So those who were present began to ask Him, "Lord, is this the time when you are going to set up the kingdom again for Israel?"

After saying this, He was taken up while they were looking at Him, and a cloud swept under Him and carried Him out of their sight.

and said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This very Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in just the way you have seen Him go up into heaven."

for he was one of our number, and he received a share in this ministry of ours.

(This man bought a piece of land with the money which he took for his treachery, and he fell there face downward and his body broke in two, and all his intestines poured out.

It became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this piece of land was called in their language Akeldamach, that is, The Field of Blood.)

to take a share in this service as an apostle, from which Judas fell away to go to his own place."

And when this sound was heard, the crowd rushed together in great excitement, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

And thus they all continued to be astounded and bewildered, and continued to say to each other, "What can this mean?"

Then Peter stood with the Eleven around him, and raising his voice he addressed them, "Men of Judea and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and give close attention to my words.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

this very Jesus, I say, after He was betrayed, in accordance with the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you had wicked men kill by nailing Him to a cross;

"Brothers, I may confidently say to you about the patriarch David, that he died and was buried, and that his grave is here among us to this very day.

"Therefore, let all the descendants of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."

When they heard this, they were stabbed to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

When Peter saw this, he said to the people, "Fellow Israelites, why are you so surprised at this? Why do you keep staring at us, as though we had by our own power or piety made this man walk?

It is His name, that is, on condition of faith in His name, that has made strong again this man whom you see and recognize -- yes, faith inspired by Him has given this man the perfect health you all see.

But in this way God fulfilled what He by the lips of all the prophets foretold, that the Christ should suffer.

They had the men stand before them and repeatedly inquired of them, "By what sort of power and authority have you done this?"

you and all the people of Israel must know that it is by the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead -- yes, I repeat it, it is by His authority that this man stands here before you well.

But to keep it from spreading farther among the people, let us severely threaten them not to say anything at all to anyone else about this person."

When they heard this, with one united prayer to God they said: "O Lord, you are the Maker of heaven, earth, and sea, and everything that is in them, and the One

"For in this city they actually met against your holy Servant Jesus, whom you had consecrated -- Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the peoples of Israel,

"Go and take your stand in the temple square and continue to tell the people the message of this new life."

When the military commander of the temple square and the high priest heard this, they were utterly at a loss to know how this might turn out.

"Did we not positively forbid you to teach anymore on this authority, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and now want to bring on us the people's vengeance for this man's death!"

God has exalted to His right hand this very One as our Leader and Saviour, in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

When they heard this, they were furious, and wanted to kill them.

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,

So, brothers, you must select from your number seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit, and of good practical sense, and we will assign them to this business,

This suggestion was approved by the whole body, and so they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, who was a convert to Judaism.

By this means they excited the people, the elders, and the scribes, and so they rushed upon him, seized him, and brought him before the council.

Then they put up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and against the law,

for we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will tear this place down, and change the customs which Moses handed down to us."

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and for a time made his home in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country in which you now live.

This is what God promised: 'His descendants will be strangers living in a foreign land, and its people will enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.'

But God further promised: 'I will pass sentence on the nation that enslaves them, and after that they will leave that country and worship me on this very spot.'

At this time Moses was born. He was a divinely beautiful child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house.

At this statement Moses fled, and went and lived in the land of Midian, and became the father of two sons.

It was this Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among you, just as He did me.'

This is the one who in the congregation in the desert went between the angel, who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and our forefathers, who also received, to be handed down to you, utterances that still live.

and they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!'

This tent our forefathers brought in and passed on when under Joshua they dispossessed the nations which God drove out before them, and it remained until the time of David.

As they continued to listen to this address, they were becoming infuriated and began to grind their teeth at him.

Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not charge this sin on the book against them!" On saying this he fell asleep in death.

and said, "Give me this power too, that when I lay my hands on anyone he may receive the Holy Spirit."

You have no share or part in this matter, for your heart is not sincere in the sight of God.

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if this thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south by the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza; this is the desert road."

Now this was the passage of Scripture that he was reading: "Like a sheep He was led away to be slaughtered, and just as a lamb is dumb before its shearer, so He does not open His mouth.

Then Philip opened his mouth, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus.

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, especially the great sufferings he has brought on your people in Jerusalem.

And all who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who harassed those who called upon this name in Jerusalem, and has come here expressly for the purpose of putting them in chains and taking them back to the high priests?"

So when the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and from there sent him back to Tarsus.

This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord.

This took place three times; then all at once the thing was taken up into the sky.

Then Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and all at once a man in dazzling clothing stood before me,

He also ordered us to proclaim to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the One whom God has appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

To this very One all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him is to receive the forgiveness of sins through His name."

This took place three times; then all at once the whole thing was drawn back into the sky.

When they heard this, they had no answer to make, but gave God the glory, saying, "So God has given even the heathen the repentance that leads to life."

And this they did and sent it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

and when he saw that this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too -- it was at the time of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

He was an intimate friend of the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul and in this way tried to hear God's message.

But Elymas the magician -- for this is the meaning of his name -- continued to oppose them by trying to keep the governor from accepting the faith.

The God of this people Israel chose our forefathers, and made this people important during their stay in Egypt, and then with an uplifted arm He led them out of it.

Then He deposed him and raised up for them David to be king, to whom He bore this testimony, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all that my will requires.'

It is from this man's descendants that God, as He promised, has brought to Israel a Saviour in the person of Jesus,

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

Now as a proof that He has raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken this, 'I will fulfill to you the holy promises made to David.'

As they were leaving the synagogue, the people kept begging that all this be repeated to them the next sabbath,

In spite of this, however, they stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak with courage from the Lord, who continued to bear testimony to His gracious message and kept on granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

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.

Even by saying this it was all that they could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

So, as a dire disturbance and a serious discussion had been created between Paul and Barnabas and them, they decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others from their number should go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

Now the apostles and elders met to consider this matter.

and in this way He put no difference between us and them, because He cleansed their hearts by faith.

By this he quieted the whole congregation, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell of the signs and wonders which God had done through them among the heathen.

The words of the prophets are in accord with this, as it is written:

'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen dwelling; I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

who has been making this known from ages past.'

They sent this letter by them: "The apostles and elders as brothers send greeting to the brothers from among the heathen in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Some days after this Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we preached the Lord's message, to see how they are."

Paul wanted this man to join him in his journey; so on account of the Jews in that district he took him and had him circumcised, for everybody knew that his father was a Greek.

As soon as he had this vision, we laid our plans to get off to Macedonia, because we confidently concluded that God had called us to tell them the good news.

From there we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony, the leading town in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed some days.

This girl kept following Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation."

She kept this up for a number of days. Because Paul was so much annoyed by her, he turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her." And that very moment it came out.

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The chiefs of the police court have sent orders to let you go. So now you may come out and go in peace."

The policemen reported this message to the chiefs of the police court, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens,

explaining them and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and said, "This very Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ."

But this enraged the Jews; so they got together some wicked loafers about the public square, formed a mob, and set the town in an uproar.

Thus they wrought up to great excitement the crowd and the town magistrates, on their hearing this,

Some of the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers began to debate with him; and some said, "What is this scraps-of-truth-picker trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities." They said so because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

So they took him and brought him to the city auditorium and said, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

For as I was going here and there and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' So it is about the Being whom you are in ignorance already worshiping that I am telling you.

since He has set a day on which He will justly judge the world through a man whom He has appointed. He has made this credible to all by raising Him from the dead."

But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some sneered, but others said, "We will hear you again on this subject."

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

because I am with you, and no one is going to attack you so as to injure you, because I have many people in this city."