When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, &#8220;Men of Israel,<n id="1" /> why are you amazed at this? Why<n id="2" /> do you stare at us as if we had made this man<n id="3" /> walk by our own power or piety?

After threatening them further, they released them, for they could not find how to punish them on account of the people, because they were all praising<n id="1" /> God for what had happened.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against<n id="1" /> your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,<n id="2" />

Peter then told her, &#8220;Why have you agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out!&#8221;

saying, &#8220;We gave<n id="1" /> you strict orders<n id="2" /> not to teach in this name.<n id="3" /> Look,<n id="4" /> you have filled Jerusalem<n id="5" /> with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man&#8217;s blood<n id="6" /> on us!&#8221;

And Saul agreed completely with killing<n id="1" /> him.p><t /><p class="bodytext">Now on that day a great<n id="2" /> persecution began<n id="3" /> against the church in Jerusalem,<n id="4" /> and all<n id="5" /> except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions<n id="6" /> of Judea and Samaria.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then an angel of the Lord<n id="1" /> said to Philip,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Get up and go south<n id="3" /> on the road that goes down from Jerusalem<n id="4" /> to Gaza.&#8221; (This is a desert<n id="5" /> road.)<n id="6" />

So<n id="1" /> he got up<n id="2" /> and went. There<n id="3" /> he met<n id="4" /> an Ethiopian eunuch,<n id="5" /> a court official of Candace,<n id="6" /> queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He<n id="7" /> had come to Jerusalem to worship,<n id="8" />

Now the passage of scripture the man<n id="1" /> was reading was this:p> <p class="otpoetry">&#8220;<b><i>He was led like a sheep to slaughter,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>so he didi>b><n id="2" /> <i><b>not open his mouthb>.i>p>

Then the Lord told him, &#8220;Get up and go to the street called &#8216;Straight,&#8217;<n id="1" /> and at Judas&#8217; house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,

All<n id="1" /> who heard him were amazed and were saying, &#8220;Is this not<n id="2" /> the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging<n id="3" /> those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners<n id="4" /> to the chief priests?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Now while Peter was puzzling over<n id="1" /> what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon&#8217;s house was<n id="2" /> and approached<n id="3" /> the gate.

Therefore if God<n id="1" /> gave them the same gift<n id="2" /> as he also gave us after believing<n id="3" /> in the Lord Jesus Christ,<n id="4" /> who was I to hinder<n id="5" /> God?&#8221;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen<n id="1" /> went as far as<n id="2" /> Phoenicia,<n id="3" /> Cyprus,<n id="4" /> and Antioch,<n id="5" /> speaking the message<n id="6" /> to no one but Jews.

One of them, named Agabus, got up<n id="1" /> and predicted<n id="2" /> by the Spirit that a severe<n id="3" /> famine<n id="4" /> was about to come over the whole inhabited world.<n id="5" /> (This<n id="6" /> took place during the reign of Claudius.)<n id="7" />

<p class="bodytext">Now Herod<n id="1" /> was having an angry quarrel<n id="2" /> with the people of Tyre<n id="3" /> and Sidon.<n id="4" /> So they joined together<n id="5" /> and presented themselves before him. And after convincing<n id="6" /> Blastus, the king&#8217;s personal assistant,<n id="7" /> to help them,<n id="8" /> they asked for peace,<n id="9" /> because their country&#8217;s food supply was provided by the king&#8217;s country.

Now<n id="1" /> look, the hand of the Lord is against<n id="2" /> you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!&#8221; Immediately mistiness<n id="3" /> and darkness came over<n id="4" /> him, and he went around seeking people<n id="5" /> to lead him by the hand.

But the Jews incited<n id="1" /> the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out<n id="2" /> of their region.

So they stayed there<n id="1" /> for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified<n id="2" /> to the message<n id="3" /> of his grace, granting miraculous signs<n id="4" /> and wonders to be performed through their hands.

She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed,<n id="1" /> and turned<n id="2" /> and said to the spirit, &#8220;I command you in the name of Jesus Christ<n id="3" /> to come out of her!&#8221; And it came out of her at once.<n id="4" />