and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which,'said he , ye heard from me:

For [Jesus had said, Matt. 3:11], "John immersed you [men] in water but [this time] you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit, and [it will happen] in just a few more days."

So, when they were together, they said to him, Lord, will you at this time give back the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing up into the heaven, He going, and behold, two men stood by them in white garments, who also said,

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.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

“Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David [king of Israel] about Judas [Iscariot], who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.

"For in the Book of Psalms," Peter continued, "it is said-- 'Let his dwelling become desolate, and let no one live in it'; and also--'His office let another take.'

And they set two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias,

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as it had been the coming of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they sat.

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

And they were full of wonder and said, Are not all these men Galilaeans?

And they were all in amazement and doubt, and said, one to another: What can this mean?

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

But this is the thing which was said by the prophet Joel;

God said that 'in the last days [of the Jewish nation?] I will pour out My Holy Spirit upon all people [i.e., both Jews and Gentiles], and your sons and daughters will speak out [in prophecies] and your young men will see [supernatural] visions, and your old men will have [supernatural] dreams.

And I will set forth wonders in the heaven above, and signs upon the earth beneath, - blood and fire and vapour of smoke:

But God set aside the pain of death and raised him up, for death could not control him.

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:

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

David, foreseeing this, spoke of Christ being raised from the dead. [He said Jesus' spirit] would not be left in the unseen place of departed spirits, nor would His body decay.

Jesus is [now] exalted at the right side of God, and having received the promised Holy Spirit from His Father, He has poured out what you have seen and heard [here this day].

For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

'The Lord said to my Lord sit on my right hand, until I make thy foes, thy footstool.'

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

He said much more besides in giving his testimony, and urged them to save themselves from that crooked age.

So those who accepted what he said were baptized; about three thousand souls were brought in, that day.

And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

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

So he waited, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said:

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

And as this [former] crippled man stayed close beside Peter and John, all the people rushed toward them at "Solomon's Portico" [Note: This was a large covered area, with rows of columns, on the side of the Temple enclosure], completely astonished [at what had happened].

Peter, seeing this, spoke to the people. "Israelites," he said, "why do you wonder at this man? Or why gaze at us, as though by any power or piety of our own we had enabled him to walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has done honor to his Servant Jesus--him whom you gave up and disowned before Pilate, when he had decided to set him free.

And through faith in his name hath his name restored this man to strength, whom ye behold and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the sight of you all.

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.

Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

And they put hands upon them, and set in guard for the morrow: for it was already evening.

But many of those who had heard what they said believed it, and their number grew to be about five thousand.

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

And there is in no one else, salvation, for, neither is there any other name, under heaven, which hath been set forth among men, in which we must needs be saved.

They said, "What should we do with these men? For it's obvious to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable sign has been done by them, and we cannot deny it.

But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

And when they had said more sharp words to them, they let them go, not seeing what punishment they might give them, because of the people; for all men were giving praise to God for what had taken place.

And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against his Anointed:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Instantly she fell down dead at his feet, and the young men came in and found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her by her husband's side.

And put their hands upon the sent, and set them in the public keeping.

But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

"Go," he said, "and stand in the Temple Courts, and tell the people the whole Message of this new Life."

and sent to the prison, to have them brought, But when the officers came, they found them not in the prison; and returning they said,

And someone came and said to them, The men, whom you put in prison, are in the Temple teaching the people.

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

"We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

But God exalted Him at His right side to be a Prince and Savior and to give the people of Israel [an opportunity] to repent [i.e., change their hearts and lives] and [receive] forgiveness of [their] sins [through Him].

But a Pharisee of the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, held in honour by all the people, rose from his seat and requested that they should be sent outside the court for a few minutes.

And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching 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.

And now, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will be overthrown;

The Council followed his advice, and, calling the Apostles in, had them flogged, and then, after cautioning them not to speak in the Name of Jesus, set them free.

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

look out, therefore, brethren, seven men of you who are well testified of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may set over this necessity,

And the word was pleasing in the sight of all the throng; and they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicholaus, a proselyte of Antioch;

Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

And they stirred up the people, as well as the Councillors and the Teachers of the Law, and set upon Stephen, and arrested him, and brought him before the High Council.

And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

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.

And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn't stay alive.

It was at this [critical] time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and for three months he was nourished in his father’s house.

And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son.

And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

and he who is doing injustice to the neighbour, did thrust him away, saying, Who set thee a ruler and a judge over us?

When the man said this, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

'This Moses, whom they did refuse, saying, Who did set thee a ruler and a judge? this one God a ruler and a redeemer did send, in the hand of a messenger who appeared to him in the bush;