Acts
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Acts 9:10-19
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10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
11 “Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
15 “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
17 So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. -
Acts 9:1-9
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1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
2 and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
3 As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
5 “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
9 For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything. -
Acts 8:26-40
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26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
28 and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.”
30 So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
33 In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.”
34 “Tell me,” said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”
35 Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
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38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.
40 But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea. -
Acts 8:9-25
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9 Prior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great,
10 and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.”
11 They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip closely and was astounded by the great signs and miracles he observed.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
15 On their arrival, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit.
16 For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money.
19 “Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
21 You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
22 Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart.
23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
25 And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages. -
Acts 8:1-8
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1 And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
2 God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.
3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.
6 The crowds gave their undivided attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform.
7 With loud shrieks, unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, and many of the paralyzed and lame were healed.
8 So there was great joy in that city. -
Acts 7:54-60
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54 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.
58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. -
Acts 7:39-53
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39 But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
40 They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41 At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.
42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
45 And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,
46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or where will My place of repose be?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’
51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
53 you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.” -
Acts 7:23-38
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23 When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
24 And when he saw one of them being mistreated, Moses went to his defense and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing him.
25 He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but they did not.
26 The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
27 But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 At this remark, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner and had two sons.
30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came to him:
32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have indeed seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
35 This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
37 This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’
38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us. -
Acts 7:9-22
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9 Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him
10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
11 Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.
12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
13 On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.
14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.
15 So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.
16 Their bones were carried back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a price he paid in silver.
17 As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number.
18 Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.
19 He exploited our people and oppressed our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die.
20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in the sight of God. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house.
21 When he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. -
Acts 7:1-8
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1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
2 And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3 and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’
4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.
5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.
6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
7 ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’
8 Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
