Acts 1

1 Dear Theophilos: In the first book, I wrote about everything Yeshua set out to do and teach,

2 until the day when, after giving instructions through the Ruach HaKodesh to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.

3 After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God.

4 At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but to wait for "what the Father promised, which you heard about from me.

5 For Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh!"

6 When they were together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra'el?"

7 He answered, "You don't need to know the dates or the times; the Father has kept these under his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim and in all Y'hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!"

9 After saying this, he was taken up before their eyes; and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 As they were staring into the sky after him, suddenly they saw two men dressed in white standing next to them.

11 The men said, "You Galileans! Why are you standing, staring into space? This Yeshua, who has been taken away from you into heaven, will come back to you in just the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

12 Then they returned the Shabbat-walk distance from the Mount of Olives to Yerushalayim.

13 After entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. The names of the emissaries were Kefa, Ya'akov, Yochanan, Andrew, Philip, T'oma, Bar-Talmai, Mattityahu, Ya'akov Ben-Halfai, Shim'on "the Zealot," and Y'hudah Ben-Ya'akov.

14 These all devoted themselves single-mindedly to prayer, along with some women, including Miryam (Yeshua's mother), and his brothers.

15 During this period, when the group of believers numbered about 120, Kefa stood up and addressed his fellow-believers:

16 "Brothers, the Ruach HaKodesh spoke in advance through David about Y'hudah, and these words of the Tanakh had to be fulfilled. He was guide for those who arrested Yeshua-

17 he was one of us and had been assigned a part in our work."

18 (With the money Y'hudah received for his evil deed, he bought a field; and there he fell to his death. His body swelled up and burst open, and all his insides spilled out.

19 This became known to everyone in Yerushalayim, so they called that field Hakal-D'ma- which in their language means "Field of Blood").

20 "Now," said Kefa, "it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his estate become desolate, let there be no one to live in it'; and 'Let someone else take his place as a supervisor.'

21 Therefore, one of the men who have been with us continuously throughout the time the Lord Yeshua traveled around among us,

22 from the time Yochanan was immersing people until the day Yeshua was taken up from us- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

23 They nominated two men- Yosef Bar-Sabba, surnamed Justus, and Mattityahu.

24 Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

25 to take over the work and the office of emissary that Y'hudah abandoned to go where he belongs."

26 Then they drew lots to decide between the two, and the lot fell to Mattityahu. So he was added to the eleven emissaries.

Acts 2

1 The festival of Shavu'ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place.

2 Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them.

4 They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

5 Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven.

6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered; they were confused, because each one heard the believers speaking in his own language.

7 Totally amazed, they asked, "How is this possible? Aren't all these people who are speaking from the Galil?

8 How is it that we hear them speaking in our native languages?

9 We are Parthians, Medes, Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Y'hudah, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

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

11 Jews by birth and proselytes; Jews from Crete and from Arabia...! How is it that we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great things God has done?"

12 Amazed and confused, they all went on asking each other, "What can this mean?"

13 But others made fun of them and said, "They've just had too much wine!"

14 Then Kefa stood up with the Eleven and raised his voice to address them: "You Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!

15 "These people aren't drunk, as you suppose- it's only nine in the morning.

16 No, this is what was spoken about through the prophet Yo'el:

17 'ADONAI says: "In the Last Days, I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.

18 Even on my slaves, both men and women, will I pour out from my Spirit in those days; and they will prophesy.

19 I will perform miracles in the sky above and signs on the earth below- blood, fire and thick smoke.

20 The sun will become dark and the moon blood before the great and fearful Day of ADONAI comes.

21 And then, whoever calls on the name of ADONAI will be saved."'

22 "Men of Isra'el! Listen to this! Yeshua from Natzeret was a man demonstrated to you to have been from God by the powerful works, miracles and signs that God performed through him in your presence. You yourselves know this.

23 This man was arrested in accordance with God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and, through the agency of persons not bound by the Torah, you nailed him up on a stake and killed him!

24 "But God has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him.

25 For David says this about him: 'I saw ADONAI always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

26 For this reason, my heart was glad; and my tongue rejoiced; and now my body too will live on in the certain hope

27 that you will not abandon me to Sh'ol or let your Holy One see decay.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy by your presence.'

29 "Brothers, I know I can say to you frankly that the patriarch David died and was buried- his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne,

31 he was speaking in advance about the resurrection of the Messiah, that it was he who was not abandoned in Sh'ol and whose flesh did not see decay.

32 God raised up this Yeshua! And we are all witnesses of it!

33 "Moreover, he has been exalted to the right hand of God; has received from the Father what he promised, namely, the Ruach HaKodesh; and has poured out this gift, which you are both seeing and hearing.

34 For David did not ascend into heaven. But he says,

35 'ADONAI said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'

36 Therefore, let the whole house of Isra'el know beyond doubt that God has made him both Lord and Messiah- this Yeshua, whom you executed on a stake!"

37 On hearing this, they were stung in their hearts; and they said to Kefa and the other emissaries, "Brothers, what should we do?"

38 Kefa answered them, "Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh!

39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away- as many as ADONAI our God may call!"

40 He pressed his case with many other arguments and kept pleading with them, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation!"

41 So those who accepted what he said were immersed, and there were added to the group that day about three thousand people.

42 They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers.

43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many miracles and signs took place through the emissaries.

44 All those trusting in Yeshua stayed together and had everything in common;

45 in fact, they sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need.

46 Continuing faithfully and with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily, and breaking bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of heart,

47 praising God and having the respect of all the people. And day after day the Lord kept adding to them those who were being saved.

Acts 3

1 One afternoon at three o'clock, the hour of minchah prayers, as Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Temple,

2 a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day people used to put him at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, so that he could beg from those going into the Temple court.

3 When he saw Kefa and Yochanan about to enter, he asked them for some money.

4 But they stared straight at him; and Kefa said, "Look at us!"

5 The crippled man fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

6 Kefa said, "I don't have silver, and I don't have gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua of Natzeret, walk!"

7 And taking hold of him by his right hand, Kefa pulled him up. Instantly his feet and ankles became strong;

8 so that he sprang up, stood a moment, and began walking. Then he entered the Temple court with them, walking and leaping and praising God!

9 Everyone saw him walking and praising God.

10 They recognized him as the same man who had formerly sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were utterly amazed and confounded at what had happened to him.

11 While he clung to Kefa and Yochanan, all the people came running in astonishment toward them in Shlomo's Colonnade.

12 Seeing this, Kefa addressed the people: "Men of Isra'el! Why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk through some power or godliness of our own?

13 The God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Yeshua- the same Yeshua you handed over and disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided to release him.

14 You denied the holy and innocent one, and instead asked for the reprieve of a murderer!

15 You killed the author of life! "But God has raised him from the dead! Of this we are witnesses.

16 And it is through putting trust in his name that his name has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes through Yeshua which has given him this perfect healing in the presence of you all.

17 "Now, brothers, I know that you did not understand the significance of what you were doing; neither did your leaders.

18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.

19 "Therefore, repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be erased;

20 so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord's presence; and he may send the Messiah appointed in advance for you, that is, Yeshua.

21 He has to remain in heaven until the time comes for restoring everything, as God said long ago, when he spoke through the holy prophets.

22 For Moshe himself said, 'ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything he tells you.

23 Everyone who fails to listen to that prophet will be removed from the people and destroyed.'

24 Indeed, all the prophets announced these days, starting with Sh'mu'el and continuing through all who followed.

25 "You are the sons of the prophets; and you are included in the covenant which God made with our fathers when he said to Avraham, 'By your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.'

26 So it is to you first that God has sent his servant whom he has raised up, so that he might bless you by turning each one of you from your evil ways."

Acts 4

1 Kefa and Yochanan were still speaking to the people when the cohanim, the captain in charge of the Temple police, and the Tz'dukim came upon them,

2 very annoyed that they were teaching the people the doctrine of resurrection from the dead and offering Yeshua as proof.

3 The Temple police arrested them; and since it was already evening, they put them in custody overnight.

4 However, many of those who heard the message trusted; the number of men alone was about five thousand.

5 The next day, the people's rulers, elders and Torah-teachers assembled in Yerushalayim,

6 along with 'Anan the cohen hagadol, Kayafa, Yochanan, Alexander and the other men from the family of the cohen hagadol.

7 They had the emissaries stand before them and asked, "By what power or in what name did you do this?"

8 Then Kefa, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people!

9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done for a disabled person, if you want to know how he was restored to health,

10 then let it be known to you and to all the people of Isra'el that it is in the name of the Messiah, Yeshua from Natzeret, whom you had executed on a stake as a criminal but whom God has raised from the dead, that this man stands before you perfectly healed.

11 "This Yeshua is the stone rejected by you builders which has become the cornerstone.

12 There is salvation in no one else! For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by whom we must be saved!"

13 When they saw how bold Kefa and Yochanan were, even though they were untrained 'am-ha'aretz, they were amazed; also they recognized them as having been with Yeshua.

14 Moreover, since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there beside them, there was nothing they could say to discredit the healing.

15 So they told them to step away from the Sanhedrin while they discussed the matter privately.

16 "What can we do with these men?" they asked each other. "Why, anyone in Yerushalayim can see that a remarkable miracle has come about through them- we can't possibly deny that.

17 But to prevent it from spreading any further among the people, let's warn them not to speak any more to anyone in this name."

18 So they called them in again and ordered them under no circumstances to speak or teach in the name of Yeshua.

19 But Kefa and Yochanan answered, "You must judge whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God.

20 As for us, we can't help talking about what we have actually seen and heard."

21 They threatened them some more but finally let them go- they couldn't punish them because of the people, for everyone was praising God over what had happened,

22 since the man who had been miraculously healed was more than forty years old.

23 Upon being released, they went back to their friends and reported what the head cohanim and elders had said to them.

24 When they heard it, they raised their voices to God with singleness of heart. "Master," they prayed, "You made heaven, earth, the sea and everything in them.

25 By the Ruach HaKodesh, through the mouth of our father David, your servant, you said, 'Why did the nations rage and the peoples devise useless plans?

26 The kings of the earth took their stand; and the rulers assembled together against ADONAI and against his Messiah.'

27 "This has come true in this city, since Herod and Pontius Pilate, with Goyim and the peoples of Isra'el, all assembled against your holy servant Yeshua, whom you made Messiah,

28 to do what your power and plan had already determined beforehand should happen.

29 "So now, Lord, take note of their threats; and enable your slaves to speak your message with boldness!

30 Stretch out your hand to heal and to do signs and miracles through the name of your holy servant Yeshua!"

31 While they were still praying, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, and they spoke God's message with boldness.

32 All the many believers were one in heart and soul, and no one claimed any of his possessions for himself, but everyone shared everything he had.

33 With great power the emissaries continued testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua, and they were all held in high regard.

34 No one among them was poor, since those who owned lands or houses sold them and turned over the proceeds

35 to the emissaries to distribute to each according to his need.

36 Thus Yosef, whom the emissaries called Bar-Nabba (which means "the Exhorter"), a Levi and a native of Cyprus,

37 sold a field which belonged to him and brought the money to the emissaries.

Acts 5

1 But there was a man named Hananyah who, with his wife Shappirah, sold some property

2 and, with his wife's knowledge, withheld some of the proceeds for himself; although he did bring the rest to the emissaries.

3 Then Kefa said, "Why has the Adversary so filled your heart that you lie to the Ruach HaKodesh and keep back some of the money you received for the land?

4 Before you sold it, the property was yours; and after you sold it, the money was yours to use as you pleased. So what made you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not to human beings but to God!"

5 On hearing these words, Hananyah fell down dead; and everyone who heard about it was terrified.

6 The young men got up, wrapped his body in a shroud, carried him out and buried him.

7 Some three hours later, his wife came in, unaware of what had happened.

8 Kefa challenged her: "Tell me, is it true that you sold the land for such-and-such a price?" "Yes," she answered, "that is what we were paid for it."

9 But Kefa came back at her, "Then why did you people plot to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The men who buried your husband are at the door. They will carry you out too!"

10 Instantly she collapsed at his feet and died. The young men entered, found her there dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

11 As a result of this, great fear came over the whole Messianic community, and indeed over everyone who heard about it.

12 Meanwhile, through the emissaries many signs and miracles continued to be done among the people. United in mind and purpose, the believers met in Shlomo's Colonnade;

13 and no one else dared to join them. Nevertheless, the people continued to regard them highly;

14 and throngs of believers were added to the Lord, both men and women.

15 They went so far as to bring the sick into the streets and lay them on mattresses and stretchers, so that at least Kefa's shadow might fall on them as he passed by.

16 Crowds also gathered from the towns around Yerushalayim, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits; and every one of them was healed.

17 But the cohen hagadol and his associates, who were members of the party of the Tz'dukim, were filled with jealousy.

18 They arrested the emissaries and put them in the public jail.

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

20 "Go, stand in the Temple court and keep telling the people all about this new life!"

21 After hearing that, they entered the Temple area about dawn and began to teach. Now the cohen hagadol and his associates came and called a meeting of the Sanhedrin (that is, of Isra'el's whole assembly of elders) and sent to the jail to have them brought.

22 But the officers who went did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported,

23 "We found the jail securely locked and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened it, we found no one inside!"

24 When the captain of the Temple police and the head cohanim heard these things, they were puzzled and wondered what would happen next.

25 Then someone came and reported to them, "Listen! The men you ordered put in prison are standing in the Temple court, teaching the people!"

26 The captain and his officers went and brought them, but not with force; because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

27 They conducted them to the Sanhedrin, where the cohen hagadol demanded of them,

28 "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name! Look here! you have filled Yerushalayim with your teaching; moreover, you are determined to make us responsible for this man's death!"

29 Kefa and the other emissaries answered, "We must obey God, not men.

30 The God of our fathers raised up Yeshua, whereas you men killed him by having him hanged on a stake.

31 God has exalted this man at his right hand as Ruler and Savior, in order to enable Isra'el to do t'shuvah and have her sins forgiven.

32 We are witnesses to these things; so is the Ruach HaKodesh, whom God has given to those who obey him."

33 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were infuriated and wanted to put the emissaries to death.

34 But one of the members of the Sanhedrin rose to his feet, a Parush named Gamli'el, a teacher of the Torah highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men put outside for a little while

35 and then addressed the court: "Men of Isra'el, take care what you do to these people.

36 Some time ago, there was a rebellion under Todah, who claimed to be somebody special; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, rallied behind him. But upon his being put to death, his whole following was broken up and came to nothing.

37 After this, Y'hudah HaG'lili led another uprising, back at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax; and he got some people to defect to him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

38 So in the present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these people, but to leave them alone. For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse.

39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!" They heeded his advice.

40 After summoning the emissaries and flogging them, they commanded them not to speak in the name of Yeshua, and let them go.

41 The emissaries left the Sanhedrin overjoyed at having been considered worthy of suffering disgrace on account of him.

42 And not for a single day, either in the Temple court or in private homes, did they stop teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Acts 6

1 Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

2 So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, "It isn't appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.

3 Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter,

4 but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word."

5 What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch.

6 They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith.

8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people.

9 But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen,

10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.

11 So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, "We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God."

12 They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin.

13 There they set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah;

14 for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us."

15 Everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

Acts 7

1 The cohen hagadol asked, "Are these accusations true?"

2 and Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran

3 and said to him, 'Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.'

4 So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now.

5 He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot; yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him, even though at the time he was childless.

6 What God said to him was, 'Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years.

7 But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,' God said, 'and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'

8 And he gave him b'rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz'chak and did his b'rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz'chak became the father of Ya'akov, and Ya'akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.

9 "Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But ADONAI was with him;

10 he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household.

11 Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena'an

12 But when Ya'akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

13 The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, and Yosef's family became known to Pharaoh.

14 Yosef then sent for his father Ya'akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people.

15 And Ya'akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors.

16 Their bodies were removed to Sh'khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh'khem for a certain sum of money.

17 "As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly,

18 until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef.

19 With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.

20 "It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight. For three months he was reared in his father's house;

21 and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

22 So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.

23 "But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra'el.

24 On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian.

25 He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn't understand.

26 When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?'

27 the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, 'Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

28 Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'

29 On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.

30 "After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush.

31 When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of ADONAI,

32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov.' But Moshe trembled with fear and didn't dare to look.

33 ADONAI said to him, 'Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.'

35 "This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and judge?' is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush.

36 This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

37 This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra'el, 'God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers'

38 This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.

39 "But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt,

40 saying to Aharon, 'Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt- we don't know what has become of him.'

41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands.

42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars- as has been written in the book of the prophets, 'People of Isra'el, it was not to me that you offered slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!

43 No, you carried the tent of Molekh and the star of your god Reifan, the idols you made so that you could worship them. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.'

44 "Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen.

45 Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y'hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them. "So it was until the days of David.

46 He enjoyed God's favor and asked if he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Ya'akov

47 and Shlomo did build him a house.

48 But Ha'Elyon does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says,

49 'Heaven is my throne,' says ADONAI, 'and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house could you build for me? What kind of place could you devise for my rest?

50 Didn't I myself make all these things?'

51 "Stiffnecked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh! You do the same things your fathers did!

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers!-

53 you!- who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels- but do not keep it!"

54 On hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and ground their teeth at him.

55 But he, full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up to heaven and saw God's Sh'khinah, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God.

56 "Look!" he exclaimed, "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

57 At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn't have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him,

58 threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha'ul.

59 As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, "Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!"

60 Then he kneeled down and shouted out, "Lord! Don't hold this sin against them!" With that, he died;

Acts 8

1 and Sha'ul gave his approval to his murder. Starting with that day, there arose intense persecution against the Messianic Community in Yerushalayim; all but the emissaries were scattered throughout the regions of Y'hudah and Shomron.

2 Some godly men buried Stephen and mourned him deeply.

3 But Sha'ul set out to destroy the Messianic Community- entering house after house, he dragged off both men and women and handed them over to be put in prison.

4 However, those who were scattered announced the Good News of the Word wherever they went.

5 Now Philip went down to a city in Shomron and was proclaiming the Messiah to them;

6 and the crowds were paying close attention to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the miraculous signs he was doing.

7 For many people were having unclean spirits driven out of them, shrieking; also many paralytics and crippled persons were being healed;

8 so that there was great joy in that city.

9 But there was a man named Shim'on in the city who for some time had been practicing magic and astonishing the nation of Shomron, claiming to be somebody great.

10 Everyone gave heed to him, from the lowest to the highest, saying, "This man is the power of God called 'The Great Power'."

11 They followed him because for a considerable time he had amazed them with his magic.

12 But when they came to believe Philip, as he announced the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Yeshua the Messiah, they were immersed, both men and women.

13 Moreover, Shim'on himself came to believe; and after being immersed, he attached himself closely to Philip; and he was amazed as he saw the miraculous signs and great works of power that kept taking place.

14 When the emissaries in Yerushalayim heard that Shomron had received the Word of God, they sent them Kefa and Yochanan,

15 who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Ruach HaKodesh.

16 For until then he had not come upon any of them; they had only been immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua.

17 Then, as Kefa and Yochanan placed their hands on them, they received the Ruach HaKodesh.

18 Shim'on saw that the Spirit was given when the emissaries placed their hands on them, and he offered them money.

19 "Give this power to me, too," he said, "so that whoever I place my hands on will receive the Ruach HaKodesh."

20 But Kefa said to him, "Your silver go to ruin- and you with it, for thinking the free gift of God can be bought!

21 You have no part at all in this matter; because in the eyes of God, your heart is crooked.

22 So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps you will yet be forgiven for holding such a thought in your heart.

23 For I see that you are extremely bitter and completely under the control of sin!"

24 Shim'on answered, "Pray to the Lord for me, so that none of the things you have spoken about will happen to me."

25 Then, after giving a thorough witness and speaking the Word of the Lord, Kefa and Yochanan started back to Yerushalayim, announcing the Good News to many villages in Shomron.

26 An angel of ADONAI said to Philip, "Get up, and go southward on the road that goes down from Yerushalayim to 'Azah, the desert road."

27 So he got up and went. On his way, he caught sight of an Ethiopian, a eunuch who was minister in charge of all the treasure of the Kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia. He had been to Yerushalayim to worship;

28 and now, as he was returning home, he was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Yesha'yahu.

29 The Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot, and stay close to it."

30 As Philip ran up, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Yesha'yahu the prophet. "Do you understand what you're reading?" he asked.

31 "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him.

32 Now the portion of the Tanakh that he was reading was this: "He was like a sheep led to be slaughtered; like a lamb silent before the shearer, he does not open his mouth.

33 He was humiliated and denied justice. Who will tell about his descendants, since his life has been taken from the earth?"

34 The eunuch said to Philip, "Here's my question to you- is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?"

35 Then Philip started to speak- beginning with that passage, he went on to tell him the Good News about Yeshua.

36 As they were going down the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Here's some water! Is there any reason why I shouldn't be immersed?"

37 *

38 He ordered the chariot to stop; then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip immersed him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way- full of joy.

40 But Philip showed up at Ashdod and continued proclaiming the Good News as he went through all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 9

1 Meanwhile, Sha'ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's talmidim, went to the cohen hagadol

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek, authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to "the Way," and bring them back to Yerushalayim.

3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him.

4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?"

5 "Sir, who are you?" he asked. "I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me.

6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do."

7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

8 They helped Sha'ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek.

9 For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.

10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, "Hananyah!" He said, "Here I am, Lord."

11 The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y'hudah's house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha'ul; for he is praying,

12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight."

13 But Hananyah answered, "Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim;

14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name."

15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra'el as well.

16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name."

17 So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, "Brother Sha'ul, the Lord- Yeshua, the one 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 Ruach HaKodesh."

18 In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha'ul's eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed;

19 then he ate some food and regained his strength. Sha'ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek,

20 and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God.

21 All who heard him were amazed. They asked, "Isn't he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn't that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?"

22 But Sha'ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.

23 Quite some time later, the non-believing Jews gathered together and made plans to kill him;

24 but their plot became known to Sha'ul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to do away with him;

25 but under cover of night, his talmidim took him and let him down over the city wall, lowering him in a large basket.

26 On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the talmidim; but they were all afraid of him- they didn't believe he was a talmid.

27 However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha'ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha'ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua.

28 So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord.

29 He talked and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they began making attempts to kill him.

30 When the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

31 Then the Messianic community throughout Y'hudah, the Galil and Shomron enjoyed peace and was built up. They lived in the fear of the Lord, with the counsel of the Ruach HaKodesh; and their numbers kept multiplying.

32 As Kefa traveled around the countryside, he came down to the believers in Lud.

33 There he found a man named Aeneas who had lain bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

34 Kefa said to him, "Aeneas! Yeshua the Messiah is healing you! Get up, and make your bed!"

35 Everyone living in Lud and the Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Now in Yafo there was a talmidah named Tavita

36 (which means "gazelle"); she was always doing tzedakah and other good deeds.

37 It happened that just at that time, she took sick and died. After washing her, they laid her in a room upstairs.

38 Lud is near Yafo, and the talmidim had heard that Kefa was there, so they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come to us without delay."

39 Kefa got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him into the upstairs room. All the widows stood by him, sobbing and showing all the dresses and coats Tavita had made them while she was still with them.

40 But Kefa put them all outside, kneeled down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said, "Tavita! Get up!" She opened her eyes; and on seeing Kefa, she sat up.

41 He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet; then, calling the believers and the widows, he presented her to them alive.

42 This became known all over Yafo, and many people put their trust in the Lord.

43 Kefa stayed on in Yafo for some time with a man named Shim'on, a leather-tanner.

Acts 10

1 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the Italian Regiment.

2 He was a devout man, a "God-fearer," as was his whole household; he gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God.

3 One afternoon around three o'clock he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!"

4 Cornelius stared at the angel, terrified. "What is it, sir?" he asked. "Your prayers," replied the angel, "and your acts of charity have gone up into God's presence, so that he has you on his mind.

5 Now send some men to Yafo to bring back a man named Shim'on, also called Kefa.

6 He's staying with Shim'on the leather-tanner, who has a house by the sea."

7 As the angel that had spoken to him went away, Cornelius called two of his household slaves and one of his military aides, who was a godly man;

8 he explained everything to them and sent them to Yafo.

9 The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray.

10 He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance

11 in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners.

12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds.

13 Then a voice came to him, "Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!"

14 But Kefa said, "No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif."

15 The voice spoke to him a second time: "Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean."

16 This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven.

17 Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had seen, when the men Cornelius had sent, having inquired for Shim'on's house, stood at the gate

18 and called out to ask if the Shim'on known as Kefa was staying there.

19 While Kefa's mind was still on the vision, the Spirit said, "Three men are looking for you.

20 Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them, because I myself have sent them."

21 So Kefa went down and said to the men, "You were looking for me? Here I am. What brings you here?"

22 They answered, "Cornelius. He's a Roman army officer, an upright man and a God-fearer, a man highly regarded by the whole Jewish nation; and he was told by a holy angel to have you come to his house and listen to what you have to say."

23 So Kefa invited them to be his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Yafo;

24 and he arrived at Caesarea the day after that. Cornelius was expecting them- he had already called together his relatives and close friends.

25 As Kefa entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell prostrate at his feet.

26 But Kefa pulled him to his feet and said, "Stand up! I myself am just a man."

27 As he talked with him, Kefa went inside and found many people gathered.

28 He said to them, "You are well aware that for a man who is a Jew to have close association with someone who belongs to another people, or to come and visit him, is something that just isn't done. But God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean;

29 so when I was summoned, I came without raising any questions. Tell me, then, why did you send for me?"

30 Cornelius answered, "Three days ago around this time, I was at minchah prayers in my house, when suddenly a man in shining clothes stood in front of me

31 and said, 'God has heard your prayer and remembered your acts of charity.

32 Now send to Yafo and ask for Shim'on, known as Kefa; he is staying in the house of Shim'on, a leather-tanner, by the sea.'

33 So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now all of us are here in the presence of God to hear everything the Lord has ordered you to say."

34 Then Kefa addressed them: "I now understand that God does not play favorites,

35 but that whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, no matter what people he belongs to.

36 "Here is the message that he sent to the sons of Isra'el announcing shalom through Yeshua the Messiah, who is Lord of everything.

37 You know what has been going on throughout Y'hudah, starting from the Galil after the immersion that Yochanan proclaimed;

38 how God anointed Yeshua from Natzeret with the Ruach HaKodesh and with power; how Yeshua went about doing good and healing all the people oppressed by the Adversary, because God was with him.

39 "As for us, we are witnesses of everything he did, both in the Judean countryside and in Yerushalayim. They did away with him by hanging him on a stake;

40 but God raised him up on the third day and let him be seen,

41 not by all the people, but by witnesses God had previously chosen, that is, by us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen again from the dead.

42 "Then he commanded us to proclaim and attest to the Jewish people that this man has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.

43 All the prophets bear witness to him, that everyone who puts his trust in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

44 Kefa was still saying these things when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on all who were hearing the message.

45 All the believers from the Circumcision faction who had accompanied Kefa were amazed that the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh was also being poured out

46 on the Goyim, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Kefa's response was,

47 "Is anyone prepared to prohibit these people from being immersed in water? After all, they have received the Ruach HaKodesh, just as we did."

48 And he ordered that they be immersed in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Then they asked Kefa to stay on with them for a few days.

Acts 11

1 The emissaries and the brothers throughout Y'hudah heard that the Goyim had received the word of God;

2 but when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, the members of the Circumcision faction criticized him,

3 saying, "You went into the homes of uncircumcised men and even ate with them!"

4 In reply, Kefa began explaining in detail what had actually happened:

5 "I was in the city of Yafo, praying; and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came down to me.

6 I looked inside and saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, crawling creatures and wild birds.

7 Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!'

8 I said, 'No, sir! Absolutely not! Nothing unclean or treif has ever entered my mouth!'

9 But the voice spoke again from heaven: 'Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.'

10 This happened three times, and then everything was pulled back up into heaven.

11 "At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying;

12 and the Spirit told me to have no misgivings about going back with them. These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man's house.

13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Yafo and bring back Shim'on, known as Kefa.

14 He has a message for you which will enable you and your whole household to be saved.'

15 "But I had hardly begun speaking when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on them, just as on us at the beginning!

16 And I remembered that the Lord had said, 'Yochanan used to immerse people in water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh.'

17 Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as he gave us after we had come to put our trust in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who was I to stand in God's way?"

18 On hearing these things, they stopped objecting and began to praise God, saying, "This means that God has enabled the Goyim as well to do t'shuvah and have life!"

19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution which had arisen over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch; they spoke God's word, but only to Jews.

20 However, some of these, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, when they arrived at Antioch, began speaking to the Greeks too, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Yeshua.

21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people trusted and turned to the Lord.

22 News of this reached the ears of the Messianic community in Yerushalayim, and they sent Bar-Nabba to Antioch.

23 On arriving and seeing for himself the grace of God at work, he was glad; and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with their whole hearts;

24 for he was a good man, full of the Ruach HaKodesh and trust.

25 Then Bar-Nabba went off to Tarsus to look for Sha'ul;

26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They met with the congregation there for a whole year and taught a sizeable crowd. Also it was in Antioch that the talmidim for the first time were called "Messianic."

27 During this time, some prophets came down from Yerushalayim to Antioch;

28 and one of them named Agav stood up and through the Spirit predicted that there was going to be a severe famine throughout the Roman Empire. (It took place while Claudius was Emperor.)

29 So the talmidim decided to provide relief to the brothers living in Y'hudah, each according to his means;

30 and they did it, sending their contribution to the elders in the care of Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul.

Acts 12

1 It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community;

2 and he had Ya'akov, Yochanan's brother, put to death by the sword.

3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of Matzah,

4 so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after Pesach.

5 So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.

6 The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison.

7 Suddenly an angel of ADONAI stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa's side and woke him. "Hurry! Get up!" he said; and the chains fell off his hands.

8 The angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals," and he did. "Throw on your robe," he said, "and follow me!"

9 Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real- he thought he was seeing a vision.

10 Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

11 Then Kefa came to himself and said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for."

12 Realizing what had happened, he went to the house of Miryam the mother of Yochanan (surnamed Mark), where many people had gathered to pray.

13 He knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.

14 She recognized Kefa's voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Kefa was standing outside.

15 "You're out of your mind!" they said to her. But she insisted it was true. So they said, "It is his angel."

16 Meanwhile, Kefa kept knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

17 Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and said, "Tell all this to Ya'akov and the brothers." Then he left and went elsewhere.

18 When daylight came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Kefa.

19 Herod had a thorough search made for him, but they failed to find him, so he cross-examined the guards and ordered them put to death. Then Herod went down from Y'hudah to Caesarea and spent some time there.

20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tzor and Tzidon, so they joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, the king's chief personal servant, they asked for peace; because they depended on the king's lands for their food supply.

21 A day was set, and Herod in his royal robes sat on the throne and made a speech to them.

22 The mob cried out, "This is the voice of a god, not a man!"

23 At once, because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of ADONAI struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died.

24 But the word of the Lord went on growing and being multiplied.

25 Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul, having completed their errand, returned from Yerushalayim, bringing with them Yochanan, surnamed Mark.

Acts 13

1 In the Antioch congregation were prophets and teachers- Bar-Nabba, Shim'on (known as "the Black"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Menachem (who had been brought up with Herod the governor) and Sha'ul.

2 One time when they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Ruach HaKodesh said to them, "Set aside for me Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul for the work to which I have called them."

3 After fasting and praying, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

4 So these two, after they had been sent out by the Ruach HaKodesh, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.

5 After landing in Salamis, they began proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues, with Yochanan (Mark) as an assistant;

6 and thus they made their way throughout the whole island. They ended up in Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and pseudo-prophet named Bar-Yeshua.

7 He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. Now the governor had called for Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul and was anxious to hear the message about God;

8 but the sorcerer Elymas (for that is how his name is translated) opposed them, doing his best to turn the governor away from the faith.

9 Then Sha'ul, also known as Paul, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, stared straight at him and said,

10 "You son of Satan, full of fraud and evil! You enemy of everything good! Won't you ever stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

11 So now, look! The hand of the Lord is upon you; and for a while you will be blind, unable to see the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over Elymas; and he groped about, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.

12 Then, on seeing what had happened, the governor trusted, astounded by the teaching about the Lord.

13 Having set sail from Paphos, Sha'ul and his companions arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. There Yochanan left them and returned to Yerushalayim,

14 but the others went on from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, and on Shabbat they went into the synagogue and sat down.

15 After the reading from the Torah and from the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message, "Brothers, if any of you has a word of exhortation for the people, speak!"

16 So Sha'ul stood, motioned with his hand, and said: "Men of Isra'el and God-fearers, listen!

17 The God of this people Isra'el chose our fathers. He made the people great during the time when they were living as aliens in Egypt and with a stretched-out arm he led them out of that land.

18 For some forty years he took care of them in the desert,

19 and after he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Kena'an he gave their land to his people as an inheritance.

20 All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges, down to the prophet Sh'mu'el.

21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha'ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years,

22 God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, 'I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.'

23 "In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra'el from this man's descendants a deliverer, Yeshua.

24 Now before the coming of Yeshua, Yochanan proclaimed to all the people of Isra'el an immersion in connection with turning to God from sin.

25 But as Yochanan was ending his work, he said, 'Who do you suppose I am? Well- I'm not! But after me is coming someone, the sandals of whose feet I am unworthy to untie.'

26 "Brothers!- sons of Avraham and those among you who are 'God-fearers'! It is to us that the message of this deliverance has been sent!

27 For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every Shabbat, so they fulfilled that message by condemning him.

28 They could not find any legitimate ground for a death sentence; nevertheless they asked Pilate to have him executed;

29 and when they had carried out all the things written about him, he was taken down from the stake and placed in a tomb.

30 "But God raised him from the dead!

31 He appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from the Galil to Yerushalayim; and they are now his witnesses to the people.

32 "As for us, we are bringing you the Good News that what God promised to the fathers,

33 he has fulfilled for us the children in raising up Yeshua, as indeed it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'

34 And as for his raising him up from the dead, to return to decay no more, he said, 'I will give the holy and trustworthy things of David to you.'

35 This is explained elsewhere: 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.'

36 For David did indeed serve God's purposes in his own generation; but after that, he died, was buried with his fathers and did see decay.

37 However, the one God raised up did not see decay.

38 "Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through this man is proclaimed forgiveness of sins!

39 That is, God clears everyone who puts his trust in this man, even in regard to all the things concerning which you could not be cleared by the Torah of Moshe.

40 "Watch out, then, so that this word found in the Prophets may not happen to you:

41 'You mockers! Look, and marvel, and die! For in your own time, I am doing a work that you simply will not believe, even if someone explains it to you!'"

42 As they left, the people invited Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba to tell them more about these matters the following Shabbat.

43 When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the born Jews and devout proselytes followed Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba, who spoke with them and urged them to keep holding fast to the love and kindness of God.

44 The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord;

45 but when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Sha'ul was saying and insulted him.

46 However, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba answered boldly: "It was necessary that God's word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life- why, we're turning to the Goyim!

47 For that is what ADONAI has ordered us to do: 'I have set you as a light for the Goyim, to be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.'"

48 The Gentiles were very happy to hear this. They honored the message about the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life came to trust.

49 And the message about the Lord was carried throughout the whole region.

50 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the women 'God-fearers' of high social standing and the leading men of the city, and they organized persecution against Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba and expelled them from their district.

51 However, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba shook off the dust of their feet against them and went on to Iconium;

52 and the talmidim were filled with joy and with the Ruach HaKodesh.

Acts 14

1 In Iconium the same thing happened- they went into the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large number of both Jews and Greeks came to trust.

2 But the Jews who would not be persuaded stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

3 Therefore, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba remained for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who bore witness to the message about his love and kindness by enabling them to perform signs and miracles.

4 However, the people of the city were divided- some sided with the unbelieving Jews, others with the emissaries.

5 Eventually the unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles, together with their leaders, made a move to mistreat the emissaries, even to stone them;

6 but they learned of it and escaped to Lystra and Derbe, towns in Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,

7 where they continued proclaiming the Good News.

8 There was a man living in Lystra who could not use his feet- crippled from birth, he had never walked.

9 This man listened to Sha'ul speaking. Sha'ul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

10 said with a loud voice, "Stand up on your feet!" He jumped up and began to walk.

11 When the crowds saw what Sha'ul had done, they began to shout in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the form of men!"

12 They began calling Bar-Nabba "Zeus" and Sha'ul "Hermes," since he did most of the talking;

13 and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, intending to offer a sacrifice to them with the people.

14 When the emissaries Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul heard of it, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd, shouting,

15 "Men! Why are you doing this? We're just men, human like you! We are announcing Good News to you- turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them!

16 In times past, he allowed all peoples to walk in their own ways;

17 yet he did not leave himself without evidence of his nature; because he does good things, giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons, filling you with food and your hearts with happiness!"

18 Even saying this barely kept the crowds from sacrificing to them.

19 Then some unbelieving Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They won over the crowds, stoned Sha'ul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

20 But as the talmidim gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day, he left with Bar-Nabba for Derbe.

21 After proclaiming the Good News in that city and making many people into talmidim, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,

22 strengthening the talmidim, encouraging them to remain true to the faith, and reminding them that it is through many hardships that we must enter the Kingdom of God.

23 After appointing elders for them in every congregation, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.

24 Passing through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

25 After speaking the message in Perga, they came down to Attalia; and from there, they sailed back to Antioch,

26 the place where they had been handed over to the care of God for the work which they had now completed.

27 When they arrived, they gathered the Messianic community together and reported what God had done through them, that he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

28 And they stayed for some time there with the talmidim.

Acts 15

1 But some men came down from Y'hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, "You can't be saved unless you undergo b'rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe."

2 This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha'ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh'eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.

3 After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.

4 On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them.

5 But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P'rushim; and they stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe."

6 The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter.

7 After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, "Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust.

8 And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us;

9 that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust.

10 So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear?

11 No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered- and it's the same with them."

12 Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.

13 Ya'akov broke the silence to reply. "Brothers," he said, "hear what I have to say.

14 Shim'on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people to bear his name.

15 And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written,

16 '"After this, I will return; and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins, I will restore it,

17 so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, that is, all the Goyim who have been called by my name,"

18 says ADONAI, who is doing these things.' All this has been known for ages.

19 "Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God.

20 Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood.

21 For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat."

22 Then the emissaries and the elders, together with the whole Messianic community, decided to select men from among themselves to send to Antioch with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. They sent Y'hudah, called Bar-Sabba, and Sila, both leading men among the brothers,

23 with the following letter: From: The emissaries and the elders, your brothers To: The brothers from among the Gentiles throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings!

24 We have heard that some people went out from among us without our authorization, and that they have upset you with their talk, unsettling your minds.

25 So we have decided unanimously to select men and send them to you with our dear friends Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul,

26 who have dedicated their lives to upholding the name of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

27 So we have sent Y'hudah and Sila, and they will confirm in person what we are writing.

28 For it seemed good to the Ruach HaKodesh and to us not to lay any heavier burden on you than the following requirements:

29 to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will be doing the right thing. Shalom!

30 The messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the group together and delivered the letter.

31 After reading it, the people were delighted by its encouragement.

32 Y'hudah and Sila, who were also prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers.

33 After they had spent some time there, they were sent off with a greeting of "Shalom!" from the brothers to those who had sent them.

34 *

35 But Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba stayed in Antioch, where they and many others taught and proclaimed the Good News of the message about the Lord.

36 After some time, Sha'ul said to Bar-Nabba, "Let's go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we proclaimed the message about the Lord, and see how they're doing."

37 Now Bar-Nabba wanted to take with them Yochanan, the one called Mark.

38 But Sha'ul thought it would be unwise to take this man with them, since he had gone off and left them in Pamphylia to do the work by themselves.

39 There was such sharp disagreement over this that they separated from each other, with Bar-Nabba taking Mark and sailing off to Cyprus.

40 However, Sha'ul chose Sila and left, after the brothers had committed him to the love and kindness of the Lord.

41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the congregations.

Acts 16

1 Sha'ul came down to Derbe and went on to Lystra, where there lived a talmid named Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who had come to trust, and a Greek father.

2 All the brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy.

3 Sha'ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a b'rit-milah, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.

4 As they went on through the towns, they delivered to the people the decisions reached by the emissaries and the elders in Yerushalayim for them to observe.

5 Accordingly, the congregations were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.

6 They traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Ruach HaKodesh from speaking the message in the province of Asia.

7 When they came to the frontier of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Yeshua would not let them.

8 So, after passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

9 There a vision appeared to Sha'ul at night. A man from Macedonia was standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!"

10 As soon as he had seen the vision, we lost no time getting ready to leave for Macedonia; for we concluded that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.

11 Sailing from Troas, we made a straight run to Samothrace; the next day we went to Neapolis;

12 and from there, we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that part of Macedonia. We spent a few days in this city;

13 then on Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we understood a minyan met. We sat down and began speaking to the women who had gathered there.

14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in fine purple cloth. She was already a "God-fearer," and the Lord opened up her heart to respond to what Sha'ul was saying.

15 After she and the members of her household had been immersed, she gave us this invitation: "If you consider me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house." And she insisted till we went.

16 Once, when we were going to the place where the minyan gathered, we were met by a slave girl who had in her a snake-spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes.

17 This girl followed behind Sha'ul and the rest of us and kept screaming, "These men are servants of God Ha'Elyon! They're telling you how to be saved!"

18 She kept this up day after day, until Sha'ul, greatly disturbed, turned and said to the spirit, "In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, I order you to come out of her!" And the spirit did come out, at that very moment.

19 But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Sha'ul and Sila and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities.

20 Bringing them to the judges, they said, "These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews.

21 What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans."

22 The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged.

23 After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely.

24 Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.

25 Around midnight, Sha'ul and Sila were praying and singing hymns to God, while the other prisoners listened attentively.

26 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake which shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose.

27 The jailer awoke, and when he saw the doors open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, for he assumed that the prisoners had escaped.

28 But Sha'ul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We're all here!"

29 Calling for lights, the jailer ran in, began to tremble and fell down in front of Sha'ul and Sila.

30 Then, leading them outside, he said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?"

31 They said, "Trust in the Lord Yeshua, and you will be saved- you and your household!"

32 Whereupon they told him and everyone in his household the message about the Lord.

33 Then, even at that late hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed off their wounds; and without delay, he and all his people were immersed.

34 After that, he brought them up to his house and set food in front of them; and he and his entire household celebrated their having come to trust in God.

35 The next morning, the judges sent police officers with the order, "Release those men."

36 The jailer told Sha'ul, "The judges have sent word to release both of you. So come out, and go on your way in peace."

37 But Sha'ul said to the officers, "After flogging us in public when we hadn't been convicted of any crime and are Roman citizens, they threw us in prison. Now they want to get rid of us secretly? Oh, no! Let them come and escort us out themselves!"

38 The officers reported these words to the judges, who became frightened when they heard that Sha'ul and Sila were Roman citizens.

39 They came and apologized to them; then, after escorting them out, requested them to leave the city.

40 From the prison they went to Lydia's house, and after seeing and encouraging the brothers they departed.

Acts 17

1 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Sha'ul and Sila came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue.

2 According to his usual practice, Sha'ul went in; and on three Shabbats he gave them drashes from the Tanakh,

3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that "this Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah."

4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and threw in their lot with Sha'ul and Sila, as did a great many of the Greek men who were "God-fearers," and not a few of the leading women.

5 But the unbelieving Jews grew jealous; so they got together some vicious men from the riffraff hanging around in the market square, collected a crowd and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's house, hoping to bring Sha'ul and Sila out to the mob.

6 But when they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities and shouted, "These men who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too!

7 And Jason has let them stay in his home! All of them are defying the decrees of the Emperor; because they assert that there is another king, Yeshua!"

8 Their words threw the crowd and the authorities into a turmoil,

9 so that only after Jason and the others had posted bond did they let them go.

10 But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha'ul and Sila off to Berea. As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue.

11 Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha'ul was saying were true.

12 Many of them came to trust, as did a number of prominent Greek women and not a few Greek men.

13 But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha'ul in Berea as well, they went there too to make trouble and agitate the crowds.

14 The brothers sent Sha'ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind.

15 Sha'ul's escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.

16 While Sha'ul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him was disturbed at the sight of the city full of idols.

17 So he began holding discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the "God-fearers," and in the market square every day with the people who happened to be there.

18 Also a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers started meeting with him. Some asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others, because he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua and the resurrection, said, "He sounds like a propagandist for foreign gods."

19 They took and brought him before the High Council, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20 Some of the things we are hearing from you strike us as strange, and we would like to know what they mean."

21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners living there used to spend their spare time talking or hearing about the latest intellectual fads.)

22 Sha'ul stood up in the Council meeting and said, "Men of Athens: I see how very religious you are in every way!

23 For as I was walking around, looking at your shrines, I even found an altar which had been inscribed, 'To An Unknown God.' So, the one whom you are already worshipping in ignorance- this is the one I proclaim to you.

24 "The God who made the universe and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in man-made temples;

25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he lacked something; since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything to everyone.

26 "From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.

27 God did this so that people would look for him and perhaps reach out and find him although in fact, he is not far from each one of us,

28 'for in him we live and move and exist.' Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, 'We are actually his children.'

29 So, since we are children of God, we shouldn't suppose that God's essence resembles gold, silver or stone shaped by human technique and imagination.

30 "In the past, God overlooked such ignorance; but now he is commanding all people everywhere to turn to him from their sins.

31 For he has set a Day when he will judge the inhabited world, and do it justly, by means of a man whom he has designated. And he has given public proof of it by resurrecting this man from the dead."

32 At the mention of a resurrection of dead people, some began to scoff; while others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."

33 So Sha'ul left the meeting.

34 But some men stayed with him and came to trust, including the High Council member Dionysius; there was also a woman named Damaris; and others came to trust along with them.

Acts 18

1 After this, Sha'ul left Athens and went to Corinth,

2 where he met a Jewish man named Aquila, originally from Pontus but having recently come with his wife Priscilla from Italy, because Claudius had issued a decree expelling all the Jews from Rome. Sha'ul went to see them;

3 and because he had the same trade as they, making tents, he stayed on with them; and they worked together.

4 Sha'ul also began carrying on discussions every Shabbat in the synagogue, where he tried to convince both Jews and Greeks.

5 But after Sila and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Sha'ul felt pressed by the urgency of the message and testified in depth to the Jews that Yeshua is the Messiah.

6 However when they set themselves against him and began hurling insults, he shook out his clothes and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! For my part, I am clean; from now on, I will go to the Goyim!"

7 So he left them and went into the home of a "God-fearer" named Titius Justus, whose house was right next door to the synagogue.

8 Crispus, the president of the synagogue, came to trust in the Lord, along with his whole household; also many of the Corinthians who heard trusted and were immersed.

9 One night, in a vision, the Lord said to Sha'ul, "Don't be afraid, but speak right up, and don't stop,

10 because I am with you. No one will succeed in harming you, for I have many people in this city."

11 So Sha'ul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

12 But when Gallio became the Roman governor of Achaia, the unbelieving Jews made a concerted attack on Sha'ul and took him to court,

13 saying, "This man is trying to persuade people to worship God in ways that violate the Torah."

14 Sha'ul was just about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews, "Listen, you Jews, if this were a case of inflicted injury or a serious crime, I could reasonably be expected to hear you out patiently.

15 But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, then you must deal with it yourselves. I flatly refuse to judge such matters."

16 And he had them ejected from the court.

17 They all grabbed Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and gave him a beating in full view of the bench; but Gallio showed no concern whatever.

18 Sha'ul remained for some time, then said good-bye to the brothers and sailed off to Syria, after having his hair cut short in Cenchrea, because he had taken a vow; with him were Priscilla and Aquila.

19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself went into the synagogue and held dialogue with the Jews.

20 When they asked him to stay with them longer, he declined;

21 however, in his farewell he said, "God willing, I will come back to you." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

22 After landing at Caesarea, he went up to Yerushalayim and greeted the Messianic community. Then he came down to Antioch,

23 spent some time there, and afterwards set out and passed systematically through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the talmidim.

24 Meanwhile, a Jewish man named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker with a thorough knowledge of the Tanakh.

25 This man had been informed about the Way of the Lord, and with great spiritual fervor he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Yeshua, but he knew only the immersion of Yochanan.

26 He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God in fuller detail.

27 When he made plans to cross over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote the talmidim there to welcome him. On arrival, he greatly helped those who through grace had come to trust;

28 for he powerfully and conclusively refuted the unbelieving Jews in public, demonstrating by the Tanakh that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Acts 19

1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Sha'ul completed his travels through the inland country and arrived at Ephesus, where he found a few talmidim.

2 He asked them, "Did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh when you came to trust?" "No," they said to him, "we have never even heard that there is such a thing as the Ruach HaKodesh."

3 "In that case," he said, "into what were you immersed?" "The immersion of Yochanan," they answered.

4 Sha'ul said, "Yochanan practiced an immersion in connection with turning from sin to God; but he told the people to put their trust in the one who would come after him, that is, in Yeshua."

5 On hearing this, they were immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua;

6 and when Sha'ul placed his hands on them, the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them; so that they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

7 In all, there were about twelve of these men.

8 Sha'ul went into the synagogue; and for three months he spoke out boldly, engaging in dialogue and trying to persuade people about the Kingdom of God.

9 But some began hardening themselves and refusing to listen; and when these started defaming the Way before the whole synagogue, Sha'ul withdrew, took the talmidim with him, and commenced holding daily dialogues in Tyrannus's yeshivah.

10 This went on for two years; so that everyone, both Jews and Greeks, living in the province of Asia heard the message about the Lord.

11 God did extraordinary miracles through Sha'ul.

12 For instance, handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were brought to sick people; they would recover from their ailments; and the evil spirits would leave them.

13 Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, "I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha'ul is proclaiming!"

14 One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this;

15 and the evil spirit answered them. It said, "Yeshua I know. And Sha'ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?"

16 Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding.

17 When all this became known to the residents of Ephesus, fear fell on all of them, Jews and Greeks alike; and the name of the Lord Yeshua came to be held in high regard.

18 Many of those who had earlier made professions of faith now came and admitted publicly their evil deeds;

19 and a considerable number of those who had engaged in occult practices threw their scrolls in a pile and burned them in public. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, it came to fifty thousand drachmas.

20 Thus the message about the Lord continued in a powerful way to grow in influence.

21 Some time later, Sha'ul decided by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Yerushalayim. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome."

22 So he dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia; but he himself remained in the province of Asia for awhile.

23 It was at this time that a major furor arose concerning the Way.

24 There was a silversmith named Demetrius who manufactured from silver, objects connected with the worship of the goddess Artemis; and he provided no small amount of work for the craftsmen.

25 He called a meeting of them and of those engaged in similar trades, and said, "Men, you understand that this line of business provides us our living.

26 And you can see and hear for yourselves that not only here in Ephesus, but in practically the whole province of Asia, this Sha'ul has convinced and turned away a considerable crowd by saying that man-made gods aren't gods at all.

27 Now the danger is not only that the reputation of our trade will suffer, but that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to be taken lightly. It could end up with the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and indeed throughout the whole world, being ignominiously brought down from her divine majesty!"

28 Hearing this, they were filled with rage and began bellowing, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

29 Soon the whole city was in an uproar. As one man, the mob rushed into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Sha'ul's traveling companions from Macedonia.

30 Sha'ul himself wanted to appear before the crowd, but the talmidim wouldn't let him.

31 Even some of the officials of the province, friends of his, sent a message begging him not to risk entering the theater.

32 Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and others something else, because the assembly was in complete confusion, and the great majority didn't even know why they were there.

33 Some of the crowd explained the situation to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed to the front. So Alexander motioned for silence, hoping to make a defense speech to the people.

34 But as soon as they recognized that he was a Jew, they began bellowing in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" and they kept it up for about two hours.

35 At last, the city clerk was able to quiet the crowd. "Men of Ephesus!" he said, "Is there anyone who doesn't know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone which fell from the sky?

36 Since this is beyond dispute, you had better calm down and not do anything rash.

37 For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed the temple nor insulted your goddess.

38 So if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and the judges are there- let them bring charges and counter-charges.

39 But if there is something more you want, it will have to be settled in a lawful assembly.

40 For we are in danger of being accused of rioting on account of what has happened today. There is no justification for it; and if we are asked, we will be unable to give any reasonable explanation for this disorderly gathering."

41 And with these words, he dismissed the assembly.

Acts 20

1 After the furor died down, Sha'ul sent for the talmidim and encouraged them, then took his leave and set out on his way to Macedonia.

2 He went through that area, and, after saying much to encourage them, passed on to Greece,

3 where he spent three months. As he was preparing to set sail for Syria, he discovered a plot against him by the unbelieving Jews; so he changed his mind and decided to return by way of Macedonia.

4 Sopater from Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; as did Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

5 These men went on and waited for us in Troas,

6 while we sailed from Philippi after the Days of Matzah. Five days later, we met them in Troas, where we spent a week.

7 On Motza'ei-Shabbat, when we were gathered to break bread, Sha'ul addressed them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

8 Now there were many oil lamps burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting,

9 and there was a young fellow named Eutychus sitting on the window-sill. As Sha'ul's drash went on and on, Eutychus grew sleepier and sleepier; until finally he went sound asleep and fell from the third story to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead.

10 But Sha'ul went down, threw himself onto him, put his arms around him and said, "Don't be upset, he's alive!"

11 Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. He continued talking with them till daylight, then left.

12 So, greatly relieved, they brought the boy home alive.

13 We went on ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were planning to take Sha'ul aboard- he had arranged this because he wanted to go there by land.

14 After he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene.

15 The next day, we sailed from there and arrived off Chios; the following day, we crossed over to Samos; and the day after that, we reached Miletus.

16 For Sha'ul had decided to bypass Ephesus on his voyage, in order to avoid losing time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to get to Yerushalayim, if possible in time to celebrate Shavu'ot.

17 But he did send from Miletus to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Messianic community.

18 When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, I was with you the whole time,

19 serving the Lord with much humility and with tears, in spite of the tests I had to undergo because of the plots of the unbelieving Jews.

20 You know that I held back nothing that could be helpful to you, and that I taught you both in public and from house to house,

21 declaring with utmost seriousness the same message to Jews and Greeks alike: turn from sin to God; and put your trust in our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

22 "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Yerushalayim. I don't know what will happen to me there,

23 other than that in every city the Ruach HaKodesh keeps warning me that imprisonment and persecution await me.

24 But I consider my own life of no importance to me whatsoever, as long as I can finish the course ahead of me, the task I received from the Lord Yeshua- to declare in depth the Good News of God's love and kindness.

25 "Now, listen! I know that none of you people among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom will ever see me again.

26 Therefore, I testify on this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.

27 For I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole plan of God.

28 "Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the Ruach HaKodesh has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God's Messianic community, which he won for himself at the cost of his own Son's blood.

29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you; and they won't spare the flock.

30 Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the talmidim after themselves.

31 So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!

32 "And now I entrust you to the care of the Lord and to the message of his love and kindness, for it can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who have been set apart for God.

33 "I have not wanted for myself anyone's silver or gold or clothing.

34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided not only for my own needs, but for the needs of my co-workers as well.

35 In everything I have given you an example of how, by working hard like this, you must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Yeshua himself, 'There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.'"

36 When he had finished speaking, Sha'ul kneeled down with them all and prayed.

37 They were all in tears as they threw their arms around his neck and kissed him farewell.

38 What saddened them the most was his remark that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Acts 21

1 After we had torn ourselves away from the Ephesian elders, we set sail and made a straight run to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

2 On finding a ship that was crossing over to Phoenicia, we embarked and set sail.

3 After sighting Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria and landed at Tzor, because that was where the ship was unloading its cargo.

4 Having searched out the talmidim there, we remained for a week. Guided by the Spirit, they told Sha'ul not to go up to Yerushalayim;

5 but when the week was over, we left to continue our journey. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the town. Kneeling on the beach and praying,

6 we said good-bye to each other. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

7 When the voyage from Tzor was over, we arrived at Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers and stayed with them overnight.

8 The following day, we left and came to Caesarea, where we went to the home of Philip the proclaimer of the Good News, one of the Seven, and stayed with him.

9 He had four unmarried daughters with the gift of prophecy.

10 While we were staying there, a prophet named Agav came down from Y'hudah

11 to visit us. He took Sha'ul's belt, tied up his own hands and feet and said, "Here is what the Ruach HaKodesh says: the man who owns this belt- the Judeans in Yerushalayim will tie him up just like this and hand him over to the Goyim."

12 When we heard this, both we and the people there begged him not to go up to Yerushalayim;

13 but Sha'ul answered, "What are you doing, crying and trying to weaken my resolve? I am prepared not only to be tied up, but even to die in Yerushalayim for the name of the Lord Yeshua."

14 And when he would not be convinced, we said, "May the Lord's will be done," and kept quiet.

15 So at the end of our stay, we packed and went up to Yerushalayim;

16 and with us went some of the talmidim from Caesarea. They brought us to the home of the man with whom we were to stay, Mnason from Cyprus, who had been a talmid since the early days.

17 In Yerushalayim, the brothers received us warmly.

18 The next day Sha'ul and the rest of us went in to Ya'akov, and all the elders were present.

19 After greeting them, Sha'ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.

20 On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah.

21 Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the Goyim to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a b'rit-milah for their sons and not to follow the traditions.

22 "What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

23 So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow.

24 Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

25 "However, in regard to the Goyim who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication."

26 The next day Sha'ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them.

27 The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him.

28 "Men of Isra'el, help!" they shouted. "This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!"

29 (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha'ul had brought him into the Temple.)

30 The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha'ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut.

31 But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil.

32 Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha'ul.

33 Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

34 Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn't find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks.

35 When Sha'ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild-

36 the crowd kept following and screaming, "Kill him!"

37 As Sha'ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "Is it all right if I say something to you?" The commander said, "You know Greek!

38 Say, aren't you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?"

39 Sha'ul said, "I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people."

40 Having received permission, Sha'ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew:

Acts 22

1 "Brothers and fathers! Listen to me as I make my defense before you now!"

2 When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they settled down more; so he continued:

3 "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli'el in every detail of the Torah of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today.

4 I persecuted to death the followers of this Way, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.

5 The cohen hagadol and the whole Sanhedrin can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Dammesek, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city too and bring them back to Yerushalayim for punishment.

6 "As I was traveling and approaching Dammesek, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me!

7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?'

8 I answered, 'Sir, who are you?' 'I am Yeshua from Natzeret,' he said to me, 'and you are persecuting me!'

9 Those who were with me did see the light, but they didn't hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

10 I said 'What should I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up, and go into Dammesek, and there you will be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.'

11 I had been blinded by the brightness of the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Dammesek.

12 "A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the Torah who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there,

13 came to me, stood by me and said, 'Brother Sha'ul, see again!' And at that very moment, I recovered my sight and saw him.

14 He said, 'The God of our fathers determined in advance that you should know his will, see the Tzaddik and hear his voice;

15 because you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

16 So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, immerse yourself and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.'

17 "After I had returned to Yerushalayim, it happened that as I was praying in the Temple, I went into a trance,

18 and I saw Yeshua. 'Hurry!' he said to me, 'Get out of Yerushalayim immediately, because they will not accept what you have to say about me.'

19 I said, 'Lord, they know themselves that in every synagogue I used to imprison and flog those who trusted in you;

20 also that when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there too, in full agreement; I was even looking after the clothes of the ones who were killing him!'

21 But he said, 'Get going! For I am going to send you far away- to the Goyim!'"

22 They had been listening to him up to this point; but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, "Rid the earth of such a man! He's not fit to live!"

23 They were screaming, waving their clothes and throwing dust into the air;

24 so the commander ordered him brought into the barracks and directed that he be interrogated and whipped, in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this.

25 But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha'ul said to the captain standing by, "Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn't even had a trial?"

26 When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, "Do you realize what you're doing? This man is a Roman citizen!"

27 The commander came and said to Sha'ul, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

28 The commander replied, "I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money." "But I was born to it," Sha'ul said.

29 At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.

30 However, the next day, since he wanted to know the specific charge the Judeans were bringing against him, he released him and ordered the head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Sha'ul down and put him in front of them.

Acts 23

1 Sha'ul looked straight at them and said, "Brothers, I have been discharging my obligations to God with a perfectly clear conscience, right up until today."

2 But the cohen hagadol, Hananyah, ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.

3 Then Sha'ul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Will you sit there judging me according to the Torah, yet in violation of the Torah order me to be struck?"

4 The men nearby said, "This is the cohen hagadol of God that you're insulting!"

5 Sha'ul said, "I didn't know, brothers, that he was the cohen hagadol; for it says in the Torah, 'You are not to speak disparagingly of a ruler of your people.'"

6 But knowing that one part of the Sanhedrin consisted of Tz'dukim and the other of P'rushim, Sha'ul shouted, "Brothers, I myself am a Parush and the son of P'rushim; and it is concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am being tried!"

7 When he said this, an argument arose between the P'rushim and the Tz'dukim, and the crowd was divided.

8 For the Tz'dukim deny the resurrection and the existence of angels and spirits; whereas the P'rushim acknowledge both.

9 So there was a great uproar, with some of the Torah-teachers who were on the side of the P'rushim standing up and joining in- "We don't find anything wrong with this man; and if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, what of it?"

10 The dispute became so violent that the commander, fearing that Sha'ul would be torn apart by them, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force and bring him back into the barracks.

11 The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage! For just as you have borne a faithful witness to me in Yerushalayim, so now you must bear witness in Rome."

12 The next day, some of the Judeans formed a conspiracy. They took an oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Sha'ul;

13 more than forty were involved in this plot.

14 They went to the head cohanim and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Sha'ul.

15 What you are to do is make it appear to the commander that you and the Sanhedrin want to get more accurate information about Sha'ul's case, so that he will bring him down to you; while we, for our part, are prepared to kill him before he ever gets here."

16 But the son of Sha'ul's sister got wind of the planned ambush, and he went into the barracks and told Sha'ul.

17 Sha'ul called one of the officers and said, "Take this man up to the commander; he has something to tell him."

18 So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Sha'ul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

19 The commander took him by the hand, led him aside privately and asked, "What is it you have to tell me?"

20 He said, "The Judeans have agreed to ask you tomorrow to bring Sha'ul down to the Sanhedrin on the pretext that they want to investigate his case more thoroughly.

21 But don't let yourself be talked into it, because more than forty men are lying in wait for him. They have taken an oath neither to eat nor to drink until they kill him; and they are ready now, only waiting for you to give your consent to their request."

22 The commander let the young man go, cautioning him, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me."

23 Then he summoned two of the captains and said, "Get two hundred infantry soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight, and seventy mounted cavalry and two hundred spearmen;

24 also provide replacements for Sha'ul's horse when it gets tired; and bring him through safely to Felix the governor."

25 And the commander wrote the following letter:

26 From: Claudius Lysias To: His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings!

27 This man was seized by the Judeans and was about to be killed by them, when I came on the scene with my troops and rescued him. After learning that he was a Roman citizen,

28 I wanted to understand exactly what they were charging him with; so I brought him down to their "Sanhedrin."

29 I found that he was charged in connection with questions of their "Torah" but that there was no charge deserving death or prison.

30 But when I was informed of a plot against the man, I immediately sent him to you and also ordered his accusers to state their case against him before you.

31 So the soldiers, following their orders, took Sha'ul during the night and brought him to Antipatris,

32 then returned to the barracks after leaving the cavalry to go on with him.

33 The cavalry took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and handed Sha'ul over to him.

34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. On learning he was from Cilicia,

35 he said, "I will give you a full hearing after your accusers have also arrived," and ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod's headquarters.

Acts 24

1 After five days, the cohen hagadol Hananyah came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they presented their case against Sha'ul to the governor.

2 Sha'ul was called, and Tertullus began to make the charges: "Felix, your Excellency, it is because of you that we enjoy unbroken peace, and it is your foresight that has brought to this nation

3 so many reforms in so many areas. It is with the utmost gratitude that we receive this.

4 But, in order not to take up too much of your time, I beg your indulgence to give us a brief hearing.

5 "We have found this man a pest. He is an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Natzratim.

6 He even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.

7 *

8 By questioning this man yourself, you will be able to learn all about the things of which we are accusing him."

9 The Judeans also joined in the accusation and alleged that these were the facts.

10 When the governor motioned for Sha'ul to speak, he replied, "I know that you have been judge over this nation for a number of years, so I am glad to make my defense.

11 As you can verify for yourself, it has not been more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Yerushalayim;

12 and neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues nor anywhere else in the city did they find me either arguing with anyone or collecting a crowd.

13 Nor can they give any proof of the things of which they are accusing me.

14 "But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets.

15 And I continue to have a hope in God- which they too accept- that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

16 Indeed, it is because of this that I make a point of always having a clear conscience in the sight of both God and man.

17 "After an absence of several years, I came to Yerushalayim to bring a charitable gift to my nation and to offer sacrifices.

18 It was in connection with the latter that they found me in the Temple. I had been ceremonially purified, I was not with a crowd, and I was not causing a disturbance.

19 But some Jews from the province of Asia- they ought to be here before you to make a charge if they have anything against me!

20 Or else, let these men themselves say what crime they found me guilty of when I stood in front of the Sanhedrin,

21 other than this one thing which I shouted out when I was standing among them: 'I am on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!'"

22 But Felix, who had rather detailed knowledge of things connected with the Way, put them off, saying, "When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case."

23 He ordered the captain to keep Sha'ul in custody, but to let him have considerable liberty and not prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.

24 After some days, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Sha'ul and listened to him as he spoke about trusting in the Messiah Yeshua.

25 But when Sha'ul began to discuss righteousness, self-control and the coming Judgment, Felix became frightened and said, "For the time being, go away! I will send for you when I get a chance."

26 At the same time, he hoped that Sha'ul would offer him a bribe; so he sent for him rather often and kept talking with him.

27 After two years, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; but because Felix wanted to grant the Judeans a favor, he left Sha'ul still a prisoner.

Acts 25

1 Three days after Festus had entered the province, he went up from Caesarea to Yerushalayim.

2 There the head cohanim and the Judean leaders informed him of the case against Sha'ul, and they asked him

3 to do them the favor of having the man sent to Yerushalayim. (They had plotted to have him ambushed and killed en route.)

4 Festus replied that Sha'ul was being kept under guard in Caesarea, and that he was about to go there shortly himself.

5 "So," he said, "let competent men among you come down with me and press charges against the man, if he has done something wrong."

6 After staying with them at most eight or ten days, Festus went down to Caesarea; and on the following day, he took his seat in court and ordered Sha'ul to be brought in.

7 When he arrived, the Judeans who had come down from Yerushalayim stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him which they could not prove.

8 In reply, Sha'ul said, "I have committed no offense- not against the Torah to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple, and not against the Emperor."

9 But Festus, wanting to do the Judeans a favor, asked Sha'ul, "Would you be willing to go up to Yerushalayim and be tried before me there on these charges?"

10 Sha'ul replied, "I am standing right now in the court of the Emperor, and this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Judeans, as you very well know.

11 If I am a wrongdoer, if I have done something for which I deserve to die, then I am ready to die. But if there is nothing to these charges which they are bringing against me, no one can give me to them just to grant a favor! I appeal to the Emperor!"

12 Then Festus, after talking with his advisers, answered, "You have appealed to the Emperor; you will go to the Emperor!"

13 After some days, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

14 Since they were staying on there for some time, Festus had the opportunity to acquaint the king with Sha'ul's situation. "There is a man here," he said, "who was left behind in custody by Felix.

15 When I was in Yerushalayim, the head cohanim and the elders of the Judeans informed me about him and asked me to pronounce judgment against him.

16 My answer to them was that it is not the custom with Romans to give up an accused man just to grant a favor, before he has met his accusers face to face and had the opportunity to defend himself against the charge.

17 So when they arrived here with me, I did not delay, but took my seat in court the next day and ordered the man brought in.

18 "When the accusers stood up, instead of charging him with some serious crime as I had expected,

19 they disputed with him about certain points of their own religion, and particularly about somebody called Yeshua, who had died, but who Sha'ul claimed was alive.

20 Being at a loss as to how to investigate such questions, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Yerushalayim and be tried on these matters there.

21 But since Sha'ul appealed to be kept in custody and have his case decided by His Imperial Majesty, I ordered him held until I could send him to the Emperor."

22 Agrippa said to Festus, "I myself have been wanting to hear the man." "Tomorrow," he replied, "You will hear him."

23 So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with much pageantry; they entered the audience room accompanied by military commanders and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Sha'ul was brought in.

24 Festus said, "King Agrippa and all of you here with us, do you see this man? The whole Judean community has complained to me about him both in Yerushalayim and here, crying that he shouldn't be allowed to remain alive.

25 But I discovered that he had done nothing that deserves a death sentence. Now when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

26 However, I have nothing specific to write to His Majesty about him. This is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa- so that after we have examined him, I might have something to write.

27 It seems irrational to me to send a prisoner without also indicating what the charges against him are."

Acts 26

1 Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "You have permission to speak on your own behalf." Then Sha'ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

2 "King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by Jews,

3 because you are so well informed about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 "So then! All Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Yerushalayim.

5 They have known me for a long time; and if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion- that is, I have lived as a Parush.

6 How ironic it is that I stand on trial here because of my hope in the promise made to our fathers!

7 It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews!

8 Why do you people consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

9 "I used to think it was my duty to do all I could to combat the name of Yeshua from Natzeret;

10 and in Yerushalayim I did so. After receiving authority from the head cohanim, I myself threw many of God's people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

11 Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them, I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.

12 "On one such occasion, I was traveling to Dammesek with the full authority and power of the head cohanim.

13 I was on the road, and it was noon, your Majesty, when I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions.

14 We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, 'Sha'ul! Sha'ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It's hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!'

15 I said, 'Who are you, sir?' and the Lord answered, 'I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me!

16 But get up, and stand on your feet! I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve and bear witness to what you have already seen of me, and to what you will see when I appear to you in the future.

17 I will deliver you from the People and from the Goyim. I am sending you

18 to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to God, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in me.'

19 "So, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven!

20 On the contrary, I announced first in Dammesek, then in Yerushalayim and throughout Y'hudah, and also to the Goyim, that they should turn from their sins to God and then do deeds consistent with that repentance.

21 It was because of these things that Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me.

22 However, I have had God's help; so to this day, I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what both the prophets and Moshe said would happen-

23 that the Messiah would die, and that he, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the People and the Goyim."

24 But just as he reached this point in his defense, Festus shouted at the top of his voice, "Sha'ul, you're out of your mind! So much learning is driving you crazy!"

25 But Sha'ul said, "No, I am not 'crazy,' Festus, your Excellency; on the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity.

26 For the king understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that none of these things have been hidden from him. After all, they didn't happen in some back alley.

27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe!"

28 Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "In this short time, you're trying to convince me to become Messianic?"

29 Sha'ul replied, "Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!"

30 Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others sitting with them.

31 After they had left, they said to one another, "This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison."

32 And Agrippa said to Festus, "If he hadn't appealed to the Emperor, he could have been released."

Acts 27

1 Once it had been decided that we should set sail for Italy, they handed Sha'ul and some other prisoners over to an officer of the Emperor's Regiment named Julius.

2 We embarked in a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.

3 The next day, we landed at Tzidon; and Julius considerately allowed Sha'ul to go visit his friends and receive what he needed.

4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed close to the sheltered side of Cyprus because the winds were against us,

5 then across the open sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia; and so we reached Myra in Lycia.

6 There the Roman officer found an Alexandrian vessel sailing to Italy and put us aboard.

7 For a number of days we made little headway, and we arrived off Cnidus only with difficulty. The wind would not let us continue any farther along the direct route; so we ran down along the sheltered side of Crete from Cape Salmone;

8 and, continuing to struggle on, hugging the coast, we reached a place called Pleasant Harbor, near the town of Lasea.

9 Since much time had been lost, and continuing the voyage was risky, because it was already past Yom-Kippur, Sha'ul advised them,

10 "Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be a catastrophe, not only with huge losses to the cargo and the ship but with loss of our lives as well."

11 However, the officer paid more attention to the pilot and the ship's owner than to what Sha'ul said.

12 Moreover, since the harbor was not well suited to sitting out the winter, the majority reached the decision to sail on from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, another harbor in Crete, and wintering there, where it is protected from the southwest and northwest winds.

13 When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they had their goal within grasp; so they raised the anchor and started coasting by Crete close to shore.

14 But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon.

15 The ship was caught up and unable to face the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.

16 As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat.

17 They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting.

18 But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison non-essentials;

19 and the third day, they threw the ship's sailing equipment overboard with their own hands.

20 For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, while the storm continued to rage, until gradually all hope of survival vanished.

21 It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha'ul stood up in front of them and said, "You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss.

22 But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life- only the ship will be lost.

23 For this very night, there stood next to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve.

24 He said, 'Don't be afraid, Sha'ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.'

25 So, men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told will come true.

26 Nevertheless, we have to run aground on some island."

27 It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land.

28 So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet.

29 Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

30 At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship- they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow.

31 Sha'ul said to the officer and the soldiers, "Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved."

32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.

33 Just before daybreak, Sha'ul urged them all to eat, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing.

34 Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head."

35 When he had said this, he took bread, said the b'rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat.

36 With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves.

37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship.

38 After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.

39 When day broke, they didn't recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.

40 So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.

41 But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.

42 At this point the soldiers' thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape.

43 But the officer, wanting to save Sha'ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore,

44 and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.

Acts 28

1 After our escape, we learned that the island was called Malta.

2 Its people showed extraordinary kindness- it was cold and it had started to rain, so they lit a bonfire and welcomed us all.

3 Sha'ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand.

4 The islanders saw the creature hanging from Sha'ul's hand and said to one another, "This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live."

5 But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

6 They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing that nothing amiss was happening to him, they reversed their opinion and said he was a god.

7 Nearby were lands belonging to the governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us in a friendly manner and put us up for three days.

8 Now it so happened that Publius' father was lying in bed, sick with fever attacks and dysentery. Sha'ul went in to him, prayed, placed his hands on him and healed him.

9 After this happened, the rest of those on the island who had ailments came and were healed.

10 They heaped honors on us; and when the time came for us to sail, they provided the supplies we needed.

11 After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called "Twin Gods," which had passed the winter at the island.

12 We landed at Syracuse and stayed three days.

13 From there, we arrived at Rhegium by tacking; but after one day, a south wind sprang up; so we made it to Puteoli the second day.

14 There we found brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went on toward Rome.

15 The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha'ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

16 And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha'ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.

17 After three days Sha'ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: "Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans.

18 They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence.

19 But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor- not that I had any charge to make against my own people.

20 This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra'el that I have this chain around me."

21 They said to him, "We have not received any letters about you from Y'hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you.

22 But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it."

23 So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua.

24 Some were convinced by what he said,

25 while others refused to believe. So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha'ul had made one final statement: "The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha'yahu the prophet,

26 'Go to this people and say, "You will keep on hearing but never understand, and you will keep on seeing but never perceive,

27 because the heart of this people has grown thick- with their ears they barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, for fear that they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and do t'shuvah, so that I could heal them."'

28 Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Goyim, and they will listen!"

29 *

30 Sha'ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him,

31 openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.