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Gentiles Hear the Good News

34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,(A) 35 but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness[a] is acceptable to him.(B) 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.(C) 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.(D) 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,(E) 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,(F) 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.(G) 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.(H) 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”(I)

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Footnotes

  1. 10.35 Or acts justly

34-36 Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It’s God’s own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you’re from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he’s doing it everywhere, among everyone.

37-38 “You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil. He was able to do all this because God was with him.

39-43 “And we saw it, saw it all, everything he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem where they killed him, hung him from a cross. But in three days God had him up, alive, and out where he could be seen. Not everyone saw him—he wasn’t put on public display. Witnesses had been carefully handpicked by God beforehand—us! We were the ones, there to eat and drink with him after he came back from the dead. He commissioned us to announce this in public, to bear solemn witness that he is in fact the One whom God destined as Judge of the living and dead. But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets.”

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