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.

When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, "Master of all, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them,

who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David our forefather, 'Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot foolish things?

"For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.

For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales

So Joseph, a Levite who was a native of Cyprus, called by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated "son of encouragement"),

When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped all who heard about it.

Peter then told her, "Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!"

Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.

When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching. Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin -- that is, the whole high council of the Israelites -- and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought before them.

But the officers who came for them did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported,

The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree.

And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

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.

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.

After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census, and incited people to follow him in revolt. He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered.

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.

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

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

All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel.

and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

until another king who did not know about Joseph ruled over Egypt.

This was the one who exploited our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.

When he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, Moses came to his defense and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian.

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

I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

This same Moses they had rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge?' God sent as both ruler and deliverer through the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

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

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.

saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt -- we do not know what has happened to him!'

Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the design he had seen.

Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!

Now those who had been forced to scatter went around proclaiming the good news of the word.

For unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, were coming out of many who were possessed, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.

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.

So he got up and went. There he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship,

In humiliation justice was taken from him. Who can describe his posterity? For his life was taken away from the earth."

Then the eunuch said to Philip, "Please tell me, who is the prophet saying this about -- himself or someone else?"

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.

So he said, "Who are you, Lord?" He replied, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!

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

and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call on your name!"

So Ananias departed and entered the house, placed his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

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?"

But Saul became more and more capable, and was causing consternation among the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Now as Peter was traveling around from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.

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

All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

About three o'clock one afternoon he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, "Cornelius."

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

When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius called two of his personal servants and a devout soldier from among those who served him,

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.'

but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him.

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.

About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the message.

The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,

"No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?"

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

He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,

who will speak a message to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.'

Therefore if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?"

Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews.

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.

The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

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

and said, "You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness -- will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

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.'

Brothers, descendants of Abraham's family, and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us.

For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him.

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 the one whom God raised up did not experience decay.

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

When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.

When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed.

But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

So they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands.

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.

When they had appointed elders for them in the various churches, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the protection of the Lord in whom they had believed.

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."

And God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,

so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,' says the Lord, who makes these things

"Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

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

who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person.

Both Judas and Silas, who were prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with a long speech.

After they had spent some time there, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

but Paul insisted that they should not take along this one who had left them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father was a Greek.

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there.

Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.

She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."