| Holy Bible, The New Living Translation | |
| Book of Acts |
Chapter 6 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio 
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- 6:1 - [In Context]
- But as the believers F23 rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
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- 6:2 - [In Context]
- So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers."We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program," they said.
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- 6:3 - [In Context]
- "Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business.
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- 6:4 - [In Context]
- Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word."
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- 6:5 - [In Context]
- This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian).
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- 6:6 - [In Context]
- These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
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- 6:7 - [In Context]
- God's message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
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- 6:8 - [In Context]
- Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.
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- 6:9 - [In Context]
- But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.
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- 6:10 - [In Context]
- None of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke.
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- 6:11 - [In Context]
- So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God."
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- 6:12 - [In Context]
- Naturally, this roused the crowds, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. F24
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- 6:13 - [In Context]
- The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses.
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- 6:14 - [In Context]
- We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
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- 6:15 - [In Context]
- At this point everyone in the council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel's.
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| Chapter 8 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 8:1 - [In Context]
- Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria.
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- 8:2 - [In Context]
- (Some godly men came and buried Stephen with loud weeping.)
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- 8:3 - [In Context]
- Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail.
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- 8:4 - [In Context]
- But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.
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- 8:5 - [In Context]
- Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah.
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- 8:6 - [In Context]
- Crowds listened intently to what he had to say because of the miracles he did.
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- 8:7 - [In Context]
- Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed.
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- 8:8 - [In Context]
- So there was great joy in that city.
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- 8:9 - [In Context]
- A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, claiming to be someone great.
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- 8:10 - [In Context]
- The Samaritan people, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as "the Great One – the Power of God."
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- 8:11 - [In Context]
- He was very influential because of the magic he performed.
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- 8:12 - [In Context]
- But now the people believed Philip's message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.
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- 8:13 - [In Context]
- Then Simon himself believed and was baptized. He began following Philip wherever he went, and he was amazed by the great miracles and signs Philip performed.
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- 8:14 - [In Context]
- When the apostles back in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's message, they sent Peter and John there.
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- 8:15 - [In Context]
- As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit.
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- 8:16 - [In Context]
- The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
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- 8:17 - [In Context]
- Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
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- 8:18 - [In Context]
- When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given when the apostles placed their hands upon people's heads, he offered money to buy this power.
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- 8:19 - [In Context]
- "Let me have this power, too," he exclaimed, "so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!"
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- 8:20 - [In Context]
- But Peter replied, "May your money perish with you for thinking God's gift can be bought!
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- 8:21 - [In Context]
- You can have no part in this, for your heart is not right before God.
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- 8:22 - [In Context]
- Turn from your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,
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- 8:23 - [In Context]
- for I can see that you are full of bitterness and held captive by sin."
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- 8:24 - [In Context]
- "Pray to the Lord for me," Simon exclaimed, "that these terrible things won't happen to me!"
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- 8:25 - [In Context]
- After testifying and preaching the word of the Lord in Samaria, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem. And they stopped in many Samaritan villages along the way to preach the Good News to them, too.
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- 8:26 - [In Context]
- As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south F38 down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza."
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- 8:27 - [In Context]
- So he did, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the queen of Ethiopia. F39 The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
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- 8:28 - [In Context]
- and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
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- 8:29 - [In Context]
- The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage."
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- 8:30 - [In Context]
- Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah; so he asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"
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- 8:31 - [In Context]
- The man replied, "How can I, when there is no one to instruct me?" And he begged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
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- 8:32 - [In Context]
- The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.
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- 8:33 - [In Context]
- He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." F40
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- 8:34 - [In Context]
- The eunuch asked Philip, "Was Isaiah talking about himself or someone else?"
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- 8:35 - [In Context]
- So Philip began with this same Scripture and then used many others to tell him the Good News about Jesus.
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- 8:36 - [In Context]
- As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?" F41
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- 8:37 - [In Context]
- F143
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- 8:38 - [In Context]
- He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
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- 8:39 - [In Context]
- When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.
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- 8:40 - [In Context]
- Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the city of Azotus! He preached the Good News there and in every city along the way until he came to Caesarea.
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| Chapter 11 - Read Chapter - Click the Play Button for Chapter Audio
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- 11:1 - [In Context]
- Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers F52 in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.
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- 11:2 - [In Context]
- But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish believers F53 criticized him.
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- 11:3 - [In Context]
- "You entered the home of Gentiles F54 and even ate with them!" they said.
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- 11:4 - [In Context]
- Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.
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- 11:5 - [In Context]
- "One day in Joppa," he said, "while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.
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- 11:6 - [In Context]
- When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of small animals, wild animals, reptiles, and birds that we are not allowed to eat.
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- 11:7 - [In Context]
- And I heard a voice say, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.'
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- 11:8 - [In Context]
- "'Never, Lord,' I replied. 'I have never eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. F55 '
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- 11:9 - [In Context]
- "But the voice from heaven came again, 'If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't.' F56
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- 11:10 - [In Context]
- "This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.
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- 11:11 - [In Context]
- Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying.
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- 11:12 - [In Context]
- The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry about their being Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon arrived at the home of the man who had sent for us.
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- 11:13 - [In Context]
- He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, 'Send messengers to Joppa to find Simon Peter.
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- 11:14 - [In Context]
- He will tell you how you and all your household will be saved!'
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- 11:15 - [In Context]
- "Well, I began telling them the Good News, but just as I was getting started, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.
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- 11:16 - [In Context]
- Then I thought of the Lord's words when he said, 'John baptized with F57 water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
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- 11:17 - [In Context]
- And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?"
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- 11:18 - [In Context]
- When the others heard this, all their objections were answered and they began praising God. They said, "God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of turning from sin and receiving eternal life."
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- 11:19 - [In Context]
- Meanwhile, the believers who had fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the Good News, but only to Jews.
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- 11:20 - [In Context]
- However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to Gentiles F58 about the Lord Jesus.
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- 11:21 - [In Context]
- The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.
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- 11:22 - [In Context]
- When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
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- 11:23 - [In Context]
- When he arrived and saw this proof of God's favor, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.
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- 11:24 - [In Context]
- Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And large numbers of people were brought to the Lord.
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- 11:25 - [In Context]
- Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to find Saul.
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- 11:26 - [In Context]
- When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching great numbers of people. (It was there at Antioch that the believers F59 were first called Christians.)
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- 11:27 - [In Context]
- During this time, some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.
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- 11:28 - [In Context]
- One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)
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- 11:29 - [In Context]
- So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters F60 in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.
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- 11:30 - [In Context]
- This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.
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FOOTNOTES:
F23: Greek disciples; also in 6:2, 7.
F24: Greek Sanhedrin; also in 6:15.
F38: Or Go at noon.
F39: Greek under the Candace, the queen of Ethiopia.
F40: Isa 53:7-8.
F41: Some manuscripts add verse 37, "You can," Philip answered, "if you believe with all your heart." And the eunuch replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
F52: Greek brothers.
F53: Greek those of the circumcision.
F54: Greek of uncircumcised men.
F55: Greek anything common or unclean.
F56: Greek `What God calls clean you must not call unclean.'
F57: Or in; also in 11:16b.
F58: Greek the Greeks; other manuscripts read the Hellenists.
F59: Greek disciples; also in 11:29.
F60: Greek the brothers.
F143: Some manuscripts add "You can," Philip answered, "if you believe with all your heart." And the eunuch replied, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
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