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

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."

"So one of the men who has been associated with us all the time that the Lord Jesus moved about among us,

Then they proposed two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was known as Justus, and Matthias.

And they prayed, saying, "Lord, you who know all hearts, show us which one of these two you have chosen

They were perfectly amazed and said in their astonishment, "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

"Men of Israel, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you know, was a man whom God commended to you by the wonders, portents, and signs that God did right among you through him.

He is Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and to whose resurrection we are all witnesses.

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

for the promise of it belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those far away whom the Lord our God calls to him."

constantly praising God and respected by all the people. And every day the Lord added people who were saved to their number.

when a man who had been lame from his birth was carried by. He used to be placed every day at what was known as the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, to beg from the people on their way into the Temple,

and recognized him as the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, they were perfectly astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.

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.

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

But many of those who had heard what they said believed it, and their number grew to be about five thousand.

with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who belonged to the high priest's family.

you and the people of Israel must all know that it is through the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that he stands here before you well.

There is no salvation through anyone else, for there is no one else in the world who has been named to men as their only means of being saved."

and seeing the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say.

But after further threats they let them go, as they could find no way to punish them, on account of the people, who were all giving honor to God for what had happened,

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

When they heard it, with one impulse they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, it was you who made heaven, earth, and sea, and everything that is in them,

and who said through the holy Spirit by the lips of our forefather David, your slave, " 'Why did the heathen rage, And the peoples form vain designs?

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,

There was but one heart and soul in the multitude who had become believers, and not one of them claimed anything that belonged to him as his own, but they shared everything they had with one another.

No one among them was in any want, for any who owned lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sale

Joseph, a Levite, and a native of Cyprus, whom the apostles had named Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement,

But a man named Ananias, who, with his wife Sapphira, had sold a piece of property,

When Ananias heard these words he fell down and expired, and everyone who heard them spoken was appalled.

Peter said to her, "How could you two agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? There at the door are the footsteps of the men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out also."

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

Even from the towns around Jerusalem crowds would come in bringing sick people and those who were troubled with foul spirits, and they were all cured.

But the attendants who went for them could not find them in the jail, and they came back and reported,

We and the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him are witnesses to these things."

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,

Everyone who sat in the council fixed his eyes on him, and they saw that his face was like that of an angel.

until another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.

Seeing one of them being imposed upon, he interfered and defended the man who was being ill treated, striking down the Egyptian.

But the aggressor thrust him off, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?

The Moses whom they had refused, saying to him, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?' God sent both to rule and to deliver them, with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

It was he who brought them out of Egypt, and did wonders and signs there, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert.

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.'

It was he who with the congregation in the desert went between the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and received and communicated to you utterances that still live.

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!'

In the desert our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony built like the model Moses had seen, just as he who spoke to him told him to make it.

Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? They killed the men who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and killed??53 you who had the Law given to you by angels, and did not obey it!"

Those who were scattered went from place to place preaching the good news of the message.

for with loud cries foul spirits came out of many who had been possessed by them, and many paralytics and lame people were cured.

There was a man named Simon in the town, who had been amazing the Samaritan people by practicing magic there, and who made great pretensions.

So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a member of the court of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, her chief treasurer, who had come up to Jerusalem to worship,

His sentence ended in his humiliation. Who will tell the story of his posterity? For his life is perished from the earth."

"Tell me, of whom is the prophet speaking?" said the eunuch to Philip, "Of himself, or of someone else?"

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there who belonged to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

"Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice.

He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name."

Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."

Everyone was astonished, and said, "Is not he the man who made such havoc of the people in Jerusalem who call upon that name, and who came here especially for the purpose of arresting such persons and taking them before the high priests?"

But Saul grew more and more powerful, and bewildered the Jews who lived in Damascus by his proofs that Jesus was the Christ.

There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years.

And everybody who lived in Lydda or in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

He was a devout man, who feared God, as did all the members of his household. He was liberal in charities to the people, and always prayed to God.

Now send men to Joppa, for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter.

When the angel who had spoken to him was gone, Cornelius called two of his servants, and a devout soldier who was one of his personal attendants,

While Peter was still wondering what the vision he had had could mean, the men whom Cornelius had sent had asked the way to Simon's house and reached the door,

and they called out to ask if Simon who was called Peter was staying there.

They answered, "Cornelius, who is a captain, and an upright and God-fearing man, and who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to what you have to say."

So send to Joppa and invite Simon who is called Peter to come here. He is staying at the house of a tanner named Simon, close to the sea.'

but welcomes the man of any nation who reveres him and does what is right.

about Jesus of Nazareth, and how God endowed him with the power of the holy Spirit, and he went about doing good and curing all who were in the power of the devil, because God was with him.

not by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had designated beforehand, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead.

He also directed us to announce to the people and bear solemn testimony that he is the one whom God has appointed to be the judge of the living and the dead.

Before Peter had finished saying these words, the holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to his message.

The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the holy Spirit had been showered upon the heathen too,

charging him with having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews.

Just at that moment three men, who had been sent from Caesarea to find me, reached the house where we were staying,

Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for a man named Simon who is also called Peter,

So if God had given them the same gift that we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, to be able to interfere with God?"

There were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them, however, who when they reached Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, and told them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The Lord's hand was with them, and there were a great many who believed and turned to the Lord.

The disciples determined to make up a contribution, each according to his ability, and send it to the brothers who lived in Judea,

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church.

When he realized his situation, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where a number of people were gathered, praying.

When Barnabas and Saul had performed their mission to Jerusalem, they went back, taking John who was called Mark with them.

There were at Antioch in the church there a number of prophets and teachers??arnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the governor, and Saul.

He was attached to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. He sent for Barnabas and Saul and asked them to let him hear God's message.

But Saul, who was also called Paul, was filled with the holy Spirit, and looked at him

Then Paul got up, and motioning with his hand, said, "Men of Israel, and you who reverence God, listen!

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.

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

but he whom God raised to life did not undergo it.

and that through union with him everyone who believes is cleared of every charge of which the Law of Moses could not clear you.

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

But the Jews who refused their message stirred up the heathen and poisoned their minds against the brothers.