Translation:Acts

=Acts of the Apostles=

Chapter 1
In my first book, I wrote Theophlius, about all that Jesus began to do and to teach,

Up to the day He was taken up to heaven, having given commandments through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen.

To which he presented himself as living after the passion, by many proofs, appearing to them for a period of forty days, speaking of the Kingdom of God.

And while He was with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to stay in wait for the promise of the father, which He said “you heard from Me;

Because John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit, not many days afterwards.”

Therefore when they were assembled together, they asked him, and said “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?"

In reply he said to them "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father, in his own authority has placed upon things.

Yet you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will bear witness of me both in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and indeed all the way to the very ends of the Earth."

And when he had declared all these things, as they looked on he was taken up; and a cloud obscured him from their sight.

And they gazed toward heaven as he was going up, and saw standing beside themselves two men clothed in white,

Who declared "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here gazing up to heaven? This same Jesus who you have seen taken up to heaven in this way, will come again in the same way as you have seen him go into heaven."

At that time, they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the “Mount of Olives”, which is near to Jerusalem; a Sabbath days journey.

And after they had come into the city, they entered the upper room where they were staying. Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheaus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

All these men were steadfast with one accord to prayer, together the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

And in those days Peter rose up amongst the brothers, (a crowd of people about one hundred and twenty in number) and declared,

“Men and brothers, the scripture is becoming fulfilled which beforehand was spoken by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David, concerning Judas who served as a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Because he was counted among our number, and was assigned a portion of this ministry.

He then took possession of a field with the proceeds of his iniquity, and was hanged causing him to rupture and all his entrails to gush out.

And it became known to all those living in Jerusalem. So that in their own language they came to refer to the field as Aceldama, which means field of blood.

It is written in the book of Psalms, let his place of living become desolate and let no one live therein. Any may another take his episcopate.

Of those men who discipled with us during the time the Lord Jesus was with us, coming in and out among us,

Beginning with the baptism of John all the way up to the day he was taken from us, one of these must become a witness of his resurrection along with us.

And they nominated two, Joseph called Barnabas, who was surnamed Justus and Matthias.

And in prayer they said, “You Lord, who knows what is in the hearts of all men, reveal to us which of these two you shall choose,

To take a part in this ministry and apostleship, out of which Judas transgressed in order to go into his own place.”

And they all voted, and the vote fell upon Matthias, and so he came to be counted among the eleven Apostles.

Chapter 2
And when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly, out of heaven, there was a sound like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them divided tongues, which looked as if made out of fire, and sat on each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began speaking different languages, as the Spirit gave them speech.

Now there lived in Jerusalem Jews, pious men, from every nation under heaven.

When this sound was heard, a crowd gathered together and were confused, because every man heard him speak in his own language.

Now they all were astonished, and were amazed, saying to one another, "Look, are not all these that speak Galileans?"

"Then how do we hear every man his own dialect, of which we were born?"

"Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and those living in Mesopotamia, in Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and the province of Asia,"

"In Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya around Cyrene, Romans who were sent back to their country of origin, both Jews and converts,"

"Cretans and Arabs; we all hear them speak in our languages the great things God did."

Now they were all astonished and bewildered, saying one to another, "What does this mean?"

Others, ridiculing, said, "These men are full of new wine."

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice, and spoke to them, "Jewish men, and all those who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my declarations,"

"As these are not drunk, like you suppose: it is only the third hour of the day."

"But this is that which was declared through the prophet Joel,"

"And it will happen that, in the last days, God will say, 'I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will have visions, and your old men will have dreams,'

"'And on my male and female servants I will pour out from my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy;'"

"'And I will show miracles in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke,'"

"'The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and remarkable day of the Lord comes,'"

"'And it will happen that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

"Israelite men, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man ascribed by God to you by powerful doings, miracles, and signs, which God did through him among you, as you yourselves also know,"