Luke wrote the book to send to Theophilus. Theophilus was an important Roman man. This is the second book that Luke wrote for him. The first book is called ‘Luke’. In this second book, Luke tells us how God first gave his Holy Spirit to the apostles. He writes about the work of the apostles in Jerusalem and in cities in many other countries. He tells us how more and more people believed in Jesus. He also writes about problems between Christians. Some of these were Jews and some of them were not.
He also tells us that the leaders of the Jews did not believe in Jesus. They wanted the apostles to stop teaching the people about Jesus.
The book is in 5 parts:
A How more people believed in Jesus in Judea and Jerusalem.
1 How the apostles took God’s message about Jesus to the cities near Jerusalem.
2 How the apostles took God’s message about Jesus to the cities in other countries. The other countries were near Judea.
B How Paul travelled to many countries with the good news about Jesus. He also taught people who were not Jews about Jesus.
3 Where Paul went on his first journey to teach people about Jesus.
4 Where Paul went on his second journey to teach people about Jesus.
5 Paul’s last big journey, when he went to Rome.
1 Jesus began to do many things when he was working on earth. He also began to teach people many things. I told you about all these things in the first book that I wrote for you, Theophilus. 2 I told you about the things that Jesus did until God took Him up into heaven. Jesus had chosen some men to be his apostles. He had told them by the Holy Spirit what they must do. Then God took Jesus back to heaven.
3 Jesus had died and then he became alive again. During the 40 days after that, he showed himself many times to his apostles. He showed himself in different ways. They could then be sure that Jesus was really alive again. The apostles often saw Jesus, and he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. 4 While Jesus was still with his apostles, he spoke to them. He said, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem yet. You must wait there for my Father’s gift that I told you about. My Father promised to give it to you.
5 John baptised people with water, but after a few days God will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’ God takes Jesus up to heaven
6 Jesus’ apostles all met together with him. ‘Lord’, they said, ‘will you at this time give the people of Israel their kingdom back? Will they now rule their own country again?’
7 ‘My Father decides when things will happen in the world’, Jesus replied. ‘He does not want you to know when this will happen.
8 But the Holy Spirit will come to you, and he will cause you to become powerful. The Holy Spirit will cause your spirit to be strong. Then you can tell other people about me. You will tell people about me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and in all other countries.’
9 When Jesus had finished speaking to his apostles, God took him up into God’s home. The apostles watched Jesus go. Then a cloud hid him and the apostles could not see him any longer.
10 The apostles were still looking carefully up into the sky when suddenly two men appeared. The men were wearing white clothes and they stood near the apostles. 11 Then they spoke to the apostles. ‘You men from Galilee, you should not still be standing here’, they said. ‘You should not still look up into the sky. God has taken Jesus into heaven. You saw the way that Jesus went up to heaven. One day, he will return in the same way.’ 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives was about one kilometre from the city.
13 When the apostles arrived in Jerusalem, they went upstairs. And they went into the room where they were staying. The names of the apostles were Peter, John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew. The other apostles, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James, were also there. 14 The apostles often met together in a group to pray. They prayed together with Mary, Jesus’ mother, other women and his brothers.
15 A few days after that, about 120 people met together. These people all believed in Jesus. Peter stood up and he spoke to them.
16 ‘My friends’, he said, ‘Long ago, the Holy Spirit spoke to King David and David wrote down this message. He wrote about the things that Judas would do.’ 17 Judas was in our group, because Jesus chose him. He chose Judas to work together with us.’
18 The priests gave Judas some money because he had helped them. Judas bought a field with that money. But he then fell down in that field and he died. His body broke open and the inside of his body fell out.
19 All the people who lived in Jerusalem heard about the death of Judas. So the people called that field Akeldama in their own language. Akeldama means ‘The Field of Blood’. 20 Peter continued, ‘King David wrote in the book of Psalms, 21 ‘Because of this, we need to choose another man’, said Peter. ‘This man must have been together with us from the beginning. He must have been in our group all the time that Jesus was with us.
22 The man must have been with us when John was baptising people. He must have stayed with us while Jesus was working. He must have been with us when Jesus went up to heaven. Then he can say to the people, “I know that our master died. I saw him after he became alive again.” ’
23 So the group said the names of two men. One of these men was Joseph, who had two other names. People also called him Barsabbas and sometimes people called him Justus. The other man was called Matthias.
24 Then the whole group prayed. ‘Lord, you know what everybody is really thinking’, they said. ‘Please show us which man you have chosen. Which of these two men do you want to be an apostle?
25 Judas left his work as an apostle. He has gone to the right place for him.’
26 Then the group chose which of the men would do the work of an apostle. It happened that they chose Matthias. So Matthias took the place of Judas and he became the twelfth apostle, together with the other 11 men. 1 Then the day that the Jews called ‘The Day of Pentecost’ came. All the believers were meeting together in a house in Jerusalem. 2 Then, suddenly, as they were sitting together, they heard a noise. The sound came from the sky. It was like the sound of a strong wind. They could hear the noise everywhere in the house.
3 Then they saw something move, like many small separate fires. The small fires moved in the room and they touched every person.
4 God filled each person with the Holy Spirit. Then the believers began to speak in foreign languages that they had not learned. They spoke like that because the Holy Spirit helped them.
5 At that time, other Jews, who prayed to God every day, were living in Jerusalem. They came from many different countries in the world.
6 The believers made a loud noise when they spoke these other languages. When these other Jews heard this loud noise, they came together in a large crowd. Each person could hear the disciples speaking in their own language. This confused them. And so they did not know what to think.
7 But they were very surprised. ‘These men who are speaking like this are from Galilee’, they said.
8 ‘We do not know what is happening. We can all hear them speak in the language of our own home country.
9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us are from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia.
10 Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from near the town called Cyrene. Cyrene is in the country called Libya. Some of us are from Rome.
11 Some of us are Jews. Some of us do not have Jewish parents, but now we believe in the God of the Jews. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’
12 All the people were very surprised. They did not understand what was happening. ‘How can we explain all this?’ they asked each other.
13 Other people laughed at the disciples. They said to each other, ‘These people are drunk!’ Peter speaks to the crowd
14 Peter was with the other 11 apostles and he stood up. He began to speak to the crowd with a loud voice. He explained to them what was happening. 15 Some of you think that my friends here are drunk. But they are not drunk, because it is only 9 o’clock in the morning.’ 16 ‘Something different is happening here. Joel was a prophet and he spoke God’s words about it a long time ago. He said that one day this would happen. This is what Joel said.’ 17 ‘ “This is what I will do in the last days”, God says. 18 At that time, I will give my Spirit. 19 I will cause special things to appear in the sky. 20 And the sun will become dark, and it will not shine any longer. 21 People will ask me to save them and I will give them new life”, God said.’ 22 ‘Now, people of Israel, listen to what I am saying!’ Peter said. ‘God sent Jesus of Nazareth to the earth to work for him. God worked by Jesus and did many powerful and special things. Because of this, people should know that God had sent Jesus. You know about all this. These things happened here, and you saw them.
23 God knew that the Romans would give Jesus to you. God had decided that this should happen. So you killed Jesus. You let bad men fix him to the cross.
24 And so Jesus died. But God caused him to become alive again. God saved Jesus from the power of death. It was impossible for Jesus to stay dead.
25 A long time ago, King David spoke about Jesus. 26 I am very happy because of this, 27 So you will not leave my soul with all the dead people. 28 You have shown me the good paths that lead me to true life. 29 ‘People of Israel’, Peter then said, ‘I must speak clear words to you about King David. Long ago he was our ancestor and king. David died and people buried his body in the ground. The place where people buried him is still here today.
30 David spoke words from God. He knew what God had promised him. God promised David that a special man from his family would be a king. This man would be a king like David.
31 And David understood what God would do in future days. So David spoke about this special man that God would send to the world. When this person died, God would cause him to become alive again. David said that God would not let him remain dead among dead people. He said that nothing would destroy his body.
32 This man that David talked about was Jesus. Jesus died. But God caused him to become alive again. We ourselves saw this.
33 God took him back to his right side in heaven. So now Jesus is sitting in the most important place, next to his Father.’ 34 David did not go up into heaven like Jesus did. But David said. 35 While you sit here, I will beat your enemies. 36 ‘All you people of Israel must be sure to know this. You killed Jesus on a cross. But it is this same Jesus that God chose as that special person. God caused him to be Lord.’
37 The people heard what Peter said to them. Then they had much trouble in their minds. So they asked Peter and the other apostles for help. ‘Friends, what must we do?’ they said.
38 ‘Each of you has done wrong things’, Peter told them. ‘You must tell God that you are sorry about that. Then you must stop doing those wrong things. You must obey God and you must do right things. Then someone with the authority of Jesus Christ will baptise you. And God will forgive you for all the wrong things that you have done. Then God will give you his gift, which is the Holy Spirit.
39 God has promised to forgive you and your children. He has also promised to give the Holy Spirit to you and to your children. He has also promised this to people who live in other countries. God has chosen many people to believe in him. He includes all of them in his promise.’
40 So Peter told the people what they must do. He also told them many other things. He continued to speak with serious words to them. He said, ‘Save yourselves from the punishment that God will send. God will send it to bad people who are alive now.’
41 Many of the people who listened to Peter believed his words. So the apostles baptised them. About three thousand joined the group that same day. They all believed in Jesus. This is how the believers lived
42 These new believers stayed with the apostles so that they could learn more about Jesus. And they all became good friends with everyone else in the group. They prayed together and they ate meals together. 43 The Holy Spirit worked with the apostles. He caused them to be powerful, so that they could make sick people well. And they could do many other special things. All the people were very surprised and afraid because of these special things.
44 All the believers continued to be good friends with each other. They ate meals together, and they learned more about Jesus. They continued to pray together. They gave each other some of the things that they had.
45 They sold some of their own things. Then they gave that money to other believers who needed it.
46 The whole group of believers met together every day in the Great House of God. They ate their meals together in each other’s homes and they were all very happy together. They thanked God for everything.
47 The believers often said how great and important God was. All the other people liked the believers. And they thought that the believers were very good people. Every day, more people asked the Lord to save them. So he was making the group of those who believed in him much bigger.
1 One day, Peter and John went to the Great House of God in Jerusalem. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon. This was the time that everyone went there to pray.
2 There was a man who could not walk. He had never been able to walk. Every day, his friends put him at the gate of the Great House of God. It was called the Beautiful Gate. As people were going through the gate into the Great House of God, the man asked them for money. His friends were carrying him to the gate when Peter and John came to the gate.
3 Then the man saw Peter and John come through the gate. So he asked them to give him some money.
4 Peter and John looked at the man’s face. And Peter said to him, ‘Look at us!’
5 So the man looked at Peter and John. He thought that they would give him some money.
6 Then Peter said to the man, ‘I do not have any money. But I do have something else that I will give to you. Jesus Christ from Nazareth gave me authority to do this. So I order you to walk!’
7 Peter then held the man’s right hand to help him stand up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
8 So the man jumped up and he stood on his feet. Then he began to walk about and he went into the Great House of God with Peter and John. He was walking and jumping. And he was saying to God, ‘You, God, are very powerful and good.’
9 A large crowd of people were with Peter and John. They saw the man walking. And they heard him saying good things about God.
10 ‘Look!’ they said. ‘We know this man. He usually sits at the Beautiful Gate. He used to have weak legs and he asked people for money. What has happened? He can now walk!’ they said to each other. They were all very surprised. Peter speaks to the crowd in the Great House of God
11 The man was still holding Peter and John as they went to Solomon’s Porch. And the people were very surprised about what they were seeing. So they ran to them there.
12 Peter saw all the people. They were running towards him. So he said to them, ‘People of Israel, you should not be so surprised about what you have seen. You should not look at us so much. Perhaps you think that we ourselves are powerful. Maybe you think that we are very good people. But we are not so powerful or so good that we could cause this man to walk.
13 Jesus was the special servant of God. Our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other people prayed to this same God long ago. God gave his authority to Jesus and caused him to be powerful. He showed people that Jesus was a very great and important person.’ 14 Jesus was completely good and he obeyed God all the time. But you did not accept him. There was also a bad man in the prison who had killed some people. You said to Pilate, “Please let the other man leave the prison. Do not let Jesus go out.”
15 Then you asked Pilate to kill Jesus. But God caused Jesus to become alive again. He is the person who leads people to true life. We ourselves saw Jesus alive again after he had died.
16 Now, you know that this man here had weak legs. But Jesus is powerful. Jesus’ authority caused this man’s legs to become strong. This really happened because Jesus is powerful. You can see that. This man believed that Jesus could cause his legs to become strong. So Jesus made him well. And you yourselves can see that he is walking.
17 People, listen to what I say. You wanted Pilate’s soldiers to kill Jesus. At that time, you and your leaders did not know what you were doing.
18 Jesus was the Christ, the special person that God would send to the world. A long time ago, many men spoke words from God about him. They told people what would happen to the Christ. “Bad people will hurt the Christ, and he will have a lot of pain”, they said. God caused this to become true.
19 So you must say sorry to God for all the wrong things that you have done. You must say that you will obey God. Then God will forgive you for all the wrong things that you have done.
20 Then the Lord will be near to you and he will cause your spirit to be strong. God has already chosen Jesus for you. He is the Christ, God’s special servant, and God will send him back to you again.
21 Jesus must stay in heaven until the day that he will make everything new. Those men who spoke words from God a long time ago told us about this.
22 “God sent me to you”, Moses said to the people a long time ago. “He will also send another man later who will speak his words. This man will be one of your own people. You must listen to everything that he says to you.
23 God will take out from among his people everyone who does not obey this chosen man. God will then kill them.” ’ 24 ‘God gave this same message to Samuel many years ago. God then gave it to many other men who came after Samuel. And they all told us what would happen at this time.
25 The men who spoke God’s words told the people about God’s promises. God promised these things to your ancestors, but you are also included in his promises. God said to Abraham. “By your family, I will do a good thing for all the people on the earth.” ’ 26 ‘God chose Jesus to be his special servant. Then God sent him to you first. God wants you to say sorry to him for all the wrong things that you have done. Then you will obey God because he wants to do good things for you.’
1 Peter was still speaking to the crowd in Solomon’s Porch and John was standing next to him. Then some priests, Sadducees and the leader of the policemen of the Great House of God came towards them.
2 These people were angry because of the things that Peter and John were saying to the crowd. They had said, ‘Jesus became alive again after he had died.’ This showed everyone that dead people could become alive again.
3 So the priests, Sadducees and the leader of the policemen took Peter and John away. And they put Peter and John in the prison, because by then it was late. They stayed in the prison all that night.
4 But many of the people in the crowd had believed Peter’s message. Soon there were 5000 men who believed in Jesus. Peter and John stand in front of the Sanhedrin
5 The next day, the leaders of the Jews met together in Jerusalem. The important priests and the teachers of the Law met together with them.
6 They met with Annas and Caiaphas who were the most important priests. John and Alexander were also there and they were part of their family. Other men from their family were with them.
7 The men in the Sanhedrin said to Peter and John, ‘Stand in front of us!’ They said to Peter and John, ‘How did you cause that man’s legs to become strong? Who gave you the power and the authority to do it?’
8 Then the Holy Spirit told Peter what to say to the men in the Sanhedrin. So Peter answered them. ‘All you men are leaders of the people and you are the most important Jews.
9 Today you are asking us questions about the good thing that we did for this man. You are asking us how we caused his legs to become strong.
10 Now I need to tell you and all the people of Israel some things. Then you will all know how this happened. This man is standing with us in front of you. His legs are strong because Jesus Christ of Nazareth is powerful. Jesus has the authority to do this. You killed Jesus; you fixed him to a cross. He died, but after that, God caused him to become alive again.
11 Men who spoke God’s words wrote this about Jesus a long time ago. 12 Then Peter said, ‘Only Jesus can save people from the result of all the wrong things they have done. There has never been another person in the world that could do this. God has not given any other man the authority to save us.’
13 Then the men of the Sanhedrin saw that Peter and John were very brave. They also knew that Peter and John were not important people. They had not been to a special school. So the men were very surprised about how Peter and John spoke. They also understood that Peter and John had been with Jesus. 14 The men of the Sanhedrin could see the man who had had weak legs. And they could see that now his legs were strong. So they could not think of anything to say to Peter and John.
15 They ordered Peter and John to go out of the room. Then the men of the Sanhedrin talked to each other.
16 ‘What should we do with these men?’ they said. ‘Everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows about these things. They know that Peter and John did a very special thing for that man. So we cannot say that they did not do it.
17 But we want to stop more people from joining their group. So we must say to these men, “You must stop using the name of Jesus. You must stop speaking to people about Jesus.” ’ 18 Then the men of the Sanhedrin asked Peter and John to come back into the room. They said to Peter and John, ‘You must not speak or teach people again about Jesus. You do not have any authority.’
19 Then Peter and John replied to them. ‘You must decide yourselves which of these things God wants us to do. Either we should obey you, or we should obey God.
20 We must continue to speak about these things. And we must tell people everything that we have seen and heard.’
21 The leaders of the Jews spoke in an angry way to them. ‘Peter and John, you must not speak to the people again about Jesus. If you do not obey us, then we will punish you.’ Then they let Peter and John go away into the street again. They could not punish Peter and John because they had helped the man to walk. All the people in Jerusalem were saying to God, ‘You are great and good and powerful.’
22 The man whom God had caused to become well was more than 40 years old. All the believers pray to God
23 So the leaders of the priests and the important Jews let Peter and John go out into the street again. Immediately, Peter and John went back to meet with all the other believers. They told them what the leaders of the priests and the important Jews had said.
24 And the believers listened to what Peter and John told them. Then they prayed together. ‘You are God and you rule over everything’, they prayed. ‘You made the sky, the earth and the sea. You also made everything that is in them.
25 King David, our ancestor, was also your servant. You sent your Holy Spirit to help him. And your Spirit told King David to say, 26 The kings on the earth prepared to fight. 27 The believers continued to pray. ‘Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with other people who are not Jews. They also met with the people of Israel who were here in Jerusalem. Together they spoke against Jesus. Jesus was your special servant and they all wanted to kill him. You had chosen him to be the Christ.
28 Yes, God, you are powerful. And you had already decided what these men would do to Jesus. So they met together. And they did what you wanted to happen to Jesus.
29 God, you know how the men of the Sanhedrin want to hurt Peter and John. You know what they said to your servants. So please help us to speak to the people again about you. And please cause us to become brave.
30 You are strong and you can cause sick people to become well. And you can also do other powerful things. The people will see these things happen when we speak Jesus’ name. You gave your authority to Jesus. He is very good and he is your servant. So please do these things.’
31 The believers finished praying. Then, the house where they were meeting together moved about. God filled them all with his Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit caused them to be very brave and they spoke to the people about Jesus again. The believers give their own things to each other
32 All the believers thought about everything in the same way. They did not keep any of their own things for themselves. They let all the other believers use them.
33 The words of the apostles were powerful and they told people about Jesus. ‘After Jesus died, God caused him to live again’, they said. They told them what they had seen. God helped the believers in many different ways.
34 They had everything that they needed. Some believers had land or houses, which they sold. They took the money that they received for these things. They brought it to the apostles and gave it to them.
35 Then the apostles gave the money to any of the believers who needed it.
36 There was a believer called Joseph. He was from the family of Levi. He was from the island called Cyprus. He helped the other believers to work well. So the apostles called him Barnabas.
37 Barnabas sold one of his fields. And he brought the money and he gave it all to the apostles. 1 But there was a man called Ananias and his wife who was called Sapphira. Together they sold one of their fields.
2 Ananias gave part of the money that he received to the apostles. But he also kept part of the money for himself. Sapphira knew all about what Ananias had done. 3 ‘Ananias, Satan wanted you to say something that was not true. And you obeyed him’, Peter said to Ananias. ‘You should not have listened to him. You should not tell the Holy Spirit something that is not true. You sold your field, but you did not give us all the money. You kept part of it for yourselves.’ 4 ‘Before you sold the field, it was yours. And after you sold the field, the money was yours. You should not have decided to say that it was all the money. You did not only tell men something that was not true. You told God something that was not true.’
5 As soon as he had heard Peter say this, Ananias fell down immediately. And he died. This frightened everyone who heard about it.
6 Some young men came into the room. They put cloths round Ananias’s dead body and they carried it outside. Then they buried it.
7 About three hours later, Ananias’s wife, Sapphira, came into the room to see Peter. Sapphira did not know that Ananias was dead.
8 Peter asked Sapphira, ‘Tell me about this money that you gave us. Was this all the money that you and your husband received for your field?’ ‘Yes’, Sapphira answered. ‘That was all the money that we received.’
9 ‘It was wrong for you and your husband to do this’, Peter said to her. ‘You should not have told God’s Spirit something that was not true. You knew that this was wrong. The men who have just buried your husband are at the door again now. And they will also carry you out.’
10 Immediately, Sapphira fell down in front of Peter and she died. Then the young men came into the room. They saw that Sapphira was dead. So they carried her outside and they buried her next to her husband.
11 All the believers, and many other people, heard about what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. They were all very afraid. The apostles do some powerful things for the people to see
12 The apostles were doing many powerful things in front of the people. All the believers met together in a group. They met outside the Great House of God in a place called Solomon’s Porch.
13 Those people who were not believers did not sit with the group. They were afraid to do that. There were many people who said good things about the believers.
14 More and more people became believers and they joined the group. So now many men and women believed in Jesus.
15 People carried their sick friends into the streets and put them on beds and pieces of floor cloth. They did this because of all the special things that the apostles were doing. Some people only wanted Peter’s shadow to pass over their sick friends. 16 Many people came into Jerusalem from the small towns near the city. They also brought their sick friends with them. They brought other people too. Bad spirits inside them were giving them trouble. And God caused all these people to become well again. The most important priest puts the apostles in prison
17 All the people liked the apostles. And they liked what the apostles did. The most important priest, his friends, and some of the Sadducees, were not happy about this. So they decided to do something about the apostles.
18 These important men took hold of the apostles and they put them in the prison.
19 But during the night, one of God’s angels opened the prison gates and he led the apostles out. The angel said to them,
20 ‘Go and stand in the Great House of God. Tell the people everything about this new way to live.’
21 The apostles heard the angel and they obeyed him. Early the next morning, the apostles went into the Great House of God. And then they began to teach the people. The most important priest and his friends ordered all the important Jews to meet with them. He wanted all the men of the Sanhedrin to meet together. Then the men of the Sanhedrin sent policemen with a message to the prison. They ordered the soldiers to bring the apostles to them.
22 But when the policemen arrived at the prison, they did not find the apostles there. So then the policemen returned to the men of the Sanhedrin. And they told them what they had seen at the prison.
23 ‘We arrived at the prison’, they said. ‘We saw that the soldiers had locked the gates. They were standing at the gates and they were guarding the prison. But when we opened the gates of the prison, we did not find any of the apostles inside.’ 24 The leader of the policemen of the Great House of God and the leaders of the priests heard about this. ‘We cannot understand what has happened to the apostles’, they said.
25 Then a man came and he brought them a message. ‘Listen to me!’ he said. ‘Those men that you put in the prison are now standing in the Great House of God. They are teaching the people.’
26 The leader of the policemen then took his policemen with him to the Great House of God. He said to the apostles, ‘Come back with us!’ The policemen did not hurt the apostles or tie their arms and legs. They were afraid of the people. They thought that the people might throw stones at them.
27 The policemen brought the apostles into the room. They caused them to stand in front of the men of the Sanhedrin. The most important priest spoke to the apostles.
28 ‘We ordered that you must not teach the people again with the authority of Jesus. But now look at what you have done! Now people all over Jerusalem have heard you teaching. And you have taught the people that we ordered the death of Jesus.’
29 Peter and the other apostles answered. ‘We must obey God’, they said, ‘rather than obey men.
30 The God of our ancestors caused Jesus to be alive again. You fixed Jesus to a cross and killed him. But then, God made him alive again.
31 God put Jesus next to him at his right side. Jesus is now the leader and the person who saves the people of Israel. Because of this, he helps those who believe in him. He helps them to say, “We are sorry” to God for all the wrong things that they have done. Then God forgives them and he helps them to do right things.
32 We tell people what we have seen and heard. He gives his Holy Spirit to people who obey him. And the Holy Spirit also tells people what God has done.’
33 The men of the Sanhedrin heard what the apostles said to them. They were so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles.
34 But one man did not agree. He stood up in front of the Sanhedrin. He was called Gamaliel and he was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. All the men of the Sanhedrin liked Gamaliel. And they thought that he was a good man. Gamaliel asked the policemen to take the apostles out of the room.
35 When they had gone, Gamaliel spoke to the Sanhedrin. ‘Men of Israel!’ he said. ‘Be careful about what you want to do. Think again before you kill these men.
36 Remember what happened to Theudas a few years ago. That man told everyone, “I am a very important leader.” Then about 400 men came to join his group. But then somebody killed Theudas, and his men all went away in different directions. Nobody hears about them now.
37 Remember what happened to Judas from Galilee. That man appeared when the Romans were counting the people. A crowd also came to help Judas, but somebody killed him. The men who followed Judas also went away in different directions. Nobody hears about them now either.’ 38 ‘Now this same thing is happening again with these men. So I say that you must not do anything bad to them. Leave them alone. Perhaps these men are doing what some man told them to do. If that is true, then their work will fail.
39 But perhaps God has said that they must do this work. And if that is true, then you cannot stop them. You might even find that you are fighting against God!’ So the men of the Sanhedrin did what Gamaliel said.
40 They ordered the apostles to return to the room. Then they said to the policemen, ‘Hit these men with whips!’ Then the men of the Sanhedrin said to the apostles, ‘You must not teach the people again. Do not use the authority of Jesus.’ After that, they let the apostles go out into the street again. 41 So the apostles walked away from the men of the Sanhedrin. They were very happy because they thought to themselves, ‘God believes that we are good enough to receive punishment because of Jesus.’
42 So they continued to teach the people about Jesus. They spoke every day in people’s homes and in the Great House of God. They told the people that Jesus was the Christ, the special servant of God. And so the apostles told people all the good news about Jesus.
1 At that time, more and more people every day became believers in Jesus. Some Jews in Jerusalem spoke the Greek language. Other Jews in Jerusalem spoke the Aramaic language. The Jews who spoke Greek had a problem with the other Jews. Those who spoke Greek said to the other Jews, ‘We have a problem with you. The husbands of some of your own women have died. They receive money from the apostles every day to buy food. The husbands of some of the women in our group have also died. But the apostles do not give these women money every day.’ 2 The 12 apostles heard about the problem. So they asked all those who believed in Jesus to meet together with them. The apostles said, ‘Our work is to teach people the message from God. It is not right for us to stop doing this work. But we are giving out the money to those people who need things. That is not good.’
3 So the apostles said to the believers, ‘Our friends, please choose 7 men from among you. You must know that the Holy Spirit is living inside each of them. And they must know the things about God very well. We will ask these 7 men to do this work for us.
4 Then we will have more time to pray. We will also have more time to teach the people the good news about Jesus.’
5 The whole group was happy with the apostles’ words. So first they chose a man called Stephen. Stephen believed God really well. The Holy Spirit lived inside him. The believers also chose 6 other men. These other men were called Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus. Nicolaus was from Antioch. He was not born a Jew, but he had believed in the God of the Jews.
6 The group asked these 7 men to stand up in front of the apostles. Then the apostles put their hands on each man. They asked God to help the 7 men with their special work.
7 So more and more people heard the word of God. The number of believers in Jesus in Jerusalem continued to grow greater and greater. And many of the priests also believed in Jesus. 8 God helped Stephen in special ways and caused him to do powerful things. The people saw Stephen do many special things.
9 But some men did not like Stephen. They did not like what Stephen taught about Jesus. These men were from one of the synagogues in Jerusalem that was called the ‘Synagogue of the Free Men’. The men from this synagogue were Jews from the cities called Cyrene and Alexandria. And some of them were from towns in Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen.
10 The Holy Spirit gave Stephen great wisdom and caused him to speak in a very powerful way. So Stephen spoke to the men from this synagogue. And they could not say that he was wrong.
11 So the men from the synagogue gave money to some bad men. They paid them to say bad things about Stephen. But those things were not true. So the men who received the money said to the people, ‘We heard this man, Stephen, say bad things about Moses and about God.’
12 People heard what these men said. And then the people became angry. The important Jews and the teachers of the Law also heard what these bad men were saying. They all became very angry. So they went up to Stephen and they took hold of him. Then they took him to stand in front of the men of the Sanhedrin.
13 The important Jews and the teachers of the Law brought in some men to say bad things about Stephen. The things that they said were not true. The men said, ‘This man, Stephen, is always saying bad things about the Great House of God. He also says bad things about the Law that God gave to Moses.
14 We heard Stephen talk about Jesus, who comes from Nazareth. He said that Jesus will destroy the Great House of God. He said, “Jesus will change all that Moses taught the people.” But Moses explained to us the right way to live.’
15 All the men of the Sanhedrin looked at Stephen. They saw that his face was very beautiful. And they thought that he was like an angel.
1 The most important priest said to Stephen, ‘These men are saying things about what you have taught. Are these things true?’
2 Stephen said, ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I say. Our God is completely good and very powerful. He appeared to our ancestor, Abraham, when Abraham was still living in Mesopotamia. This happened before he went to Haran.
3 God said to Abraham, “Leave your own country and your own family. Go to a different country that I will show you.” ’ 4 ‘So Abraham left his country where people called Chaldeans also lived. Then he moved to Haran and he stayed there. But when Abraham’s father died, God said to Abraham, “Leave this place.” So God then sent him to live here, in Canaan. This is where we are now.’ 5 ‘At that time, God did not give Abraham any part of Canaan for his own family. He did not even give Abraham a very small piece of ground. But at that time, God gave a promise to Abraham. “This land will become your own country”, he said. “It will also be your children’s country.” When God said this to him, Abraham did not yet have any children.
6 This is what God said to him. “Your family will live in a country that other people rule. The people in that country will cause your family to be slaves for 400 years. They will not be kind to them. They will hit your family to cause them to work more.”
7 Then God said, “I will punish those people who caused your family to work so much for them. After I have done that, your family will leave that country. They will come to this place. And here they will tell me how great and important I am.” ’ 8 ‘Then God told the people of Israel that they would be his special people. So that they would remember this special promise, God said, “You must circumcise all your baby boys.” 9 ‘One of Jacob’s sons was called Joseph. Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved his other sons. For this reason, some of Jacob’s sons did not like their brother, Joseph. So one day they took Joseph and they sold him as a slave. The men that bought Joseph took him to Egypt. There they sold him again and Joseph worked in Egypt as a slave. All this time, God stayed near to Joseph.
10 God helped him with all his troubles and God gave him great wisdom. At that time, Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. God helped Joseph so that Pharaoh liked him. He saw that Joseph was very wise, so he ordered Joseph to rule Egypt and everyone in Pharaoh’s own house.
11 Then one year there was no rain. The food plants did not grow in Egypt or Canaan. So many people did not have enough food to eat. Our ancestors also had no food.
12 Jacob heard that Pharaoh had put a lot of wheat seeds in big huts. So he sent his sons to Egypt to buy food from Pharaoh. This was the first time that they went to Egypt.’ 13 ‘Jacob then sent his sons back to Egypt for a second time. This time, Joseph told them that he was their brother. So then Pharaoh heard that Joseph’s brothers had arrived. He heard about Joseph’s family.
14 After this, Joseph gave a message to his brothers. “Tell our father that I am here. Say that I want him to come. Say that he should bring all his family from Canaan to Egypt”, he said to them. There were 75 people in Jacob’s family.
15 So Jacob went to Egypt with all his family. And Jacob and his 12 sons lived there until they died.’ 16 ‘When the people of Israel left Egypt, they carried with them the dead bodies of Joseph and his family. They took them back to Shechem and they buried them in a hole in a rocky hill. Abraham had bought this hole and rock from the family of a man called Hamor. He had paid money for it.’ 17 ‘Now there were many people in Jacob’s family and they all lived in Egypt. And soon God would cause his promise to Abraham to become true.
18 At this time, a different king ruled Egypt. This king did not know anything about the things that Joseph had done.
19 He told our ancestors things that were not true. He also did very bad things to them. He said that they must put their small babies out of their homes. He said that because he wanted the babies to die.
20 It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a very beautiful baby and his mother kept him safe for three months in her own home.
21 Then Moses’ mother put him out of her home. But Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and she took him home with her. And he lived with her as her own son.’ 22 ‘The Egyptians taught Moses all the things that they knew. He knew how to speak well. Moses said and did some very powerful things.
23 One day, Moses went to see how his own people lived. He was 40 years old when he did this.’ 24 ‘Moses saw one of the Egyptians, who was hitting one of the Israelites. So Moses went to help the Israelite man and he killed the Egyptian man. He did this because the Egyptian had hurt one of Moses’ own people.
25 Moses wanted to help the Israelites to get away from Egypt. He thought to himself, “The Israelites will know what I want to do. They will understand that God will use me to do this.” But the people did not understand.
26 On the next day, Moses saw two Israelites, who were fighting each other. He wanted them to stop fighting. So he talked to them. “Men”, he said, “please listen to me. You are in the same family. You should not hurt each other.”
27 The man who was hurting the other man pushed Moses away. “You have no authority to rule us”, he said to Moses. “You have no authority to be our judge.
28 Yesterday you killed an Egyptian man. Do you want to kill me also?” the man asked Moses.
29 Moses heard what the man said to him. So Moses ran away. He went to the country called Midian and he built a house there. He lived in it, and he and his wife had two sons.
30 Moses lived in Midian for 40 years. Then, one day, he was in the desert near the hill called Mount Sinai. He saw a bush there that was burning. An angel appeared to him in the fire.’ 31 ‘Moses was very surprised by what he saw. He went near to the bush so that he could see it better. Then he heard God speak to him from the bush.
32 “I am the God of your ancestors”, God said. “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Moses was very frightened. He was too afraid to look at God, so he turned his face away from the bush.
33 God said to Moses, “Remove your shoes from your feet, because you are standing in a very special place. This is my own place.
34 I have seen all the bad things that the Egyptians are doing to my people. I have heard my people. They are crying. And I have come down here to save them. Come here and listen to me. And then I will send you back to Egypt.” ’ 35 Stephen said, ‘Moses is the man that the people of Israel would not accept. “You have no authority to rule us”, they had said to him. “You have no authority to judge us.” But God did send Moses to rule the people of Israel. And he did send Moses to save them from the Egyptians. God sent the angel that appeared to him. The angel spoke to him from a bush that was burning.
36 It was Moses who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. The people saw him do many special things. He did some powerful things before the people left Egypt. He did more special things by the Red Sea. Then he led the people through the desert for 40 years and he did some more special things there also.’ 37 ‘It was Moses who said to the people of Israel, “God will send you a prophet. He will speak words from God. And he will be one of your own family, the same as I am one of your own family.”
38 This is the same Moses that was with the people of Israel in the desert. They were near the big hill called Mount Sinai. Moses was also there with our ancestors when the angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He also received the message from God to give to us. God’s message was alive.
39 But our ancestors would not listen to Moses or obey him. They did not accept him and they wanted to go back to Egypt.
40 So the people said to Aaron, “Please make us some gods that we can carry in front of us. Moses brought us out of Egypt. But now we do not know what has happened to him.” ’ 41 ‘It was then that the people made something. It would be their god. It was like a young male cow, and the people made it from gold. They killed some animals and they burned them as a gift for their god. The people then had a big meal together because they were very happy. They thought that they had made something beautiful and strong. And they thought that it was powerful.’ 42 ‘So then God turned away from his people. He let them speak to the stars instead and he let them make gods of them. The people told the stars how great and beautiful they were. The people who spoke words from God wrote this: “God said, 43 you carried the house of the god called Moloch. 44 ‘When our ancestors were in the desert, they carried a special tent with them. It contained God’s Laws. It caused them to remember that God was there with them. God showed Moses how he wanted Moses and the people to make this special tent.’ 45 ‘Our ancestors gave the special tent, which contained God’s Law, to their families. They brought it with them when they came to this country. God gave this country to our people. And he caused the people that were already here to leave. At that time Joshua was their leader. The tent remained in Canaan until David became the king of Israel.’ 46 ‘God helped King David very much, and King David caused God to be happy with him. So David said to God, “You are the God of our ancestor Jacob. Can I make a special house where you can live?”
47 But David did not build the house for God. Solomon built it.’ 48 ‘But this also is true. Our God is of great importance. He does not live in a house that men have made. Isaiah spoke these words from God:
49 “The sky is like an important seat. I sit there to rule. 50 I have already made all these things myself”, God said to his servant Isaiah.’
51 Then Stephen said to the people, ‘You people do not want to understand about God. You are the same as the people that do not believe in the true God. And you do not want to listen to God’s true message. So you are the same as your ancestors. They also did not want to obey the Holy Spirit.
52 Your ancestors did bad things to every person who spoke words from God to them. God’s servants spoke about the completely good Man that God would send. But your ancestors killed those servants. Now you have given to an enemy this true and special servant that God sent. And you have killed him.
53 You received God’s Law, which angels gave you. But you have not obeyed it.’ The men of the Sanhedrin kill Stephen
54 The men of the Sanhedrin listened to Stephen and they became more and more angry with him. They bit their teeth together because they were so angry.
55 Then the Holy Spirit filled Stephen with his authority. Stephen looked up to heaven and he saw how beautiful God is. God shone like a very bright light. Stephen also saw Jesus, who was standing at the right side of God.
56 ‘Look’, Stephen said. ‘I can see into heaven. It is open! I can see the Son of Man and he is standing at the right side of God!’ 57 When the men of the Sanhedrin heard these things, they shouted very loudly at him. They put their hands over their ears. Then together they ran towards him.
58 They took hold of Stephen and they pulled him out of the city. They removed their coats. And they gave them to a young man to keep them safe. This young man was called Saul. Then they began to throw stones at Stephen.
59 While the men were throwing stones at him, Stephen prayed to the Lord. ‘Lord Jesus’, he said, ‘please accept my spirit.’
60 Then Stephen fell down on his knees. He shouted loudly, ‘Lord, please forgive these men because they are doing this to me.’ After Stephen said this, he died.
1 Saul was standing there. And he saw everything that happened. Saul said to the men of the Sanhedrin, ‘It is good that you have killed Stephen.’ Saul puts some of the believers in prison 2 Some good men who obeyed God buried Stephen’s dead body. They were very sad that the people had killed him. They cried with loud voices.
3 But Saul brought great troubles to the believers in Jerusalem. He wanted to stop people believing in Jesus. So Saul went from one house to other houses. He pulled the believers out of their homes and he put both the men and the women into prison. Believers teach the people in Samaria the message about Jesus
4 The believers who had left Jerusalem went to many different towns. In each town, they told the people the message about Jesus.
5 Philip went to the city called Samaria. And there he told the people the message about Jesus Christ. He said, ‘Jesus was the special person that God sent.’
6 Crowds of people came together in the city to hear Philip speak. They listened to him carefully. And they saw him do many special things.
7 Some people had bad spirits, which were living in them. Philip sent the bad spirits out of them. And as the bad spirits left them, they made a loud noise. Some other people had weak legs, and Philip caused their legs to become strong again. Some people could not move their arms and legs, but Philip caused them to become well again.
8 The people in that city were very happy. 9 A man called Simon lived in Samaria. For a long time, he had used magic to do many things which surprised the people. The people who lived in Samaria had watched him. And they believed that Simon was a very important person.
10 The important people in the city had watched Simon carefully. And the people who were not important had also watched him carefully. Everyone had said, ‘God has caused Simon to become powerful. He is a god himself.’
11 Simon had used his magic for a long time. The people watched him. He often surprised them with the things that he did. So they listened to him carefully.
12 But then Philip told them the message about how God rules as king. He told them all about Jesus. He said that Jesus was the Christ, God’s special servant. Many men and women believed in Jesus, so Philip baptised them.
13 Simon also believed the message and so Philip baptised him. After this, Simon stayed close to Philip. Simon was very surprised at the many powerful and special things that Philip did.
14 The apostles were still living in Jerusalem. They heard that people in Samaria had believed God’s word. So the apostles sent Peter and John to Samaria to talk to the people.
15 Philip had baptised those who believed. And when the two apostles arrived in Samaria, they prayed for these people. They asked God to give the new believers the Holy Spirit.
16 Until then, the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on these people. Philip had only baptised them. He used the name of the Lord Jesus when he did this.
17 When Peter and John put their hands on the head of each person, they received the Holy Spirit.
18 Simon saw that the Holy Spirit came when Peter and John put their hands on each person. So he said to Peter and John, ‘Here is some money. I want to give it to you.
19 Please cause me also to be powerful. I want to do the same things as you. I want to put my hands on other people, so that they will receive the Holy Spirit.’
20 Peter answered Simon. ‘I hope that you and your money go to the place of punishment. It is very wrong for you to think, “I can buy with money this gift which God gives.”
21 No, you cannot work with us because you are not thinking the right things. And you are not obeying God.
22 Tell God that you are sorry about these bad thoughts. Stop thinking like that and think right thoughts. Say to God, “Please forgive me that I am thinking these bad things.”
23 I can see that you think wrong thoughts. You do not have what the apostles have. And so you are angry. Satan is ruling you like a slave.’
24 Then Simon said to Peter and John, ‘Please, will you pray to God for me? Then none of these bad things that you have spoken about will happen to me.’
25 Peter and John told the people what Jesus had done for them. After Peter and John had told the people a message from the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And on their way, they talked to people in the villages in Samaria. They taught the people the good news about the Kingdom of God. Philip meets a man from Ethiopia
26 Then God sent an angel to speak to Philip. He said, ‘Philip, prepare yourself and go south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza. The road goes through the desert.’ 27 So Philip went and he was walking along this road. And, while he was walking, he met an important man from Ethiopia. This man kept Candace’s money safe. Candace was the queen of Ethiopia. The man was travelling home. He had been to Jerusalem to visit the Great House of God. He had thanked God that God was so good and great. 28 Now the man was travelling home again in his cart. And he was reading from the book that Isaiah the prophet wrote.
29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go to that cart and walk at the side of it.’
30 So Philip ran to the cart and he walked close to it. He heard the man. He was reading aloud from the book called ‘Isaiah’. So Philip asked the man, ‘Do you understand the things that you are reading about?’
31 The man answered, ‘I cannot understand it. First, I need someone to explain it to me.’ The man said to Philip, ‘Come up here and ride along in the cart with me.’
32 The man was reading this from the book of Isaiah, 33 People laughed at him. 34 The man from Ethiopia said to Philip, ‘Please tell me who the prophet Isaiah wrote about. Was he writing about himself or about another person?’
35 Then Philip explained to the man the words that Isaiah had written. He told the man the good news about Jesus.
36 When they were travelling along the road, they came to some water. The man said to Philip, ‘Look, here is a place where there is some water. Please will you baptise me? Is there anything to stop you?’
37 Philip said to him, ‘I can baptise you if you really believe in Jesus.’ The man said to Philip, ‘I really do believe in Jesus. I believe that he is the Son of God.’ 38 The man from Ethiopia said to the man who was driving the cart, ‘Please stop the cart.’ Then Philip and the man from Ethiopia went down into the water, and Philip baptised him.
39 They both walked out of the water again, and then the Holy Spirit quickly took Philip away from that place. The man did not see Philip again and the man continued his journey. He was very happy. 40 Philip saw that he was now in Azotus. So he walked towards the town called Caesarea. As he went through the towns on the way to Caesarea, he spoke to people. He told them the good news about the Kingdom of God. 1 All this time, Saul was saying that he wanted to kill all the believers. So he went to see the most important priest.
2 ‘Please will you write some letters for me?’ he said to the most important priest. ‘I can give one of these letters to each leader of every synagogue in Damascus. Perhaps some people there believe what Jesus taught. And if I find any people like that, I can take hold of them. I can tie them with ropes. And I can bring all of them, men and women, back here to Jerusalem.’ 3 Saul travelled towards Damascus. He was almost at the city when a very bright light suddenly appeared. The light came from the sky, and it shone all round him.
4 Saul fell to the ground. He heard someone say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, you are fighting against me.’
5 Saul asked, ‘Lord, who are you?’ The voice said, ‘I am Jesus. And you are fighting against me.
6 Now you should get up and you should go into Damascus. Someone will come to you when you arrive in the city. He will tell you what to do.’
7 The men who were with Saul stood still. They did not speak. They could hear that someone was talking. But they could not see anyone.
8 Saul stood up and he opened his eyes. But he could not see anything. The men who were with Saul held his hand. And they led him into Damascus.
9 For three days, Saul could not see anything. And for those three days he did not eat or drink anything.
10 Ananias was a believer who lived in Damascus. After Saul came to Damascus, Ananias had a dream. But Ananias was not asleep. In the dream, Jesus spoke to him. ‘Ananias’, Jesus said. Ananias answered him. He said, ‘Master, I am here.’
11 ‘Prepare yourself and go to Straight Street’, said Jesus, ‘A man called Judas lives in that street. Go to his house. And ask for a man from Tarsus called Saul. He is praying to God.
12 Saul has also had a dream when he was not asleep. In his dream, Saul saw you, Ananias. You came to see him. You put your hands on Saul so that he could see again.’
13 ‘Lord, many people have told me about this man’, Ananias said to the Lord Jesus. ‘They told me about all the very bad things that he has done to your people in Jerusalem.
14 Now he has come to Damascus. And I know that he has brought letters with him from the leaders of the priests. They have given him authority over everyone who follows you. He will take them away and he will tie them with ropes.’
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go and do this for me. I have chosen Saul to work for me. He will tell those who are not Jews and their rulers about me. He will also tell the people of Israel about me.
16 Saul will have many troubles because he will work for me. I myself will tell him about these things.’
17 So Ananias went to Judas’s house. He went into the house, and he put his hands on Saul. Then he said to him, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus himself has sent me here to see you. It was Jesus that you saw on the road to Damascus. You saw him when you were coming here. He sent me to you so that you will be able to see again. God will also give his Holy Spirit to you.’ 18 Then immediately something fell from Saul’s eyes. It was like bits of fish skin. Then Saul could see again. So he stood up and Ananias baptised him.
19 Then Saul ate some food and he felt strong again. Saul teaches the people in Damascus the good news about Jesus 20 He immediately went to the synagogues. There, he taught the people about Jesus. ‘Jesus is the son of God’, he said to them.
21 Many people heard what Saul said. They were all very surprised and they said to each other, ‘This is the same man who was in Jerusalem. We are sure about that. In Jerusalem, he killed people who believed in Jesus. Then he came here to Damascus to take hold of the believers. He wanted to take them back to Jerusalem. There they would stand in front of the leaders of the priests.’
22 But then Saul was even more powerful when he taught the people. He said, ‘Jesus is the Christ, the special person that God sent to us.’ Saul said all the right things about Jesus. So the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.
23 After many days, the Jews met together. And they decided to kill Saul.
24 But someone told Saul about this. The Jews guarded the gates of the city all day and all night. They wanted to catch Saul and to kill him.
25 But one night, Saul’s friends helped him to leave the city. They put Saul in a basket, and then they put the basket through a hole in the city wall. Then they let the basket go slowly down to the ground. 26 When Saul returned to Jerusalem, he wanted to join the believers there. But they were afraid of him. They did not believe that he was now a disciple of Jesus.
27 A believer called Barnabas helped Saul. He took Saul to talk to the apostles. And Barnabas then explained to the apostles what had happened to Saul. Barnabas said to them, ‘Saul saw the Lord when he was on the road to Damascus. And the Lord spoke to him. While Saul was in Damascus, he bravely spoke to the people with the authority of Jesus.’
28 So, after that, Saul stayed with the apostles. He went round all Jerusalem and taught the people in clear words, with the authority of Jesus.
29 Saul also talked with the Jews who spoke the Greek language. He argued with them about Jesus. So they tried to kill him. 30 The other believers heard about this. So they took Saul to Caesarea, and from there, Saul went away to Tarsus.
31 Now there were believers in Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and for some time they had no troubles. The Holy Spirit helped them to become strong. More people became believers. And they obeyed God in everything that they did. Peter travels to Lydda and Joppa 32 Now Peter often travelled to different places and one day he travelled to Lydda. Some believers lived there, and Peter went to see them.
33 In Lydda, Peter met a man called Aeneas. Aeneas could not move his arms and legs, and so he lay on his bed all the time. He had done this for 8 years.
34 Peter said to Aeneas, ‘Jesus will cause you to become well again. So stand up and pick up your things.’ Immediately Aeneas stood up.
35 Many people who were living in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas. And they began to obey the Lord.
36 A woman called Tabitha lived in Joppa. She was a believer. Tabitha is a name in the Aramaic language. In Greek, her name was Dorcas. Dorcas is the word for a deer. Dorcas did good things and she helped poor people all the time. 37 Dorcas became very ill and then she died. Women washed her dead body and they put it in the room upstairs.
38 Joppa was not very far from Lydda. And the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda. So they sent two men to him with a message. ‘Please hurry and come to Joppa’, they wrote in the message.
39 Peter prepared himself and he returned to Joppa with the two men. When he arrived at Dorcas’s house, the women took him upstairs. Many other women were there. Their husbands had died. They were crying and they all came close to Peter. They showed him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made. She made them while she was still with them.
40 Peter put all these women out of the room. He went down on his knees and he prayed to God. Then he turned his head towards the dead body. ‘Tabitha’, he said. ‘Stand up!’ She opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41 Peter took her by the hand and he helped her to stand up. Then he asked all the believers and the other women to come into the room. And he showed them that she was alive again.
42 The believers told other people what had happened. So then people all over Joppa heard what had happened. And many more people believed in the Lord Jesus.
43 Peter stayed in Joppa for many days. He stayed with a man called Simon. Simon was a tanner. 1 There was a man who lived in Caesarea. His name was Cornelius, and he was an officer and a leader of 100 men in the Roman army. His group in the army was called ‘the group from Italy’.
2 Cornelius was a good man. He and all his family believed in God and they obeyed him. Cornelius prayed to God every day. And he gave a lot of money to help the poor Jews in Caesarea. 3 One afternoon, at about 3 o’clock, Cornelius had a special dream. But he was not really asleep. One of God’s angels came in and spoke to him. ‘Cornelius!’ the angel said. 4 Cornelius looked at the angel and he was afraid. ‘Master, what is it?’ said Cornelius. 5 Send some men to Joppa. These men will find a man that is staying there. He is called Simon Peter. Your men must ask him to come here to Caesarea.
6 He is staying at the house of Simon the tanner. Simon’s house is at the edge of the sea.’
7 Then the angel that spoke to Cornelius went away. Cornelius ordered two of his own servants, and one of his own soldiers, to come to him. The soldier was a good man who obeyed God. He helped Cornelius and he worked close to him.
8 Cornelius told these three men what had happened. And he told them what the angel had said to him. Then he sent them to Joppa. 9 The next day, at about noon, Cornelius’s men were almost at Caesarea. At this same time, Peter went up on the roof of the house. He went there to pray to God. 10 Peter felt hungry, and he wanted to eat some food. While someone was preparing a meal for him, Peter had a special dream. But he was not really asleep.
11 Peter saw heaven open. He saw something like a large piece of cloth with 4 corners. An angel held it at each corner. Then they let the large piece of cloth come down to the ground next to Peter.
12 On the cloth there were many different animals. Some of these were farm animals, and some of them were wild animals. There were also some wild birds and things like snakes on the cloth.
13 Then Peter heard a voice that spoke to him. ‘Peter, stand up and kill an animal. Then you can cook it and eat it.’
14 ‘No, Lord, I would certainly never do something like that’, Peter answered. ‘I have never eaten an animal that your law does not let me eat.’ 15 Then the voice said to Peter, ‘God has made these animals good to eat. You must not say that God will not accept you if you eat any of them.’
16 All this happened three times. And then immediately the cloth went back up into heaven.
17 Then Cornelius’s men arrived from Joppa. They had found Simon’s house. Peter was still thinking about his dream when the men stopped at the gate of the house.
18 The men shouted out, ‘Is a man called Simon Peter staying here?’
19 Peter was still thinking about his dream. Then the Holy Spirit said to him, ‘Simon Peter, there are three men downstairs. They are looking for you.
20 Get up and go downstairs to them. I have sent these men to see you. And it will be right for you to go with them.’
21 Peter went downstairs and said to the men, ‘I am the person that you are looking for. Why have you come here?’
22 ‘We have come from the officer who is called Cornelius’, the men answered. ‘He is a good man. He prays to God and obeys him. And the Jews think good things about him. An angel from God said that he should send us here. The angel wanted you to return with us to Joppa. Cornelius wants to hear what you have to say.’
23 Then Peter said to the men, ‘Please come into the house and stay here with us tonight.’ Peter goes to Cornelius’s house 24 Peter arrived in Caesarea the next day. Cornelius knew that they would be arriving. So he was waiting for Peter. The family and friends of Cornelius were also waiting with him. He had asked them to come to his house.
25 When Peter arrived, Cornelius went to the door to meet him. Then Cornelius went down on his knees in front of Peter.
26 But Peter said to him, ‘Stand up. I also am only a man.’
27 Peter went into the house with Cornelius and he continued to talk to him. He then saw that many people were meeting together in the house.
28 He said to them, ‘You people know that Jews do not usually come into the home of Gentiles. God’s Law does not let a Jew have someone who is not a Jew as a friend. But God has now shown me something different. God has shown me that he accepts all men. And so I must accept everyone.’ 29 Then Peter said, ‘So when you asked me to come here, I was happy to come. I knew that it was right. But why did you ask me to come?’
30 Then Cornelius said, ‘Three days ago, I was in my house. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I was praying to God. Suddenly, a man appeared in front of me. He was wearing white clothes that shone.
31 “Cornelius”, the man said to me. “You have prayed to God. You have done many good things for poor people. Now God wants to answer you.
32 So send some men to Joppa. These men will find a man called Simon Peter. He is staying there. Your men must ask him to come here to Caesarea. Simon Peter is staying at the house of Simon the tanner. His house is at the edge of the sea.”
33 I sent the men immediately and they asked you to come. Thank you that you came. Now we are all here together, and God is here with us. We are waiting to hear what you have to say. Do you have a message from the Lord for us?’ Peter speaks to Cornelius and to his family and friends
34 Then Peter spoke to all the people in the room. ‘Now I understand that God accepts all people in the same way’, he said. ‘And I now know that this is true.
35 God accepts all people who obey him. He accepts all people who do the right things. It is not important to God which country a person comes from. He accepts them all.
36 God sent this message to the people of Israel. He told them the good news about Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord of everything. Because of Jesus, we can be close to God again.
37 You know about the important things that have happened in Judea. These things began in Galilee after John talked to the people. And he baptised them.
38 You know about Jesus. He came from the town called Nazareth. God chose Jesus to do special work for him. He gave Jesus his Holy Spirit and helped him to do powerful things. Then Jesus went to many places. And he helped many people that the devil was holding. But Jesus did good things and caused all those people to become well again. He could do that because God was with him.
39 We all saw everything that Jesus did in Israel and in Jerusalem. Then the Jews fixed Jesus to a cross and they killed him.
40 But then, three days after that, God caused Jesus to become alive again. He caused him to appear to us.
41 Not everyone saw him. He appeared only to us because God has chosen us to work for him. So we are telling people about everything that we saw. We ate with him after he became alive again. And we drank with him, too.
42 Jesus said to us, “Go and tell people the good news about me. Tell them that God has given me authority to judge all people. I will judge those who are now alive. And I will judge those who have died.” ’
43 Then Peter said, ‘The prophets who spoke words from God a long time ago, spoke about Jesus. They said, “Everybody has done wrong things. But Jesus will forgive everyone who believes in him. He will do this by his powerful authority.” ’ Those who are not Jews receive the Holy Spirit
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all the people in the room. They were all listening to the message about Jesus.
45 The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were very surprised. They saw that God had also given his Holy Spirit to Gentiles.
46 And the Jewish believers in the room heard them speaking in other languages. They were also saying, ‘God, you are very great and powerful.’ 47 ‘God has given his Holy Spirit to these people in the same way that he gave him to us’, he said. ‘So we should baptise them with water. That is the right thing to do.’
48 So Peter asked those who came with him to baptise the new believers. They spoke the name of Jesus Christ when they baptised them. And then Cornelius asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
1 The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard about what had happened in Caesarea. They heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God.
2 Peter then returned to Jerusalem. Some Jews there asked him questions to show that he had done something wrong. These Jews thought that the Gentiles must be circumcised.
3 So they said to Peter, ‘You stayed in the house of men who were not circumcised. You even ate meals with them!’ 4 Peter told these Jewish believers everything that had happened from the beginning. He explained to them,
5 ‘I was staying in a house in the city called Joppa’, he said. ‘One day, when I was praying, I had a special dream. I saw something that came down from heaven. It was like a large piece of cloth with 4 corners. An angel was holding it at each corner. The cloth came down to the ground next to me.
6 And I looked carefully at it. And I saw that there were farm animals, wild animals, things like snakes, and birds on it.
7 Then I heard the Lord speak to me. The voice said, “Peter, stand up and kill an animal. Then you can cook it and eat it.”
8 I answered, “No, Lord, I would certainly never do something like that. I have never eaten an animal that your law does not let us eat.”
9 Then the Lord said to me, “God has made these animals good to eat. So you must not say that God will not accept you if you eat any of them.”
10 All this happened three times. Then immediately the cloth went back up into heaven.
11 At that moment, three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. Someone had sent these men to find me.
12 The Holy Spirit said to me, “Get up and go downstairs. I have sent these men to see you. It is right for you to go with them.” These 6 believers from Joppa also went with me to Caesarea. We all went into Cornelius’s house.
13 Then Cornelius told us what had happened to him. He had seen an angel. The angel was standing in his house. And he had said to Cornelius, “Send someone to Joppa. They must find a man who is staying there. His name is Simon Peter.
14 He will come and speak to you. And his message will show you how God can save you. The message is for you and for your family and for your servants.”
15 While I was telling Cornelius and his family the message, God gave them all his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came to them in the same way as he first came to us.
16 Then I remembered what the Lord Jesus had said to us. “John baptised people with water, but God will baptise you with his Holy Spirit.”
17 So we are sure about this. God gave those who are not Jews his gift of the Holy Spirit. He sent him to them in the same way that he gave him to us. He gave the Holy Spirit to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And God also wanted to do this for those who are not Jews. I do not have the authority to be against God.’
18 The Jews heard what Peter said. And they told him that he had done the right things. So they said to God, ‘You are very great and important. You helped those who are not Jews. So now they also can tell you that they are sorry. They also can stop doing bad things and they can start to obey you. They also can have true life.’ The believers go to Antioch
19 After the men of the Sanhedrin had killed Stephen, the believers went away to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told people in those places God’s message. But they only told the message to the Jews.
20 Some of the believers were from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God’s message to the Jews. But they also told it to those who were not Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus.
21 God helped these men and he caused them to become powerful. And many people believed the good news about Jesus. They asked Jesus to become their Lord.
22 The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there.
23 Barnabas arrived in Antioch. Then, he saw that God had done good things for the people. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to obey the Lord as you are doing. Obey him in everything that you do and say.’
24 Barnabas was a good man and God’s Holy Spirit was living inside him. He believed God about everything all the time. Many people became believers.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
26 And when Barnabas found him, Saul returned to Antioch with Barnabas. For one year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the believers at Antioch. And they taught a large group of believers all about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.
27 At this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 One of these men was called Agabus. He stood up and he told the people a message from God. The Holy Spirit told him what to say. ‘Soon the food plants will not grow for a time all over the world’, he said. And that happened when Caesar Claudius ruled the Roman world. 29 All those who believed in Jesus wanted to help the other believers in Judea. So they decided to send them some of their own money.
30 The believers in Antioch gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. So Barnabas and Saul took it and they gave it to the leaders of the believers in Judea.
1 At that time, King Herod began to do bad things to some of those who believed in Jesus.
2 Herod sent his soldiers to kill James with a big sharp knife. James was John’s brother. 3 The Jews were happy because Herod’s soldiers had killed James. Because the Jews were happy about it, Herod sent his soldiers to catch Peter. This happened during the week when the Jews made their bread without yeast. 4 After the soldiers caught Peter, they put him in prison. While he was in prison, 4 different groups of soldiers guarded him. There were 4 men in each group. Herod wanted Peter to stand in front of a judge. He could not do this until after this special Passover week had finished. 5 So Herod kept Peter in prison. But while he was in prison, the believers prayed to God about him. Peter walks out of the prison
6 It was night and Peter was in the prison. Herod wanted him to stand in front of the judge the next morning. The soldiers had tied Peter with chains. And then they tied these chains to two other soldiers. So there was one soldier on each side of Peter while he was sleeping. Some soldiers were guarding the gate of the prison.
7 An angel from God suddenly appeared in the prison. He stood near to the place where Peter was sleeping. A bright light also shone in the prison. The angel touched Peter’s shoulder. He caused Peter to wake up. ‘Hurry, Peter! Stand up!’ the angel said. And immediately the chains fell off Peter’s hands.
8 Then the angel said, ‘Tie your belt round your clothes and put on your shoes.’ So Peter did what the angel asked him to do. Then the angel said, ‘Put your coat on and follow after me.’
9 So Peter followed the angel out of the prison. Peter was not sure that all these things were really happening to him. He did not know if he was dreaming.
10 Peter and the angel walked past the first group of soldiers in the prison. Then they walked past the second group of soldiers. After that, they came to the big metal gate in the wall of the prison. The city was outside this gate. The gate opened by itself in front of them. So Peter and the angel walked out of the prison into the city. They walked together along one street and suddenly the angel went away.
11 Then Peter understood what had happened to him. ‘Now I know that these things really have happened to me’, he said to himself. ‘The Lord sent one of his angels to me. The Jews wanted Herod to do bad things to me. And they thought that he would. But the angel saved me so that Herod could not hurt me.’
12 When Peter understood all these things, he went to Mary’s house. She was the mother of John Mark. Many people were meeting together in her house. They were praying. 13 Peter knocked on the outside door of the house. A servant girl called Rhoda came to the door.
14 She recognised Peter’s voice and she was very happy. But she did not open the door. Instead, she ran back into the house and she spoke to all the people there. ‘Peter is standing outside the door’, she told them.
15 The people in the house said, ‘You are crazy.’ But she told them again that Peter really was there. So then they said, ‘It is his angel.’ 16 While all this was happening, Peter was still knocking at the door. Then someone opened the door. And they were all very surprised when they saw him there.
17 Peter put out his hand so that they would all be quiet. Then he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. ‘Tell James and all the other believers what has happened to me’, he said. Then he left the house and he went away to another place.
18 When it was morning, there was a lot of trouble at the prison. The soldiers at the prison did not understand what had happened to Peter.
19 Herod said to the soldiers, ‘Go and look for Peter!’ But they could not find him. Herod asked the soldiers some questions about what they had done. And then he ordered other soldiers, ‘Kill these men who let Peter go.’ 20 At that time, Herod was very angry with the people who lived in Tyre and Sidon. A group of men from these cities went together to speak to Herod about the problem. A man called Blastus was an important servant in King Herod’s house. The group spoke to Blastus and they said, ‘Please help us when we speak to Herod.’ Then the group went to speak to Herod. ‘Please stop being angry with our people. We want to have you as a friend’, they said to him. ‘We must come to your country to buy our food.’ 21 Herod decided on which day he would speak to the people. He put on his beautiful clothes and he sat in his special seat. And then he spoke to all the people.
22 They shouted, ‘This is not a man who is speaking to us. He is a god!’
23 Herod liked what they said. He did not say that only God is very great and powerful. So immediately the angel of the Lord caused Herod to become ill. Worms ate Herod’s body and he died. Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch
24 Everywhere that the believers went, they told people the message from God about Jesus. So people in more and more places heard the message and they believed in Jesus.
25 Barnabas and Saul finished their work and they returned from Jerusalem. And John Mark came from Jerusalem with them.
1 There were some prophets among the believers in Antioch. And there were also teachers who taught the other believers more about Jesus. These men were called Barnabas and Simeon. People also called Simeon ‘the Black’. There was also Lucius who had lived in Cyrene. Manaen and Saul were also among them. Manaen had lived together with Governor Herod when they were children. 2 One day, the believers were meeting together. They were praying. And they were saying how very great and powerful God is. They were also fasting. While they were together that day, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. ‘I have chosen Barnabas and Saul to do a special work’, he said. ‘Let them go now for me.’
3 The men finished talking to God and fasting. And then, they each put their hands on Barnabas and Saul. Then they sent them to start this new work. 4 The Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul away from Antioch. They travelled to the coast, to the town called Seleucia. Then they sailed on a boat from there to an island called Cyprus.
5 They arrived at a town called Salamis. Then they went into the Jewish synagogues and they told the people God’s message about Jesus. John Mark went with Barnabas and Saul to help them with their work.
6 They travelled across the island to a town called Paphos. There they met a man called Bar-Jesus. He was a Jew and he did things by magic. He said that he spoke messages from God. But that was not true. 7 The ruler of Cyprus was called Sergius Paulus, and Bar-Jesus was his friend. Sergius Paulus understood things well. So he asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him. He wanted them to tell him the message about Jesus.
8 In the Greek language, Bar-Jesus was called Elymas. He did not like what Barnabas and Saul were saying. He did not want Sergius Paulus to believe in Jesus. So he tried to stop him.
9 Then God filled Saul again completely with his Holy Spirit. Saul was also called Paul. He looked straight at Elymas and he said,
10 ‘You are like a son of Satan. You do not like anything that is right. Your mind is full of all the bad things that you do. You are always trying to change the good things that the Lord says. You say that these things are not true.
11 The Lord will now touch your eyes and you will not see the light of day for some time.’2
The Holy Spirit comes
3
This is what happened to the man with weak legs
4
The priests put Peter and John in prison
5
What happens to Ananias and Sapphira
6
The believers choose 7 other men to do special work
7
Stephen speaks to the men of the Sanhedrin
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9
Saul knows that Jesus is his Lord
10
Cornelius asks Peter to come to him
11
Peter returns to Jerusalem
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King Herod does bad things to the believers
13
The believers in Antioch send Saul and Barnabas to Cyprus