19
Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance.
20
All this took about 450 years. “After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet.
21
Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.
22
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’
23
“And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!
24
Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized.
25
As John was finishing his ministry he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’
26
“Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us!
27
The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath.
28
They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
29
“When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.