They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.'

Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.

and they were brought back to Shechem, and placed in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor in Shechem.

This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.'

to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is that power of God which is called Great."

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert."

He arose and went; and behold, there was a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

In his humiliation, justice was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth."

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus.

As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?"

and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As he traveled, it happened that he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.

Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.

Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.

So he called them in and lodged them. On the next day he arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

that spoken word you yourselves know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me.

Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me.

Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, "Stand up quickly." His chains fell off from his hands.

When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

When Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting."

When Herod had sought for him, and did not find him, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.

But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn aside the proconsul from the faith.

Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.

But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.

From this man's seed, according to his promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and placed him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead,

and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.

"Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'

and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, "It was necessary that God's word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked.

"Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them;

Yet he did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."

Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the crowds from making a sacrifice to them.

But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.

Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

known from of old.

"Therefore my judgment is that we do not trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,

but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.

For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who proclaim him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, to whom we gave no commandment;

that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell."

After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to those that had sent them forth.

But Paul did not think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and did not go with them to do the work.

Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,

Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;

and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.

and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.

Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah."

But the Jews, being moved with jealousy, took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.

When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

He made from one every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

that they should seek God, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead."

Thus Paul went out from among them.

After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.

He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles."

He drove them from the judgment seat.

Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.

but taking his leave of them, and saying, "I will return again to you if God wills," he set sail from Ephesus.

But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the crowd, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out.

Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute; but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence, whom all Asia and the world worships."

When the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?

We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we landed at Samos, and the day after we came to Miletus.

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the church.

When they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time,

how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,

But I make my life an account of nothing precious to myself, so that I may finish my race, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men,

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

When it happened that we had parted from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day.

As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us, bringing one Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.

But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written our decision that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from sexual immorality."

When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the crowd and laid hands on him,

But Paul said, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people."

As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me.

He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

and saw him saying to me, 'Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.'

"He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.'"