"My friends, I must speak to you plainly about our famous ancestor King David. He died and was buried, and his grave is here with us to this very day.

When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do, brothers?"

Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia

After the reading from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message: "Friends, we want you to speak to the people if you have a message of encouragement for them."

"My fellow Israelites, descendants of Abraham, and all Gentiles here who worship God: it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent!

All of you, my fellow Israelites, are to know for sure that it is through Jesus that the message about forgiveness of sins is preached to you; you are to know that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free.

After a long debate Peter stood up and said, "My friends, you know that a long time ago God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the Gentiles, so that they could hear and believe.

When they had finished speaking, James spoke up: "Listen to me, my friends!

"My fellow Jews, listen to me as I make my defense before you!"

Paul looked straight at the Council and said, "My fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day."

When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, "Fellow Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!"

After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders to a meeting. When they had gathered, he said to them, "My fellow Israelites, even though I did nothing against our people or the customs that we received from our ancestors, I was made a prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him.

For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not know that he is the Savior, nor did they understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Yet they made the prophets' words come true by condemning Jesus.

And after they had done everything that the Scriptures say about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.

But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true which say that this is what must happen?"

But all this has happened in order to make come true what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures." Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given.

so that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true: "Lord, who believed the message we told? To whom did the Lord reveal his power?"

"God has blinded their eyes and closed their minds, so that their eyes would not see, and their minds would not understand, and they would not turn to me, says God, for me to heal them."

Jesus knew that by now everything had been completed; and in order to make the scripture come true, he said, "I am thirsty."

Jesus drank the wine and said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

He was a prophet, and he knew what God had promised him: God had made a vow that he would make one of David's descendants a king, just as David was.

David saw what God was going to do in the future, and so he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah when he said, 'He was not abandoned in the world of the dead; his body did not rot in the grave.'

By means of the Holy Spirit you spoke through our ancestor David, your servant, when he said, 'Why were the Gentiles furious; why did people make their useless plots?

For indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together in this city with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Jesus, your holy Servant, whom you made Messiah.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Paul had said this one thing: "How well the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your ancestors!

The spirit of the LORD speaks through me; his message is on my lips.

The Holy Spirit inspired David to say: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.'

So then, as the Holy Spirit says, "If you hear God's voice today,

do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were when they rebelled against God, as they were that day in the desert when they put him to the test.

They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow.

It would have been much better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred command that was given them.

Even my best friend, the one I trusted most, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.

If it were an enemy making fun of me, I could endure it; if it were an opponent boasting over me, I could hide myself from him.

We had intimate talks with each other and worshiped together in the Temple.

Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and the elders.

"I am not talking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the scripture must come true that says, 'The man who shared my food turned against me.'

Judas, the traitor, knew where it was, because many times Jesus had met there with his disciples.

Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward and asked them, "Who is it you are looking for?"

When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they moved back and fell to the ground.

"I have already told you that I am he," Jesus said. "If, then, you are looking for me, let these others go."