and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which,'said he , ye heard from me:

For [Jesus had said, Matt. 3:11], "John immersed you [men] in water but [this time] you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit, and [it will happen] in just a few more days."

So, when they were together, they said to him, Lord, will you at this time give back the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing up into the heaven, He going, and behold, two men stood by them in white garments, who also said,

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

“Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David [king of Israel] about Judas [Iscariot], who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.

"For in the Book of Psalms," Peter continued, "it is said-- 'Let his dwelling become desolate, and let no one live in it'; and also--'His office let another take.'

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

And they were full of wonder and said, Are not all these men Galilaeans?

And they were all in amazement and doubt, and said, one to another: What can this mean?

Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

But this is the thing which was said by the prophet Joel;

God said that 'in the last days [of the Jewish nation?] I will pour out My Holy Spirit upon all people [i.e., both Jews and Gentiles], and your sons and daughters will speak out [in prophecies] and your young men will see [supernatural] visions, and your old men will have [supernatural] dreams.

For David said of him, I saw the Lord before my face at all times, for he is at my right hand, so that I may not be moved:

David, foreseeing this, spoke of Christ being raised from the dead. [He said Jesus' spirit] would not be left in the unseen place of departed spirits, nor would His body decay.

For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

'The Lord said to my Lord sit on my right hand, until I make thy foes, thy footstool.'

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

He said much more besides in giving his testimony, and urged them to save themselves from that crooked age.

So those who accepted what he said were baptized; about three thousand souls were brought in, that day.

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

So he waited, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said:

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Peter, seeing this, spoke to the people. "Israelites," he said, "why do you wonder at this man? Or why gaze at us, as though by any power or piety of our own we had enabled him to walk?

For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

But many of those who had heard what they said believed it, and their number grew to be about five thousand.

Then sending for Peter and John, they said, By what power and in whose name have you done this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

They said, "What should we do with these men? For it's obvious to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable sign has been done by them, and we cannot deny it.

But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

And when they had said more sharp words to them, they let them go, not seeing what punishment they might give them, because of the people; for all men were giving praise to God for what had taken place.

And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

"Go," he said, "and stand in the Temple Courts, and tell the people the whole Message of this new Life."

and sent to the prison, to have them brought, But when the officers came, they found them not in the prison; and returning they said,

And someone came and said to them, The men, whom you put in prison, are in the Temple teaching the people.

And they took them into the Sanhedrin, and the high priest said to them,

"We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

But a certain pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, held in much esteem by all the people, stood up in the council, and ordered the apostles to be taken out a little while; and then he said unto them,

And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.

For before this there was Theudas, who said he was someone important, to whom about four hundred men gave their support: he was put to death, and his band was broken up and came to nothing.

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.

And what was said pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch,

Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.

And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

For he has said in our hearing that this Jesus of Nazareth will put this place to destruction and make changes in the rules which were handed down to us by Moses.

Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

And God said that his seed would be living in a strange land, and that they would make them servants, and be cruel to them for four hundred years.

And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

The next day, also, he came and found two of them fighting, and he endeavoured to make peace between them. "'Sirs,' he said, 'you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?'

But the man who was doing wrong to his neighbour, pushing him away, said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

When the man said this, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached the bush to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,

Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

“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.

This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

They said to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

However, the Highest [i.e., God] does not live in a house made by human beings, as the prophet said [Isaiah 66:1ff],

But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said,

And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The crowds gathered and were paying close attention to everything Philip said, as they heard [the message] and saw the [miraculous] signs which he was doing [validating his message].

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!”

When Simon saw that it was through the placing of the Apostles' hands on them that the Spirit was given, he brought them a sum of money and said:

"Give me too," he said, "that power, so that every one on whom I place my hands will receive the Holy Spirit."

But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

But an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that runs from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” (This is a desert road).

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of Scripture he was reading said [Isa. 53:7ff], "He was led out to be slaughtered as a sheep; He made no sound, just like a lamb when it was being sheared.

And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

and falling to the ground he heard a voice which said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

(at that very instant Saul saw in a vision the said Ananias come in, and put his hand on him, to restore his sight.)

But Ananias said, Lord, I have had accounts of this man from a number of people, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem:

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.