles] have?" [See 2:4].

I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in an ecstasy I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending like a great sheet, let down by four corners out of heaven, and it came even to me:

"And while I was speaking, [the power of] the Holy Spirit descended on them [i.e., Cornelius' Gentile household] just like [it fell] on us [Jewish apostles] at the beginning [i.e., the day of Pentecost, See chapter 2].

Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

So he departed for Tarsus to look for Saul.

then Saul, who was nam'd likewise Paul, full of the holy spirit, look'd fixedly upon him,

Now, look! The Lord’s hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Suddenly a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

For a period of about forty years He put up with their behavior in the wilderness.

Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’

‘Look, you mockers, and marvel, and perish and vanish away;
For I am doing a work in your days,
A work which you will never believe, even if someone describes it to you [telling you about it in detail].’”

But the crowds, who saw what Paul had done, lifted up their voices in Lycaonian, saying, The gods, having made themselves like men, are come down to us.

And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

Even with words like these they had difficulty in preventing the thronging crowd from offering sacrifices to them.

The apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter.

God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us.

But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.

Simeon did declare how at first God did look after to take out of the nations a people for His name,

and after certain days, Paul said unto Barnabas, 'Having turned back again, we may look after our brethren, in every city in which we have preached the word of the Lord -- how they are.'

And when he had seen the vision, we (including Luke) tried to go on into Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

He, having received an order like that, lodged them in the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

He took them up to his house and put food before them, overjoyed like all his household at having believed in God.

Now when they [Note: A change from the use of "we" to "they" suggests that the writer Luke remained behind in Philippi at this point] had traveled through the [Macedonian] towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to [the city of] Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue.

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also came across him. Some said, "Whatever does the fellow mean with his scraps of learning'?" Others said, "He looks like a herald of foreign deities" (this was because he preached 'Jesus' and 'the Resurrection').

For the things you are saying sound strange to us. We should therefore like to be told exactly what they mean."

so that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us.

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

God has been pleas'd to over-look this state of ignorance: but now he enjoins all men every where to repent:

Now when the people heard about the resurrection from the dead, some of them made fun of it, but others said, "We would like to hear [more] from you about this again."

But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.

And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets.

Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

And now you have seen and heard, not only here in Ephesus, but throughout almost all of [the province of] Asia, that this Paul has been convincing people, [even] to the point of turning many away [from idol worship]. [He is] saying that hand-made gods [like we make] are not real [gods at all].

So the city was filled with confusion. They rushed like one man into the amphitheatre, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were travelling with Paul.

These men went on ahead and were waiting for us (including Luke) at Troas.

And when they had come, he said to them, You yourselves have seen what my life has been like all the time from the day when I first came into Asia,

"And now, look, I am going to Jerusalem, impelled by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me [when I get] there,

Now look, I know that none of you, among whom I traveled on preaching missions, will ever see my face again.

In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

sorrowing most of all for the words that he had spoken, that after that day they should look upon his face no more. And they began to escort him to the ship.

And coming to [see] us, he took Paul’s [wide] band (belt, sash) and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this same way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this band, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles (pagans).’”

Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart [like this]? For I am ready not only to be bound and imprisoned, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

So, here is what we would like you to do: We have four men who have made a vow [i.e., a special promise to God].

"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I was carefully trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the Law of our forefathers, and, like all of you to-day, was zealous for God.

having come unto me and stood by me, said to me, Saul, brother, look up; and I the same hour did look up to him;

"And it happened that when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance [i.e., a semi-conscious vision-like state].

Up to this point the people had been listening to Paul, but at these words they called out: "Kill him! A fellow like this ought not to have been allowed to live!"

the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be examined with the scourge, so he could discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

And when the centurion heard, having come to the chief captain, he reported, saying, Look! What are thou about to do? For this man is a Roman.

With a steady look at the Sanhedrin Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived with a perfectly good conscience before God down to the present day."

Now then, you and the Council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you on the pretext that you want to look into his case more carefully, but before he arrives we'll be ready to kill him."