Bible texts below, as elsewhere in this site, and in the text Three Books, are taken from the NET Bible®. Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Jesus speaking to His disciples after His resurrection and just prior to His Ascension
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”
Chapter 2
Peter, concluding with a quotation from the Old Testament, explains to the crowd attending the Feast of Pentecost regarding the meaning of their miraculous hearing of the Gospel in many native languages
21 ‘And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know— 23 this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. 24 But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power.
Peter concludes his message to the crowd with the simplest expression of the Gospel, and invites them to respond in faith.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
Chapter 3
Peter defending the miraculous healing in the name of Jesus to Jewish leaders objecting to the mention of the name of Jesus.
16 And on the basis of faith in Jesus’ name, his very name has made this man—whom you see and know—strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all. 17 And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as your rulers did too. 18 But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets—that his Christ would suffer—he has fulfilled in this way. 19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. 21 This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets.
Peter closes his defense with a simple declaration of the Gospel.
26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”
Chapter 4
After Peter was warned not to speak about Jesus, he was immediately doing so again, and called again to explain his disobedience of the Jewish leaders.
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
Chapter 5
Again, after proclaiming Jesus, and doing miraculous works in His name, Peter and other Apostles were jailed by the Jewish leaders. But God led the first jailbreak and told them to keep on preaching.
19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple courts and proclaim to the people all the words of this life.” 21 When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching.
After yet another warning—and this time added by a beating—from the Jewish council not to speak of the name of Jesus, they continued to do exactly that.
42 And every day both in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Christ.
Chapter 7
Stephen, a disciple of Jesus and associate of the Apostles, is arrested and put on trial for his life because he proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection. And, so he gives his defense, beginning with Abraham and Moses, the very ones the leaders were relying upon for their authority.
32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. 33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ 35 This same Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer through the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’
Chapter 8
Philip, another disciple, is led by the Holy Spirit to speak to an Ethiopian God-fearer who had come to Jerusalem in accordance with the Law. Philip begins with the Old Testament and proclaims to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
35 So Philip started speaking, and beginning with this scripture proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.
Chapter 9
After God intervened in Saul’s persecution ambition there was a period of peace for Christians in the land of Israel.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace and thus was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church increased in numbers.
Chapter 10
Peter speaking to Cornelius the Centurion.
36 You know the message he [God] sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)—
43 About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
Chapter 12
After the martyrdom of the Apostle James, and the near-martyrdom of Peter (but for God’s intervention), Herod the Roman king of Israel himself is struck dead by an angel of the Lord.
24 But the word of God kept on increasing and multiplying.
Chapter 13
Paul, on his first missionary journey, is speaking Jewish followers of the Mosaic Law, who were holding to their justification before God because of their law-keeping.
38 Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.
Paul’s announcement after the gospel had been rejected by (most of) the Jewish followers of the Mosaic Law.
47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. 49 So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region.
Chapter 14
After God had performed a miracle by the hand of Paul—to authenticate his message of the gospel—the reaction of the pagan crowd perverted the event to incite worship of Paul as “a god” himself. (Later, as always, the crowd turned, now to the other extreme, and stoned Paul).
15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.
Chapter 15
Peter’s statement at the Jerusalem council considering the standing of Gentiles who were coming to Christian faith through the preaching of the gospel.
11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they are.”
Chapter 17
On Paul’s second missionary journey, speaking to the Jews in the synagogue in a Greek city.
3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”
Chapter 20
Paul speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus where Paul had stayed and taught for a period of three years.
28 Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. 29 I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them.
32 And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Chapter 26
Paul, speaking at his trial before the Roman king of Israel, quotes what the Lord had said to Paul at his conversion on the Damascus road.
18 to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Paul continues his defense before the Roman king, responding to the accusation of the Jews that Paul had been seeking to cause rebellion in Israel.