To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

[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].

Because, John, indeed, immersed with water; but, ye, in Holy Spirit shall be immersed, - after not many of these days.

Then, indeed, these coming together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

His answer was: "It is not for you to know times or hours, for the Father has reserved these for his own decision;

And these things having said -- they beholding -- he was taken up, and a cloud did receive him up from their sight;

When they came into the city, these men went to the upstairs room where they had been staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

these all were continuing with one accord in prayer and supplication, with women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

And in these days, Peter having risen up in the midst of the disciples, said, (the multitude also of the names at the same place was, as it were, an hundred and twenty,)

Wherefore it is necessary that one of these men, who have been conversant with us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and out among us,

beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day in which he was received up from us, one of these to become with us a witness of his rising again.'

Then they prayed, "Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen

Stunned and amazed, they asked, "All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren't they?

we all hear these men telling in our own tongue what great things God has done."

But others scoffing said, These men are brimful of sweet wine.

"Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand something, so pay close attention to my words. These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it's only nine o'clock in the morning.

[In that day] the sun will become dark and the moon will [appear] as blood. [This will all happen] before the great and wonderful day when the Lord comes. [Note: Some view these last two verses as a reference to events occurring at the end of time. See Matt. 24:29-30].

"Fellow Israelis, listen to these words: Jesus from Nazareth was a man authenticated to you by God through miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through him among you, as you yourselves know.

Now when these words came to their ears their hearts were troubled, and they said to Peter and the other Apostles, Brothers, what are we to do?

And these [new converts] continued regularly [to listen] to the teaching of the apostles and to share with them; they broke bread [in memory of Jesus] and continued praying.

And they began selling [their] possessions and property, and distributing these [things] to all, to the degree that anyone had need.

But God, announced these things beforehand by the mouth of all his prophets, for Christ to suffer, he so completed.

Yes, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel down, have also foretold these days.

You people are descendants of these prophets and [recipients] of the Agreement God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham [Gen. 12:3], 'And through your seed [i.e., your descendant Jesus] all the people of the earth will receive the blessings [of God].'

So, these [Jewish] leaders arrested Peter and John and put them in jail until the next day because it was [already] evening.

And when these men had Peter and John brought before them, they asked, "By whose authority or in what name have you done this thing [i.e., healed the crippled man]?"

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

and repeated, "What shall we do with these men? For it is evident to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable wonder-work has been done by them; and we cannot deny it.

So now, O Lord, consider the threats of these men, and grant that thy servants may be perfectly fearless in speaking thy word,

And after they had prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and these disciples were all filled with [the power of] the Holy Spirit and they were able to speak the message of God with boldness.

When Ananias heard these words, he fell dead, and a strange awe seized everybody who heard it.

"How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter asked her. "Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well."

And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

With these orders they went into the temple about dawn and proceeded to teach. Meantime the high priest and his allies met, called the Sanhedrin together and the council of seniors belonging to the sons of Israel, and then sent to prison for the men.

Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.

We and the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who practice obedience to Him are witnesses to these things."

But when these words came to their ears, they were cut to the heart, and had a mind to put them to death.

then he said to them: "Fellow Israelites, take care as to what you are about to do to these men.

For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

So in the present case, I warn you, stay away from these men, let them alone. For, if this program or movement has its origin in men, it will go to pieces,

And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration,

These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;

They presented these men to the apostles, and after they had prayed, they laid their hands upon them.

The high priest asked, "Are these statements true?"

God's words were these--'Abraham's descendants shall live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.

and the nation whom they shall serve I will judge, said God; and after these things they shall come forth and shall do Me service in this place.

And God gave Abraham a covenant [a formal agreement to be strictly observed] of [which] circumcision [was the sign]; and so [under these circumstances] Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [became the father] of Jacob, and Jacob [became the father] of the twelve patriarchs.

"[And when] these patriarchs, [still living in Canaan as young men], became jealous of [their brother] Joseph, they sold him [as a slave to traveling merchants who took him] to Egypt. But God was with him [during all that time],

will you kill me as you kill'd the Egyptian yesterday? at these words Moses fled,

And at these words, Moses went in flight to the land of Midian, and was living there for a time, and had two sons.

Our forefathers also brought this Tabernacle with them under Joshua's leadership when they entered [Canaan] to occupy the land of these Gentile nations. God removed these nations as our forefathers advanced through the land, up until the reign of King David,

Hath not my hand made all these things?

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

Then he knelt down and cried aloud, "Lord, let not this sin stand against them!" With these words he slept the sleep of death.

With these words he fell asleep. And Saul fully approved of his murder. On this very day there broke out a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostle were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

These two went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

And the Ethiopian said to Philip, About whom are these words said by the prophet? about himself, or some other?

So Ananias went off and entered the house, laying his hands on him with these words, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord, by Jesus who appeared to you on the road, to let you regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."

And after a number of days had passed [these] Jews conspired together to kill Saul,

And when the angel who said these words to him had gone away, he sent for two of his house-servants, and a God-fearing man of the army, one of those who were waiting on him at all times;

And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.

And on the morrow, as these are proceeding on the way, and are drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour,

And he was hungry, and would have eaten: and these making ready, a deep trance fell upon him,

And saying these words, he went in, and saw that a great number of people had come together;

While Peter was still speaking these truths, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.

"No one can refuse the use of water, can he, for these to be baptized, since they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did ourselves?"

And the Spirit told me to go with them without any hesitation at all. These six brothers, too, went with me, and we all went into the man's house.

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.

On coming there he saw to his great joy these tokens of the loving-kindness of God, and encouraged them all to make up their minds to be faithful to the Lord--

where they resided a whole year with that church, and instructed abundance of disciples, and these disciples were the first that were denominated Christians.

And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

Finding that this gratified the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also; these being the days of Unleavened Bread.

With his hand he motioned to them to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, "Tell all these things to James and the brothers." Then he left them and went somewhere else.

Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon [Note: These were seaport cities not under his jurisdiction]. They came to him as a group, having befriended Blastus, an officer of the king [Herod], and tried to arrange a peaceful relationship [with him] because the country was dependant on him for their food supply.

Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch from childhood) and Saul.

As these men were ministering to the Lord [i.e., this probably means worshiping] and fasting, the Holy Spirit said [to one of them by way of inspiration]: "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for Me, [commissioning them] to do the work for which I have called them."

Then, as these prophets and teachers fasted and prayed [for the two men], they placed their hands on them [signifying their appointment for this ministry] and sent them away.

These, indeed, then, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, thence also they sailed to Cyprus,

And after these things, about four hundred and fifty years, He gave judges -- till Samuel the prophet;

For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, who failed to recognize or understand both Jesus and the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled these [very prophecies] by condemning Him.

and for many days he appeared to those who had come with him to Jerusalem from Galilee. These are now his witnesses to the people.

And about his coming back from the dead, never again to go to destruction, he has said these words, I will give you the holy and certain mercies of David.

So take care that these words of the prophets do not come true for you;

And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

For these are the Lord's orders to us: I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the end of the earth."

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard it, they rent their clothes and sprang in among the people, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things?

and shouted, "Men, why are you doing this? We are merely men with natures like your own, who are telling you the good news, so that you may turn from these foolish things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain.

And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

And when Paul and Barnabas had appointed elders [for the churches] in every congregation and had prayed and fasted [over these elders], they committed them to [the care of] the Lord, in whom they had come to trust.

Between these new comers and Paul and Barnabas there was no little disagreement and controversy, until at last it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some other brethren should go up to consult the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem on this matter.

But some of the Pharisees, who were of the faith, got up and said, It is necessary for these to have circumcision and to keep the law of Moses.

Then why do you now try to test God by putting on these disciples' necks a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we could bear?

After these things I will turn back, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, that is fallen down, and its ruins I will build again, and will set it upright --

That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from of old.

"Therefore, I have decided that we should not trouble these gentiles who are turning to God.

Then the apostles and elders in cooperation with the whole church passed a resolution to select and send some men of their number with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. These were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers.

writing a letter by their hand, in these words: The apostles and presbyters and the brethren, to the brethren from among the Gentiles which are at Antioch, and in Syria, and Cilicia, greeting: