This made Pilate try to find a way to let him go, but the Jews shouted, "If you let him go, you are no friend of the emperor's! Anyone who calls himself a king utters treason against the emperor!"

When Pilate heard that, he had Jesus brought out and had him sit in the judge's seat in the place they call the Stone Platform, or in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

At that they shouted, "Kill him! Kill him! Have him crucified!" Pilate said to them, "Am I to crucify your king?" The high priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor!"

Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,

There they crucified him, with two others, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

So the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other who had been crucified with him.

After this, Joseph, of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one, because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus' body, and Pilate gave him permission. So Joseph went and took the body down.

So she ran away and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple who was dear to Jesus, and said to them, "They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put him."

Then Simon Peter came up behind him, and he went inside the tomb, and saw the bandages lying on the ground,

And they said to her, "Why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken my Master away, and I do not know where they have put him."

Jesus said to her, "Why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She, supposing that he was the gardener, said to him, "If it was you, sir, that carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

"Mary!" said Jesus. She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" which means Master.

So the rest of the disciples said to him, "We have seen the Master!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands, and put my finger into them, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!"

Thomas answered him, "My Master and my God!"

Jesus said to him, "Is it because you have seen me that you believe? Blessed be those who believe without having seen me!"

Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared to ask him who he was, for they knew it was the Master.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, are you more devoted to me than these others are?" Peter said to him, "Yes, Master, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Then feed my lambs!"

Again Jesus said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, are you devoted to me?" He said to him, "Yes, Master, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Then be a shepherd to my sheep!"

Jesus said to him a third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because the third time Jesus asked him if he loved him, and he answered, "Master, you know everything, you can see that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Then feed my sheep!

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "But, Master, what about him?"

Jesus said to him, "If I wish him to wait till I come, what does it matter to you? You must follow me."

So the story spread among the brothers that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not tell him that he was not going to die; he said, "If I wish him to wait till I come, what does it matter to you?"

So those who were present asked him, "Master, is this the time when you are going to re-establish the kingdom for Israel?"

As he said this, he was caught up before their eyes and a cloud took him up from their sight.

And while they were gazing after him into the sky, two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them,

and said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky? This very Jesus who has been caught up from you into heaven will come in just the way that you have seen him go up to heaven."

(This man bought a piece of land with the money paid him for his treachery, and his body swelled up and burst open in the middle and all his vitals poured out.

Then Peter stood up with the eleven around him, and raising his voice addressed them. "Men of Judea," he said, "and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and pay attention to what I say.

"Men of Israel, listen to what I say. Jesus of Nazareth, as you know, was a man whom God commended to you by the wonders, portents, and signs that God did right among you through him.

But you, by the fixed purpose and intention of God, handed him over to wicked men, and had him crucified.

But God set aside the pain of death and raised him up, for death could not control him.

For David says of him, 'I constantly regarded the Lord before me, For he is at my right hand, so that I may not be displaced.

But as he was a prophet, and knew that God had promised him with an oath that he would put one of his descendants upon his throne,

for the promise of it belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those far away whom the Lord our God calls to him."

and when he saw Peter and John on the point of going into the Temple he asked them to give him something.

Peter fixed his eyes on him, as John did also, and said to him, "Look at us!"

He looked at them, supposing that they were going to give him something.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and his feet and ankles immediately became strong,

When all the people saw him walking about, praising God,

and recognized him as the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, they were perfectly astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.

When Peter saw this, he said to the people. "Men of Israel, why are you so surprised at this? Why do you stare so at us, as though it were some power or some piety of ours that had made him able to walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has done this honor to his servant Jesus, whom you betrayed and disowned before Pilate, when he had decided to let him go.

and killed the very source of life. But God raised him from the dead, as we can testify.

It is by his power and through faith in him that this man whom you see and recognize has been made strong again, and it is faith inspired by him that has given him the perfect health you all see.

It was to you that God first sent his servant after he had raised him from the dead, to bless you by making every one of you turn from his wickedness."

But Peter and John answered them, "You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to obey you instead of him,

There was but one heart and soul in the multitude who had become believers, and not one of them claimed anything that belonged to him as his own, but they shared everything they had with one another.

sold a piece of land that belonged to him, and brought the proceeds and put them at the disposal of the apostles.

The God of our forefathers raised Jesus to life when you had hung him on a cross and killed him.

God took him up to his right hand as our leader and savior, in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We and the holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey him are witnesses to these things."

For some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be a person of importance, and a group of men numbering some four hundred joined him. But he was killed and all his followers were dispersed and disappeared.

After him, at the time of the census, Judas of Galilee appeared, and raised a great following, but he too perished, and all his followers were scattered.

They were convinced by him, and they called the apostles in and had them flogged, and warned them not to speak about the name of Jesus, and then let them go.

So they instigated people to say, "We have heard him use abusive language about Moses and about God."

They aroused the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they set upon him and seized him, and brought him before the council.

for we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will tear this place down and change the customs that have been handed down to us by Moses."

Everyone who sat in the council fixed his eyes on him, and they saw that his face was like that of an angel.

and he said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives and come to the country that I will show you.'

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran, and from there after the death of his father, God caused him to move into this country where you now live.

He gave him no property in it, not a single foot, but he promised to give it to him and his posterity after him permanently, though he had no children at that time.

And he made the agreement of circumcision with him, and so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him,

and rescued him from all his troubles, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

When he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

When he was forty years old, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him as the means of delivering them, but they did not.

But the aggressor thrust him off, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?

At those words Moses fled, and went and lived for a time in Midian, and two sons were born to him there.

When forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

The Moses whom they had refused, saying to him, 'Who made you our ruler and judge?' God sent both to rule and to deliver them, with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

It was he who with the congregation in the desert went between the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and received and communicated to you utterances that still live.

Yet our forefathers would not listen to him, but thrust him off, and their hearts turned back to Egypt,

for they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!'

In the desert our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony built like the model Moses had seen, just as he who spoke to him told him to make it.

and Solomon actually built a house for him.

When they heard that, they were enraged and ground their teeth at him.

But they uttered a great shout and stopped their ears, and they rushed upon him all together,

and dragged him out of the city and stoned him, the witnesses throwing down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Some pious men buried Stephen and loudly lamented him.

Everyone there, high and low, made much of him, and said, "He must be what is known as the Great Power of God!"

They made much of him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.

But Peter said to him, "Go to destruction with your money, for thinking you could buy God's gift with it!

Philip ran up and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and he said to him, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

"Why, how can I," he answered, "unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

Then Philip began, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus.

So he ordered the car to stop, and Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord hurried Philip away, and the eunuch saw nothing more of him. Full of joy, he went on with his journey,

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there who belonged to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven,

and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?"

When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus,

There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!"

The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying.

He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight."

The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake."

Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."