<p class="otpoetry">&#8216;<b><i>Heaven is my throne,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><i><b>and earth is the footstool for my feetb>.i>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>or what is my resting place?i>b><n id="1" />p>

Which of the prophets did your ancestors<n id="1" /> not persecute?<n id="2" /> They<n id="3" /> killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One,<n id="4" /> whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!<n id="5" />

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.

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>

and requested letters from him to the synagogues<n id="1" /> in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way,<n id="2" /> either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners<n id="3" /> to Jerusalem.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> the church throughout Judea, Galilee,<n id="2" /> and Samaria experienced<n id="3" /> peace and thus was strengthened.<n id="4" /> Living<n id="5" /> in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church<n id="6" /> increased in numbers.p>

Cornelius<n id="1" /> replied,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Four days ago at this very hour, at three o&#8217;clock in the afternoon,<n id="3" /> I was praying in my house, and suddenly<n id="4" /> a man in shining clothing stood before me

On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial,<n id="1" /> Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while<n id="2" /> guards in front of the door were keeping watch<n id="3" /> over the prison.

When<n id="1" /> Peter came to himself, he said, &#8220;Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued<n id="2" /> me from the hand<n id="3" /> of Herod<n id="4" /> and from everything the Jewish people<n id="5" /> were expecting to happen.&#8221;p>

When she recognized Peter&#8217;s voice, she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate, but ran back in and told<n id="1" /> them<n id="2" /> that Peter was standing at the gate.

He motioned to them<n id="1" /> with his hand to be quiet and then related<n id="2" /> how the Lord had brought<n id="3" /> him out of the prison. He said, &#8220;Tell James and the brothers these things,&#8221; and then he left and went to another place.<n id="4" />p>

<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.

When the meeting of the synagogue<n id="1" /> had broken up,<n id="2" /> many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes<n id="3" /> followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading<n id="4" /> them<n id="5" /> to continue<n id="6" /> in the grace of God.p>

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.

So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia<n id="1" /> and Samaria, they were relating at length<n id="2" /> the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy<n id="3" /> to all the brothers.

But when her owners<n id="1" /> saw their hope of profit<n id="2" /> was gone, they seized<n id="3" /> Paul and Silas and dragged<n id="4" /> them into the marketplace before the authorities.

When the jailer woke up<n id="1" /> and saw the doors of the prison standing open,<n id="2" /> he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,<n id="3" /> because he assumed<n id="4" /> the prisoners had escaped.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica<n id="1" /> heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God<n id="2" /> in Berea,<n id="3" /> they came there too, inciting<n id="4" /> and disturbing<n id="5" /> the crowds.