Study Desk

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,

and kept back some of the proceeds for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet.

Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

And immediately she collapsed at his feet and died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any of them.

But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy.

Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area about daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest and his associates came, they called the Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought.

"He is the One whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.

But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

And all who were sitting in the Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.

"Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

"But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.

"But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE STRANGERS IN A LAND THAT WAS NOT THEIRS, AND THEY WOULD ENSLAVE AND MISTREAT THEM FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

"And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was revealed to Pharaoh.

"Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all.

"At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father's home.