For you will not abandon my soul to Hades or allow your Holy One to experience decay.

They made it their practice to sell their possessions and goods and to distribute the proceeds to anyone who was in need.

Now all the believers were one in heart and soul, and nobody called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything they owned.

since none of them needed anything, because everyone who had land or houses would sell them and bring the money received for the things sold

So Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?" She answered, "Yes, that was the price."

ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Now Saul heartily approved of putting Stephen to death. That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except for the apostles was scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.

But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.

Meanwhile, still spewing death threats against the Lord's disciples, Saul went to the high priest.

As Saul traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him.

He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"

Meanwhile, the men who were traveling with Saul were standing speechless, for they heard the voice but didn't see anyone.

When Saul got up off the ground, he couldn't see anything, even though his eyes were open. So his companions took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

The Lord told him, "Get up, go to the street called Straight, and in the home of Judas look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. At this very moment he's praying.

So Ananias left and went to that house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were traveling, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

All at once something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again.

But Saul grew more and more persuasive, and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Messiah.

After several days had gone by, the Jewish leaders plotted to murder Saul,

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they all were afraid of him because they wouldn't believe he was a disciple.

Barnabas, however, introduced Saul to the apostles, telling them how on the road Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how courageously he had spoken in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

Then Barnabas left for Tarsus to look for Saul.

by sending it through Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on his side, woke him up, and said, "Get up quickly!" His chains fell from his wrists.

When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, bringing with them John who was also called Mark.

Now Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who grew up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them."

He was associated with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. He sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye

Then Paul and his men set sail from Paphos and arrived in Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them and went back to Jerusalem.

"After that, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. When they demanded a king, God gave them Kish's son Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.

Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, "I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.'

Having received these orders, he put them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in leg irons.

As he told them goodbye, he said, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

and stayed there for three months. When he was about to sail for Syria, a plot was initiated against him by the Jews, so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia, as he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if that was possible.

I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'

came to me. He stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul, receive your sight!' At that moment I could see him.

"All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice asking me in the Hebrew language, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the cattle prods.'

When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were transferred to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the emperor's division.

After boarding a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to the ports on the coast of Asia, we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

The ship's crew pulled it up on deck and used ropes to brace the ship. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank near Libya, they lowered the sail and drifted along.

They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

The islanders honored us in many ways, and when we were about to sail again, they supplied us with everything we needed.