The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and remarkable Day of the Lord comes.

Now as they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,

And the apostles were giving testimony with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them.

When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.

Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.

Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

Then a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food.

So there was great joy in that city.

A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and astounded the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.

They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!”

Then even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he went around constantly with Philip and was astounded as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

After they passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and immediately the angel left him.

At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.

The same thing happened in Iconium; they entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, explaining in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they created great joy among all the brothers.

Then some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a great number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

The Jews stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.

But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen.

So not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world adore.”

When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Then some of the crowd gave Alexander advice when the Jews pushed him to the front. So motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.

But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a united cry went up from all of them for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

However, when the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “Men of Ephesus! What man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

There was a great deal of weeping by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

As the seven days were about to end, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple complex, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language:

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he said, “I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers get here too.” And he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

When he was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “Since we enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation by your foresight,

They didn’t find me disputing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple complex or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

and while I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from serving him.

So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the auditorium with the commanders and prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.

To this very day, I have obtained help that comes from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the prophets and Moses said would take place—

Sailing slowly for many days, we came with difficulty as far as Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to approach it, we sailed along the south side of Crete off Salmone.

Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to set sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor on Crete open to the southwest and northwest, and to winter there.

When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they had achieved their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete.

Since many were going without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.