Acts 13:16-37

New American Standard Bible

¹⁶Paul stood up, and ^(A)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(B)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷The God of this people Israel ^(C)chose our fathers and ^[a]^(D)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(E)He led them out from it. ¹⁸For ^(F)a period of about forty years ^(G)He put up with them in the wilderness. ¹⁹^(H)When He had destroyed ^(I)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(J)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(K)about 450 years. ²⁰After these things He ^(L)gave them judges until ^(M)Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then they ^(N)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(O)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²After He had ^(P)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(Q)I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[b]will.’ ²³^(R)From the descendants of this man, ^(S)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(T)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴after ^(U)John had proclaimed, before ^[c]His coming, a ^(V)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵And while John ^(W)was completing his course, ^(X)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“^[d]Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of ^(Y)this salvation has been sent. ²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^(Z)rulers, ^(AA)recognizing neither Him nor the ^[e]declarations of ^(AB)the prophets which are ^(AC)read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. ²⁸And though they found no grounds for putting Him to death, they ^(AD)asked Pilate that He be executed. ²⁹When they had ^(AE)carried out everything that was written concerning Him, ^(AF)they took Him down from the ^[f]^(AG)cross and ^(AH)laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰But God ^(AI)raised Him from the dead; ³¹and for many days ^(AJ)He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^(AK)His witnesses to the people. ³²And we ^(AL)preach to you the good news of ^(AM)the promise made to the fathers, ³³that God has fulfilled this promise to those of us who are the descendants by ^(AN)raising Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘^(AO)You are My Son; today I have fathered You.’ ³⁴As for the fact that He ^(AP)raised Him from the dead, never again to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘^(AQ)I will give you the holy and faithful mercies of David.’ ³⁵Therefore, He also says in another Psalm: ‘^(AR)You will not ^[g]allow Your ^[h]Holy One to ^[i]undergo decay.’ ³⁶For ^(AS)David, after he had ^[j]served God’s ^(AT)purpose in his own generation, ^(AU)fell asleep, and was ^[k]buried among his fathers and ^[l]underwent decay; ³⁷but He whom God ^(AV)raised did not ^[m]undergo decay.