After saying this, Jesus was taken up while those who had gathered together were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

At that time, Peter got up among the brothers (there were about 120 people present) and said,

But others kept saying in derision, "They're drunk on sweet wine!"

After all, David did not go up to heaven, but he said, "The Lord told my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

Peter, along with John, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look at us!"

However, Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I'll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth, walk!"

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

In fact, Moses said,

They said, "What should we do with these men? For it's obvious to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable sign has been done by them, and we cannot deny it.

But Peter and John answered them, "You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God,

After they were released, Peter and John went to their fellow believers and told them everything the high priests and the elders had said.

When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, you made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

You said by the Holy Spirit through the voice of our ancestor, your servant David, "Why do the unbelievers rage, and the people devise useless plots?

He said, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name, didn't we? Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man's blood on us!"

So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from God in order to wait on tables.

"But I will punish the nation they serve,' said God, "and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'

"At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.

The next day, he presented himself to some of them while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them. He said, "Men, you are brothers. Why should you be hurting another?'

"But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses away and said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us?

When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached the bush to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,

He said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" After he had said this, he died.

The crowds, hearing his message and seeing the signs that he was doing, paid close attention to what was said by Philip.

and said, "Give me this power too, so that when I lay my hands on someone, he will receive the Holy Spirit."

Simon answered, "Both of you pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you have said will happen to me."

The Spirit told Philip, "Approach that chariot and stay near it."

The man replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

As they were going along the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, "Look, there's some water. What keeps me from being baptized?"

The voice said, "I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up, go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

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."

Everyone who heard him was astonished and said, "This is the man who harassed those who were calling on Jesus' name in Jerusalem, isn't it? Didn't he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?"

Peter made them all go outside. After kneeling down, he prayed, turned to the body, and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

But Peter said, "Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

So Peter went to the men and said, "I'm the man you're looking for. Why are you here?"

and said, "Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. God has remembered your gifts to the poor,

because they heard them speaking in foreign languages and praising God. Then Peter said,

So Peter ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah. Then they asked him to stay there for several days.

They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

Then Peter began to explain to them point by point what had happened. He said,

Then I remembered what the Lord had said: "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

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.

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I'm sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting!"

The other people told her, "You're out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. Then they said, "It's his angel."

Therefore, at a set time Herod put on his royal robes, sat down on the royal seat, and made a speech to them.

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."

and said, "You're full of every form of deception and trickery, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all that is right! You'll never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord, will you?

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

They left Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

Then Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said:

"Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen! The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with a public display of power he led them out of there.

When John was finishing his work, he said, "Who do you think I am? I'm not the Messiah. No, but he is coming after me, and I'm not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.'

God raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, "I'll give you the holy promises made to David.'

So be careful that what the prophets said doesn't happen to you:

he said in a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" Then the man jumped up and began to walk.

strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. "We must endure many hardships," they said, "to get into the kingdom of God."

But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses."

""After this, I will come back and set up David's fallen tent again. I will restore its ruined places and set it up again

Greetings. We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

Then Judas and Silas, who were also prophets, said a lot to encourage and strengthen the brothers.

On the Sabbath day, we went out the city gate and walked along the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and began talking to the women who had gathered there.

A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple goods, was listening to us. She was a worshiper of God, and the Lord opened her heart to listen carefully to what was being said by Paul.

When she and her family were baptized, she urged us, "If you are convinced that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she continued to insist that we do so.

They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are stirring up a lot of trouble in our city. They are Jews

He brought Paul and Silas upstairs into his house and set food before them. He was thrilled, as was his household, to believe in God.

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some asked, "What is this blabbermouth trying to say?" while others said, "He seems to be preaching about foreign gods." This was because Paul was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

So Paul stood up in front of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.

For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: ""Since we are his children, too.'

because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world with justice through a man whom he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead."

When they heard about a resurrection of the dead, some began joking about it, while others said, "We will hear you again about this."

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jewish leaders gathered together, attacked Paul, and brought him before the judge's seat.

They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law."

So he drove them away from the judge's seat.

Then all of them took Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and began beating him in front of the judge's seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

After staying there for quite a while longer, Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut in Cenchrea, since he was under a vow.

They asked him to stay longer, but he refused.

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.

Then Paul said, "John baptized when they repented, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

He called a meeting of these men and others who were engaged in similar trades and said, "Men, you well know that we get a good income from this business.

When the city recorder had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world doesn't know that this city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell down from heaven?

When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he said goodbye to them and left to go to Macedonia.

But Paul went down, bent over him, took him into his arms, and said, "Stop being alarmed, because he's still alive."

When they came to him, he told them, "You know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day I set foot in Asia.

In every way I showed you that by working hard like this we should help the weak and remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

When Paul had said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

They were especially sorrowful because of what he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they took him to the ship.

We came in sight of Cyprus, and leaving it on our left, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

and said goodbye to each other. Then we reboarded the ship, and they went back home.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, "This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.'"

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

"Then he said, "The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear his own voice,

"I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you.

So the tribune went and asked Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said, "Brothers, with a clear conscience I have done my duty before God up to this very day."

At this Paul told him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there and judge me according to the Law, and yet in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided,

That night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Have courage! For just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome, too."

They went to the high priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to taste any food before we have killed Paul.

Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the tribune, because he has something to tell him."

So the centurion took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you."