16
So Paul stood up, and
1motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel and
2you who fear God, listen.
17
3The God of this people Israel
4chose our fathers and
5made the people great
6during their stay in the land of Egypt, and
7with uplifted arm he led them out of it.
18
And for about
8forty years
9he put up with them in the wilderness.
19
And
10after destroying
11seven nations in the land of Canaan,
12he gave them their land as an inheritance.
20
All this took about 450 years. And after that
13he gave them judges until
14Samuel the prophet.
21
Then
15they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul
16the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
22
And
17when he had removed him,
18he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said,
19'I have found in David the son of Jesse
20a man after my heart,
21who will do all my will.'
23
22Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel
23a Savior, Jesus,
24as he promised.
24
Before his coming,
25John had proclaimed
26a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
25
And as John was finishing his course,
27he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
26
"Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you
28who fear God, to us has been sent
29the message of
30this salvation.
27
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because
31they did not recognize him nor understand
32the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath,
33fulfilled them by condemning him.
28
And
34though they found in him no guilt worthy of death,
35they asked Pilate to have him executed.
29
And when
36they had carried out all that was written of him,
37they took him down from
38the tree and laid him in a tomb.
30
But
39God raised him from the dead,
31
and for many days
40he appeared to those
41who had come up with him
42from Galilee to Jerusalem,
43who are now
44his witnesses to the people.
32
And we bring you the good news
45that what God promised to the fathers,
33
46this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,
47"'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'
34
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, "'I will give you
48the holy and sure blessings of David.'
35
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
49"'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.'
36
For David, after he had
50served the purpose of God in his own generation,
51fell asleep and
52was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
37
but he whom
53God raised up did not see corruption.
38
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers,
54that through this man
55forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
39
and by him
56everyone who believes is freed from everything
57from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
40
Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
41
58"'Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.'"