And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear.

And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation."

And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to beg alms of those who entered the temple.

And he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

but killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Repent therefore, and turn again, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago.

Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; you shall listen to everything he tells you.

And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed from among the people.'

And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came afterwards, also announced these days.

For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."

being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands before you healed.

The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will fail;

And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty.

And the statement pleased the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.

Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen.

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

and rescued him from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

They were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

And the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

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

saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egyptwe do not know what has happened to him.'

And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they took the land from the nations whom God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the time of David,

and they all, from the least to the greatest, gave attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God."

But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert road.

In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth."

And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

Saul got up from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying,

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints at Jerusalem;

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

And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight. And he got up and was baptized,

So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went off with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

You know what has happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached:

not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, 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, something descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came down to me.

But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.'

And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

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

When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John, who was also called Mark.

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

But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

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

But they passed on from Perga and came to Pisidian Antioch. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead;

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

As for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to decay, he spoke in this way: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'

and through him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

So they shook off the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.

At Lystra there was a man sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.

"Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven 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 heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."

Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

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

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

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

Simeon has related how God first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for his name.

says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.

Therefore it is my judgment that we should not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,

but that we should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.

For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren,

and they sent the following letter with them: "The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings.

Since we have heard that some persons from us have disturbed you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves free from these, you will do well. Farewell."

There arose such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

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

A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, who was a worshiper of God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and for three weeks he reasoned with them from the scriptures,

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

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men from the market place, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; they attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the people.

And when they had taken a pledge from Jason and the others, they let them go.

And he made from one man every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

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

because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given proof to all men by raising him from the dead."

So Paul went out from among them.

And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He went to see them,

When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

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

And he drove them from the judgment seat.

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

After spending some time there, he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

But when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them, and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

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

But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."

These he gathered together, with the workmen of similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.

Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence."