Acts 13:16–25

¹⁶Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand^c and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! ¹⁷The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country;^{d 18}for about forty years he endured their conduct^ae in the wilderness;^{f 19}and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan,^g giving their land to his people^h as their inheritance.^{i 20}All this took about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges^j until the time of Samuel the prophet.^{k 21}Then the people asked for a king,^l and he gave them Saul^m son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,ⁿ who ruled forty years. ²²After removing Saul,^o he made David their king.^p God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;^q he will do everything I want him to do.’^r

²³“From this man’s descendants^s God has brought to Israel the Savior^t Jesus,^u as he promised.^{v 24}Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.^{w 25}As John was completing his work,^x he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for.^y But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’^z