after giving instructions through the Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, he was taken up to heaven.

and they said: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into the sky will come back in just the same way as you have seen him going into the sky."

"Men and brothers, it was necessary for the Scripture to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit uttered beforehand by the lips of David in regard to Judas who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.

"It is necessary then that, of the men who have been associated with us during the whole time in which the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

and they prayed, saying. "Thou, O Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show clearly which of these two men thou hast chosen to fill the place

The were beside themselves with wonder. "Are not these Galileans who are speaking?" they exclaimed.

And every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

"Therefore let the whole House of Israel know assuredly that Gods has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified."

"For the promise belongs to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, whomever the Lord may call."

Then those who welcomed his message were baptized, and in that day about three thousand souls were added to them;

when a man lame from his birth was carried along, who was wont to be laid each day near the gate of the Temple called the Beautiful Gate, to ask alms of those who were going into the Temple.

and recognized that this was the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, they were filled with awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

"The God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you betrayed and disowned before Pilate, when he had decided to let him go;

"And his name, on the ground of faith in his name, has made strong this man, whom you now see and know; yes, the faith that is through him has made this man sound and strong again, in the presence of you all.

"whom the heavens must receive until the time of restoration of all things. "God spoke of this ages ago, through the mouth of his holy prophets.

"and it shall be that every soul who will not listen to that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

"be it known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand before you strong and well.

But since they saw the man standing with them who had been healed, they had nothing to answer.

For the man on whom this miracle of healing had been wrought was over forty years old.

And when they heard it they all lifted up their voices in prayer to God, saying. "O Sovereign Lord, who madest heaven and earth and sea, and all that in them is,

"who saidest through the Holy Spirit, by the lips of thy servant David, our forefather. "Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples form futile plans?

"In this very city they did gather together against thy holy Servant, Jesus whom thou hast anointed??erod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and also the tribes of Israel??28 "to do all that thy power and thy will had predetermined should be done.

Nor was there any one of them in want, for all who owned houses or lands would sell them and bring the price of the things that were sold, and lay it at the apostles' feet;

In this way Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas ("Son of Encouragement" is what it means), who was a native Cyprus,

But a man named Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold a farm of his,

As Ananias heard these words he fell down and expired, and all who heard were awe-struck.

"Why was it," said Peter, "that you both agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Lo, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out."

And great fear fell on all the church and upon all who had heard it.

The people of the towns near Jerusalem also continued to come in crowds, bringing their sick and those who were harried by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.

This aroused bitter indignation among the high priest and his followers who were of the sect of the Sadducees,

But the officers who went did not find them in the prison; so they came back and reported,

And some one came and told them that the very men whom they had put in prison were standing in the Temple, and teaching to the people.

"We must obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus, whom you slew by hanging him on a tree.

"And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

"So, brothers, find from among your own number seven men of good reputation who are full of the Spirit and of wisdom, and we will appoint them over this business.

These men they presented to the apostles who, when they had prayed, laid their hands upon them.

They also set up false witnesses who testified. "This fellow is continually talking against the Holy Place and against the law.

Then all who were sitting in the council at once fixed their eyes upon him, and saw his face like the face of an angel.

"Then he gave him a covenant of circumcision, and under this covenant he became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve Patriarchs.

"But God was with him, and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him grace and wisdom, when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him Governor over Egypt, and over all the royal household.

"until there arose a king who knew not Joseph.

"In this time Moses was born, a divinely beautiful child, who was brought up for three months in his father's house.

"But the man who was ill-treating his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, "'Who made you a magistrate and ruler over us?

"This Moses whom they refused when they said, Who made you to be a ruler and a judge? that same Moses we find God sending as a ruler and a redeemer by the hand in the bush.

"This was he who brought them out, after he had shown signs and wonders in the wilderness, for forty years.

"It was this Moses who said to the Children of Israel, "God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brothers, as he did me.

"This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness along with the angel who spoke to him in Mt. Sinai, and with our ancestors to whom he gave living words to hand down to us.

"Said they to Aaron. "Make Gods for us who shall march in front of us! As for this Moses who led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him.

"In the wilderness our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Testimony built, as he appointed who told Moses to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

"That tabernacle was brought in by our ancestors, in their turn, when they under Joshua entered on the possession of the nations whom God thrust out before them, until the days of David.

"But it was Solomon who built him a house.

"Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become??53 "you who received the law, given through angels, and obeyed it not."

So those who were scattered abroad were going everywhere preaching the word.

But when they believed Philip, who was preaching glad tidings about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they began to be baptized, both men and women.

Who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit,

So he arose and went. And behold an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, who was a high official (a chief treasurer) of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, who had come to Jerusalem to worship

In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will declare his posterity? For his life is cut off from the earth.

"Pray," asked the eunuch of Philip, "of whom is the prophet speaking? Of himself, or of some one else?"

And he said, "Who are you Lord?"

"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he said: "Stand up and go into the city, and there you shall be told what you must do."

Meanwhile the men who were his fellow travelers stood speechless, hearing indeed the voice, but beholding no one.

"In this city, too, he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all those who call upon thy name."

And so Ananias went and entered into the house, and laying his hands on him, said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, has sent me that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

His hearers were all astonished, and began to say. "Is not this the very man who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called upon the Name? Did he not come hither for the express purpose of carrying them all in chains to the high priests?"

But Saul gained more and more influence, and kept putting the Jews who lived in Damascus to confusion by his proof that Jesus was the Christ.

Now Peter, as he was going from town to town, came down also to the saints who lived in Lydda.

"and now send men to Joppa and fetch one Simon, who is called Peter.

And after the angel who was speaking to him was gone, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier who was in constant attendance upon him,

and called and asked whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.

So the Spirit said to Peter, who was still pondering over the vision.

"Three men are now looking for you. Rise, go down and go with them, nothing doubting; for it is I who have sent them."

"Cornelius," they answered, "a captain, a devout man, and God-fearing, of whom the whole, Jewish nation speaks well, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to listen to your message."

"'So send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. He is lodging with Simon the tanner, in a house by the seaside.'

"but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

"You cannot but know the message which he sent to the descendants of Israel, when he preached the gospel of peace by Jesus Christ who is Lord of all;

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about everywhere doing good, and curing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with him.

"not to all the people, but to witnesses??en previously chosen by God??hat is, to us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead;

"when he charged us to preach to the people, and to testify that this was he whom God ordained to be the judge of the living and of the dead.

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to the message.

And all the Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Gentiles also.

Then Peter said, "Can any one refuse water for the baptism of these men who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?"

"And lo! at that very moment, three men who had been sent for me from Caesarea stood before the house in which I was.

"Then he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying. "'Send to Joppa and fetch Simon who is also called Peter.

"So if God gave them the same gift as he gave to us, when we first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"

Then those who had been scattered by the trouble that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch; but they preached the word to none except Jews.

Some of them, however, were Cyprians and Cyrenaeans, who, on reaching Antioch, began to tell the Greeks also the Good News concerning the Lord Jesus.

The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

One of them, who was Agabus, rose up, and being instructed by the Spirit, predicted that a great famine was about to come upon the whole inhabited earth. (It came in the reign of Claudius.)

who belonged to the suite of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. He summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.

So Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily at him, and said:

So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, said: "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.

After deposing him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also bore witness, when he said, "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, and who will obey all my will.

"And John, when he was finishing his race, repeatedly asked the people. "'Who do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold there comes One after me, whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten.'

"Brothers, sons of Abraham's race, and all among you who reverence God, to us has the word of this salvation been sent.

"For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.

When the congregation broke up, many of the Jews, and of the devout proselytes, followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them, and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who had been ordained to eternal life, believed.

Long time, therefore, they tarried there, speaking fearlessly in the Lord, who attested the word of his grace by permitting signs and wonders to be performed by their hands.