And once while He was eating with them, He charged them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. "You have heard me speak of it," He said,

He answered them, "It is not your business to learn times and dates which the Father has a right to fix,

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 while they were gazing after Him into heaven, two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them,

At that time Peter got up among the brothers (there were about a hundred and twenty present) and said,

(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.)

For in the Book of Psalms it is written: 'Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,' and 'Let someone else take his position.'

when suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a terrific blast of wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting,

So how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native tongue?

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

These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

'It will occur in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will have visions. Your old men will have dreams.

Even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will become prophets.

"Fellow Israelites, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you yourselves well know, a man accredited to you by God through mighty deeds and wonders and wonder-works which God performed through Him right here among you,

but God raised Him up by loosing Him from the pangs of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by the power of death.

For David says of Him: 'I always kept my eyes upon the Lord, for He is at my right hand, so that I may not be removed.

he foresaw the resurrection of the Christ and told of it, for He was not forsaken to Hades, and His body did not undergo decay.

So He has been exalted to God's right hand and has received from His Father, as promised, and poured out upon us the Holy Spirit, as you see and hear.

For David did not go up to heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

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?"

Peter said to them, "You must repent -- and, as an expression of it, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ -- that you may have your sins forgiven; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,

constantly praising God and always having the favor of all the people. And every day the Lord continued to add to them the people who were being saved.

Peter and John were on their way up to the temple at the three o'clock hour of prayer,

when a man crippled from his birth was being carried by, who used to be laid every day at what was called The Beautiful Gate of the temple, to beg from people on their way into the temple.

Peter looked him straight in the eye, and so did John, and said, "Look at us."

The beggar looked at them, supposing that he was going to get something from them.

But Peter said, "No silver or gold have I, but what I do have I will give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth start walking."

and at once he leaped to his feet and started walking; then he went into the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God.

and recognized him as the very man who used to sit at The Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg, they were completely astounded and bewildered at what occurred to him.

While he was still clinging to Peter and John, all the people in utter amazement crowded around them in what was called Solomon's portico.

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.

"And yet, I know, brothers, that you did not realize what you were doing, any more than your leaders did.

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

So now repent and turn to Him, to have your sins wiped out, that times of revival may come from the presence of the Lord,

Yet heaven must retain Him till the time for the universal restoration of which God in the early ages spoke through the lips of His holy prophets.

It was to you first that He sent His Servant, after raising Him from the dead, to bless you by causing every one of you to turn from his wicked ways."

So they arrested them and put them into prison until next morning, for it was already evening.

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