²⁷ Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

³⁶ For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus.

²⁹ And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.

¹⁸ Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter,^[a] and I stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹ The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother.

¹³ The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.