Day 257 of 365

¹The high priest said, "Are these things so?"

²He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.'

⁴Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.

⁵He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he still had no child.

⁶God spoke in this way: that his seed would live as foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

⁷'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.'

⁸He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹"The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,

¹⁰and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

¹³On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

¹⁵Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers,

¹⁶and they were brought back to Shechem, and placed in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷"But as the time of the promise came close which God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until there arose a different king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

¹⁹The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they would not stay alive.

²⁰At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house.

²¹When he was thrown out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

²²Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

²³But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

²⁵He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they did not understand.

²⁶"The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?'

²⁷But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

²⁹Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰"When forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came,

³²'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' Moses trembled, and dared not look.

³³The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.'

³⁵"This Moses, whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'-God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

³⁷This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.'

³⁸This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received words of life to give to us,

³⁹to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

⁴¹They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned, and abandoned them to serve the hosts of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

⁴⁴"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,

⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹'heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord; 'or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?'

⁵¹"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.

⁵²Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

⁵³You received the Law as it was ordained by angels, and did not keep it!"

⁵⁴Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

⁵⁶and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

⁵⁷But they shouted out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.

⁵⁸They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

⁶⁰He kneeled down, and shouted out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.

¹Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the church which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

²Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him.

³But Saul ravaged the church, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.

⁴Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around proclaiming the word.

⁵Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Messiah.

⁶The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.

⁷For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

⁸There was great joy in that city.

⁹But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,

¹⁰to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is that power of God which is called Great."

¹¹They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

¹²But when they believed Philip proclaiming good news concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

¹³Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.

¹⁴Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,

¹⁵who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;

¹⁶for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money,

¹⁹saying, "Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit."

²⁰But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

²¹You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

²²Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask the Lord if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity."

²⁴Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me."

²⁵They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert."

²⁷He arose and went; and behold, there was a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

²⁸He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, "Go near, and join yourself to this chariot."

³⁰Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

³¹He said, "How can I, unless someone explains it to me?" He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

³²Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation, justice was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth."

³⁴The eunuch answered Philip, "Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?"

³⁵Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him Jesus.

³⁶As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?" [

³⁷Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' He answered, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.]

³⁸He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

⁴⁰But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

¹But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³As he traveled, it happened that he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.

⁴He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

⁵He said, "Who are you, Lord?" The Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

⁶But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

⁷The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.

⁸Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

⁹He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" He said, "Behold, it's me, Lord."

¹¹The Lord said to him, "Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,

¹²and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight."

¹³But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.

¹⁴Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, "Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the sons of Israel.

¹⁶For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake."

¹⁷Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

¹⁸Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.

¹⁹He took food and was strengthened. He stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.

²⁰Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God.

²¹All who heard him were amazed, and said, "Is not this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!"

²²But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Messiah.

²³When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,

²⁴but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,

²⁵but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

²⁶When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

²⁷But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸He was with them coming in and going out in Jerusalem, proclaiming boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him.

³⁰When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him off to Tarsus.

³¹So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

³²It happened, as Peter went throughout all those parts, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

³³There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed.

³⁴Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!" Immediately he arose.

³⁵All who lived at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did.

³⁷It happened in those days that she fell sick, and died. When they had washed her, they placed her in an upper chamber.

³⁸As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to us.

³⁹Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper chamber. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter put them all out, and kneeled down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.

⁴²And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³It happened, that he stayed many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner.

¹Now there was a certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,

²a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God.

³At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him, and saying to him, "Cornelius!"

⁴He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, "What is it, Lord?" He said to him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.

⁵Now send men to Joppa, and get Simon, who is surnamed Peter.

⁶He lodges with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside."

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually.

⁸Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about noon.

¹⁰He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance.

¹¹He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,

¹²in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.

¹³A voice came to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat!"

¹⁴But Peter said, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean."

¹⁵A voice came to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean."

¹⁶This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven.

¹⁷Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood before the gate,

¹⁸and called and asked whether Simon, who was surnamed Peter, was lodging there.

¹⁹While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men seek you.

²⁰But arise, get down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them."

²¹Peter went down to the men, and said, "Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?"

²²They said, "Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears God, and well spoken of by all the Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say."

²³So he called them in and lodged them. On the next day he arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

²⁴On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends.

²⁵When it happened that Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.

²⁶But Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up! I myself am also a man."

²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together.

²⁸He said to them, "You yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.

²⁹Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?"

³⁰Cornelius said, "Four days ago until this hour, the ninth hour, I was praying in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

³¹and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God.

³²Send therefore to Joppa, and summon Simon, who is surnamed Peter. He lodges in the house of Simon a tanner, by the seaside.'

³³Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by the Lord."

³⁴And Peter opened his mouth and said, "Truly I perceive that God does not show favoritism;

³⁵but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

³⁶The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming good news of peace by Jesus Christ-he is Lord of all-

³⁷that spoken word you yourselves know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

³⁸even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹We are witnesses of everything he did both in the countryside of Judea, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.

⁴⁰God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed,

⁴¹not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.

⁴³All the prophets testify about him, that through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins."

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word.

⁴⁵They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.

⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,

⁴⁷"Can any man forbid the water, that these who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we should not be baptized?"

⁴⁸He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.