Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they would all meet in Solomon’s Colonnade.

As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

In addition, a large group came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

So they arrested the apostles and put them in the city jail.

In obedience to this, they entered the temple complex at daybreak and began to teach.

When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full Senate of the sons of Israel—and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.

But when the temple police got there, they did not find them in the jail, so they returned and reported,

As the commander of the temple police and the chief priests heard these things, they were baffled about them, as to what could come of this.

Then the commander went with the temple police and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.

After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked,

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” So they were persuaded by him.

After they called in the apostles and had them flogged, they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonored on behalf of the Name.

Every day in the temple complex, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

The proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch.

They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

Then they persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!”

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, dragged him off, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

God spoke in this way:

His descendants would be strangers
in a foreign country,
and they would enslave
and oppress them 400 years.

I will judge the nation
that they will serve as slaves, God said.
After this, they will come out
and worship Me in this place.

He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them leave their infants outside, so they wouldn’t survive.

He assumed his brothers would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’

“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a redeemer by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

They told Aaron:

Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.

They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.

Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers, until the days of David.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They even killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.

When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him.

Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him.

They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

The crowds paid attention with one mind to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the signs he was performing.

They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!”

They were attentive to him because he had astounded them with his sorceries for a long time.

But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them.

After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit.

For He had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Then, after they had testified and spoken the message of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, evangelizing many villages of the Samaritans.

As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?”

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing.

Then Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

but their plot became known to Saul. So they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him,

When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple.

He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they attempted to kill him.

When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

In those days she became sick and died. After washing her, they placed her in a room upstairs.

So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the room upstairs. And all the widows approached him, weeping and showing him the robes and clothes that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop about noon.

Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he went into a visionary state.

They called out, asking if Simon, who was also named Peter, was lodging there.

They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”

We ourselves are witnesses of everything He did in both the Judean country and in Jerusalem, yet they killed Him by hanging Him on a tree.

For they heard them speaking in other languages and declaring the greatness of God.

Then Peter responded,

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, “So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles!”

Then the report about them was heard by the church that was at Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch.

and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.

After they passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and immediately the angel left him.

“You’re crazy!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true. Then they said, “It’s his angel!”

Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.

He had been very angry with the Tyrians and Sidonians. Together they presented themselves before him. They won over Blastus, who was in charge of the king’s bedroom, and through him they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.

After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, taking along John who is called Mark.

As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.”

Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

Being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed God’s message in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.

They continued their journey from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

Then they asked for a king, so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.

For the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers, since they did not recognize Him or the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled their words by condemning Him.

Though they found no grounds for the death penalty, they asked Pilate to have Him killed.

When they had fulfilled all that had been written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and put Him in a tomb.

As they were leaving, the people begged that these matters be presented to them the following Sabbath.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him.

When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

But the Jews incited the prominent women, who worshiped God, and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

But they shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium.

The same thing happened in Iconium; they entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

So they stayed there for some time and spoke boldly in reliance on the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace by granting that signs and wonders be performed through them.

they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns called Lystra and Derbe, and to the surrounding countryside.

And there they kept evangelizing.

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”

And they started to call Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the main speaker.

The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

After they had evangelized that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

When they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

After they spoke the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

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

After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.

But after Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, the church arranged for Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this controversy.