So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.

So they brought them and presented them before the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court). The high priest questioned them,

Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

When they heard this, they were so furious that they determined to make away with the apostles.

For before these days Theudas arose, saying that he was somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, adhered, who were slain, and all, so many as confided in him, were dispersed, and came to nothing.

After him Judas the Galilean arose, in the days of the enrollment, and led the people after him; he also perished, and all, so many as confided in him, were scattered abroad.

And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them, lest you even be found fighting against God." So they were persuaded by him.

The Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) took his advice; and after summoning the apostles, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.

So they left the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy [dignified by indignity] to suffer shame for [the sake of] His name.

So, every day, they never stopped teaching and preaching that Jesus was the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one], in the Temple and in private homes.

Now during the days when the disciples were multiplying in number [in Jerusalem. See verse 7], some Greek-[speaking] Jews began to complain to the Hebrews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution [of food].

So the Twelve called the disciples together and said, “It is not appropriate for us to neglect [teaching] the word of God in order to serve tables and manage the distribution of food.

So, brothers, select from among you seven men {of good reputation}, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will put in charge of this need.

But we will continue earnestly in prayer and the preaching of God's word."

The proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch.

So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

And Stephen [i.e., one of the seven men chosen to minister to widows, verse 5], who was full of [God's] favor and power, performed great wonders and [miraculous] signs in front of the [Jewish] people.

Then some from what is called the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and disputed with Stephen.

Then [to attack him another way] they secretly instructed men to say, “We have heard this man [Stephen] speak blasphemous (slanderous, sacrilegious, abusive) words against Moses and against God.”

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, dragged him off, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

They had false witnesses stand up and say, "This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law.

For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

So he said, "Men--brothers and fathers--listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham [while he] was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God sent him to this country in which you now live.

And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

“The [ten elder] patriarchs, overwhelmed with jealousy, sold [their younger brother] Joseph into [slavery in] Egypt; but God was with him,

and rescued him from all his troubles and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him a governor over Egypt and his [i.e., the king's] household.

But there came a famine throughout the whole of Egypt and Canaan--and great distress--so that our forefathers could find no food.

So [when] Jacob heard [there] was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

So Joseph sent [and] summoned his father Jacob and all [his] relatives, seventy-five persons in [all].

So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

and [from Egypt] their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

"Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people's population increased a great deal in Egypt.

The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

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

And [when he] saw one of them being unjustly harmed, he defended [him] and {avenged} the one who had been oppressed [by] striking down the Egyptian.

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

The next day Moses saw two men fighting, and tried to make peace between them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?'

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

I have most certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, and I will send you to Egypt [as My messenger].’

This Moses, whom they would not have, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent to be a ruler and a saviour, by the hand of the angel whom he saw in the thorn-tree.

He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

this is the Moses who did say to the sons of Israel: A prophet to you shall the Lord your God raise up out of your brethren, like to me, him shall ye hear.

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.

They told Aaron:

Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.

And so they fell to calf-making in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?

No, you took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship.
So I will deport you beyond Babylon!

Our fathers also brought it in [with them into the land] with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, [and so it remained here] until the time of David,

He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

Yet the Most High does not dwell in buildings erected by men's hands. But, as the Prophet declares,

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

was there ever any prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? have they not slain those who predicted the coming of that just person whom you have so lately betrayed and murder'd?

You received the law that was ordained through [the medium of] angels [See Gal. 3:19] and yet have not obeyed its requirements."

Now when they heard these things, they were cut through their hearts as with a saw, and gnashed upon him with their teeth.

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

So they stoned Stephen, while he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Saul wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death.

And on that day a great and relentless persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem; and the believers were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

And God-fearing men put Stephen's body in its last resting-place, making great weeping over him.

But Saul brought devastation to the church by entering everyone's house and dragging men and women off to jail.

So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the message of good news.

So Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began to preach the Christ to the Samaritans.

And the multitudes gave heed with one accord unto the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard, and saw the signs which he did.

So there was great joy in that city.

One Simon was then resident in that place, who pretended to be something extra-ordinary, and by his magical practices had so enchanted the people of Samaria,

Every one, high and low, paid attention to him. 'This man,' they used to say, 'must be that Power of God which men call "The Great Power."'

no wonder they were so attach'd to one, who had for a long time infatuated them with his arts.

When people believed the good news about God's kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, which Philip was preaching, both men and women were immersed [in water].

And Simon himself also believed, and [after he] was baptized he was {keeping close company with} Philip. And [when he] saw the signs and great miracles that were taking place, he was astonished.

When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them.

who went down [and] prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Then the apostles placed their hands on [some of] them [and prayed, see verse 15] and they received [miraculous power from] the Holy Spirit.

And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

saying, "Give to me also this power, so that whomever I place [my] hands on may receive the Holy Spirit!"

"Perish your money and yourself," replied Peter, "because you have imagined that you can obtain God's free gift with money!

You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart (motive, purpose) is not right before God.

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, this thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

And Simon answering said, Supplicate ye for me to the Lord, so that nothing may come upon me of the things of which ye have spoken.

So [when] they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they turned back toward Jerusalem, and were proclaiming the good news [to] many villages of the Samaritans.

So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch [a man of great authority], a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship,

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

So Philip ran up to [it] [and] heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet and said, "So then, do you understand what you are reading?"

And he said, “Well, how could I [understand] unless someone guides me [correctly]?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

And the eunuch answering Philip said, I pray thee, concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?

So Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture, proclaimed the good news to him [about] Jesus.