Till the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had given his orders, through the Holy Spirit, to the Apostles of whom he had made selection:

And to whom he gave clear and certain signs that he was living, after his death; for he was seen by them for forty days, and gave them teaching about the kingdom of God:

And when they were all together, with him, he gave them orders not to go away from Jerusalem, but to keep there, waiting till the word of the Father was put into effect, of which, he said, I have given you knowledge:

For the baptism of John was with water, but you will have baptism with the Holy Spirit, after a little time.

And when he had said these things, while they were looking, he was taken up, and went from their view into a cloud.

And said, O men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

My brothers, the word of God had to be put into effect, which the Holy Spirit had said before, by the mouth of David, about Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus,

For he was numbered among us, and had his part in our work.

And this came to the knowledge of all those who were living in Jerusalem, so that the field was named in their language, Akel-dama, or, The field of blood.)

And they made selection of two, Joseph, named Barsabbas, whose other name was Justus, and Matthias.

To take that position as a servant and Apostle, from which Judas by his sin was shut out, so that he might go to his place.

And they put it to the decision of chance, and the decision was given for Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

And when the day of Pentecost was come, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rushing of a violent wind, and all the house where they were was full of it.

And when this sound came to their ears, they all came together, and were greatly surprised because every man was hearing the words of the disciples in his special language.

And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?

But this is the thing which was said by the prophet Joel;

Men of Israel, give ear to these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man who had the approval of God, as was made clear to you by the great works and signs and wonders which God did by him among you, as you yourselves have knowledge,

Him, when he was given up, by the decision and knowledge of God, you put to death on the cross, by the hands of evil men:

But God gave him back to life, having made him free from the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be overcome by it.

And for this cause my heart was glad and my tongue full of joy, and my flesh will be resting in hope:

My brothers, I may say to you openly that David came to his death, and was put in the earth, and his resting-place is with us today.

He, having knowledge of the future, was talking of the coming again of Christ from the dead, that he was not kept in hell and his body did not see destruction.

Giving praise to God, and having the approval of all the people; and every day the number of those who had salvation was increased by the Lord.

And a certain man who from birth had had no power in his legs, was taken there every day, and put down at the door of the Temple which is named Beautiful, requesting money from those who went into the Temple;

And they saw that it was the man who made requests for money at the door of the Temple, and they were full of wonder and surprise at what had taken place.

And that he may send the Christ who was marked out for you from the first, even Jesus:

And they took them and put them in prison till the morning, for it was now evening.

And Annas, the high priest, was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all the relations of the high priest.

If we are questioned today about a good work done to a man who was ill, as to how he has been made well,

And, seeing that the man who had been made well was there with them, they were not able to say anything against it.

For the man on whom this act of power was done was more than forty years old.

For, truly, in this town, against your holy servant, Jesus, who was marked out by you as Christ, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, came together,

And when their prayer was ended, the place where they were was violently moved, and they all became full of the Holy Spirit, preaching the word of God without fear.

And all those who were of the faith were one in heart and soul: and not one of them said that any of the things which he had was his property only; but they had all things in common.

And with great power the Apostles gave witness of the coming back of the Lord Jesus from the dead; and grace was on them all.

And no one among them was in need; for everyone who had land or houses, exchanging them for money, took the price of them,

And Joseph, who was given by the Apostles the name of Barnabas (the sense of which is, Son of comfort), a Levite and a man of Cyprus by birth,

While you had it, was it not your property? and after you had given it in exchange, was it not still in your power? how has this purpose come into your mind? you have been false, not to men, but to God.

And Peter said to her, Give me an answer: was this amount of money the price of the land? And she said, Yes, it was.

Saying, The doors of the prison were safely shut, and the keepers were at the doors, but when they were open, there was nobody inside.

For before this there was Theudas, who said he was someone important, to whom about four hundred men gave their support: he was put to death, and his band was broken up and came to nothing.

After this man, there was Judas of Galilee, at the time of the numbering, and some of the people went after him: he was put to death, and all his supporters were put to flight.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was increasing, protests were made by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were not taken care of in the distribution of food every day.

And this saying was pleasing to all of them: and they made selection of Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, who had become a Jew:

And the word of God was increasing in power; and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem became very great, and a great number of priests were in agreement with the faith.

And all those who were in the Sanhedrin, looking at him, saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

And he said, My brothers and fathers, give hearing. The God of glory came to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he was living in Haran,

Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and went into Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he was guided by God into this land, where you are living now:

And he made with him the agreement of which circumcision was the sign. And so Abraham had a son, Isaac, and gave him circumcision on the eighth day; and Isaac had a son, Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve heads of the families of Israel.

And the brothers, moved with envy against Joseph, gave him to the Egyptians for money: but God was with him,

Now there was no food to be had in all Egypt and Canaan, and there was great trouble: and our fathers were not able to get food.

But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers the first time.

But when the time was near for putting into effect the undertaking which God had given to Abraham, the people were increasing in Egypt,

He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.

At which time Moses came to birth, and he was very beautiful; and he was kept for three months in his father's house:

And when he was put out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and kept him as her son.

And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was great in his words and works.

But when he was almost forty years old, it came into his heart to go and see his brothers, the children of Israel.

And he was hoping that his brothers would see that God had sent him to be their saviour; but they did not see.

But the man who was doing wrong to his neighbour, pushing him away, said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

And at these words, Moses went in flight to the land of Midian, and was living there for a time, and had two sons.

And Moses, seeing it, was full of wonder, and when he came up to have a nearer view of it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,

This is the man who was in the church in the waste land with the angel who was talking to him in Sinai, and with our fathers; and to him were given the living words of God, so that he might give them to you.

But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?

Which our fathers, in their turn, took with them when, with Joshua, they came into the heritage of the nations whom God was driving out before the face of our fathers, till the time of David,

Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.

But Solomon was the builder of his house.

Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death;

You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.

But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looking up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God.

And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, Lord Jesus, take my spirit.

And Saul gave approval to his death. Now at that time a violent attack was started against the church in Jerusalem; and all but the Apostles went away into all parts of Judaea and Samaria.

But Saul was burning with hate against the church, going into every house and taking men and women and putting them in prison.

And Philip went down to Samaria and was teaching them about Christ.

And there was much joy in that town.

But there was a certain man named Simon, who in the past had been a wonder-worker and a cause of surprise to the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was a great man:

And Simon himself had faith and, having had baptism, he went with Philip and, seeing the signs and the great wonders which he did, he was full of surprise.

Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the touch of the Apostles' hands, he made them an offering of money, saying,

And he went and there was a man of Ethiopia, a servant of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and controller of all her property, who had come up to Jerusalem for worship;

He was going back, seated in his carriage, and was reading the book of the prophet Isaiah.

And Philip, running up to him, saw that he was reading Isaiah the prophet, and said to him, Is the sense of what you are reading clear to you?

Now the place in the book where he was reading was this: He was taken, like a sheep, to be put to death; and as a lamb is quiet when its wool is being cut, so he made no sound:

Being of low degree, his cause was not given a hearing: who has knowledge of his family? for his life is cut off from the earth.

And while he was journeying, he came near Damascus; and suddenly he saw a light from heaven shining round him;

And Saul got up from the earth, and when his eyes were open, he saw nothing; and he was guided by the hand into Damascus.

And for three days he was not able to see, and he took no food or drink.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias! and he said, Here I am, Lord.

And straight away it seemed as if a veil was taken from his eyes, and he was able to see; and he got up, and had baptism;

And straight away, in the Synagogues, he was preaching Jesus as the Son of God.

And all those hearing him were full of wonder and said, Is not this the man who in Jerusalem was attacking all the worshippers of this name? and he had come here so that he might take them as prisoners before the chief priests.

But Saul went on increasing in power, and the Jews in Damascus were not able to give answers to the arguments by which he made it clear that Jesus was the Christ.

And he was with them, going in and out at Jerusalem,

And so the church through all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was made strong; and, living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, was increased greatly.

And it came about that while Peter was going through all parts of the country he came to the saints who were living at Lydda.

And there was a certain man there, named Aeneas, who for eight years had been in bed, without power of moving.

Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, that is, Dorcas: this woman was given to good works and acts of mercy at all times.

And it came about, in those days, that she got ill and came to her death: and when she had been washed, they put her in a room which was high up.

And because Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having knowledge that Peter was there, sent two men to him, requesting him to come to them straight away.

And Peter went with them. And when he had come, they took him into the room: and all the widows were there, weeping and putting before him the coats and clothing which Dorcas had made while she was with them.