16 Then Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen! t 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, exalted the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty u arm. v 18 And for about 40 years He put up with them w in the wilderness; x 19 then after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, y He gave their land to them as an inheritance. 20 This all took about 450 years. After this, He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. z 21 Then they asked for a king, so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. a 22 After removing him, b He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man loyal to Me, c d who will carry out all My will.’

23 “From this man’s descendants, according to the promise, God brought the Savior, Jesus, e to Israel. f 24 Before He came to public attention, g John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. h 25 Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’ i

26 “Brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and those among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us. j 27 For the residents of Jerusalem and their rulers, since they did not recognize Him or the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled their words k by condemning Him. l 28 Though they found no grounds for the death penalty, they asked * Pilate to have Him killed. m 29 When they had fulfilled all that had been written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and put Him in a tomb. n 30 But God raised Him from the dead, o 31 and He appeared for many days to those who came with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people. p 32 And we ourselves proclaim to you the good news of the promise that was made to our ancestors. q 33 God has fulfilled this for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second Psalm:

You are My Son;

today I have become Your Father. r s t

34 Since He raised Him from the dead, never to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, I will grant you the faithful covenant blessings u made to David. v w 35 Therefore He also says in another passage, You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay. x y 36 For David, after serving his own generation in God’s plan, fell * asleep, z was buried with his fathers, and decayed. a 37 But the One God raised up did not decay. 38 Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you, b 39 and everyone who believes in Him is * justified from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses. c 40 So beware that what is said in the prophets does not happen to you:

41 Look, you scoffers,

marvel and vanish away,

because I am doing a work in your days,

a work that you will never believe,

even if someone were to explain it to you.” d e

Paul and Barnabas in Antioch

42 As they f were leaving, the people g begged that these matters be presented to them the following Sabbath. 43 After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout * proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and persuading them to continue in the grace of God. h

44 The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the message of the Lord. i 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him. j

46 Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles! k 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

I have made you

a light for the Gentiles

to bring salvation

to the ends l of the earth.” m n