and said to him, 'Leave your country and your kinsmen and come to Whatever country I may show you.'

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and for a time made his home in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country in which you now live.

He gave him no property in it, not even a foot of land, and yet He promised to give it to him and his descendants after him, as a permanent possession, although he had no child at that time.

And with Abraham He made the sacred compact of circumcision, and he 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.

And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

and delivered him from all his troubles, and allowed him to win favor and to show wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and so he appointed Joseph governor of Egypt and of his whole household.

When he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. Thus

As he was rounding out his fortieth year, it occurred to him to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel.

But the man who was harming his brother pushed him aside, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?

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

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and when he went up to look at it, the voice of the Lord said to him,

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

That very Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?' was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer, by the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

This is the one who in the congregation in the desert went between the angel, who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and our forefathers, who also received, to be handed down to you, utterances that still live.

But our forefathers would not listen to him, but pushed him aside, and in their hearts they hankered after Egypt;

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

"In the desert our forefathers had the tent of the testimony, like the model Moses had seen, as God who spoke to him ordered him to make it.

but it was Solomon who came to build a house for Him.

Which of the prophets did your forefathers fail to persecute? They killed the prophets who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have betrayed and murdered Him,

As they continued to listen to this address, they were becoming infuriated and began to grind their teeth at him.

But they raised a great shout and held their ears, and all together rushed upon him,

and dragged him out of the city and continued stoning him. The witnesses, in the meantime, laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation for him.

Everybody, high and low, kept running after him, saying, "He is certainly what is known as the Great Power of God!"

They kept running after him, because for a long time he had thrilled them with his magical performances.

But Peter said to him, "Your money go to perdition with you for even dreaming you could buy the gift of God with money!

So the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join him in his chariot."

Then Philip ran up and listened to him reading the prophet Isaiah, and he asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

He answered, "How in the world could I, unless someone teaches me?" And he begged him to get up and sit with him.

Justice was denied Him in His humiliation, who can tell of His times? For His life is removed from the earth."

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

So he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the official both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away; the official saw him no more, for he went on home rejoicing;

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

As he traveled on he finally approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He dropped to the ground; then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Then Saul got up off the ground, but he could not see anything, although his eyes were wide open. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus,

Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord, I am here."

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

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

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name to the heathen and their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake."

And all who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who harassed those who called upon this name in Jerusalem, and has come here expressly for the purpose of putting them in chains and taking them back to the high priests?"

After several days had gone by, the Jews laid a plot to murder him,

but their plot was found out by Saul. Day and night they kept guarding the city gates, to murder him,

but his disciples took him one night and let him down through the city wall, by lowering him in a hamper-basket.

Now when Saul arrived at Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples there, but they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe that he was really a disciple.

Barnabas, however, took him up and presented him to the apostles, and he told them how on the road he had seen the Lord, and how the Lord had spoken to him, and how courageously he had spoken in the name of Jesus at Damascus.

and he continued to speak courageously in the name of the Lord, and to speak and debate with the Greek-speaking Jews. But they kept trying to murder him.

So when the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and from there sent him back to Tarsus.

So Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ now cures you! Get up and make your bed!" And at once he got up.

Then all the people who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and so they turned to the Lord.

As Joppa was near Lydda, the disciples heard that Peter was there, and sent two men to him, begging him to come to them without delay.

So Peter at once got up and went with them. When he reached there, they took him to the room upstairs, and all the widows took their stand around him, crying and showing him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

One afternoon about three o'clock he had a vision and clearly saw an angel of God come to him and say, "Cornelius!"

He stared at him and in terror asked, "What is it, sir?" The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your deeds of charity have gone up and been remembered before God.

After the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants, and a religious soldier who was one of his devoted attendants,

A voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it."

A second time the voice came to him, "The things that God has cleansed you must not call unclean."

While Peter was meditating on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "There are two men looking for you.

The next day he started off with them, and some of the brothers in Joppa went along with him. The day after that they reached Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for him, as he had invited in his kinsmen and close friends.

When Peter went into the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and did homage to him.

But Peter lifted him to his feet, saying, "Get up, I too am just a man myself."

As he continued to talk with him he went into the house and found a great crowd had gathered,

and he said to him, "You know that it is against the law for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit one, but God has taught me not to call any man vulgar or ceremonially unclean;

but in every nation the man who reveres God and practices doing right is acceptable to Him.

how God consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and then He went about doing good and curing all who were overpowered by the devil, because God was with Him.

We are witnesses of everything that He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Yet they murdered Him by hanging Him upon a tree.

But God raised Him to life on the third day, and permitted Him to be dearly seen,

not by all the people but by witnesses whom God had beforehand appointed, namely, by us who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from the dead.

To this very One all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him is to receive the forgiveness of sins through His name."

So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they begged him to stay on there a few days.

So when Peter returned to Jerusalem, the champions of circumcision began to bring charges against him

Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say to him, 'Send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is called Peter, to come over;

and after he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. Now for a whole year their meeting with the church lasted, and they taught large numbers of people. It was at Antioch too that the disciples first came to be known as "Christians."

He had him seized and put into prison, and turned him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, planning after the Passover to bring him out again to the people.

So Peter was being kept in prison, but earnest prayer to God for him was persistently made by the church.

Now just as Herod was going to bring him out, that is, the very night before, Peter was fastened with two chains and was sleeping between two soldiers, and the guards were at the door guarding the prison.

And suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in his cell, and by striking Peter on the side the angel woke him, and said, "Get up quickly!" At once the chains fell off his hands.

Then the angel said to him, "Tighten your belt and put on your shoes? He did so. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your coat and follow me!"

So he kept following him out, but he was not conscious that what was being done by the angel was real; he thought he was dreaming it.

They passed the first guard, then the second, and at last came to the iron gate which led into the city. The gate of itself opened to them, and they passed out and proceeded one block when all at once the angel left him.

But Peter, meanwhile, kept on knocking. So they opened the door, and when they saw him, they were astounded.

With his hand he motioned to them to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, "Tell all these things to James and the brothers." Then he left them and went somewhere else.

Herod had search made for him, and when he could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he left Judea for Caesarea, and stayed there.

Now Herod cherished a bitter grudge against the people of Tyre and Sidon. So in a united body they came to meet him, and after winning the favor of Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended for its food supply upon the king's country.

But the angel of the Lord at once struck him down, because he did not give the glory to God; he was eaten by worms, and so died.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, because he was full of the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye

Right now the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be so blind that you cannot see the sun for a time." And suddenly a dark mist fell upon him, and he kept groping about begging people to lead him by the hand.

Then He deposed him and raised up for them David to be king, to whom He bore this testimony, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all that my will requires.'

For the people of Jerusalem and their leaders, because they were ignorant of Him, by condemning Him have actually fulfilled the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath,

and although they could not find Him guilty of a capital offense, they begged Pilate to have Him put to death.

When they had carried out everything that had been written in the Scriptures about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

But God raised Him from the dead,

and for many days He appeared to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now witnesses for Him to the people.

Now as a proof that He has raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken this, 'I will fulfill to you the holy promises made to David.'

So, my brothers, you must understand that through Him the forgiveness of your sins is now proclaimed to you,

and that through union with Him every one of you who believes is given right standing with God and freed from every charge from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were completely overcome by their jealousy and began to contradict the statements made by Paul, and even to abuse him.

He continued listening to Paul as he spoke, and as Paul by looking straight at him observed that he had faith that he would be cured,