Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.'

but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

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.

Of him all the prophets bear witness 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 who heard the message.

All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

"Can anyone refuse the water for these people to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

And he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is also called Peter;

So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could oppose God?"

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to persecute them.

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

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

Now in the church that was at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

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

Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

And after he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king; concerning whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him.

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.

but he whom God raised did not see decay.

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

When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

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

So they spent a long time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

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.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up, and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the Law of Moses."

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us;

so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my 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,

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

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.

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

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.

And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged the brethren with many words and strengthened them.

And after they had spent some time there, they were sent off in peace by the brethren to those who had sent them.

But Paul kept insisting that they should not take along one who had deserted them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.

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

and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium.

Paul wanted this man 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 a Greek.

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had come together.

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.

It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination. She brought her owners much profit by fortune-telling.

She followed Paul and the rest of us, crying, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way of salvation."

They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, without trial, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now cast us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out."

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."

When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be there.

(Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

The God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands;

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."

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,

Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus."

This took place for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

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."

But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"

And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered all of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.

Many also of those who believed now came, confessing and disclosing their practices.

And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.

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."

Some of the Asiarchs also, who were friends of his, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater.

And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven?

For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will see my face no more.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.

On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.

He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"

And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law,

and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs.

Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow;

But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote to them our decision that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."

crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place; and besides he also brought Greeks into the temple, and he has defiled this holy place."

Then the commander came up and arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.

Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?"

as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

And I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'

And those who were with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

"A certain Ananias, a devout man according to the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.

When the blood of Stephen your witness was shed, I also was standing by and approving, and keeping the garments of those who were killing him.'

But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately; and the commander also was afraid when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.