And while in their company He charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promised gift. "This you have heard of," He said, "from me.

For John indeed baptized with water, but before many days have passed you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

"It is not for you," He replied, "to know times or epochs which the Father has reserved within His own authority;

They entered the city, and they went up to the upper room which was now their fixed place for meeting. Their names were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James.

For Judas was reckoned as one of our number, and a share in this ministry was allotted to him."

(Now having bought a piece of ground with the money paid for his wickedness he fell there with his face downwards, and, his body bursting open, he became disembowelled.

"For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "'Let his encampment be desolate: let there be no one to dwell there'; and "'His work let another take up.'

and they saw tongues of what looked like fire distributing themselves over the assembly, and on the head of each person a tongue alighted.

For this is not intoxication, as you suppose, it being only the third hour of the day.

I will display marvels in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke.

But God has raised Him to life, having terminated the throes of death, for in fact it was not possible for Him to be held fast by death.

For David says in reference to Him, "'I constantly fixed my eyes upon the Lord, because He is at my right hand in order that I may continue unshaken.

For this reason my heart is glad and my tongue exults. My body also shall rest in hope.

For Thou wilt not leave me in the Unseen World forsaken, nor give up Thy holy One to undergo decay.

For David did not ascend into Heaven, but he says himself, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand

For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call."

Fear came upon every one, and many marvels and signs were done by the Apostles.

One day Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the hour of prayer--the ninth hour--and, just then,

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he asked them for alms.

and recognizing him as the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple asking for alms, they were filled with awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

and that He may send the Christ appointed beforehand for you--even Jesus.

Moses declared, "'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brethren as He has raised me. In all that He says to you, you must listen to Him.

They arrested the two Apostles and lodged them in custody till the next day; for it was already evening.

And in no other is the great salvation to be found; for, in fact, there is no second name under Heaven that has been given among men through which we are to be saved."

"What are we to do with these men?" they asked one another; for the fact that a remarkable miracle has been performed by them is well known to every one in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

As for us, what we have seen and heard we cannot help speaking about."

The Court added further threats and then let them go, being quite unable to find any way of punishing them on account of the people, because all gave God the glory for the thing that had happened.

For the man was over forty years of age on whom this miracle of restoration to health had been performed.

And, in fact, there was not a needy man among them, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the money which they realised,

with her full knowledge and consent, dishonestly kept back part of the price which he received for it, though he brought the rest and gave it to the Apostles.

"Ananias," said Peter, "why has Satan taken possession of your heart, that you should try to deceive the Holy Spirit and dishonestly keep back part of the price paid you for this land?

Peter at once questioned her. "Tell me," he said, "whether you sold the land for so much." "Yes," she replied, "for so much."

Upon this the Commander went with the officers, and brought the Apostles; but without using violence; for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

"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!"

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.

Years ago Theudas appeared, professing to be a person of importance, and a body of men, some four hundred in number, joined him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and annihilated.

And now I tell you to hold aloof from these men and leave them alone--for if this scheme or work is of human origin, it will come to nothing.

But, as for us, we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the delivery of the Message."

For we have heard him say that Jesus, the Nazarene, will pull this place down to the ground and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us."

And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

and delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him governor over Egypt and all the royal household.

On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed of Joseph's parentage.

and they were taken to Shechem and were laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money paid in silver.

"But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,

At this time Moses was born--a wonderfully beautiful child; and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.

At length he was cast out, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him, and brought him up as her own son.

Seeing one of them wrongfully treated he took his part, and secured justice for the ill-treated man by striking down the Egyptian.

"But at the end of forty years there appeared to him in the Desert of Mount Sinai an angel in the middle of a flame of fire in a bush.

"'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' "Quaking with fear Moses did not dare gaze.

"'Take off your shoes,' said the Lord, 'for the spot on which you are standing is holy ground.

This was he who brought them out, after performing marvels and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the Desert for forty years.

This is the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, "'God will raise up a Prophet for you, from among your brethren, just as He raised me up.'

They said to Aaron, "'Make gods for us, 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.'

David obtained favour with God, and asked leave to provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.

But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

"'The sky is My throne, and earth is the footstool for My feet. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what resting place shall I have?

For, with a loud cry, foul spirits came out of many possessed by them, and many paralytics and lame persons were restored to health.

Now for some time past there had been a man named Simon living there, who had been practising magic and astonishing the Samaritans, pretending that he was more than human.

His influence over them arose from their having been, for a long time, bewildered by his sorceries.

They, when they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit:

for He had not as yet fallen upon any of them. They had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

"Perish your money and yourself," replied Peter, "because you have imagined that you can obtain God's free gift with money!

No part or lot have you in this matter, for your heart is not right in God's sight.

For I perceive that you have fallen into the bitterest bondage of unrighteousness."

"Pray, both of you, to the Lord for me," answered Simon, "that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who will make known His posterity? For He is destroyed from among men."

Now Saul, whose every breath was a threat of destruction for the disciples of the Lord,

And for two days he remained without sight, and did not eat or drink anything.

"Rise," said the Lord, "and go to Straight Street, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man called Saul, from Tarsus, for he is actually praying.

For I will let him know the great sufferings which he must pass through for My sake."

Saul, however, gained more and more influence, and as for the Jews living in Damascus, he bewildered them with his proofs that Jesus is the Christ.

The Church, however, throughout the whole of Judaea, Galilee and Samaria, had peace and was spiritually built up; and grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and receiving encouragement from the Holy Spirit.

There he found a man of the name of Aeneas, who for eight years had kept his bed, through being paralysed.

and Peter remained for a considerable time at Jaffa, staying at the house of a man called Simon, a tanner.

He had become unusually hungry and wished for food; but, while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.

The sky had opened to his view, and what seemed to be an enormous sail was descending, being let down to the earth by ropes at the four corners.

"On no account, Lord," he replied; "for I have never yet eaten anything unholy and impure."

And Peter was still earnestly thinking over the vision, when the Spirit said to him, "Three men are now inquiring for you.

Rise, go down, and go with them without any misgivings; for it is I who have sent them to you."

So Peter went down and said to the men, "I am the Simon you are inquiring for. What is the reason of your coming?"

Their reply was, "Cornelius, a Captain, an upright and God-fearing man, of whom the whole Jewish nation speaks well, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and listen to what you have to say."

So for this reason, when sent for, I came without raising any objection. I therefore ask why you sent for me."

"Immediately, therefore, I sent to you, and I thank you heartily for having come. That is why all of us are now assembled here in God's presence, to listen to what the Lord has commanded you to say."

but that in every nation those who fear Him and live good lives are acceptable to Him.

It tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that He went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the Devil--for God was with Jesus.

For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling the majesty of God. Then Peter said,

And he directed that they should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to remain with them for a time.

"While I was in the town of Jaffa, offering prayer," he said, "in a trance I saw a vision. There descended what seemed to be an enormous sail, being let down from the sky by ropes at the four corners, and it came close to me.

"'On no account, Lord,' I replied, 'for nothing unholy or impure has ever gone into my mouth.'

When tidings of this reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch.

For he was a good man, and was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and the number of believers in the Lord greatly increased.

He succeeded, and brought him to Antioch; and for a whole year they attended the meetings of the Church, and taught a large number of people. And it was in Antioch that the disciples first received the name of 'Christians.'

Peter coming to himself said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has rescued me from the power of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were anticipating."

and recognizing Peter's voice, for very joy she did not open the door, but ran in and told them that Peter was standing there.

But he motioned with his hand for silence, and then described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. "Tell all this to James and the brethren," he added. Then he left them, and went to another place.

And when Herod had had him searched for and could not find him, after sharply questioning the guards he ordered them away to execution. He then went down from Judaea to Caesarea and remained there.

Now the people of Tyre and Sidon had incurred Herod's violent displeasure. So they sent a large deputation to wait on him; and having secured the good will of Blastus, his treasurer, they begged the king to be friendly with them again, because their country was dependent on his for its food supply.

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me, now at once, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them."

When they had gone through the whole length of the island as far as Paphos, they there met with a Jewish magician and false prophet, Bar-Jesus by name,

who was a friend of the Proconsul Sergius Paulus. The Proconsul was a man of keen intelligence. He sent for Barnabas and Saul, and asked to be told God's Message.