So those who were present asked him, "Master, is this the time when you are going to re-establish the kingdom for Israel?"

As he said this, he was caught up before their eyes and a cloud took him up from their sight.

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

"Brothers, the prediction of the Scriptures had to come true that the holy Spirit uttered by the lips of David, about Judas, who acted as guide for the men that arrested Jesus??17 for he was one of our number and a share in this ministry of ours fell to his lot."

(This man bought a piece of land with the money paid him for his treachery, and his body swelled up and burst open in the middle and all his vitals poured out.

This fact was well known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the piece of land came to be called in their language Akeldamach, the bloody field.)

to take this place of service as an apostle which Judas left to go where he belonged."

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

And they were all amazed and bewildered and said to one another, "What can this mean?"

Then Peter stood up with the eleven around him, and raising his voice addressed them. "Men of Judea," he said, "and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and pay attention to what I say.

But this is what was predicted by the prophet Joel,

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

"Therefore the whole nation of Israel must understand that God has declared this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."

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

When Peter saw this, he said to the people. "Men of Israel, why are you so surprised at this? Why do you stare so at us, as though it were some power or some piety of ours that had made him able to walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has done this honor to his servant Jesus, whom you betrayed and disowned before Pilate, when he had decided to let him go.

It is by his power and through faith in him that this man whom you see and recognize has been made strong again, and it is faith inspired by him that has given him the perfect health you all see.

it was in this way that God fulfilled what he by all the prophets foretold that his Christ must suffer.

As they were talking in this way to the people, the high priests, the commander of the Temple, and the Sadducees came up to them,

They had the apostles brought before them and demanded of them, "By what power or authority have men like you done this?"

But to keep it from spreading farther among the people, let us warn them to say nothing to anyone else at all about this person."

for the man on whom this wonder of healing had been done was more than forty years old.

For they have assembled here in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you had consecrated??erod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the peoples of Israel,

And the whole church and all who heard this were appalled.

This aroused the high priest and all his supporters, the party of the Sadducees, and filled them with jealousy,

"Go, take your stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life."

When the commander of the Temple and the high priests heard this report, they were very much at a loss as to what would come of it.

"We strictly forbade you," he said, "to teach on this authority, and here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and propose to hold us responsible for this man's death!"

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

So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this idea or movement is of human origin, it will come to naught,

You, brothers, must pick out from your number seven men of good standing, who are wise and full of the Spirit, and we will put them in charge of this matter,

This plan met the approval of the whole body, and they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the holy Spirit, with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, who had been a convert to Judaism.

Then they brought forward false witnesses, who said, "This man is constantly 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 that have been handed down to us by Moses."

The high priest said, "Is this statement true?"

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran, and from there after the death of his father, God caused him to move into this country where you now live.

This was what God said: 'His descendants will be strangers, living in a foreign land, and they will be enslaved and misused for four hundred years,

and I will sentence the nation that has enslaved them,' God said, 'and afterward they will leave that country and worship me on this spot.'

It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a wonderfully beautiful child, and for three months he was taken care of in his father's house.

This was the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will make a prophet rise from among your brothers to teach you, just as he made me rise.'

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

This tent was handed down to our forefathers and they brought it here with them when under Joshua they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, and it existed until the time of David.

Then falling on his knees, he cried out, "Lord, do not lay this sin up against them!" With these words he fell asleep.

saying, "Give me also this power to communicate the holy Spirit to anyone I place my hands upon."

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

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if you may not be forgiven for thinking of such a thing.

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, He does not open his mouth.

Then Philip began, 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, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem.

The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel.

When the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and sent him away to Tarsus.

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

This happened three times; then the thing was taken right up into the sky.

Cornelius answered, "Three days ago, just at this time of day, I was praying in my house about three o'clock, when a man in dazzling clothing stood before me,

This happened three times; then it was all drawn back again into the sky.

When they heard this, they made no further objection, but they gave honor to God, and said, "Then God has given even the heathen repentance and the hope of life!"

and one of them named Agabus got up and under the influence of the Spirit revealed the fact that there was going to be a great famine all over the world. This was the famine that occurred in the reign of Claudius.

and this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

and when he saw that this gratified the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, at the time of the festival of Unleavened Bread.

He motioned to them to be quiet, and then related to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. "Tell all this to James and the brothers," he said. Then he left them and went somewhere else.

Being sent out in this way by the holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, and then with uplifted hand led them out of Egypt.

Then he removed him and raised David up to be their king, bearing this testimony to him: 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all that I desire.'

Brothers! Descendants of the house of Abraham, and those others among you who reverence God! It is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

Now as evidence that he has raised him from the dead, never again to return to decay, he said this: 'I will fulfil to you my sacred promises to David.'

As they were going out, the people begged to have all this said to them again on the following Sabbath,

When the heathen heard this they were delighted, and praised God's message, and all who were destined for eternal life believed,

and shouting, "Friends, why are you doing this? We are only human beings like you, and we bring you the good news that you should turn from these follies to a living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain.

This created a disturbance and a serious discussion between Paul and Barnabas and them, and it was agreed that Paul and Barnabas and some others of their number should go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

The apostles and elders had a meeting to look into this matter.

This quieted the whole meeting, and they listened while Barnabas and Paul told of the signs and wonders which God had done among the heathen through them.

When they finished James made this response: "Brothers, listen to me.

And this agrees with the predictions of the prophets which say,

who has been making this known from of old.'

They were the bearers of this letter: "The apostles and the brothers who are elders send greeting to the brothers of heathen birth in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

So we send Judas and Silas to you, to give you this same message by word of mouth.

For the holy Spirit and we have decided not to lay upon you any burden but this indispensable one,

Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news.

From there we went to Philippi, a Roman garrison town, and the principal place in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed for some days.

This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation."

She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly.

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested."

The policemen delivered this message to the magistrates, and they were alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens,

This offended the Jews and they gathered some unprincipled loafers, formed a mob and started a riot in the town. They attacked Jason's house, to find them and bring them out among the people.

The crowd and the magistrates were very much excited at hearing this,

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some of them said, "What is this rag-picker trying to make out?" Others said, "He seems to be preaching some foreign deities." This was because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

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

For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an Unknown God.' So it is what you already worship in ignorance that I am now telling you of.

When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We should like to hear you again on this subject."

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen."

for I am with you, and no one shall attack you or injure you, for I have many people in this city."

"This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law."

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,

This went on for two years, so that everyone who lived in Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message.

A Jewish high priest named Sceva had seven sons who were doing this.

This came to be known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and great awe came over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in high honor.

He got the workmen in that and similar trades together, and said to them, "Men, you know that this business is the source of our prosperity,

and you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and drawn away numbers of people, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.