Now in Joppa there was a certain female disciple {named} Tabitha (which translated means "Dorcas"). She was full of good deeds and charitable giving which she was constantly doing.

So Peter got up [and] accompanied them. [When he] arrived, they brought [him] up to the upstairs room, and all the widows came to him, weeping and showing [him] tunics and [other] clothing that Dorcas used to make [while she] was with them.

But Peter sent [them] all outside, and, falling to [his] knees, he prayed. And turning toward the body, he said, "Tabitha, get up!" And she opened her eyes, and [when she] saw Peter, she sat up.

devout and fearing God together with all his household, doing many charitable deeds for the people and praying to God {continually}.

About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, "Cornelius."

And he stared at him and became terrified [and] said, "What is [it], Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your charitable deeds have gone up for a memorial offering before God.

And a voice came to him, "Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!"

And the voice [came] again to him for the second time: "[The things] which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!"

Now while Peter was greatly perplexed within himself [as to] what the vision that he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having found the house of Simon by asking around, stood at the gate.

But get up, go down, and go with them--not hesitating at all, because I have sent them."

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

So he invited them in [and] entertained them as guests, and on the next day he got up [and] went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

But Peter helped him up, saying, "Get up! I myself am also a man!"

And he said to them, "You know that it is forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or to approach a foreigner. And to me God has shown [that] I should call no man common or unclean.

and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charitable deeds have been remembered before God.

Therefore I sent for you at once, and you {were kind enough to come}. So now we all are present before God to hear all the things that have been commanded to you by the Lord."

So Peter opened [his] mouth [and] said, "In truth I understand that God is not one who shows partiality,

[As for] the message that he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ--this one is Lord of all--

Jesus of Nazareth--how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

God raised this one up on the third day and granted [that] he should become visible,

not to all the people but to us who had been chosen beforehand by God [as] witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this one is the one appointed by God [as] judge of the living and of the dead.

for they heard them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter said,

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had accepted the word of God.

And I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!'

But the voice replied from heaven for the second time, '[The things] which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!'

Therefore if God gave them the same gift as also to us [when we] believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I [to be] able to hinder God?"

And [when they] heard these [things], they became silent and praised God, saying, "Then God has granted the repentance [leading] to life to the Gentiles also!"

But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, [when they] came to Antioch, began to speak to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

who, [when he] arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged [them] all to remain true to the Lord with {devoted hearts},

because he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large number were added to the Lord.

Thus Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer was fervently being made to God by the church for him.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood near [him], and a light shone in the prison cell. And striking Peter's side, he woke him up, saying, "Get up {quickly}!" And his chains fell off of [his] hands.

And [after they] had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened for them by itself, and they went out [and] went forward [along] one narrow street, and at once the angel departed from him.

And [when] he knocked at the door of the gateway, a female slave {named} Rhoda came up to answer.

And recognizing Peter's voice, because of [her] joy she did not open the gate, but ran in [and] announced [that] Peter was standing at the gate.

But the people began to call out loudly, "The voice of a god and not of a man!"

And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down {because} he did not give the glory to God. And he was eaten by worms [and] died.

But the word of God kept on increasing and multiplying.

And [when they] came to Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they also had John [as] assistant.

who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul [and] wished to hear the word of God.

So Paul stood up, and motioning with [his] hand, he said, "Israelite men, and those who fear God, listen!

The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people during [their] stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.

And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, [for] forty years.

From the descendants of this man, according to [his] promise, God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus.

"Men [and] brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God--to us the message of this salvation has been sent!

But God raised him from the dead,

And we proclaim the good news to you: that the promise that was made to the fathers,

this [promise] God has fulfilled to our children [by] raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have fathered you.'

For David, [after] serving the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and {was buried with} his fathers, and experienced decay.

But he whom God raised up did not experience decay.

And [after] the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them [and] were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.

Both Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly [and] said, "It was necessary [that] the word of God be spoken first to you, since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life! Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles!

And there they were continuing to proclaim the good news.

and saying, "Men, why are you doing these [things]? We also are men with the same nature as you, proclaiming the good news [that] you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things [that are] in them--

And yet he did not leave himself without witness [by] doing good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying [you] with food and your hearts with gladness."

But [after] the disciples surrounded him, he got up [and] went into the city. And on the next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe.

And [after they] had proclaimed the good news in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging [them] to continue in the faith and [saying], "Through many persecutions it is necessary [for] us to enter into the kingdom of God."

and from there they sailed away to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed.

And [when they] arrived and called the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.

And [when they] arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and reported all that God had done with them.

And [after] there was much debate, Peter stood up [and] said to them, "Men [and] brothers, you know that in the early days God chose among you through my mouth [that] the Gentiles should hear the message of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, testified to them [by] giving [them] the Holy Spirit, just as he also [did] to us.

So now why are you putting God to the test [by] placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

And the whole group became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describing all the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

Simeon has described how God first concerned himself to take from among the Gentiles a people for his name.

Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,

And when he had seen the vision, we wanted at once to go away to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

And on the day of the Sabbath, we went outside the [city] gate beside the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer, and we sat down [and] spoke to the women assembled [there].

And a certain woman {named} Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a merchant dealing in purple cloth who showed reverence for God, was listening. The Lord opened {her} heart to pay attention to what was being said by Paul.

She followed Paul and us [and] was crying out, saying, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!"

Now about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying [and] singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

And he brought them up into [his] house [and] set a meal before [them], and rejoiced greatly that he had believed in God with his whole household.

And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, and [also] a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the prominent women.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the message of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there too, inciting and stirring up the crowds.

So he was discussing in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing [Gentiles], and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

And even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, "What does this babbler want to say?" But [others said], "He appears to be a proclaimer of foreign deities," because he was proclaiming the good news [about] Jesus and the resurrection.

For [as I] was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, 'To an unknown God.' Therefore what you worship without knowing [it], this I proclaim to you--

the God who made the world and all the things in it. This one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,

to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find [him]. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us,

Therefore, [because we] are offspring of God, we ought not to think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.

Therefore [although] God has overlooked the times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,

And leaving there, he entered into the house of someone {named} Titius Justus, a worshiper of God whose house was next door to the synagogue.

So he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law!"

but saying farewell and telling [them], "I will return to you again [if] God wills," he set sail from Ephesus.

And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but [when] Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

So he entered into the synagogue [and] was speaking boldly for three months, discussing and attempting to convince [them] concerning the kingdom of God.

And God was performing {extraordinary} miracles by the hands of Paul,

{These} he gathered together, and the workers occupied with such things, [and] said, "Men, you know that from this business {we get our prosperity},

Therefore [because] these [things] are undeniable, it is necessary [that] you be quiet and do nothing rash!

testifying both to Jews and to Greeks with respect to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

But I consider [my] life [as] worth {nothing} to myself, in order to finish my mission and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify [to] the gospel of the grace of God.

for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole purpose of God.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has appointed you [as] overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he obtained through the blood of his own [Son].

"And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build [you] up and to give [you] the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

So after these days we got ready [and] went up to Jerusalem.

And [after] greeting them, he began to relate {one after the other} [the things] which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

And [when] they heard [this], they began to glorify God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many ten thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous adherents of the law.