You have no share or part in this matter, for your heart is not sincere in the sight of God.

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if this thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go south by the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza; this is the desert road."

Now this was the passage of Scripture that he was reading: "Like a sheep He was led away to be slaughtered, and just as a lamb is dumb before its shearer, so He does not open His mouth.

Then Philip opened his mouth, and starting from this passage, he told him the good news about Jesus.

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, especially the great sufferings he has brought on your people in Jerusalem.

And all who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who harassed those who called upon this name in Jerusalem, and has come here expressly for the purpose of putting them in chains and taking them back to the high priests?"

So when the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and from there sent him back to Tarsus.

This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord.

This took place three times; then all at once the thing was taken up into the sky.

Then Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and all at once a man in dazzling clothing stood before me,

He also ordered us to proclaim to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the One whom God has appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

To this very One all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him is to receive the forgiveness of sins through His name."

This took place three times; then all at once the whole thing was drawn back into the sky.

When they heard this, they had no answer to make, but gave God the glory, saying, "So God has given even the heathen the repentance that leads to life."

And this they did and sent it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

and when he saw that this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too -- it was at the time of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

He was an intimate friend of the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul and in this way tried to hear God's message.

But Elymas the magician -- for this is the meaning of his name -- continued to oppose them by trying to keep the governor from accepting the faith.

The God of this people Israel chose our forefathers, and made this people important during their stay in Egypt, and then with an uplifted arm He led them out of it.

Then He deposed him and raised up for them David to be king, to whom He bore this testimony, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all that my will requires.'

It is from this man's descendants that God, as He promised, has brought to Israel a Saviour in the person of Jesus,

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

Now as a proof that He has raised Him from the dead, no more to return to decay, He has spoken this, 'I will fulfill to you the holy promises made to David.'

As they were leaving the synagogue, the people kept begging that all this be repeated to them the next sabbath,

In spite of this, however, they stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak with courage from the Lord, who continued to bear testimony to His gracious message and kept on granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

and shouted, "Men, why are you doing this? We are merely men with natures like your own, who are telling you the good news, so that you may turn from these foolish things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain.

Even by saying this it was all that they could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

So, as a dire disturbance and a serious discussion had been created between Paul and Barnabas and them, they decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others from their number should go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

Now the apostles and elders met to consider this matter.

and in this way He put no difference between us and them, because He cleansed their hearts by faith.

By this he quieted the whole congregation, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell of the signs and wonders which God had done through them among the heathen.

The words of the prophets are in accord with this, as it is written:

'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen dwelling; I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

who has been making this known from ages past.'

They sent this letter by them: "The apostles and elders as brothers send greeting to the brothers from among the heathen in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Some days after this Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we preached the Lord's message, to see how they are."

Paul wanted this man to join him in his journey; so on account of the Jews in that district he took him and had him circumcised, for everybody knew that his father was a Greek.

As soon as he had this vision, we laid our plans to get off to Macedonia, because we confidently concluded that God had called us to tell them the good news.

From there we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony, the leading town in that part of Macedonia. In this town we stayed some days.

This girl kept following Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation."

She kept this up for a number of days. Because Paul was so much annoyed by her, he turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her." And that very moment it came out.

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The chiefs of the police court have sent orders to let you go. So now you may come out and go in peace."

The policemen reported this message to the chiefs of the police court, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens,

explaining them and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and said, "This very Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ."

But this enraged the Jews; so they got together some wicked loafers about the public square, formed a mob, and set the town in an uproar.

Thus they wrought up to great excitement the crowd and the town magistrates, on their hearing this,

Some of the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers began to debate with him; and some said, "What is this scraps-of-truth-picker trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities." They said so because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

So they took him and brought him to the city auditorium and said, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

For as I was going here and there and looking at the things you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' So it is about the Being whom you are in ignorance already worshiping that I am telling you.

since He has set a day on which He will justly judge the world through a man whom He has appointed. He has made this credible to all by raising Him from the dead."

But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some sneered, but others said, "We will hear you again on this subject."

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

because I am with you, and no one is going to attack you so as to injure you, because I have many people in this city."

and said, "This fellow is inducing people to worship God in ways that violate our laws."

On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,

This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message.

Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this.

This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor.

In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing.

He called together his workmen, and others engaged in similar trades, and said to them: "Men, you well know that our prosperity depends on this business of ours,

and you see and hear that, not only in Ephesus but all over the province of Asia, this man Paul has led away a vast number of people by persuading them, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

So, as this cannot be denied, you must be quiet and do nothing rash.

But if you require anything beyond this, it must be settled in the regular assembly.

In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'"

After he had finished this speech, he fell on his knees with them all and prayed.

He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'"

When we heard this, we and all the people there begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

After this we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.

as they kept shouting, "Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who teaches everybody everywhere against our people and the law and this place; yea, more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and desecrated this sacred place."

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in this city, and carefully educated under the teaching of Gamaliel in the law of our forefathers. I was zealous for God, as all of you are today.

I persecuted this Way even to the death, and kept on binding both men and women and putting them in jail,

Since I could not see because of the dazzling sheen of that light, I was led by the hand by my companions and in this way I reached Damascus.

They listened to him until he said this, and then all at once they shouted, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He is certainly not fit to live!"

When the captain heard that, he went to the colonel and reported it. Then he asked him, "What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen."

Then the colonel said, "I paid a large sum for this citizenship of mine." Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."

Paul fixed his eyes upon the council and said, "Brothers, with a clear conscience I have done my duty to God up to this very day."

At this the high priest Ananias ordered the people standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

So there was a vociferous yelling until some of the scribes, belonging to the party of the Pharisees, got up and fiercely contended, "We find nothing wrong with this man. Suppose a spirit or angel has really spoken to him!"

There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy.

So Paul called one of the captains and said, "Take this young man to the colonel, for he has something to tell him."

So he took him and brought him to the colonel and said, "The prisoner Paul called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

So the colonel sent the young man away, with strict directions not to tell anybody that he had notified him of this plot.

This man had been seized by the Jews and they were on the point of killing him when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, because I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.

When Paul was called, Tertullus opened the prosecution by saying: "Your Excellency, Felix, since we are enjoying perfect peace through you and since reforms for this nation are being brought about through your foresight,

For we have found this man a perfect pest and a distributor of the peace among the Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes;

At the governor's signal to Paul, he answered: "Since I know that you for many years have acted as judge for this nation, I cheerfully make my defense,

But I certainly admit this as a fact that in accordance with The Way -- that they call heresy -- I continue to worship the God of my forefathers, and I still believe in everything taught in the law and written in the prophets,

Then Festus said: "King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you now see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, continuously clamoring that he ought not to live any longer.

which promise our twelve tribes, by devotedly worshiping day and night, hope to see fulfilled for them. It is for this hope, your Majesty, that I am accused by some Jews.

While in this business I once was on my way to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests,

As I have gotten help from God clear down to this very day, I stand here to testify to high and low alike, without adding a syllable to what Moses and the prophets said should take place,

The king, indeed, knows about this and I can speak to him with freedom. I do not believe that any of this escaped his notice, for it did not occur in a corner!

and after leaving the room, as they continued to talk the matter over together, they said, "This man has done nothing to deserve death or imprisonment."

by saying, "Men, I see that this voyage is likely to be attended by disaster and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives."

And as the harbor was not fit to winter in, the majority favored the plan to set sail from there and see if they could reach Phoenix and winter there, this being a harbor in Crete facing west-southwest and west-north-west.

After they had gone a long time without any food, then Paul got up among them and said: "Men, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed from Crete, and you would have escaped this disaster and loss.

After saying this he took some bread and thanked God for it before them all; then he broke it in pieces and began to eat it.

but the colonel wanted to save Paul, and so he prevented them from carrying out this plan, and ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, and the rest to follow,