16
Paulstood up, and 1motioning with his handsaid, "Men of Israel, and 2 you who fearGod, listen:
17
"The God of thispeopleIsrael3chose our fathers and 4made the peoplegreatduring their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an upliftedarm5He led them out from it.
18
"For 6a period of aboutfortyyears7He put up with them in the wilderness.
19
"8When He had destroyed9sevennations in the land of Canaan, He 10distributed their land as an inheritance -all of which took 11aboutfourhundred and fiftyyears.
20
"Afterthesethings He 12gave them judgesuntil13Samuel the prophet.
21
"Then they 14asked for a king, and Godgave them 15Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for fortyyears.
22
"After He had 16removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He alsotestified and said, '17I HAVE FOUNDDAVID the son of Jesse, A MANAFTER MY HEART, who will doall My will.'
23
"18From the descendants of thisman, 19according to promise, God has brought to Israel20a Savior, Jesus,
24
after 21John had proclaimedbefore His coming* a 22baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
25
"And whileJohn23was completing his course, 24he kept saying, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is comingafter me the sandals of whosefeet I am not worthy to untie.'
26
"Brethren*, sons of Abraham'sfamily, and thoseamong you who fearGod, to us the message of 25thissalvation has been sent.
27
"For those who live in Jerusalem, and their 26rulers, 27recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of 28the prophets which are 29readeverySabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him.
28
"And though they foundnoground for putting Him to death, they 30askedPilate that He be executed.
29
"When they had 31carried out all that was writtenconcerning Him, 32they took Him down from 33the cross and 34laid Him in a tomb.
31
and for manydays36He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very oneswho are now37His witnesses to the people.
32
"And we 38preach to you the goodnews of 39the promisemade to the fathers,
33
that God has fulfilledthis promise to our children in that He 40raised up Jesus, as it is alsowritten in the secondPsalm, '41YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'
34
"As for the fact that He 42raised Him up from the dead, nolonger to return to decay, He has spoken in thisway: '43I WILL GIVE YOU THE HOLY and SURE blessings OF DAVID.'
35
"Therefore He alsosays in another Psalm, '44YOU WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR HOLYONE TO UNDERGODECAY.'
36
"For 45David, after he had served46the purpose of God in his owngeneration, 47fellasleep, and was laidamong his fathers and underwentdecay;
38
"Therefore let it be known to you, brethren*, that 49through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
39
and through Him 50everyone who believes is freed from allthings, from which you could not be freedthrough the Law of Moses.
40
"Thereforetakeheed, so that the thingspoken of 51in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41
'52BEHOLD, YOU SCOFFERS, AND MARVEL, AND PERISH; FOR I AM ACCOMPLISHING A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, A WORKWHICH YOU WILL NEVER*BELIEVE, THOUGHSOMEONE SHOULD DESCRIBE IT TO YOU.' "