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The High Priest asked Stephen, "Is this true?"
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Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia
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and said to him, 'Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.'
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And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live.
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God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children.
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This is what God said to him: 'Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years.
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But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.'
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Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
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"Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him
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and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household.
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Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food,
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and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there.
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On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family.
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So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt.
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Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died.
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Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.
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"When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger.
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At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt.
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He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.
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It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months,
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and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
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He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
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"When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated.
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He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him.
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(He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)
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The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. 'Listen, men,' he said, 'you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?'
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But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?' he asked.
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'Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'
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When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
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"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
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Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:
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'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.
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The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
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I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.'
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"Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?' they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.
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He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.
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Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, 'God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.'
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He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
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"But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.
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So they said to Aaron, 'Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'
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It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made.
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So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'People of Israel! It was not to me that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals for forty years in the desert.
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It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried, and the image of Rephan, your star god; they were idols that you had made to worship. And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'
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"Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown.
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Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David.
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He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
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But it was Solomon who built him a house.
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"But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
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'Heaven is my throne, says the Lord, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? Where is the place for me to live in?
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Did not I myself make all these things?'
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"How stubborn you are!" Stephen went on to say. "How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit!
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Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.
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You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels---yet you have not obeyed it!"
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As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger.
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But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God.
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"Look!" he said. "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!"
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With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once,
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threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul.
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They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
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He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died.
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And Saul approved of his murder. That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria.
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Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.
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But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.
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The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message.
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Philip went to the principal city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there.
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The crowds paid close attention to what Philip said, as they listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed.
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Evil spirits came out from many people with a loud cry, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.
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So there was great joy in that city.
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A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great,
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and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. "He is that power of God known as 'The Great Power,' " they said.
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They paid this attention to him because for such a long time he had astonished them with his magic.
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But when they believed Philip's message about the good news of the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
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Simon himself also believed; and after being baptized, he stayed close to Philip and was astounded when he saw the great wonders and miracles that were being performed.
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The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had received the word of God, so they sent Peter and John to them.
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When they arrived, they prayed for the believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
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For the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
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Simon saw that the Spirit had been given to the believers when the apostles placed their hands on them. So he offered money to Peter and John,
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and said, "Give this power to me too, so that anyone I place my hands on will receive the Holy Spirit."
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But Peter answered him, "May you and your money go to hell, for thinking that you can buy God's gift with money!
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You have no part or share in our work, because your heart is not right in God's sight.
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Repent, then, of this evil plan of yours, and pray to the Lord that he will forgive you for thinking such a thing as this.
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For I see that you are full of bitter envy and are a prisoner of sin."
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Simon said to Peter and John, "Please pray to the Lord for me, so that none of these things you spoke of will happen to me."
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After they had given their testimony and proclaimed the Lord's message, Peter and John went back to Jerusalem. On their way they preached the Good News in many villages of Samaria.
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An angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get ready and go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This road is not used nowadays.)
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So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
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The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to that carriage and stay close to it."
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Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He asked him, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
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The official replied, "How can I understand unless someone explains it to me?" And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him.
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The passage of scripture which he was reading was this: "He was like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered, like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off. He did not say a word.
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He was humiliated, and justice was denied him. No one will be able to tell about his descendants, because his life on earth has come to an end."
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The official asked Philip, "Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?"
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Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus.
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As they traveled down the road, they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, "Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?"
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The official ordered the carriage to stop, and both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
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When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy.
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Philip found himself in Azotus; he went on to Caesarea, and on the way he preached the Good News in every town.
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In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest
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and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.
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As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him.
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He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?"
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"Who are you, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you persecute," the voice said.
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"But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do."
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The men who were traveling with Saul had stopped, not saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone.
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Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but could not see a thing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
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For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.
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There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him, "Ananias!" "Here I am, Lord," he answered.
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The Lord said to him, "Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,
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and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again."
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Ananias answered, "Lord, many people have told me about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem.
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And he has come to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who worship you."
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The Lord said to him, "Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel.
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And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake."
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So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and placed his hands on him. "Brother Saul," he said, "the Lord has sent me---Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
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At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized;
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and after he had eaten, his strength came back. Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in Damascus.
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He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.
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All who heard him were amazed and asked, "Isn't he the one who in Jerusalem was killing those who worship that man Jesus? And didn't he come here for the very purpose of arresting those people and taking them back to the chief priests?"
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But Saul's preaching became even more powerful, and his proofs that Jesus was the Messiah were so convincing that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.
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After many days had gone by, the Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul,
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but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
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But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
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Saul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they would not believe that he was a disciple, and they were all afraid of him.
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Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
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And so Saul stayed with them and went all over Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
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He also talked and disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him.
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When the believers found out about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
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And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.
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Peter traveled everywhere, and on one occasion he went to visit God's people who lived in Lydda.
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There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had not been able to get out of bed for eight years.
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"Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus Christ makes you well. Get up and make your bed." At once Aeneas got up.
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All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
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In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning "a deer.") She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor.
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At that time she got sick and died. Her body was washed and laid in a room upstairs.
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Joppa was not very far from Lydda, and when the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him with the message, "Please hurry and come to us."
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So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded around him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive.
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Peter put them all out of the room, and knelt down and prayed; then he turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
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Peter reached over and helped her get up. Then he called all the believers, including the widows, and presented her alive to them.
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The news about this spread all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
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Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with a tanner of leather named Simon.
