with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.

not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen, 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, an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me.

But the voice replied a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!'

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

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.

At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them.

When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting to happen."

When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch from childhood) and Saul.

So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

But the magician Elymas (for that is the way his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

Then Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

Moving on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, "Brothers, if you have any message of exhortation for the people, speak it."

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.

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

When they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead,

and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses to the people.

But regarding the fact that he has raised Jesus from the dead, never again to be in a state of decay, God has spoken in this way: 'I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.'

and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.

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

"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.

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

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.

From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

Now some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate with them, the church appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this point of disagreement.

But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to observe the law of Moses."

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

known from long ago.

but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, because he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath."

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leaders among the brothers, to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

They sent this letter with them: From the apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings!

Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said,

that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia.

We put out to sea from Troas and sailed a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for some days.

A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures,

explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."

But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly.

After the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.

From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,

so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead."

Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, "We will hear you again about this."

After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.

There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them,

Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!"

Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat.

but said farewell to them and added, "I will come back to you again if God wills." Then he set sail from Ephesus,

for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.

Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.

After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?

Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

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

A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak for a long time. Fast asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus.

From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him.

When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,

You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house,

But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace.

For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them.

After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea, and sailing a straight course, we came to Cos, on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

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

While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us too, and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple from the earliest times, with whom we were to stay.

When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia who had seen him in the temple area stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

Paul answered, "I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please allow me to speak to the people."

as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was en route and near Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from his mouth,

The crowd was listening to him until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!"

Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.

There was a great commotion, and some experts in the law from the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

When the argument became so great the commanding officer feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, he ordered the detachment to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

When the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,

When you examine him yourself, you will be able to learn from him about all these things we are accusing him of doing."

But there are some Jews from the province of Asia who should be here before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me.

He ordered the centurion to guard Paul, but to let him have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.

Now three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they were not able to prove.

Now all the Jews know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.

They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.

"While doing this very thing, as I was going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the chief priests,

about noon along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around me and those traveling with me.

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you

to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

I have experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen:

that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles."