(Now this man Judas acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, and falling headfirst he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

Thus one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time the Lord Jesus associated with us,

All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: "You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say.

In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

And in the last days it will be,' God says, 'that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know --

this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.

And a man lame from birth was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called "the Beautiful Gate" every day so he could beg for money from those going into the temple courts.

When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he asked them for money.

So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.

Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man's feet and ankles were made strong.

and they recognized him as the man who used to sit and ask for donations at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with astonishment and amazement at what had happened to him.

While the man was hanging on to Peter and John, all the people, completely astounded, ran together to them in the covered walkway called Solomon's Portico.

When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety?

But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you.

And on the basis of faith in Jesus' name, his very name has made this man -- whom you see and know -- strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all.

But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man -- by what means this man was healed --

let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this.

saying, "What should we do with these men? For it is plain to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign has come about through them, and we cannot deny it.

For the man, on whom this miraculous sign of healing had been performed, was over forty years old.

sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and placed it at the apostles' feet.

Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property.

Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!"

So the young men came, wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.

At once she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, crowds of both men and women.

But someone came and reported to them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people!"

saying, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us!"

But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.

Then he said to the council, "Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you are about to do to these men.

For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it.

So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, it will come to nothing,

But carefully select from among you, brothers, seven men who are well-attested, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this necessary task.

The proposal pleased the entire group, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch.

They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.

But some men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.

Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard this man speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

They brought forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law.

and their bones were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

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?'

But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

When the man said this, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

This is the man who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to you.

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

When they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

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

But Saul was trying to destroy the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Philip went down to the main city of Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them.

Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.

All the people, from the least to the greatest, paid close attention to him, saying, "This man is the power of God that is called 'Great.'"

But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they began to be baptized, both men and women.

Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, offered them money,

But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire God's gift with money!

So Philip ran up to it and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. He asked him, "Do you understand what you're reading?"

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

Now the passage of scripture the man was reading was this: "He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

(Now the men who were traveling with him stood there speechless, because they heard the voice but saw no one.)

Then the Lord told him, "Get up and go to the street called 'Straight,' and at Judas' house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,

and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he may see again."

But Ananias replied, "Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem,

But the Lord said to him, "Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel.

and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "This man is the Son of God."

All who heard him were amazed and were saying, "Is this not the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners to the chief priests?"

He found there a man named Aeneas who had been confined to a mattress for eight years because he was paralyzed.

Because Lydda was near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Come to us without delay."

So Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a man named Simon, a tanner.

Now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort.

He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly.

Now send men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon, who is called Peter.

This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea."

Now while Peter was puzzling over what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon's house was and approached the gate.

While Peter was still thinking seriously about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Look! Three men are looking for you.

So Peter went down to the men and said, "Here I am, the person you're looking for. Why have you come?"

They said, "Cornelius the centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message from you."

Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, at three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and suddenly a man in shining clothing stood before me

Therefore send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.'

saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them."

At that very moment, three men sent to me from Caesarea approached the house where we were staying.

The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house.

But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.

because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people were brought to the Lord.

But the crowd began to shout, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"

who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.

So Paul stood up, gestured with his hand and said, "Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God, listen:

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.

After removing him, God raised up David their king. He testified about him: 'I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do.'

From the descendants of this man God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised.

But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region.

In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.

This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul stared intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed,

he said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And the man leaped up and began walking.

"Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.