who was before appointed, Whom heaven must receive, till the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets.

It was for you first of all that God raised up His Servant and Son [Jesus], and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.

Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

The next day a meeting was held in Jerusalem of their Rulers, Elders, and Scribes,

and Annas the high priest was there , and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest.

Then Peter, filled with [the power of] the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people [members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Court],

if we are being examined today concerning a good deed [done to] a sick man--by what [means] this man was healed--

we want you men and all the people of Israel to know that this man was made completely well through the name of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. [He is the One] whom you people put to death on the cross, but God raised from the dead.

This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

saying, "What should we do to these men? For we cannot deny that a significant miracle was performed by them, and everybody living in Jerusalem knows it.

So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.

For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.

When they heard it, with one impulse they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, it was you who made heaven, earth, and sea, and everything that is in them,

For, truly, in this town, against your holy servant, Jesus, who was marked out by you as Christ, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, came together,

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

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

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

having sold a field that was possessed by him, brought the money and placed it at the apostles' feet.

There was a man of the name of Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold some property but,

and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles.

Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

And Ananias hearing these words fell down and expired; and great fear was upon all who heard.

And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

And Peter said to her, Give me an answer: was this amount of money the price of the land? And she said, Yes, it was.

And Peter said unto her, 'How was it agreed by you, to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? lo, the feet of those who did bury thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee forth;'

And great fear was on all the assembly [church], and on all that heard of these things.

Many signs and wonders continued to occur among the people, through the instrumentality of the Apostles, whose custom it was to meet all together in the Colonnade of Solomon;

and of the rest no one was daring to join himself to them, but the people were magnifying them,

[One of the miracles performed was that] sick people were even carried into the streets on beds and couches so that, as he passed them, Peter's shadow would fall on someone [in hope of it producing a miraculous healing].

Moreover even the throng of the cities all round Jerusalem was coming together, bearing sick folk, and such as were harassed by impure spirits, - who, indeed, were being cured, one and all.

At this the High Priest was roused to action, and he and all his supporters (who formed the party of the Sadducees), moved by jealousy,

And when they heard it, they entered very early into the temple and taught. And when the high priest was come, and they that were with him, they called together the council and all the elderhood of the sons of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

Saying, The doors of the prison were safely shut, and the keepers were at the doors, but when they were open, there was nobody inside.

A Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

After him, at the time of the Census, came Judas, the Galilaean, and was the leader in a revolt. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.

And every day, in the temple and in the houses, they ceased not teaching and announcing the glad tidings that Jesus was the Christ.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

And the thing was pleasing before all the multitude, and they did choose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch,

And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was very greatly multiplied, and a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith.

And Stephen, full of faith and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people,

However, some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (freed Jewish slaves), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and [the province of] Asia, rose up and questioned and argued with Stephen.

and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking;

And [as they] looked intently at him, all those who were sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face [was] like the face of an angel.

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

"The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, "Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I'll show you.'

Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

He didn’t give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, but He promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

What God said was this: 'His offspring will sojourn in a foreign land, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

And God gave Abraham a covenant [a formal agreement to be strictly observed] of [which] circumcision [was the sign]; and so [under these circumstances] Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [became the father] of Jacob, and Jacob [became the father] of the twelve patriarchs.

And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

and God was with him, and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh the king of Egypt; and he placed him governor over Egypt and all his house.

Now there was no food to be had in all Egypt and Canaan, and there was great trouble: and our fathers were not able to get food.

But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

Their bodies were carried back [from Egypt] to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had purchased in Shechem from the sons of Hamor for a sum of silver. [Note: "Shechem" was a town in Israel, the country which in New Testament times was known as Samaria].

'And according as the time of the promise was drawing nigh, which God did swear to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

He, having evil designs against our nation, was cruel to our fathers, and they were forced to put out their young children, so that they might not go on living.

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

and he supposed that his brethren understood that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not.

And on the following day, he made an appearance to them [while they] were fighting and was attempting to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men [and] brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?'

But he that was wronging his neighbour thrust him away, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge over us?

Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

And forty years completed, a messenger of the Lord was seen to him in the desert of mount Sina, in a flame of fire in a bramble.

And Moses seeing it wondered at the vision; and as he went up to consider it, there was a voice of the Lord,

‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the very one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

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

This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your countrymen.’

This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

That was the time when they made the Calf and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held festivities in honor of their own handiwork!

But God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?

No, it was the tent of Moloch and the star-symbol of Rephan your god that you carried, figures that you manufactured for worship. So now I will transport you beyond Babylon!

'The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;

That Tent was bequeathed to the next generation of our forefathers. Under Joshua they brought it with them when they were taking possession of the land of the Gentile nations, whom God drove out before them. So it continued till David's time.

Who was pleasing to God; and he had a desire to make a holy tent for the God of Jacob.

But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

‘Was it not My hand that made all these things?’

Which of the prophets was not cruelly attacked by your fathers? and they put to death those who gave them the news of the coming of the Upright One; whom you have now given up and put to death;

ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.

But he was full of the Holy Spirit, and looking up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God.

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

And they kept on stoning Stephen [as he] was calling out and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice: Lord, let not this sin stand against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was well pleased with his death.

And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

and Saul was making havoc of the assembly, into every house entering, and haling men and women, was giving them up to prison;

And Philip having gone down to a city of Samaria, was preaching to them the Christ,

the multitudes also were giving heed to the things spoken by Philip, with one accord, in their hearing and seeing the signs that he was doing,

And there was great joy in that city.

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

Everyone, from the least to the greatest [in importance], was being impressed by him. They were saying, "This man is being called Great [and has] power from God."