I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father.


And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.


If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.


“If you love me, you will obey my commandments.


Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever –


the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.


“I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you.


In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too.


You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.


The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”


“Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”


Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.


The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.


“I have spoken these things while staying with you.


But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.


“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage.


You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.


I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.


I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,


but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up, let us go from here.”


“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.


He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.


You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you.


Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.


“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.


If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.


If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.


My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.


“Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love.


If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.


I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.


My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you.


No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends.


You are my friends if you do what I command you.


I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.


You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.


This I command you – to love one another.


“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first.


If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.


Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too.


But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.


If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.


The one who hates me hates my Father too.


If I had not performed among them the miraculous deeds that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen the deeds and have hated both me and my Father.


Now this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without reason.’


When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me,


and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.


“I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away.


They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.


They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me.


But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. “I did not tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you.


But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’


Instead your hearts are filled with sadness because I have said these things to you.


But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.


And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment –


concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;


concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;


and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.


“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.


But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own authority, but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you what is to come.


He will glorify me, because he will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.


Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what is mine and will tell it to you.


In a little while you will see me no longer; again after a little while, you will see me.”


Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ‘In a little while you will not see me; again after a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”


So they kept on repeating, “What is the meaning of what he says, ‘In a little while’? We do not understand what he is talking about.”


Jesus could see that they wanted to ask him about these things, so he said to them, “Are you asking each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you will not see me; again after a little while, you will see me’?


I tell you the solemn truth, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy.


When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.


So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.


At that time you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.


Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, so that your joy may be complete.


“I have told you these things in obscure figures of speech; a time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in obscure figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father.


At that time you will ask in my name, and I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf.


For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.


I came from the Father and entered into the world, but in turn, I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”


His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly and not in obscure figures of speech!


Now we know that you know everything and do not need anyone to ask you anything. Because of this we believe that you have come from God.”


Jesus replied, “Do you now believe?


Look, a time is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, and I will be left alone. Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me.


I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage – I have conquered the world.”


When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you –


just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.


Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.


I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.


And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.


“I have revealed your name to the men you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.


Now they understand that everything you have given me comes from you,


because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.


I am praying on behalf of them. I am not praying on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you.


Everything I have belongs to you, and everything you have belongs to me, and I have been glorified by them.


I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.


When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me. Not one of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, so that the scripture could be fulfilled.


But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves.


I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.


I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.


They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world.


Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth.


Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.


And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.


“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony,


that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.


The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one –


I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.


“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.


Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me.


I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”


When he had said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it.


(Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, knew the place too, because Jesus had met there many times with his disciples.)


So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. They came to the orchard with lanterns and torches and weapons.


Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”


They replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.)


So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they retreated and fell to the ground.


Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”


Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these men go.”


He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken, “I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me.”


Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear. (Now the slave’s name was Malchus.)


But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”


Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.


They brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.


(Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)


Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas. (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard.)


But Simon Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside.


The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” He replied, “I am not.”


(Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)


While this was happening, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.


Jesus replied, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret.


Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said.”


When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest’s officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?”


Jesus replied, “If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?”


Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.


Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” Peter denied it: “I am not!”


One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him?”


Then Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.


Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. (Now it was very early morning.) They did not go into the governor’s residence so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.


So Pilate came outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”


They replied, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”


Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!” The Jewish leaders replied, “We cannot legally put anyone to death.”


(This happened to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken when he indicated what kind of death he was going to die. )


So Pilate went back into the governor’s residence, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”


Jesus replied, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others told you about me?”


Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and your chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”


Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”


Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”


Pilate asked, “What is truth?” When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders and announced, “I find no basis for an accusation against him.


But it is your custom that I release one prisoner for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?”


Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. )


Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged severely.


The soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe.


They came up to him again and again and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly in the face.


Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him.”


So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look, here is the man!”


When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!”


The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”


When Pilate heard what they said, he was more afraid than ever,


and he went back into the governor’s residence and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.


So Pilate said, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?”


Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”


From this point on, Pilate tried to release him. But the Jewish leaders shouted out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar! Everyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!”


When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in the place called “The Stone Pavement” (Gabbatha in Aramaic).


(Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon. ) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is your king!”


Then they shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!”


Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus,


and carrying his own cross he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” (called in Aramaic Golgotha).


There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.


Pilate also had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.”


Thus many of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.


Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The king of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am king of the Jews.’”


Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”


Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, and the tunic remained. (Now the tunic was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece.)


So the soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but throw dice to see who will get it.” This took place to fulfill the scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they threw dice.” So the soldiers did these things.


Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.


So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, look, here is your son!”


He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time the disciple took her into his own home.


After this Jesus, realizing that by this time everything was completed, said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty!”


A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to his mouth.


When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.


Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs broken and the bodies taken down.


So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other.


But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.


But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately.


And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe.


For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.”


And again another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”


After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders ), asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he went and took the body away.


Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus at night, accompanied Joseph, carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about seventy-five pounds.


Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial customs.


Now at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb where no one had yet been buried.


And so, because it was the Jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus’ body there.


Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance.


So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”


Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb.


The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first.


He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in.


Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there,


and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself.


Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed.


(For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)


So the disciples went back to their homes.


But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb.


And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.


They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”


When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.


Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.”


Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means Teacher).


Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”


Mary Magdalene came and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.


On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”


When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.


So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”


And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.


If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”


Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.


The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!”


Eight days later the disciples were again together in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”


Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.”


Thomas replied to him, “My Lord and my God!”


Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people who have not seen and yet have believed.”


Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book.


But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.


After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Now this is how he did so.


Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of his were together.


Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.


When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.


So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.”


He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they threw the net, and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.


Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it), and plunged into the sea.


Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards.


When they got out on the beach, they saw a charcoal fire ready with a fish placed on it, and bread.


Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.”


So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, but although there were so many, the net was not torn.


“Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.


Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.


This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.


Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”


Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd my sheep.”


Jesus said a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.


I tell you the solemn truth, when you were young, you tied your clothes around you and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to go.”


(Now Jesus said this to indicate clearly by what kind of death Peter was going to glorify God.) After he said this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me.”


Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. (This was the disciple who had leaned back against Jesus’ chest at the meal and asked, “Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?”)


So when Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”


Jesus replied, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours? You follow me!”


So the saying circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours?”


This is the disciple who testifies about these things and has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.


There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.


I wrote the former account, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach


until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.


To the same apostles also, after his suffering, he presented himself alive with many convincing proofs. He was seen by them over a forty-day period and spoke about matters concerning the kingdom of God.


While he was with them, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me.


For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”


So when they had gathered together, they began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”


He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.


But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”


After he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud hid him from their sight.


As they were still staring into the sky while he was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood near them


and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”


Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away).


When they had entered Jerusalem, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James were there.


All these continued together in prayer with one mind, together with the women, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.


In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty people) and said,


“Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through David concerning Judas – who became the guide for those who arrested Jesus –


for he was counted as one of us and received a share in this ministry.”


(Now this man Judas acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, and falling headfirst he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.


This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so that in their own language they called that field Hakeldama, that is, “Field of Blood.”)


“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his house become deserted, and let there be no one to live in it,’ and ‘Let another take his position of responsibility.’


Thus one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time the Lord Jesus associated with us,


beginning from his baptism by John until the day he was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness of his resurrection together with us.”


So they proposed two candidates: Joseph called Barsabbas (also called Justus) and Matthias.


Then they prayed, “Lord, you know the hearts of all. Show us which one of these two you have chosen


to assume the task of this service and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”


Then they cast lots for them, and the one chosen was Matthias; so he was counted with the eleven apostles.


Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.


Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.


And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.


All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.


Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem.


When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.


Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?


And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language?


Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia,


Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,


both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!”


All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”


But others jeered at the speakers, saying, “They are drunk on new wine!”


But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say.


In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.


But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:


‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.


Even on my servants, both men and women,* I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.


And I will perform wonders in the sky above* and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.


The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.


And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’


“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know –


this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.


But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power.


For David says about him, ‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.


Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my body also will live in hope,


because you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor permit your Holy One to experience decay.


You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of joy with your presence.’


“Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.


So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne,


David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay.


This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it.


So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you both see and hear.


For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand*


until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’


Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”


Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”


Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.


For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”


With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”


So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.


They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.


Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles.


All who believed were together and held everything in common,


and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need.


Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts,


praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.


Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.


And a man lame from birth was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day so he could beg for money from those going into the temple courts.


When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he asked them for money.


Peter looked directly at him (as did John) and said, “Look at us!”


So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.


But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and walk!”


Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.


He jumped up, stood and began walking around, and he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God.


All the people saw him walking and praising God,


and they recognized him as the man who used to sit and ask for donations at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with astonishment and amazement at what had happened to him.


While the man was hanging on to Peter and John, all the people, completely astounded, ran together to them in the covered walkway called Solomon’s Portico.


When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety?


The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him.


But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you.


You killed the Originator of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses!


And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man – whom you see and know – strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all.


And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too.


But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets – that his Christ would suffer – he has fulfilled in this way.


Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,


so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you – that is, Jesus.


This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets.


Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you*.


Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’


And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days.


You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed: *.’


God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”


While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them,


angry because they were teaching the people and announcing in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.


So they seized them and put them in jail until the next day (for it was already evening).


But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.


On the next day, their rulers, elders, and experts in the law came together in Jerusalem.


Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family.


After making Peter and John stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”


Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “Rulers of the people and elders,


if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed –


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


This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.


And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”


When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.


And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this.


But when they had ordered them to go outside the council, they began to confer with one another,


saying, “What should we do with these men? For it is plain to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign has come about through them, and we cannot deny it.


But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”


And they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.


But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide,


for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”


After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising God for what had happened.


For the man, on whom this miraculous sign of healing had been performed, was over forty years old.


When they were released, Peter and John went to their fellow believers and reported everything the high priests and the elders had said to them.


When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, “Master of all, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them,


who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David our forefather, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot foolish things?


The kings of the earth stood together, and the rulers assembled together, against the Lord and against his Christ: *.’


“For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,


to do as much as your power and your plan had decided beforehand would happen.


And now, Lord, pay attention to their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage,


while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”


When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously.


The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.


With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on them all.


For there was no one needy among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them and bringing the proceeds from the sales


and placing them at the apostles’ feet. The proceeds were distributed to each, as anyone had need.


So Joseph, a Levite who was a native of Cyprus, called by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”),


sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and placed it at the apostles’ feet.


Now a man named Ananias, together with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property.


He kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet.


But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of the land?


Before it was sold, did it not belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God!”


When Ananias heard these words he collapsed and died, and great fear gripped all who heard about it.


So the young men came, wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.


After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened.


Peter said to her, “Tell me, were the two of you paid this amount for the land?” Sapphira said, “Yes, that much.”


Peter then told her, “Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!”


At once she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.


Great fear gripped the whole church and all who heard about these things.


Now many miraculous signs and wonders came about among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they were all meeting together in Solomon’s Portico.


None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high honor.


More and more believers in the Lord were added to their number, crowds of both men and women.


Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets, and put them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow would fall on some of them.


A crowd of people from the towns around Jerusalem also came together, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits. They were all being healed.


Now the high priest rose up, and all those with him (that is, the religious party of the Sadducees ), and they were filled with jealousy.


They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.


But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said,


“Go and stand in the temple courts and proclaim to the people all the words of this life.”


When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching. Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin – that is, the whole high council of the Israelites – and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought before them.


But the officers who came for them did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported,


“We found the jail locked securely and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”


Now when the commander of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this report, they were greatly puzzled concerning it, wondering what this could be.


But someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple courts and teaching the people!”


Then the commander of the temple guard went with the officers and brought the apostles without the use of force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people).


When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them,


saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood on us!”


But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.


The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree.


God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.


And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”


Now when they heard this, they became furious and wanted to execute them.


But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.


Then he said to the council, “Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you are about to do to these men.


For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it.


After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census, and incited people to follow him in revolt. He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered.


So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, it will come to nothing,


but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them, or you may even be found fighting against God.” He convinced them,


and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.


So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.


And every day both in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Christ.


Now in those days, when the disciples were growing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Hebraic Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.


So the twelve called the whole group of the disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to wait on tables.


But carefully select from among you, brothers, seven men who are well-attested, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this necessary task.


But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”


The proposal pleased the entire group, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a Gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch.


They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.


The word of God continued to spread, the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.


Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.


But some men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen.


Yet they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.


Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard this man speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”


They incited the people, the elders, and the experts in the law; then they approached Stephen, seized him, and brought him before the council.


They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law.


For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”


All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel.


Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?”


So he replied, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,


and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’


Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this country where you now live.


He did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, not even a foot of ground, yet God promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though Abraham as yet had no child.


But God spoke as follows: ‘Your descendants will be foreigners in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years.


But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.’


Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.


The patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him,


and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.


Then a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.


So when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time.


On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.


So Joseph sent a message and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people in all.


So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, along with our ancestors,


and their bones were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.


“But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, the people increased greatly in number in Egypt,


until another king who did not know about Joseph ruled over Egypt.


This was the one who exploited our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.


At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house,


and when he had been abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.


So Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.


But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites.


When he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, Moses came to his defense and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian.


He thought his own people would understand that God was delivering them through him, but they did not understand.


The next day Moses saw two men fighting, and tried to make peace between them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’


But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?


You don’t want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’


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


“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.


When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord,


‘I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely.


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


I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt*.’


This same Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer through the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.


This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.


This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’


This is the man who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to you.


Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him, but pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,


saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt – we do not know what has happened to him!’


At that time they made an idol in the form of a calf, brought a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing in the works of their hands.


But God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, house of Israel?


But you took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images you made to worship, but I will deport you beyond Babylon*.’


Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the design he had seen.


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


He found favor with God and asked that he could find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.


But Solomon built a house for him.


Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says,


‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place?


Did my hand not make all these things?’


“You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did!


Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!


You received the law by decrees given by angels, but you did not obey it.”


When they heard these things, they became furious and ground their teeth at him.


But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.


“Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”


But they covered their ears, shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent.


When they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.


They continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”


Then he fell to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he died.


And Saul agreed completely with killing him. Now on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.


Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.


But Saul was trying to destroy the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.


Now those who had been forced to scatter went around proclaiming the good news of the word.


Philip went down to the main city of Samaria and began proclaiming the Christ to them.


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


For unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, were coming out of many who were possessed, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.


So there was great joy in that city.


Now in that city was a man named Simon, who had been practicing magic and amazing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.


All the people, from the least to the greatest, paid close attention to him, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called ‘Great.’”


And they paid close attention to him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.


But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they began to be baptized, both men and women.


Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed.


Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.


These two went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit.


(For the Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)


Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Spirit.


Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money,


saying, “Give me this power too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”


But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire God’s gift with money!


You have no share or part in this matter because your heart is not right before God!


Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that he may perhaps forgive you for the intent of your heart.


For I see that you are bitterly envious and in bondage to sin.”


But Simon replied, “You pray to the Lord for me so that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.”


So after Peter and John had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many Samaritan villages as they went.


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


So he got up and went. There he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship,


and was returning home, sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah.


Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”


So Philip ran up to it and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. He asked him, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”


The man replied, “How in the world can I, unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.


Now the passage of scripture the man was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.


In humiliation justice was taken from him.* Who can describe his posterity? For his life was taken away from the earth.”


Then the eunuch said to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet saying this about – himself or someone else?”


So Philip started speaking, and beginning with this scripture proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.


Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me from being baptized?”


So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.


Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any more, but went on his way rejoicing.


Philip, however, found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through the area, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.


Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats to murder the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest


and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.


As he was going along, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.


He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”


So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting!


But stand up and enter the city and you will be told what you must do.”


(Now the men who were traveling with him stood there speechless, because they heard the voice but saw no one.)


So Saul got up from the ground, but although his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, his companions brought him into Damascus.


For three days he could not see, and he neither ate nor drank anything.


Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he replied, “Here I am, Lord.”


Then the Lord told him, “Get up and go to the street called ‘Straight,’ and at Judas’ house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,


and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he may see again.”


But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem,


and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call on your name!”


But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel.


For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”


So Ananias departed and entered the house, placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”


Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,


and after taking some food, his strength returned. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,


and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This man is the Son of God.”


All who heard him were amazed and were saying, “Is this not the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners to the chief priests?”


But Saul became more and more capable, and was causing consternation among the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.


Now after some days had passed, the Jews plotted together to kill him,


but Saul learned of their plot against him. They were also watching the city gates day and night so that they could kill him.


But his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening in the wall by lowering him in a basket.


When he arrived in Jerusalem, he attempted to associate with the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, because they did not believe that he was a disciple.


But Barnabas took Saul, brought him to the apostles, and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.


So he was staying with them, associating openly with them in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord.


He was speaking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they were trying to kill him.


When the brothers found out about this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.


Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace and thus was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church increased in numbers.


Now as Peter was traveling around from place to place, he also came down to the saints who lived in Lydda.


He found there a man named Aeneas who had been confined to a mattress for eight years because he was paralyzed.


Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Get up and make your own bed!” And immediately he got up.


All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.


Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which in translation means Dorcas). She was continually doing good deeds and acts of charity.


At that time she became sick and died. When they had washed her body, they placed it in an upstairs room.


Because Lydda was near Joppa, when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Come to us without delay.”


So Peter got up and went with them, and when he arrived they brought him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, crying and showing him the tunics and other clothing Dorcas used to make while she was with them.


But Peter sent them all outside, knelt down, and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.


He gave her his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her alive.


This became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.


So Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a man named Simon, a tanner.


Now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort.


He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly.


About three o’clock one afternoon he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius.”


Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius replied, “What is it, Lord?” The angel said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have gone up as a memorial before God.


Now send men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon, who is called Peter.


This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”


When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius called two of his personal servants and a devout soldier from among those who served him,


and when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.


About noon the next day, while they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.


He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing the meal, a trance came over him.


He saw heaven opened and an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down to earth by its four corners.


In it were all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and wild birds.


Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!”


But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and ritually unclean!”


The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!”


This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into heaven.


Now while Peter was puzzling over what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon’s house was and approached the gate.


They called out to ask if Simon, known as Peter, was staying there as a guest.


While Peter was still thinking seriously about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look! Three men are looking for you.


But get up, go down, and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.”


So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the person you’re looking for. Why have you come?”


They said, “Cornelius the centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message from you.”


So Peter invited them in and entertained them as guests. On the next day he got up and set out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.


The following day he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting anxiously for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.


So when Peter came in, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshiped him.


But Peter helped him up, saying, “Stand up. I too am a mere mortal.”


Peter continued talking with him as he went in, and he found many people gathered together.


He said to them, “You know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile, yet God has shown me that I should call no person defiled or ritually unclean.


Therefore when you sent for me, I came without any objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”


Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and suddenly a man in shining clothing stood before me


and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your acts of charity have been remembered before God.


Therefore send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’


Therefore I sent for you at once, and you were kind enough to come. So now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to say to us.”


Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people,


but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him.


You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all) –


you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced:


with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.


We are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree,


but God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen,


not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.


He commanded us to preach to the people and to warn them that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.


About him all the prophets testify, 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 those who heard the message.


The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were greatly astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,


for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,


“No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”


So he gave orders to have them baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for several days.


Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God.


So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him,


saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and shared a meal with them.”


But Peter began and explained it to them point by point, saying,


“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object something like a large sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me.


As I stared I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds.


I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!’


But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’


But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!’


This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven again.


At that very moment, three men sent to me from Caesarea approached the house where we were staying.


The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.


He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,


who will speak a message to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’


Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning.


And I remembered the word of the Lord, as he used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’


Therefore if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?”


When they heard this, they ceased their objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”


Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message to no one but Jews.


But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.


The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.


A report about them came to the attention of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.


When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,


because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people were brought to the Lord.


Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul,


and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a significant number of people. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.


At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem


One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.)


So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.


They did so, sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.


About that time King Herod laid hands on some from the church to harm them.


He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword.


When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too. (This took place during the feast of Unleavened Bread.)


When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him. Herod planned to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.


So Peter was kept in prison, but those in the church were earnestly praying to God for him.


On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.


Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.


The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” Peter did so. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.”


Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.


After they had passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, when at once the angel left him.


When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting to happen.”


When Peter realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.


When he knocked at the door of the outer gate, a slave girl named Rhoda answered.


When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate, but ran back in and told them that Peter was standing at the gate.


But they said to her, “You’ve lost your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was Peter, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!”


Now Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were greatly astonished.


He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet and then related how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell James and the brothers these things,” and then he left and went to another place.


At daybreak there was great consternation among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.


When Herod had searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.


Now Herod was having an angry quarrel with the people of Tyre So they joined together and presented themselves before him. And after convincing Blastus, the king’s personal assistant, to help them, they asked for peace, because their country’s food supply was provided by the king’s country.


On a day determined in advance, Herod put on his royal robes, sat down on the judgment seat, and made a speech to them.


But the crowd began to shout, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”


Immediately an angel of the Lord struck Herod down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.


But the word of God kept on increasing and multiplying.


So Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had completed their mission, bringing along with them John Mark.


Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch from childhood ) and Saul.


While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”


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


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


When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. (Now they also had John as their assistant.)


When they had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus,


who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.


But the magician Elymas (for that is the way his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.


But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at him


and said, “You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness – will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?


Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand.


Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord.


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


Moving on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.


After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any message of exhortation for the people, speak it.”


So Paul stood up, gestured with his hand and said, “Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God, listen:


The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay as foreigners in the country of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.


For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.


After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave his people their land as an inheritance.


All this took about four hundred fifty years. After this he gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.


Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years.


After removing him, God raised up David their king. He testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’


From the descendants of this man God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised.


Before Jesus arrived, John had proclaimed a baptism for repentance to all the people of Israel.


But while John was completing his mission, he said repeatedly, ‘What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!’


Brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us.


For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him.


Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.


When they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.


But God raised him from the dead,


and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses to the people.


And we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors,


that this promise God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you*.’


But regarding the fact that he has raised Jesus from the dead, never again to be in a state of decay, God has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David*.’


Therefore he also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit your Holy One to experience decay*.’


For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died, was buried with his ancestors, and experienced decay,


but the one whom God raised up did not experience decay.


Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,


and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.


Watch out, then, that what is spoken about by the prophets does not happen to you:


‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! For I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’”


As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath.


When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.


On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord.


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


Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.


For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”


When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed.


So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region.


But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region.


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


And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.


The same thing happened in Iconium when Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large group of both Jews and Greeks believed.


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


So they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands.


But the population of the city was divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.


When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made an attempt to mistreat them and stone them,


Paul and Barnabas learned about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and the surrounding region.


There they continued to proclaim the good news.


In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.


This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul stared intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed,


he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man leaped up and began walking.


So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”


They began to call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.


The priest of the temple of Zeus, located just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the city gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices to them.


But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,


“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.


In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own ways,


yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”


Even by saying these things, they scarcely persuaded the crowds not to offer sacrifice to them.


But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.


But after the disciples had surrounded him, he got up and went back into the city. On the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.


After they had proclaimed the good news in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra,


They strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many persecutions.”


When they had appointed elders for them in the various churches, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the protection of the Lord in whom they had believed.


Then they passed through Pisidia and came into Pamphylia,


and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.


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


When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported all the things God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.


So they spent considerable time with the disciples.


Now some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”


When Paul and Barnabas had a major argument and debate with them, the church appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to meet with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this point of disagreement.


So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they were relating at length the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.


When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all the things God had done with them.


But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to observe the law of Moses.”


Both the apostles and the elders met together to deliberate about this matter.


After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God chose me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message of the gospel and believe.


And God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,


and he made no distinction between them and us, cleansing their hearts by faith.


So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?


On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are.”


The whole group kept quiet and listened to Barnabas and Paul while they explained all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.


After they stopped speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.


Simeon has explained how God first concerned himself to select from among the Gentiles a people for his name.


The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written,


‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David;* I will rebuild its ruins and restore it,*


so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord,* namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,’ says the Lord,* who makes these things


known from long ago.


“Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,


but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.


For Moses has had those who proclaim him in every town from ancient times, because he is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.”


Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leaders among the brothers, to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.