Study Desk

But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported,

So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death.

And so in this case, I tell you, do not take any action against these men. Leave them alone! If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear,

So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, "It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God's word in order to handle finances.

So then, friends, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter.

The whole group was pleased with the apostles' proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism.

And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.

So they bribed some men to say, "We heard him speaking against Moses and against God!"

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.

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.

So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt.

He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.

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.

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.'

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.

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.'

So there was great joy in that city.

The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had received the word of God, so they sent Peter and John to them.

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,