And said: "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the heavens? This very Jesus, who has been taken from you into the heavens, will come in the very way in which you have seen him go into the heavens."

'It shall come about in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind; your sons and your daughters shall become Prophets, your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams;

Yes, even on the slaves--for they are mine--both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit,

And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below--Blood and fire and mist of smoke;

Therefore my heart was cheered, and my tongue told its delight; Yes, even my body, too, will rest in hope;

For you wilt not abandon my soul to the Place of Death, nor surrender me, your holy one, to undergo corruption.

Thou have shown me the path to life, you wilt fill me with gladness in your presence.'

"Repent," answered Peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the Faith of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the Temple Courts, and to the Breaking of Bread at their homes, while they partook of their food in simple-hearted gladness, praising God, and winning the good-will of all the people.

Moses himself said--'The Lord your God will raise up from among your brothers a Prophet, as he raised me. To him you will listen whenever he speaks to you.

And it shall be that should any one among the people not listen to that Prophet, he will be utterly destroyed.'

You yourselves are the heirs of the Prophets, and heirs, too, of the Covenant which God made with your ancestors, when he said to Abraham--'In your descendants will all the nations of the earth be blessed.'

Yet only to do what thou, by thy power and of thy own will, didst long ago destine to be done.

Then Peter said: "How did you come to agree to provoke the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The foot-steps of those who have buried your husband are at the door; and they will carry you out too."

And, in this present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these men, but to let them alone, for, if their designs and their work are merely of human origin, they will come to an end;

But, if they are of divine origin, you will be powerless to put an end to them--or else you may find yourselves fighting against God!"

Therefore, Brothers, look for seven men of reputation among yourselves, wise and spiritually-minded men, and we will appoint them to attend to this matter;

While we, for our part, will devote ourselves to Prayer, and to the delivery of the Message."

Indeed, we have heard him declare that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this Place, and change the customs handed down to us by Moses."

'Leave your country and your kindred, and come into the country that I will show you.'

God's words were these--'Abraham's descendants shall live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.

But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will be enslaved,' God said, 'and after that they shall leave the country and worship me in this place.'

I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now and I will send you into Egypt.'

This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel--'God will raise up for you, from among your brothers, a Prophet, as he raised up me.'

While they said to Aaron--'Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

You took with you the tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of the god Rephan--the images which you had made to worship. Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.'

'The heavens are a throne for me, and the earth a stool for my feet. What manner of House will you build me, says the Lord, or what place is there where I may rest?

"How can I," the other answered, "unless some one will explain it to me?" and he invited Philip to get up and sit by his side.

In his lowly condition justice was denied him. Who will tell the story of his generation? For his life is cut off from earth.'

"Yet stand up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

I will myself show him all that he has to suffer for my Name."

Looking intently at it, I began to distinguish quadrupeds, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds;

For he will tell you truths, which will prove the means of Salvation to you and all your household.'

"You incarnation of deceit and all fraud! You son of the Devil! You opponent of all that is good! Will you never cease to divert 'the straight paths of the Lord'? Listen!

The hand of the Lord is upon you even now, and you will be blind for a time and unable to see the sun." Immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went feeling about for some one to guide him.

After removing him, he raised David to the throne, and bore this testimony to him--'In David, the son of Jesse, I have found a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my purposes.'

As to his raising Jesus from the dead, never again to return to corruption, this is what is said--'I will give to you the sacred promises made to David;'

And, therefore, in another Psalm it is said--'Thou wilt not give up the Holy One to undergo corruption.'

David, after obediently doing God's will in his own time, 'fell asleep and was laid by the side of his ancestors, and did undergo corruption;

'Look, you despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I am doing a deed in your days--a deed which, though told you in full, you will never believe'."

'"After this I will return; and I will rebuild the House of David which has fallen--its very ruins I will rebuild, and will set it up once more;

We are accordingly sending Judas and Silas, and they will tell you by word of mouth what we are now writing.

That you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating the flesh of strangled animals, and from impurity. If you guard yourselves against such things, it will be well with you. Farewell.'

As he took his leave, "I will come back again to you, please God," and then set sail from Ephesus.

So that not only is this business of ours likely to fall into discredit, but there is the further danger that the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be thought nothing of, and that she herself will be deprived of her splendor--though all Roman Asia and the whole world worship her."

But if you want anything more, it will have to be settled in the regular Assembly.

And now, under spiritual constraint, I am here on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

And now, I tell you, I know that none of you will ever see my face again--you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom.

I know that, after my departure, merciless wolves will get in among you, who will not spare the flock;

And from among yourselves, too, men will arise, who will teach perversions of truth, so as to draw away the disciples after them.

He came to see us, and, taking Paul's girdle, and binding his own feet and hands with it, said: "This is what the Holy Spirit says--'The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound like this at Jerusalem by the Jews, and they will give him up to the Gentiles'."

So, as he would not be persuaded, we said no more to him, only adding--"The Lord's will be done."

Join these men, share their purification, and bear their expenses, so that they may shave their heads; and then all will see that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that, on the contrary, you yourself rule your life in obedience to the Jewish Law.

Then he said 'The God of our ancestors has appointed you to learn his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his lips;

And saw Jesus saying to me 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

But Jesus said to me 'Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away'."

Whereupon Paul turned to him and said: "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to try me in accordance with law, and yet, in defiance of law, order me to be struck?"

So we want you now, with the consent of the Council, to suggest to the Commanding Officer that he should bring Paul down before you, as though you intended to go more fully into his case; but, before he comes here, we will be ready to make away with him."

But do not let them persuade you, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, who have taken an oath that they will not eat or drink, till they have made away with him; and they are at this very moment in readiness, counting upon your promise."

"I will hear all you have to say as soon as your accusers have arrived." And he ordered Paul to be kept under guard in Herod's Government House.

And you will be able, by examining him on all these points, to satisfy yourself as to the charges which we are bringing against him."

And I have a hope that rests in God--a hope which they also cherish--that there will one day be a resurrection of good and bad alike.

Felix, however, adjourned the case--though he had a fairly accurate knowledge of all that concerned the Cause--with the promise: "When Lysias, the commanding Officer, comes down, I will give my decision in your case."

But, while Paul was speaking at length about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became terrified, and interrupted him--"Go for the present, but, when I find an opportunity, I will send for you again."

"My friends," he said, "I see that this voyage will be attended with injury and much damage, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives also."

Yet, even as things are, I urge you not to lose courage, for there will not be a single life lost among you--only the ship.

Therefore, courage, my friends! for I believe God, that everything will happen exactly as I have been told.

So I urge you to take something to eat; your safety depends upon it, for not one of you will lose even a hair of his head."

'Go to this nation and say--"You will hear with your ears without ever understanding, and, though you have eyes, you will see without ever perceiving."

Understand, then, that this Salvation of God was sent for the Gentiles; and they will listen."