until the day He was taken up, after He had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!”

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.

By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy.

for this sign of healing had been performed on a man over 40 years old.

“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed,

Joseph, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas, which is translated Son of Encouragement,

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging Him on a tree.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.

But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. So Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a redeemer by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

“Who are You, Lord?” he said.

“I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,” He replied.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Here I am, Lord!” he said.

Then Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the one you’re looking for. What is the reason you’re here?”

But Peter helped him up and said, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”

After removing him, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man loyal to Me, who will carry out all My will.’

Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’

But the One God raised up did not decay.

Look, you scoffers,
marvel and vanish away,
because I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will never believe,
even if someone were to explain it to you.”

When they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Because we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

explaining and showing that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”

However, some men joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook his robe and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!”

So not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world adore.”

“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, bound in my spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

“And now I know that none of you will ever see my face again—everyone I went about preaching the kingdom to.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood,

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason, a Cypriot and an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?”

He replied, “Do you know Greek?

Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

He continued, “I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and educated according to the strict view of our patriarchal law. Being zealous for God, just as all of you are today,

“I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting!’

When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees! I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”

When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied: “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me.

or about this one statement I cried out while standing among them, ‘Today I am being judged before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

But Paul said: “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you can see very well.

If then I am doing wrong, or have done anything deserving of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

Instead they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man Paul claimed to be alive.

Then Festus said: “King Agrippa and all men present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community has appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he should not live any longer.

“I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that today I am going to make a defense before you about everything I am accused of by the Jews,

the promise our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve Him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

“Then I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting.

I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles. I now send you to them

For the king knows about these matters. It is to him I am actually speaking boldly. For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am—except for these chains.”