⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;^(A) and you will be my witnesses^(B) in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,^(C) and to the ends of the earth.”^(D)

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying^(A) and heaped abuse^(B) on him.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first.^(C) Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.^{(D) 47} For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord;^(G) and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ The word of the Lord^(H) spread through the whole region.

¹² “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice^(A) saying to me in Aramaic,^[a](B) ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet.^(C) I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.^{(D) 17} I will rescue you^(E) from your own people and from the Gentiles.^(F) I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes^(G) and turn them from darkness to light,^(H) and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins^(I) and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’^(J)

¹⁹ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient^(K) to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ First to those in Damascus,^(L) then to those in Jerusalem^(M) and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles,^(N) I preached that they should repent^(O) and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.^{(P) 21} That is why some Jews seized me^(Q) in the temple courts and tried to kill me.^{(R) 22} But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen^(S)— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer^(T) and, as the first to rise from the dead,^(U) would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”^(V)