39i“but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found jto fight against God.”
40And they agreed with him, and when they had kcalled for the apostles land beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41So they departed from the presence of the council, mrejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for 10His name.
42And daily nin the temple, and in every house, othey did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
Acts 6
Seven Chosen to Serve
1Now in those days, awhen the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the bHellenists,1 because their widows were neglected cin the daily distribution.
2Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, d“It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
3“Therefore, brethren, eseek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this fbusiness;
4“but we gwill give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, ha man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and iPhilip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and jNicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,
6whom they set before the apostles; and kwhen they had prayed, lthey laid hands on them.
7Then mthe word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many nof the priests were obedient to the faith.
Stephen Accused of Blasphemy
8And Stephen, full of 2faith and power, did great owonders and signs among the people.
9Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen.
10And pthey were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
11qThen they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
12And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council.
13They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak 3blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;
14r“for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”
15And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.
Acts 7
Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham
1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2And he said, a“Brethren and fathers, listen: The bGod of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in cHaran,
3“and said to him, d‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’
4“Then ehe came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was fdead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.
5“And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, gHe promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.
6“But God spoke in this way: hthat his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into ibondage and oppress them four hundred years.
7j‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will kjudge,’ said God, l‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’
8m“Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; nand so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; oand Isaac begot Jacob, and pJacob begot the twelve patriarchs.
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9q“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, rsold Joseph into Egypt. sBut God was with him
10“and delivered him out of all his troubles, tand gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11u“Now a famine and great 1trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.
12v“But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13“And the wsecond time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.
14x“Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and yall his relatives to him, 2seventy-five people.
15z“So Jacob went down to Egypt; aand he died, he and our fathers.
16“And bthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in cthe tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
God Delivers Israel by Moses
17“But when dthe time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, ethe people grew and multiplied in Egypt
18“till another king farose who did not know Joseph.
19“This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, gmaking them expose their babies, so that they might not live.
20h“At this time Moses was born, and iwas well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.
21“But jwhen he was set out, kPharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.
22“And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was lmighty in words and deeds.
23m“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24“And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.
25“For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
26“And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’
27“But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, n‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28‘Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’
29o“Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he phad two sons.
30q“And when forty years had passed, an Angel 3of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.
31“When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,
32“saying, r‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look.
33s‘Then the LORD said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34“I have surely tseen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will usend you to Egypt.” ’
35“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, v‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer wby the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36x“He brought them out, after he had yshown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, zand in the Red Sea, aand in the wilderness forty years.
Israel Rebels Against God
37“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, b‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. cHim4 you shall hear.’
38d“This is he who was in the 5congregation in the wilderness with ethe Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, fthe one who received the living goracles6 to give to us,
39“whom our fathers hwould not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egy
pt,
40i“saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
41j“And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and krejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42“Then lGod turned and gave them up to worship mthe host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
n‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
43You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And oI will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
God’s True Tabernacle
44“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses pto make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45q“which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, rwhom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the sdays of David,
46t“who found favor before God and uasked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.
47v“But Solomon built Him a house.
48“However, wthe Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49‘Heavenx is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the LORD,
Or what is the place of My rest?
50Has My hand not ymade all these things?’
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51“You zstiff-necked7 and auncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52b“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of cthe Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
53d“who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54eWhen they heard these things they were 8cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55But he, fbeing full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the gglory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
56and said, “Look! hI see the heavens opened and the iSon of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
58and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And jthe witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, kreceive my spirit.”
60Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, l“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 8
Saul Persecutes the Church
1Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and athey were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and bmade great lamentation over him.
3As for Saul, che made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
Christ Is Preached in Samaria
4Therefore dthose who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
5Then ePhilip went down to 1the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.
6And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
7For funclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
8And there was great joy in that city.
The Sorcerer’s Profession of Faith
9But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously gpracticed 2sorcery in the city and hastonished the 3people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great,
10to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.”
11And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his 4sorceries for a long time.
12But when they believed Philip as he preached the things iconcerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
13Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
The Sorcerer’s Sin
14Now when the japostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,
15who, when they had come down, prayed for them kthat they might receive the Holy Spirit.
16For las yet He had fallen upon none of them. mThey had only been baptized in nthe name of the Lord Jesus.
17Then othey laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
19saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because pyou thought that qthe gift of God could be purchased with money!
21“You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your rheart is not right in the sight of God.
22“Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God sif perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
23“For I see that you are tpoisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
24Then Simon answered and said, u“Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
25So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian
(cf. Is. 53:7, 8)
26Now an angel of the Lord spoke to vPhilip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is 5desert.
27So he arose and went. And behold, wa man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and xhad come to Jerusalem to worship,
28was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
32The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
y“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
z So He opened not His mouth.
33In His humiliation His ajustice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is btaken from the earth.”
34So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”
35Then Philip opened his mouth, cand beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.
36Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. dWhat hinders me from being baptized?”
376Then Philip said, e“If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, f“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.
&n
bsp; 39Now when they came up out of the water, gthe Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.
40But Philip was found at 7Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to hCaesarea.
Acts 9
The Damascus Road: Saul Converted
(Acts 22:6–16; 26:12–18)
1Then aSaul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
2and asked bletters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
3cAs he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
4Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, dwhy are you persecuting Me?”
5And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 1It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
6So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7And ethe men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
8Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
9And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Ananias Baptizes Saul
10Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus fnamed Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”
11So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul gof Tarsus, for behold, he is praying.
12“And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
13Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, hhow much 2harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 540