The Tetragrammaton  =  hwhy = YaHuWaH

h[wcwhy  = YaHuWSHuWaH 

The Acts of the Emissaries

1:1 The first book I wrote, Theophilos, concerned all that YaHuWSHuWaH began both to do and to teach,  1:2 until the day in which He was received up, after He had commanded the emissaries, those whom He had chosen through the Ruwach haQadosh. 1:3 To these He also showed Himself alive after He suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, [thus only 10 days remains from Mashiyach's ascension until the Feast of Shabuot - 40 again speaking of a transition] and speaking about the reign of YaHuWaH. 1:4 Being assembled together with them, He commanded them, “Don’t depart from Yahrushalom, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from Me. 1:5 For Yahuwchanan indeed immersed in water, but you will be immersed in the Ruwach haQadosh not many days from now.” 

 The word for ruwach, in both Greek and Hebrew, also means “Breath” or “Wind”. YaHuWSHuWaH went on ahead of us to establish the Kingdom, and sent a Wind back to draw us toward the Kingdom. We need to ride it into the Kingdom by taking the steps He reveals to us each day:

1:6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, “Our Master, are you now restoring the Reign to Ysra'al?”

Why would they ask this? Because they knew this was one of the tasks Mashiyach had to fulfill. Indeed, one reason today's Jews by and large have rejected YaHuWSHuWaH is because he did not bring the Lost Tribes back. Or did He?? He had just spent 40 days teaching them, and this was the foremost question in their minds. Almost every time He mentioned the Besorah, He associated it with the Kingdom. Some say the Kingdom simply means "YaHuWaH's rule in the hearts and minds of men." While it is certainly that, there is much more to it than that. Who is the Ysra'al spoken of here? The Jews? Not directly. YaHuWaH said He would choose one place in the Land of Ysra'al to establish such a "habitation". (Deut. 12:5) When King Shelomo built the Hekal, He recognized that this is what YaHuWaH had promised. (2 Chron. 6:2) His reign was a foretaste of the Kingdom! But Solomon allowed his foreign wives to bring idolatry into Ysra'al. YaHuWaH split Ysra'al into two kingdoms. Dawiyd's throne remained with Yahuwdah, but the name "Ysra'al" stayed with the ten tribes given to Yaroboam, who had tried to persuade Shlomoh's son Rehoboam to lighten their burdens. But Yaroboam took the liberty of setting up alternatives to the dwelling place YaHuWaH had selected. The Northern Kingdom also kept mixing religions, and walked more and more "in the laws of the nations" (2 Kings 17:8; Hos. 7:8; 8:8). They wanted to be just like the others, so they were taken from the Land and BECAME nations! Remember the prodigal's father, who had one son still at home, looking expectantly for his other son to return? At this time, Yahuwdah was still at home, safe in the sheepfold, and though YaHuWaH had forsaken Efrayim "for a moment", His heart longed to have His firstborn back! "How can I give up you up, my son?" (Hos. 11:8) Despite a long estrangement, Ysra'al's calling was still irrevocable. (Rom. 11:29) Now that Mashiyach’s work of being a Kinsman-Redeemer was completed, the Kingdom was indeed to be restored to Ysra'al. He was the one who had set them thinking this way. (v. 3) But it had to all be done in the right order:

1:7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within His own authority. (in the authority of His Person - Aramaic)

7. So He told them, “It is not yours to have knowledge of the chronology or the critical epochs which the Father has established for Himself as His Own prerogative,  ...  But notice that there are plural epochs; it may be that He established that these events had to take place on a particular feast day that He had appointed in the Torah  [SfWHofY]

 1:8 But you will receive effective Power when the Ruwach haQadosh arrives upon and becomes operative in you. You will be witnesses to Me in Yahrushalom, in all Yahuwdah and Shomeron, and to the farthest extremity of the earth.” 

He told His disciples to do what YaHuWaH had said: “Declare it to the far-off coastlands that He Who scattered Ysra'al will regather him and keep watch over him like a shepherd."   (YirmeYahuw 31:10)

1:9 When YaHuWSHuWaH had said these things, as they were looking at Him, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. 1:10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing, 1:11 who also said, “You men of Galil, why do you stand looking into the sky? This One, YaHuWSHuWaH, Who was taken away from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw Him being transferred into the skys.”   

1:12 Then they returned to Yahrushalom  from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Yahrushalom, a Shabbath day’s journey away (.57 miles).

Zech. 14:3 Then YaHuWaH will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.  14:4 His feet will stand in That Day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Yahrushalom on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split open down the middle, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

1:13 When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Kepha, Yahuwchanan, Ya'aqob, Andreos, Philippos, Th'oma, Bar-Talmay, MattihYahuw, Ya'aqob the son of Chalfai, Shim'on the Zealot, and Yahuwdah the brother of Ya'aqob. 1:14 All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Miriam the mother of YaHuWSHuWaH, and with His Brothers.

1:15 In these days, Kepha stood up in the midst of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said, 

How did one who had failed YaHuWSHuWaH so miserably less than two months before come to be a leader? Partly because YaHuWSHuWaH had foreordained this (Mat. 16:18), and allotted him three occasions to repent (Yahuw. 21:15-17), but also possibly because one who had been through the fearful experience of being out of favor and the deep regret of having seen the other side would be better able to direct others away from it. “He who is released much loves much” (Luqa 7:47) and those who are lifted from the heaps of broken pottery (see note on v. 18) and seated with nobles (Psalm 113:7) are often more appreciative than those who were always nobles.

1:16 “Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Ruwach haQadosh spoke before by the mouth of Dawiyd concerning Yehudas, who was guide to those who took YaHuWSHuWaH. 1:17 For he was numbered with us, and received his portion in this ministry. 1:18 Now these ones indeed obtained a field with the wages of the injustice, and having fallen on their face, split apart in their midsection, and all their compassion spilled out. [ZecharYahuw 11: 14].

 '"  In `Ibríyth (Hebrew), a people is referred to by a 3rd person male singular pronoun, and Yehuwdah had the same name as these people who had corrupted their own tribal name so as to not pronounce its theophoric component, "Yahuw".  MattithYahuw 27: 3-8 documents clearly show that Yehuwdah died hanging himself, and he was not the one who bought the field, but his people who also had betrayed their Master.  Therefore here the people of Yehuwdah are being equated with the man by the same name who betrayed our Master, since they also did this, denying Him and murdering Him by the hands of others. The part about falling on their face and splitting open and losing their compassions (bowels) is a ruwachual description of what happened to their now debased religion, which ceased to be our brothers (ZekharYâhuw 11:14 -- Then I chopped in two My other staff, even The One that Binds/Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Yahuwdah and Ysra'al.)

ZekarYahuw 11:12-13 prophesies that the Potter’s Field would be purchased in the Hekal of YaHuWaH, and the following verse speaks of the dividing of Yehudah from Ysra'al. This man by the name of Yehudah cut himself off from Ysra'al by executing himself in this manner (by hanging). Interestingly, the Potter’s Field was the place where broken potsherds that had already been through the fire and had burst, being thus no longer able to be reworked into something useful were discarded. (Compare Heb. 10:26-31) Yehudah apparently put himself in this category of having no hope of repentance, unlike Kepha, who went out and wept bitterly for his sin on the same night.

1:19 It became known to everyone who lived in Yahrushalom that in their language that field was called ‘Haqel-Dama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’ 1:20 For it is written in the scroll of Psalms, [69: 25 and 109: 8]:

‘May their [his] place become deserted, let there not be one dwelling in their tents. and, ‘ Let his days be few, let another take his office.’

His: in the first-cited verse, the original Hebrew says “their”. Kepha numbered Yehudah as one example of this curse, which is spoken in the context of the enemies of Dawiyd, YaHuWSHuWaH’s own ancestor. One need not be maliciously-motivated to function in the role of enemy. (Compare Mat. 16:23.) It seems Yehudah was not (but as a zealot was simply trying force YaHuWSHuWaH to stand up and defeat the Romans and take His place as King). The end result was the same.

1:21 “Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that Master YaHuWSHuWaH went in and out among us, 1:22 beginning from the immersion of Yahuwchanan, to the day that He was received up from us, of these, one must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

1:23 They put forward two, Yoseph called Bar-Tsaba [son of promise], who was given the respectful name "the just one", and MattithYahuw [gift of YaHuWaH]. 1:24 They prayed, and said, “You, Master YaHuWaH, Who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 1:25 to take part in this ministry and office of emissary from which Yehudas fell away, that he might go to his own place.” ["his own place" Of no one else in all the Scripture is it said that at death anyone went ‘to his own place.’ he is also called the "son of perdition/destruction" by Yahuwshuwah]

 1:26 They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on MattithYahuw, and he was counted in with the Eleven emissaries. [the coding of these two names put together means "The Son of promise is the gift of YaHuWaH!]

2:1 Now when the Day of the Festival of Weeks [50th day from First-fruits - Shabuot) had completely filled up, they were all with one passion in one place.

Completely filled up: Shabuoth is the “feast of weeks”, the day after the counting of a “week of weeks” (49 days) reaches its culmination, not at evening as the day begins, but in the morning when it has fully arrived. It is the first-fruits of the wheat harvest, and so symbolizes a completion of the maturing process of a crop that is used for many of the secondary offerings in the Hekal. On this feast alone, leavened loaves are brought to the Hekal as an offering. For this reason, it is only waved before the altar, not burned thereon. And indeed we see a harvest on this day. (v. 41) There is another festival of first-fruits—that of the barley harvest. It is the day in which Pharaoh was killed in the Red Sea and the Ysra'alites escaped on the other side. It is also the day YaHuWSHuWaH presented Himself to His Father as the "First Fruit". He was called the "first-fruit of those who rise from the dead." (I Cor. 15:23) Starting that day, we are instructed to count the days (the omer: the measure) until Shabuoth. (Lev. 23) With one passion: according to Strong, “a compound of two words meaning to ‘rush along’ and ‘in unison’. The image is almost musical; a number of notes are sounded which, while different, harmonize in pitch and tone. As the instruments of a great concert under the direction of a concert master”, all their gifts (see Eph. 4) were working together to bring the entire Body to readiness. That chapter is especially in season during the time leading up to Shabuoth. When they were in such agreement, YaHuWaH acted:

 2:2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the House/Hekal where they were sitting. 2:3 Divided tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 2:4 They were all filled with the Ruwach haQadosh, and were compelled to speak with different tongues clearly, as the Ruwach gave them the ability to speak.

By tradition, the Voice of YaHuWaH at Sinai divided itself into the 70 tongues then spoken on earth, so that all of mankind might understand the Torah’s redemptive message, but only Ysra'al responded. As YaHuWSHuWaH’s students were counting the days leading up to Shabuoth, the liturgy included a blessing each day, then Psalm 67 is read: "YaHuWaH, be merciful to us and bless us. Cause Your face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O YaHuWaH; let all the peoples praise You, and let the nations be glad, for You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on the earth...Then the earth shall yield her increase. YaHuWaH, our own Elohim, shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him." 

 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Yahrushalom, Yahuwdim, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 2:6 When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 2:7 They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? 

Galileans: considered uneducated by Yehuwdim standards. YaHuWaH uses the foolish to confound the wise (1 Cor. 1:27), since it was obvious that these men were not capable of bringing this forth themselves. It clearly had to be YaHuWaH’s doing.

 2:8 How do we hear, everyone in the tongue in which we were born? 2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Yahuwdah, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 2:10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Mitsrayim, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Yahuwdim and proselytes, 2:11-12 Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of YaHuWaH!” They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, “What does this mean?” 2:13 Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with sweet wine and become drunk!”

2:14 But Kepha, standing up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Yehuwdah, and all you who dwell at Yahrushalom , let this be known to you, and listen to my words. 2:15 For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day. [9AM] 2:16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Yahuw'el.

2:17 ‘It will be in the last days, says YaHuWaH,

that I will pour out My Ruwach on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

Your young men will see visions.

Your old men will dream dreams.

2:18 Yes, and on My servants and on My handmaidens in those days,

I will pour out My Ruwach, and they will prophesy.

2:19 I will show wonders in the sky above,

and signs on the earth beneath;

blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.

2:20 The sun will be turned into darkness,

and the moon into blood,

before the great and awesome Day of Master YaHuWaH  comes.

2:21 It shall be, that whoever shall have called on the Name of YaHuWaH he shall be saved.  

 .... [For on the Mountain of Tsiyown and in Yahrushalom shall the escaped remnant be, just as YaHuWaH said, even among the survivors whom YaHuWaH is calling.”] - not quoted.  [Yahuw’el 2:28-32] The quote is from nearly the whole of chapter 3 of Yahuw'al in Hebrew (the end of chapter 2 in English). The context is the return of the scattered captives of Yahuwdah and Ysra'al. He stops the quote in mid-verse. What follows says, “for in Mt. Tsiyown and Yahrushalom, there will be deliverance, as YaHuWaH has said, as well as in the remnant whom YaHuWaH will call.” That is where this did take place, so this event is the foreshadowing of that larger one that is yet to come. The context is Ysra'al, not some new entity called the “church”. The point of this event is not to encourage others to “speak in tongues”; it is about restoring Ysra'al, most of whom are now held captive in the church. Yahuw'al says YaHuWaH will judge all nations for this. (3:2/4:2) [SforY]

2:22 “Men of Ysra'al, hear these words! YaHuWSHuWaH of Natsareth, a man approved by Aluahiym to you by mighty works of Power and wonders and signs which Aluahiym did by Him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know, 2:23 Him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of YaHuWaH, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, and you put Him to death, having nailed Him upon a stake. 2:24 But the Mighty One raised Him up, having freed Him from the cords of Sh'owl, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 2:25 For Dawiyd says concerning Him,

“I have set YaHuWaH always before Me because He is always at My right hand, I will not be shaken: Therefore My heart is glad and My Being rejoices – My body will also rest securely: Because You will not abandon My Self to Sh’ówl, You will not concede Your Kind One to see decay: You will make the Way of Life known to Me, the completion of happiness, Your Face, and pleasures eternally at Your Right Hand:” [Psalms 16: 8-11]

2:29 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch Dawiyd, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 2:30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that YaHuWaH had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body [haMashiyach - the Anointed One (Psalms 132:10)], according to the flesh, He would raise up haMashiyach to sit on his throne [Psalms 132: 11], 2:31 he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of haMashiyach, that neither was His being left in Sheol, nor did His flesh/corpse see decay. 2:32 This YaHuWSHuWaH, YaHuWaH  raised up, to which we all are witnesses. 2:33 Being therefore exalted to the right-hand-side of YaHuWaH, and having received from the Father the promise of the Ruwach haQadosh, He has poured out this, which you now see and hear. 2:34 For Dawiyd didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘YaHuWaH said to my Foundation, “Sit by My right hand-side, 2:35 until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’ [Psalms 110: 1]

2:36 “Let all the House of Ysra'al therefore know certainly that Aluahiym has made this YaHuWSHuWaH whom you hanged on a stake, both Master YaHuWaH and haMashiyach.”

(has made: meaning from YaHuWSHuWaH's birth; one of the clearest statements in the NT that YaHuWSHuWaH  had occurrences of human and Mighty-like natures co-existing within Him. The human side's total obedience to YaHuWaH contributed to Yahuwshuwah qualifying as haMashiyach, the fact that the Ruwach haQadosh (another Name for YaHuWaH), dwelled within Yahuwshuwah, also establishes Yahuwshuwah as the image of YaHuWaH - the second Adam -  who was the only other man who was in the "image" of YaHuWaH.) AENT

2:37 Now when they understood this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Kepha and the rest of the emissaries, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

2:38 Kepha said to them, “Repent and be immersed, every one of you, in the Name of the Master YaHuWaH- YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach for the washing away of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruwach haQadosh. 2:39 For the promise is to you (the near ones), and to your children, and to all those are far off, even as many as YaHuWaH our Aluahiym may call to Himself.” 2:40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse stock!”

Acts 2:38 "Shimon said to them, 'Repent and be immersed each one of you in the name of Master YaHuWaH-YaHuWSHuWaH for the remission of sins ....'    Shimon was preaching from the steps of the Temple in Yahrushalom. Just below him were hundreds of mikbah (immersion) baths. Both the steps he spoke from and the baths are visible today just outside the Western Wall. In Kepha's day immersion wasn't an act of conversion from one religion to another, but an act of purification from sin. A person repented of their sin, prayed, and then entered into the water of the mikbah to symbolize atonement. [AENT - Aramaic English New Testament pg. 308]

2:41 Then those who gladly received his Word and trusted were immersed. There were added that day about three thousand beings. 

About three thousand: the same number as those who fell in the wilderness on one day (during the golden calf incident, Ex. 32:28) This was a tikkun, or reparation, for what had been broken or torn on that day. The first fruits of the wheat harvest was on Shabuoth, with the remainder of the harvest to follow. (v. 47) These people were the first-fruits of the harvest that continued in v. 47.

2:42 They continued steadfastly in the emissaries’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. 2:43 Fear came on every being, and many wonders and signs were done through the emissaries. 2:44 All who believed were together, and had all things in common. 2:45 They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need. 2:46 Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the Hekal, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and integrity of heart,

At home: Greek, from house to house, i.e., in a different person’s home each time. This is not a basis for “house churches”, because their teaching was received in the Hekal. But eating together strengthens the ties of covenant. Integrity: Gk., simplicity or singleness; in Hebrew, the same word used to describe Ya'aqob in Gen. 25:27—complete, plain (straightforward), pure, innocent, lacking nothing.

 2:47 praising  YaHuWaH, and having favor with all the people, and everyday our Master added to the assembly those who were being delivered.

3:1 Kepha and Yahuwchanan were going up into the Hekal at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [3 PM] 3:2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the Hekal which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the Hekal. 3:3 Seeing Kepha and Yahuwchanan about to go into the Hekal, he asked to receive gifts for the needy. 3:4 Kepha, fastening his eyes on him, with Yahuchanan, said, “Stare at us.” 3:5 He stared at them, expecting to receive something from them. 3:6 But Kepha said, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach of Natsareth, get up and walk!” 3:7 He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.  3:8-11 Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the Hekal, walking, leaping, and praising YaHuWaH.  All the people saw him walking and praising YaHuWaH.  They recognized him, that he was the vagrant who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the Hekal. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 3:11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Kepha and Yahuwchanan, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Shlomoh’s, greatly wondering.

3:12 When Kepha saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Ysra'al, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or reverence we had made him walk? 3:13 The Mighty Ones of Abraham, Yitshaq, and Ya'aqob, the Mighty Ones of our Fathers, has esteemed His Servant YaHuWSHuWaH, Whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release Him. 3:14 But you denied the Qadosh and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, [He did not try to flatter his audience into listening to him!]

 3:15 and killed the Prince of Life, whom the Mighty One raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses. 

3:16 By belief in His Name, He has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the belief which is through Him has given him this perfect robustness in the presence of you all.

Robustness: from a word for fatness or richness and related to the word for newness or (re-) creation; Greek, complete soundness, unimpaired health. It was as if he had been created again!

3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 3:18 But the things which YaHuWaH announced by the mouth of all His prophets, that His Anointed-One would bear chastisement, He has thus fulfilled.

Bear: or be burdened or laden with. The great news is that the King they had killed was not dead anymore. They could now change their views about Him and acknowledge His authority, which the prophets had foretold. This is how YaHuWaH did what He had said He would do. He points them back to the prophets who had all taught about who YaHuWSHuWaH would be. They did not have a “New Testament” to teach anything about Him, but the Hebraic context told them enough: the prophets say a king will come who will bring the whole nation back to the Torah, resurrecting the part of it that had died. We today are witnesses to the fact that the next stage of this accomplishment is in progress!

3:19-20 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of YaHuWaH, 

 Alternate reading: 19. “Therefore chisel out your [mistakes] and turn back in order that what you got out of line may be wiped clean [from memory] and coated back over and seasons of refreshment may come upon you from before YaHuWaH, Chisel: dig, hollow, scrape as an engraving scribe does. Turn back: reverse, restore, refresh, in the same imagery of the engraver obliterating his mistake and going back over it to fill it in with new mortar so it can be rewritten correctly:

and that He may send Mashiyach YaHuWSHuWaH, Who was pre-appointed for you, 3:21 Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration/restitution of all things, which YaHuWaH spoke long ago by the mouth of his Set-apart prophets. 3:22 For Moshah indeed said to the Fathers, ‘YaHuWaH your Aluahiym will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to Him in all things whatever He says to you. 3:23 It will be, that every being that will not listen to My Words that He speaks in My Name, will be utterly destroyed from among the people.  ... [for My Name is in Him’] 3:24 Yes, and all the prophets from Shemu'el and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. 3:25-26 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which YaHuWaH made with our Fathers, saying to Abraham,

 […For I shall surely bless you and I shall surely increase your Seed as the stars of the skies and as the sand that is on the shore of the sea, and your Seed will possess the gates of His enemies,] And all of the heathen masses of the earth shall be blessed through your Seed, [because you obeyed Me.]”  [Genesis 22: 17-18]

The Mighty One, when He raised up His Son YaHuWSHuWaH, sent Him to you first, blessing you by turning each of you away from your wicked ways.”

4:1 As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the Hekal and the Tsadowq came to them, 4:2 being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in YaHuWSHuWaH the resurrection from the dead. 4:3 They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.

They could not legally make a ruling, especially a death sentence (which they were probably contemplating) anywhere but on the Hekal Mount, where their council-chamber was located, and the gates to the Hekal would be closed at sundown. The Hekal was an extremely divided politically-charged place during this time. The P’rushim knew that those in authority at the Hekal were the wrong ones. (More about this below.) Those in power still felt themselves in a very precarious position. There were many divisions even among the P’rushim and Tz’doqim, and all were vying for the support of the people, to the point of hating one another. On the national level, they had nearly reached the state the earth was in just before the Deluge in Noah’s day. They were ruled by a pagan power, and governed by those who were either crooked or compromised. People did the math based on Dani'el’s prophecies of when the Mashiyach would come, and expectations were high. All the factionalism made it quite obvious to the people that none of the major options had the answer. YaHuWSHuWaH is called the “sprout” (YashaYahuw 11:1), and all this ferment acted like fertilizer. Indeed, YaHuWSHuWaH brought Ysra'al across the Yarden when the river looked most impossible to cross.

 4:4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

4:5 It happened in the morning, that the rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Yahrushalom . 4:6 ChananYahuw the high priest was there, with Kaiaphas, Yahuwchanan, Alexandros, and as many as were relatives of the high priest. 4:7 When they had stood them in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what Power, or in what Name, have you done this?”

4:8 Then Kepha, filled with the Ruwach haQadosh, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Ysra'al, 4:9 if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 4:10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Ysra'al, that by the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach of Natsareth, Whom you put to death on the stake, Whom Aluahiym raised from the dead, by Him does this man stand here before you whole. 4:11 This One is ‘the Stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’[From Psalms 118: 22]

4:12 And there is not deliverance by another man for there is not another Name under heaven which is given to men by which we must be saved. 

(And that Name is YaHuWaH.... to which the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH points!) 

 [This is a paraphrase of Yahuw'el 2:32 : "For it will be that all who call upon the Name of YaHuWaH will be saved. For in Mount Tsiyown and in Yahrushalom will be deliverance, as YaHuWaH has said, and among the saved whom YaHuWaH will call."  ["Nor is there deliverance in any other Name, for there is no other name under the sky given among men by which we must be saved."]

'"“And it shall be, everyone who shall have called on the Name of YaHuWaH, he shall be delivered!  For on the Mountain of Tsiyown and in Yaruwshalom shall the escaped remnant be; just as YaHuWaH said, even among the survivors whom YaHuWaH is calling.”

4:13 Now when they heard the saying of Shim'own Kepha and of Yahuwchanan, and saw the boldness of Kepha and Yahuwchanan, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized them, that they had been together with YaHuWSHuWaH. 4:14 Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.  4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 4:16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Yahrushalom, and we can’t deny it. 4:17 But so that this this Word spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this Name.” 4:18 They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH.

4:19 But Kepha and Yahuchanan answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of YaHuWaH to listen to you rather than to YaHuWaH, judge for yourselves, 4:20 for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

4:21 When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone was praising YaHuWaH for that which was done. 4:22 For the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

4:23 Being let go, they came to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 4:24 When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to Aluahiym with one accord, and said, “O YaHuWaH, You are the Mighty One, Who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them [Psalms 146: 6];  4:25 And it is You Who by the mouth of Your servant, Dawiyd, saying:

‘Why do the heathen masses rage,

and the peoples plot a vain thing?

4:26 The kings of the earth take a stand,

and the rulers take council together,

against YaHuWaH, and against His Anointed.’[Psalms 2: 1-2]

4:27 “For truly, in this city against Your Set-apart servant, YaHuWSHuWaH, Whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the  nations and the people of Ysra'al, were gathered together 4:28 to do whatever Your hand and Your council foreordained to happen. 4:29 Now, YaHuWaH, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak Your Word with all boldness, 4:30 while You stretch out Your hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the Name of Your Qadosh Son YaHuWSHuWaH.”

4:31 When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Ruwach haQadosh, and they spoke the Word of YaHuWaH [YaHuWSHuWaH] with boldness. 

 4:32 The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and being. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 4:33 With great power, the emissaries gave their testimony of the resurrection of  the Master YaHuWSHuWaH. Great favour was on them all. 4:34 For neither was there among them any who lacked, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, 4:35 and laid them at the emissaries’ feet, and distribution was made to each, according as anyone had need. 4:36 Yahuwce'ph, who by the emissaries was surnamed Bar-Naba (which is, being interpreted, Son of a prophet), a Lewiy, a man of Kupros by race, 4:37 having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the emissaries’ feet.

5:1 But a certain man named ChananYahuw, with Shaphpira'h, his wife, sold a possession, 5:2 and took back part of the price and hid it away, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a some of the money, and laid it at the emissaries’ feet. Took: The Greek version means kept back, withdrew privately, appropriated for one’s own use, embezzled.

 5:3 But Kepha said, “ChananYahuw, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Ruwach haQadosh, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 5:4 While you kept it, didn’t it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn’t it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven’t lied to men, but to YaHuWaH.”

Notice that in v. 3 this perverse idea was credited to haSatan, and here it is credited to Chananyah himself. This is because in Hebrew satan simply means “adversary”. Self is the greatest enemy of the one who wants to rise higher and be part of Ysra'al. It was not in itself a sin to not give them all his money. No one said he had to give anything. But the standard for those who did give had already been set; it was to give all. If it is not whole-hearted, YaHuWaH does not want any of it. Lukewarm is only acceptable if that is the only option. Otherwise it only makes Him sick. (Rev. 3:16) He deserves better. Chananyah might as well have gone and lived for self in a more obvious way; why waste anyone’s time? He only stood in the way of those who would be fully committed. So YaHuWaH took him out of the way:

5:5 ChananYahuw, hearing these words, fell down and died. Great fear came on all who heard these things.  5:6 The youngest who were among them men arose and wrapped him up, and they carried him out and buried him.

Youngest: or, smallest, lowest, least valued. They were people who could become ritually defiled by a dead body without as much consequence to the rest of the group, because they were not the ones teaching. It would not affect the others as much if they could not come back into the Hekal for seven days. (Num. 19:11) 

5:7 About three hours later, his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. 5:8 Kepha answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” She said, “Yes, for so much.”

5:9 But Kepha asked her, “How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Ruwach haQadosh of YaHuWaH? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”

They presented a portion of the price as if it were the full price of the sale, probably in order to elevate their reputation and get in on the esteem other donors were receiving. They pretended to be one of the great ones who gave all, on the same level as Bar-Naba’ (4:36-37), when they were not. YaHuWaH gave her the option of making reparation for what her husband had done, but she proved that they had agreed to give the same lie. Lev. 19:11 forbids lying to one another, and Colossians 3:9 reiterates this, saying this is an aspect of the “old self” that we are to take off like a discarded garment.

5:10 She fell down immediately at his feet, and died. The young men came in and found her dead, and they hoisted her up and carried her away and buried her by her husband. 5:11 Great fear came on the whole assembly, and on all who heard these things.

The fear of YaHuWaH is clean. (Psalm 19:9) This demonstration early on showed the direction YaHuWaH did not want His favor to take, and was a deterrent to anyone else who was not whole-hearted. In Psalm 52, lying is contrasted directly with speaking righteously, and says YaHuWaH would remove those who love this lifestyle from the land of the living, causing the righteous, who remain in the House of Aluahiym, to fear. Their response would be to point out that this was the consequence of trusting wealth rather than YaHuWaH. Could anything better summarize this chapter thus far?

 5:12 By the hands of the emissaries many signs and wonders were done among the people. They were all with one accord in Shlomoh’s Portico.

Shlomoh’s Portico: The easternmost part of Shlomoh’s original Hekal complex, which had been left intact by the Babylonians and lasted until the time of Agrippa. When the rest of the Hekal was deconstructed and rebuilt, it was left as it was due to its antiquity. So it represented the pristine purity of the Hekal as the most ancient remaining symbol of the continuity of YaHuWaH’s sanctuary, much like the Western wall of today. YaHuWSHuWaH identified the Hekal that was standing in His day with His body, for its physical aspects teach about what His mystical Body is meant to be. So this was the main place His disciples taught. What better place could there be to teach what the Body of Mashiyach—which the community was becoming—was meant to be like? All the pictures were right there; they did not have to make charts or drawings to explain the structure as we do today. They could point right to them and say, “See that? That is what we are to be like.”

5:13 None of the other men dared to touch them, however the people esteemed them. 5:14 More believers were added to YaHuWaH, multitudes of both men and women. 5:15 They even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mattresses, so that as Kepha came by, at the least his shadow might overshadow some of them. 5:16 Multitudes also came together from the cities around Yahrushalom, bringing sick people, and those who were tormented by unclean spirits: and they were all being re-created.

5:17 But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Tsadowq), and they were filled with jealousy, 5:18 and laid hands on the emissaries, and confined them in the round-house. Round-house: a fortified prison, as in Gen. 39:20. 5:19 But a Messenger of YaHuWaH opened the gate of the round-house at night, and brought them out, and said, 5:20 “Go stand and speak in the Hekal to the people all the Words of this Life.”

Nothing could stop these people, not even locked prison doors, if YaHuWaH did not want them to. He “set a table for them” in the presence of their enemies. (Psalm 23:5)

5:21 When they heard this, they entered into the Hekal about daybreak, and taught Daybreak: when the gates of the Hekal complex would first open.. But the high priest came, and those who were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Ysra'al, and sent to the round-house to have them brought. 5:22 But the officers who came didn’t find them in the round-house. They returned and reported, 5:23 “We found the round-house shut and locked, and the guards standing before the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside!”

This was very similar to YaHuWSHuWaH’s resurrection from a guarded tomb, and must have painfully reminded these people who tried not to believe in a resurrection of that event. They were really becoming nervous now:

5:24 Now when the high priest, the captain of the Hekal, and the chief priests heard these words, their eyes popped open and they thought, "What is this?"  5:25 One came and told them, “Behold, the men whom you put in the round-house are in the Hekal, standing and teaching the people.” 5:26 Then the captain went with the officers, and brought them without force, for they were afraid that the people might stone them.

5:27 When they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest questioned them,  5:28 saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this Name? Behold, you have filled Yahrushalom  with your teaching, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us.”

5:29 But Kepha and the emissaries answered, “We must obey YaHuWaH rather than men. 5:30 The Aluahiym of our Fathers raised up YaHuWSHuWaH, Whom you killed when you hung Him on the tree. 5:31 Aluahiym exalted Him by His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance and liberation from sins to Ysra'al. 5:32 We are His witnesses of these Words; and so also is the Ruwach haQadosh, Whom YaHuWaH has given to those who obey Him.”

5:33 But they, when they heard this, were inflamed from rage, and determined to kill them. 5:34 But one stood up in the council, a Pharushiy named Gamaliy'El, a teacher of the Torah, respected by all the people, and commanded to put the emissaries out for a little while.  5:35 He said to them, “You men of Ysra'al, be careful concerning these men, what you are about to do.  5:36 For before these days Todah rose up, making himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to nothing. 5:37 After this man, Yehuwdah of Galil rose up in the days of the enrollment, and drew away some people after him. He also perished, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad. 5:38 Now I tell you, withdraw from these men, and leave them alone. For if this counsel or this work is of men, it will be overthrown. 5:39 But if it is of Aluahiym, you will not be able to overthrow it, and you would be found even to be fighting against Aluahiym!”

He was not necessarily on their side, for we know that  Sha’ul, who was his student, became one of the Way’s greatest persecutors. But anyone teaching resurrection would tip the scales to the advantage of the P’rushim over the Ts’doqim, so YaHuWaH utilized the political situation to take the heat off his people. But being a teacher of the Torah, Gamli’el would remember Moshah’s response when the people rioted: to fall on their faces and let YaHuWaH’s wrath “blow over”, since it was not him they were really taking issue with, but YaHuWaH.

5:40 They agreed with him. Summoning the emissaries, they beat them and commanded them not to speak in the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH, and let them go.  5:41 They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be depreciated for YaHuWSHuWaH’s Name.

5:42 Every day, in the Hekal and at home, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the glad tidings: our Master YaHuWSHuWaH, haMashiyach is the Savior!

6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Ibriym (Hebrews), because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

Hebrews: either those who spoke Hebrew as opposed to Greek as their first language, owing to having been born in the Land, or those more in line with Hebraic culture. We know that thus far they were all Jews, but that many spoke the native languages of the places to which they had moved (chapter 2). Though they were not pagans, their lifestyle would undoubtedly have assimilated to some extent to that of the rest of the Mediterranean world, where the lingua franca was Greek, and where Greek culture had permeated much more fully than in Judea, which deliberately tried harder to avoid such influence. Those who had managed to keep their language and culture purer may have been guilty of unintentionally despising these disadvantaged believers, and so the latter may have been looking for any excuse to find a complaint against them. Support: or aid; Greek, serving. At least part of what the delegates used the money laid at their feet for was to support those who had no means of supporting themselves. This was a legitimate concern; every time YaHuWaH addresses justice, He seems to begin with the widows and orphans—those who are truly needy, having no covering of a household. They were carrying on the Torah’s requirement that provision be made for them. This involved the equivalent of “soup kitchens”:

 6:2 The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the Word of YaHuWaH to serve tables. 6:3 Therefore select from among yourselves (the Hellenists), seven men of good report, full of the Ruwach and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 6:4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the Word.”

6:5 These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephanos, a man full of belief and of the Ruwach haQadosh, Philippospoi, Proxoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nikolaos, a proselyte of ’Antióxeia; 

Stefanos: This Greek name means crown or garland such as worn by emperors or winners of athletic contests. It also encompasses the crown of thorns made for YaHuWSHuWaH at His crucifixion. Filippos means “one who likes horses”. Prokhoros means “(leader) over the dance”. Nikanor means “conqueror”. Timona means “honorable”. Parmena means “remaining near”. Nikolaos means “who vanquishes the people” or “the people’s victor”.

6:6 whom they set before the emissaries. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. 6:7 The Word of  YaHuWaH increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Yahrushalom  exceedingly, and a great company of the priests (Yehuwdim - Peshitta) were obedient to the belief.

6:8 Stephanos, full of belief and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 6:9 But some of those who were of the Congregation of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Kilikía and Asia) arose, disputing with Stephanos.

Libertines: or, freedmen. Philo explains that they were Jews who had been captured and enslaved by the Romans, then freed, as Pompey later did in 63 C.E. to a greater degree. But they were already in existence in substantial numbers. Stern speculates that some may have been proselytes, whose zeal often exceeds that of those born with the same position they have entered by means of many offerings. Kurenes: inhabitants of the large and flourishing city of Libya Kyrenaika (also called Pentapolitana), about 11 miles (17 km) from the sea in north Africa west of Egypt. Ptolemy I had brought a large number of Jews there, and invested with the right of citizens. Alexandrians: from the most important city of Egypt in that period, which again had a large expatriate Jewish population. Kilikia: a maritime province in the southeast of Asia Minor, bordering on Pamphylia in the west, Lukaonia and Kappadokia to the north and Syria on the east. Its capital, Tarsus, was the birth place of Paul. Asiya: or Asia, but this was then the name for western Turkey, not the huge continent to the east of Ysra'al. The Libertines walked according to Torah, but, like the Hellenistic believers in YaHuWSHuWaH, were still considered of lower status than those born and raised in Ysra'al. Therefore, they were in a sense competing for the same audience as Stefanos—the Greek-speaking Jews who wanted to live by the Torah.

 6:10 They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Ruwach by which he spoke. 6:11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moshah and Aluahiym.” 6:12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, and brought him in to the council,

The Libertines were looking for a way to raise their status in the Torah-observant community. Since the Hekal leaders were already looking for a weak link by which to attack the believers in YaHuWSHuWaH, and they found it in one who was not as well-respected by the Jewish community at large, which in fact would be glad to see one of these outsiders discredited in order to strengthen their advantage. His weaker position in society gave them their excuse to persecute. HaSatan prowls around like a lion seeking someone to devour. (1 Keyfa 5:8) Lions, like Amaleq, pick out the weakest prey.(Deut. 25:17-18) The very one who had been fortifying the weak spot (the widows, keeping them attached to YaHuWSHuWaH’s community where they could be strong), was now a scapegoat because those who might stand up for the delegates were not going to stick their necks out for him. The fickle will of the people, which had served to their advantage during the initial season, now tilted to the other side as the delicate political situation wavered under a new factor. YaHuWSHuWaH had said they would drag us before courts (Luqa 21:12ff), for the powers that be will never be friendly toward those who walk in belief in YaHuWaH’s true power; they will only temporarily tolerate them when it is to their advantage. Thus YaHuWSHuWaH told us to look beyond the stake He promised we would have to carry, to the Kingdom that lies beyond it.

 6:13 and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this Hekal and the Torah.

How ironic that it is the Torah itself that forbids bringing false witness against one of the same flock! This is exactly what Iyzebel did to Naboth. (1 Kings 21)

 6:14 For we have heard him say that this YaHuWSHuWaH of Natsareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moshah delivered to us.”They misquote something YaHuWSHuWaH had said, for He had said “this Hekal” in reference to His body, not the buildings they were among (Yahch. 2:19-22).  6:15 All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of a heavenly Messenger.

7:1 The high priest said, “Are these things so?”

7:2 He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The Aluahiym of esteem appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Aram of the Two Rivers, before he lived in Chara'n, 7:3 and said to him, ‘Leave what is yours: from your land and from your kindred and from the house of your father (and come) unto the land that I will show to you.’  [Genesis 12: 1] 7:4 Then he came out of the land of the Kasdiym, and lived in Chara'n. From there, when his father was dead [Térach died age 205, 2084 AC, 1888 BC], YaHuWaH had him cross over into this Land, where you now dwell; [Yitschaq was offered on Mt. MowriyYahuw (Mt. Tsiyown, the Hekal mount) 2086 AC, 1886 BC]

7:5 He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his Seed after him, when he still had no child. 7:6-7 YaHuWaH spoke in this way:‘Know surely that four hundred years your Seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, ... (The four hundred years of being foreigners in a land not their own would include the time of slavery, but the slavery would not last the entire time. ) ... and they will enslave them, and they will oppress them:

But I [Myself] will judge the heathen mass that they bondserve  and after that, they will come out with great possessions’  [Genesis 15: 13-14] and serve Me in this Land.’

 7:8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Yitshaq, and circumcised him the eighth day. Yitschaq became the father of Ya'aqob, and Ya'aqob became the father of the twelve ancestors.

7:9 “The ancestors, moved with jealousy against Yowseph, sold him into Mitsrayim. YaHuWaH was with him,  7:10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Par'oh, sovereign of Mitsrayim. He made him governor over Mitsrayim and all his house. 7:11 Now a famine came over all the land of Mitsrayim and Kena'an, and great affliction. Our Fathers found no food.  7:12 But when Ya'aqob heard that there was grain in Mitsrayim, he sent out our fathers the first time. 7:13 On the second time Yowseph was made known to his brothers, and Yowseph’s race was revealed to Par'oh.  7:14 Yowseph sent, and summoned Ya'aqob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 7:15 Ya'aqob went down into Mitsrayim, and he died, himself and our fathers, 7:16 and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

 [Genesis 33: 18-19].

Seventy-five: Bereshith 46:27 and Shemoth 1:5 say there were seventy. But the Greek Septuagint (LXX), with which Stefanos, being a Greek-speaker, was probably more conversant, does say 75, and in Bereshith. 46:20 names three grandsons and two great-grandsons of Yoseph which the more commonly-used Masoretic text does not include. So though Stefanos may not have chosen the most accurate record, he is not simply forgetful of details. It should be noted that some details were deliberately changed in the LXX so that Alexander the Great, who desired all the knowledge of the nations he conquered, could not have the fullness of the Torah in a language other than Hebrew.

7:17 “But as the time of the promise came close which YaHuWaH had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Mitsrayim, 7:18 until there arose a different sovereign, who didn’t know Yowseph  [Exodus 1: 7-8]. 7:19 The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 7:20 At that time Moshah was born, and was well-pleasing to YaHuWaH. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 7:21 When he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.  7:22 Moshah was instructed in all the wisdom of the Mitsrites. He was mighty in his words and works.  7:23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Ysra'al. 7:24 Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Mitsriy.  7:25 He supposed that his brothers understood that YaHuWaH, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

Stefanos again subtly makes the point that those before whom he was speaking had treated YaHuWSHuWaH in exactly the same way, and that he was surprised by their inability to recognize what to him was obvious. Moshah thought his high position would automatically fit him to be the liberator of his people, and he apparently had a strong sense of calling already, but he had to be trained as a shepherd for forty years before he could effectively lead this particular people. It was not until his second appearance that his kinsmen would recognize his authority—again, a picture of YaHuWSHuWaH

7:26 “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’  7:27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 7:28 Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Mitsriy yesterday?’ 7:29 Moshah fled in haste since this word had gotten around, and he became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the Father of two sons.

7:30 “When forty years were fulfilled, a Messenger of  YaHuWaH appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 7:31 When Moshah saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a Voice of YaHuWaH came to him,  7:32 “I am the Mighty Ones of your father, the Mighty Ones of ’Abraham, the Mighty Ones of  Yitschaq, and the Mighty Ones of Ya'aqob.” Moshah trembled, and dared not look. 7:33  YaHuWaH said to him, “Do not come closer, remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing on, it is set-apart-ground .”  [Exodus 3: 5]

“I have surely seen the misery of My people who are within Mitsrayim, and I have heard their groaning because of their slave-drivers.  Because I have known their sufferings, so I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Mitsrayim… so now go!  For I will send you unto Par'oh and bring My people, the sons of Ysra'al out of Mitsrayim.”  [Exodus 3: 7-10]

7:35 “This Moshah, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’— YaHuWaH  has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Messenger Who appeared to him in the bush. 7:36 This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Mitsrayim, in the Sea of Reeds, and in the wilderness for forty years. 7:37 This is that Moshah, who said to the children of Ysra'al, ‘ YaHuWaH  your Aluahiym will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. - to Him you must listen.’Deuteronomy 18:15 7:38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Messenger that spoke to him on Mount Siynay, and with our fathers, who received Living Words to give to us,  7:39 to whom our Fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Mitsrayim, 7:40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us mighty ones that will go before us, as for this Moshah, who led us out of the land of Mitsrayim, we don’t know what has become of him.’[Exodus 32: 1] 7:41 They made a calf in those days, and brought a offering to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 7:42-43 But YaHuWaH turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the Scroll of the prophets, "Did you bring slaughtered beasts and offerings forty years in the desert, O House of Ysra'al? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Repham, the idols you made to worship, Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babel."

“‘Rather, you carried the dwelling place of ‘Milkom’ and the star of the mighty one ‘Refan’, images that you made to worship. I will banish you and remove you to Babel and beyond!’Amos 5:25-27

Scroll of the prophets: The twelve “minor prophets” comprise one book in Jewish thought. The particular passage he refers to is in Amos 5:25-27, and in the Greek version of this chapter he follows the text of the LXX except for a few changes in word order.

7:44 “Our Fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness, even as He Who spoke to Moshah commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;  7:45 which also our Fathers, in their turn, brought in with Yahushua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom YaHuWaH drove out before the face of our fathers, and it was carried about unto the days of Dawiyd, 7:46 who found favor in the sight of YaHuWaH, and asked him: “Are you the One Who will build a house for Me to dwell?”* [2 Shemuel 7: 4, ZecharYahuw 6: 12-13] 7:47 But Sholmoh built Him a House.  7:48 However, the MOST HIGH doesn’t dwell in Hekals made with hands, as the prophet says,

7:49-50 “[Thus says YaHuWaH,] ‘The heavens are My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet – where is this house that you will build for Me?  And where is this place, My resting place? Even all of these things have My hand made, so all of these have come to exist!  …  ’”  YashaYahuw 66: 1-2]

 “This says YaHuWaH of Hosts: Here is a man, his name is the Branch, and from beneath Him, He will branch out, and He will build the Hekal of YaHuWaH: and He is the One Who will build the Hekal of YaHuWaH, and He is Who will lift up the Majesty and He will sit and He will rule on His throne, and He will be a priest to His throne, and the advice of peace will be between the two of Them.”

Stefanos answers the charge that he is saying things against the Hekal by pointing out that the Hekal was not really YaHuWaH’s idea; the Tabernacle was. He honored David’s wish to have a fixed house built for His worship, so the existence of a Hekal is not in opposition to the Torah, but the highest leaders of Ysra'al were trying to maintain their position, which rests in the institution of the Hekal, and thus they were over-emphasizing something YaHuWaH had never actually commanded. By reminding them that it was not Moshah who commanded that there should be a Hekal, he exposes the fact that they were wrongly appealing to Moshah’s name to protect their own interests.

7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart [Leviticus 26: 41] and ears  [Leviticus 26: 41] , you always resist the Ruwach haQadosh! As your Fathers did, so you do. 

 [“To whom can I speak and can I warn so they would listen?  Look, their ear is uncircumcised so they cannot hear!  Look, the Word of  YaHuWaH, it is as a reproach to them, they do not find pleasure in it!”]

 7:52 Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of Whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.  7:53 You received the Torah as it was ordained by the Messenger, and didn’t watch over it!”

7:54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

Filled with rage: Aramaic; the Greek says “cut to the hearts” or “sawn asunder”, a similar phrase used in 2:37, where the effect was completely the opposite. While those Keyfa had spoken to were not the perpetrators of the murder of YaHuWSHuWaH, these men were, and Psalm 69:26-27 prophesies that those who continue to mistreat the one YaHuWaH has wounded (YashaYahuw 53:10) are to have iniquity added to their iniquity so they will never be able to repent. 

Tehillim 69:25 Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.

69:26 For they persecute him whom You have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom You have hurt.[YashaYahuw 53:10 Yet it pleased YaHuWaH to bruise/wound Him.He has caused Him to suffer, that when He made Himself an offering for guilt, He shall see His seed.]69:27 Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into Your righteousness.69:28 Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written with the righteous.

Ground (or gnashed) their teeth: YaHuWSHuWaH said this would be done by evil servants (Mat. 22:48-51) who offend and practice lawlessness (Mat. 13:41-42, 49-50), while they watched many whom they considered “outsiders” enjoying the very same privileges in the age to come that they had expected to enjoy. (Luqa 13:28; Mat. 8:12)

 7:55 But he, being full of the Ruwach haQadosh, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the esteem of YaHuWaH, and YaHuWSHuWaH standing on the right hand of the Mighty One! 7:56 and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Adam standing at the right hand of the Mighty One!”

7:57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 7:58 They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Sha'ul. 

Stoned: one of the most common Hebrew forms of execution. The usual process was to throw him off a cliff at least the height of two men to knock one unconscious, and if he did not die, they would drop a stone on his chest, then, if still necessary, continue to pelt him with stones until he was dead and buried under them. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:4 on Deut. 17:7) Tradition says it was the very hill of Gulgol’thah, in front of which YaHuWSHuWaH was impaled, from which they threw Stefanos. The outer garment is where one is to put his tzitziyoth as a reminder to keep YaHuWaH’s commandments. (Num. 15:38-39) Since he had said nothing worthy of death , it is significant that they laid aside these garments, for it symbolized the fact that they had to abandon the commandments to carry out this decision made during a fit of rage. The Hebrew term for “outer garment” also denotes a cloak of deceit, and indeed these honored men who appeared dignified above all others showed their true colors when pressed to acknowledge the truth. Stern brings out another interesting possibility: The Talmud (Sanhedrin 42b) says that the common practice was for a man to stand at the entrance to the court within sight of the stoning site with a sudarin to signal them to stop the stoning if someone still had something to say in his favor. Joseph Shulam noted that sudar in later Hebrew can also mean “coat”, and speculates that the Greek translator from an original Hebrew text that might have used this term, not understanding the context, said “laid their coats” when in fact it might have been meant to indicate that they had appointed Sha’ul to this post as the one who held the sudar. Verse 60 and 26:10 strongly suggest that Sha’ul was a member of the Sanhedrin at this time.

7:59 They stoned Stephanos as he called out, saying, “Master YaHuWSHuWaH, receive my Ruwach!” 7:60 He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “O YaHuWaH, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

8:1 Sha'ul was pleased with and participated in his murder. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Yahrushalom in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Yahuwdah and Shomeron, except for the emissaries. 8:2 Confident men buried Stephanos, and lamented greatly over him. 8:3 But Sha'ul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.  8:4 Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around proclaiming the Word of YaHuWaH [YaHuWSHuWaH = YaHuWaH is deliverance]. 8:5 Philippos went down to the city of Shomeron, and proclaimed to them about haMashiyach. 8:6 The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philippos, when they heard and saw the signs which he did. 8:7 For unclean ruwachs came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8:8 There was great joy in that city.

8:9 But there was a certain man, Shim'on by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Shomeron, making himself out to be some great one, 8:10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of Aluahiym” 8:11 They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.  8:12 But when they believed Philippos proclaiming good news concerning the reign of YaHuWaH and the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach, they were immersed, both men and women. 8:13 Shimon himself also believed. Being immersed, he continued with Philippos. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.

8:14 Now when the emissaries who were at Yahrushalom  heard that Shomeron had received the Word of Aluahiym, they sent Kepha and Yahuchanan to them,  8:15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Ruwach haQadosh; 8:16 for as yet He had fallen on none of them. They had only been immersed in the Name of Mashiach YaHuWSHuWaH.

  [The commandment is to be immersed in the name of the Father and the Son, by the name of Yahuwah Yahuwshuwah.]

 8:17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Ruwach haQadosh.

 8:18 Now when Shimon saw that the Ruwach haQadosh was given through the laying on of the emissaries’ hands, he offered them money, 8:19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whoever I lay my hands on may receive the Ruwach haQadosh.”  8:20 But Kepha said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of YaHuWaH with the product of the earth! 8:21 You have neither part nor lot in this Word, for your heart isn’t right before YaHuWaH.  8:22 Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask YaHuWaH if perhaps the thought of your heart may be pardoned you. 8:23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

8:24 Shimon answered, “Pray for me to YaHuWaH, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

8:25 They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the Word of YaHuWaH, returned to Yahrushalom , and preached the Besorah to many villages of the Shomroniy. 8:26 But a Messenger of  YaHuWaH spoke to Philippos, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Yahrushalom  to Azzah. This is a desert.”

8:27 He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Kuwsh, a believer of great authority under Qandaq, queen of the Kuwshiy, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Yahrushalom  to worship. 8:28 He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet YashaYahuw.

8:29 the Ruwach haQadosh said to Philippos, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

8:30 Philippos ran to him, and heard him reading YashaYahuw the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

8:31 He said, “No, How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philippos to come up and sit with him. 8:32-33 Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was conducted along like a lamb to the slaughter, and just as a ewe is put to silence before her shearers, He too will not open His mouth” when he is laid low. “He was taken away from restraint and from due process, and who can tell of His generation? Because they took His life from the earth.”

“[He was pressured hard and He was afflicted yet He did not open His mouth, like the Lamb to the slaughter He is led along, and as a ewe before one shearing her is mute, yet He did not open His mouth.

In His abasement from restraint and from justice He was deprived, yet who of His stock might complain?  Because He was cut off from the land of the living by the stroke due to my people for their rebellion (apostasy)?]” YashaYahuw 53: 7-8]

8:34 The believer answered Philippos, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

8:35 Philippos opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, brought to him the Besorah of YaHuWSHuWaH. 8:36 As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the believer said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being immersed?”

8:37 (spurious text)  8:38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down to the water, both Philippos and the believer, and he immersed him.

Immersed: not pushing him under the water in the Mithraic fashion so common today, but acting as witness while the officer immersed himself, to verify that his entire body and all his hair went under the water. If even a hair or a fingertip is left in the other kingdom, it will come back to haunt us and will harm those with whom we are associated. Filippos himself did not necessarily go into the water. [SfWHof Y]

8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Ruwach haQadosh of YaHuWaH  caught Philippos away, and the believer didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing. 8:40 But Philippos was found at Ashdowd. Passing through, he preached the Besorah to all the cities, even until he came to Kæsária. (pronounced "Kye-SAR-ya")

9:1 But Sha'ul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Master, went to the high priest, 9:2 and asked for letters from him to the congregations of Damma'seq, that if he found any who were of The Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Yahrushalom . 9:3 As he traveled, it happened that he got close to Damma'seq, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. 9:4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him [in the Hebrew tongue]: “Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why do you persecute Me?” It is a tough thing for you kick against the prods."

9:5-6  He said, “Who are You, my Master?”

And our Master said, “I am YaHuWSHuWaH the Nasraya, Whom you persecute. Get up and enter into the city, and it shall be told to you what you ought to do.”

9:7 The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. 9:8 Sha'ul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damma'seq. 9:9 He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank.

Esther fasted for three days to prepare for a dangerous approach to the king. There were three days of darkness in Egypt. Yonah was in the darkness of the fish’s belly for three days, and YaHuWSHuWaH was in the dark grave for three days. Ysra'al had to purify themselves for three days prior to receiving the Torah at Sinai. Yahuwshuwah told Ysra'al to do the same three days before crossing the Yarden River. The butler and baker in prison with Yoseyf had to wait three days for their dreams to be fulfilled. So three days seems to be the right amount of time to wait while preparing for something dreadfully momentous, as a time of cleansing for body, mind, and Ruwach.

9:10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damma'seq named ChananYahuw. YaHuWaH said to him in a vision, “ChananYahuw!” 

He said, “Behold, it is I, my Master.”

9:11-12 Our Master said to him: “When you arise, go on the street, the one called “Level”, and seek in the house of Yahuwdah for one named Sha'ul, of Tarsus; for look!  He was praying, And he saw in a vision a man named ChananYahuw entering and imposing a hand on him so that he should receive sight.”

9:13 But ChananYahuw answered, “My Master (YaHuWSHuWaH), I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to Your Set-apart ones at Yahrushalom . 9:14 Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your Name.”

9:15 But YaHuWaH said to him, “Go your way, for he is My chosen vessel to bear My Name before the nations and kings, and the sons of Ysra'al.  9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My Name’s sake.” 

9:17 ChananYahuw departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha'ul, YaHuWSHuWaH, Who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Ruwach haQadosh.”  9:18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was immersed. 9:19 He took food and was strengthened. Sha'ul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damma'seq. 9:20-21 Immediately in the congregations he proclaimed haMashiyach, that He is the Son of  Aluahiym.  All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Yahrushalom  made havoc of those who called on this Name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”

9:22 But Sha'ul increased more in strength, and confounded the Yahuwdim who lived at Damma'seq, proving that this is haMashiyach. 9:23 When many days were fulfilled, the Yahuwdim conspired together to kill him, 9:24 but their plot became known to Sha'ul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,  9:25 but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

(14 years later"Fourteen-year-lapse" To the Galatians 2: 1)

 9:26 When Sha'ul went to Yahrushalom, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

When he went: according to Sha’ul’s own account in Galatians 1 and 2, he did not go there until he had spent three years in Arabia.

 9:27 But Bar-Nâbíy took him, and brought him to the emissaries, and declared to them how he had seen the YaHuWaH in the way, and that He had spoken to him, and how at Damma'seq he had preached boldly in the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH.

Sha’ul says he only met (at least to any significant degree) with Shim’on Kepha and Ya'aqob, the brother of YaHuWSHuWaH (who had risen to prominence by that time), and that for only about two weeks (Gal. 1:18-19) But they approved the message he planned to take to the nations. (Gal. 2:9).

 9:28 He was with them entering into Yahrushalom, 9:29 proclaiming boldly in the Name of  YaHuWSHuWaH. He spoke and disputed against the Hellenists, but they were seeking to kill him. 9:30 When the brothers knew it, they brought him down to Kæsária, and sent him off to Tarsus.

They apparently recognized better than he the danger he was getting himself into. They let Bar-Naba’ accompany him (Gal. 2:9). Sha'ul refers to this time in Kilikia in Gal. 1:21. He did not return to Yahrushalom again for fourteen years. (Gal. 2:1)

 9:31 So the assemblies throughout all Yahuwdah and Galilee and Shomeron had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of YaHuWaH  and in the comfort of the Ruwach haQadosh.

9:32 It happened, as Kepha went throughout all those parts, he came down also to the Set-apart ones who lived at Lydda. 9:33 There he found a certain man named Aniyas, who had been bedridden for eight years, because he was paralyzed. 9:34 Kepha said to him, “Aniyas, YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach is healing you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose. 9:35 All who lived at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned to YaHuWaH.

9:36 Now there was at Yopho a certain disciple named Tabita, which when translated, means Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and acts of mercy which she did. 9:37 It happened in those days that she fell sick, and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper chamber.  9:38 As Lydda was near Yopho, the disciples, hearing that Kepha was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. 9:39 Kepha got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper chamber. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. 9:40 Kepha put them all out, and kneeled down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabita, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Kepha, she sat up. 9:41 He gave her his hand, and raised her up. Calling the Set-apart ones and widows, he presented her alive. 9:42 And it became known throughout all Yopho, and many believed in the Master. 9:43 It happened, that he stayed many days in Yopho with one Shim'on, a tanner.

10:1 Now there was a certain man in Kæsária, Kornélius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 10:2 a devout man, and one who feared  YaHuWaH with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to YaHuWaH.  At about the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision a Messenger of  YaHuWaH coming to him, and saying to him, “Kornélius!”

10:4-5 He, fastening his eyes on him, and being frightened, said, “What is it, my Master?”

He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before YaHuWaH  Now send men to Yopho, and get Shim'on, who is surnamed Kepha. 10:6 He lodges with one Shim'on, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. [And he shall tell you Words whereby you and your entire house shall be delivered.”  (10: 32, 11: 14)]

10:7 When the Messenger who spoke to him had departed, Kornélius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of those who waited on him continually. 10:8 Having explained everything to them, he sent them to Yopho. 10:9 Now on the next day as they were on their journey, and got close to the city, Kepha went up on the housetop to pray at about noon. 10:10 He became hungry and desired to eat, but while they were preparing, he fell into a trance. 10:11 He saw the sky being split open and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth, 10:12 in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky. 10:13 A voice came to him, “Arise, Shimown Këph, slaughter and eat.”  [Genesis 9: 3]

10:14 But Kepha said, “Not so, my Master; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

10:15 A voice came to him again the second time, “What Aluahiym has cleansed, you shall not consider defiled”

” 10:16 This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven. 10:17 Now while Kepha was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Kornélius, having made inquiry for Shimon’s house, stood before the gate, 10:18 and called and asked whether Shim'on, who was surnamed Kepha, was lodging there. 10:19-20 While Kepha was pondering the vision, the Ruwach haQadosh said to him, “Look!  Three men seek you,  So get up and go down and go together with them, not hesitating at all, because I have sent them.”

10:21 Kepha went down to the men, and said, “Behold, I am he whom you seek. Why have you come?”

10:22 They said, “Kornélius, a centurion, a righteous man and one who fears  Aluahiym, and well spoken of by all the Yahuwdite nation, was directed by a Set-apart Messenger to invite you to his house, and to listen to what you say.” 10:23 So he called them in and lodged them. On the next day Kepha arose and went out with them, and some of the brothers from Yoppa accompanied him. 10:24 On the next day they entered into Kæsária. Kornélius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends. 10:25 When it happened that Kepha entered, Kornélius met him, fell down at his feet, and bowed before him.  10:26 But Kepha raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.” 10:27 As he talked with him, he went in and found many gathered together. 10:28 He said to them, “You yourselves know how it is contrary to established custom for a man who is a Yahuwdite to join himself or come to one of another nation, but YaHuWaH has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man common or unclean. 10:29 Therefore also I came without complaint when I was sent for. I ask therefore, why did you send for me?”

10:30 Kornélius said, “Four days ago, I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in radiant white clothing, 10:31 and said, ‘Kornélius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of YaHuWaH.  Send therefore to Yoppa, and summon Shimon, who is surnamed Kepha. He lodges in the house of Shimon a tanner, by the seaside. When he comes, he will speak to you.’ 10:33 Therefore I sent to you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now therefore we are all here present in your sight and we want to hear all things that have been commanded you by the Mighty Ones.”

10:34 Kepha opened his mouth and said, “Truly I perceive that YaHuWaH doesn’t show favoritism;  10:35 but in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is acceptable to Him. 10:36 The word which He sent to the children of Ysra'al, proclaiming good news of peace through YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach - He is Master YaHuWaH of all! 10:37 And you yourselves know what happened, which was proclaimed throughout all Yahuwdah, beginning from Galilee, after the immersion which Yahuwchanan preached; 10:38 even YaHuWSHuWaH of Natsareth, Who the Mighty One anointed with the Ruwach haQadosh and with Power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for YaHuWaH was with Him. 10:39 We are witnesses of everything He did both in the countryside of Yahuwdah, and in Yahrushalom ; whom they also killed, hanging Him on a timber. 10:40  Aluahiym raised Him up the third day, and gave Him to be revealed, 10:41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by YaHuWaH, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. 10:42 He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that this is He Who is appointed by Aluahiym as the Judge of the living and the dead. 10:43 All the prophets testify about Him, that through His Name everyone who believes on Him does receive liberation from sins!” ("To Him all the Prophets witness that, through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.")

10:44 While Kepha was still speaking these words, the Ruwach haQadosh fell on all those who heard the Word. 10:45 They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Kepha, because the gift of the Ruwach haQadosh was also poured out on the nations. 10:46 For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying YaHuWaH.

Then Kepha answered, 10:47 “Can any man forbid the water, that these who have received the Ruwach haQadosh as well as we should not be immersed?”  10:48 He commanded them to be immersed in the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach. Then they asked him to stay some days.

11:1 Now the emissaries and the brothers who were in Yahuwdah heard that the  nations had also received the Word of YaHuWaH.  When Kepha had come up to Yahrushalom , those who were of the Circumcision contended with him, 11:3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!”

11:4 But Kepha began, and explained to them in order, saying, 11:5 “I was in the city of Yopho praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me. 11:6 When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky. 11:7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Kepha, kill and eat!’ 11:8 But I said, ‘Not so, Master, for nothing detestable or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’ 11:9 But a voice answered me the second time out of heaven, ‘What YaHuWaH has cleansed, don’t you call unclean.’ 11:10 This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11:11 Behold, immediately three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent from Kæsária to me.  11:12 the Ruwach haQadosh told me to go with them, without discriminating. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house. 11:13 He told us how he had seen the Messenger standing in his house, and saying to him, ‘Send to Yopho, and get Shimon, whose surname is Kepha, 11:14 who will speak to you words by which you will be saved, you and all your house.’ 11:15 As I began to speak, the Ruwach haQadosh fell on them, even as on us at the beginning. 11:16 I remembered the Word of the Master, how He said, ‘Yahuwchanan indeed immersed in water, but you will be immersed in the Ruwach haQadosh.’ 11:17 If then YaHuWaH gave to them the same gift as us, when we believed in the Master YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach, who was I, that I could withstand YaHuWaH?”

11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and  honored  YaHuWaH, saying, “Then YaHuWaH has also granted to the nations repentance to life!”

11:19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephanos traveled as far as Phoenicia, Kúpros, and ’Antióxeia, speaking the Word to no one except to Yahuwdim only. 11:20 But there were some of them, men of Kúpros and Cyrene, who, when they had come to ’Antióxeia, spoke to the Hellenists, proclaiming the glad tidings that YaHuWaH is YaHuWSHuWaH. 11:21 The hand of the YaHuWaH was with them, and a great number believed and returned to YaHuWaH. 11:22 The report concerning them came to the ears of the assembly which was in Yahrushalom . They sent out Bar-Nâbíy to go as far as ’Antióxeia, 11:23 who, when he had come, and had seen the favour of YaHuWaH, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to our Master. 11:24 For he was a good man, and full of the Ruwach haQadosh and of belief, and many people were added to our Master.

11:25 Bar-Nâbíy went out to Tarsus to look for Sha'ul. 11:26 When he had found him, he brought him to Antióxeia. And they settled there for a complete year closely with the Quahl and taught the Torah to many. It was at Antióxeia that the disciples were first called "Kristianay". {the Hebrew literally says"Meshichi'im" from the root Meschiach or Messiah thus they were really called Missianic's} (by the nations in Antioch) 

Kristianay: the term “Christian” was derived from the Greek form of this word, and if it had not taken on many “barnacles” of pagan accoutrements, it might have been an innocent term, though “Christos” (the greek form of “Mashiyach”) was an eponym applied to many pagan deities as well, and thus is hardly unique or definitive. Since the term has come to connote on the popular level a set of doctrines which are far from Scriptural, it is not a name with which those faithful to the Torah and YaHuWSHuWaH’s true Hebraic ethos should be associated. But Stern points out that here and in 1 Keyfa 4:16, the term appears to be a derogatory epithet placed on them by those who were persecuting them, much like applying the slang term “Moonies” to followers of Sun Myung Moon, not a term they used of themselves.

11:27 Now in these days, prophets came down from Yahrushalom  to Antióxeia. 11:28 One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Ruwach haQadosh that there should be a great famine all over the land of Ysra'al, which also happened in the days of Claudius. 11:29 As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Yahuwdah;  11:30 which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Bar-Nâbíy and Sha'ul.

12:1 But at that feast season, sovereign Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.  12:2 He killed Ya'aqob, the brother of Yahuwchanan, with the sword. 12:3 When he saw that it pleased the Yehuwdim, he proceeded to seize Kepha also. This was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 

This is Ya'aqob the son of Zabdi. He is the first of the twelve delegated envoys to suffer martyrdom. Tradition says that of the twelve, only the Yauwchanan mentioned here died a natural death. ... Unleavened bread: By the best available evidence, this is exactly fourteen years after YaHuWSHuWaH’s death and resurrection.

12:4 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the congregation of the Yehuwdim after the Feast. 12:5 Kepha therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to YaHuWaH for him.  12:6 The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Kepha was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains to both. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.

Herodos was so afraid of his getting away that he actually chained him to some of the guards!

12:7 And behold, a Messenger of YaHuWaH stood above him, and a light shone in the cell. He poked Kepha on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off from his hands.

Poked…get up: Being pierced in the side, guarded by soldiers until after Passover, and told by a Messenger to rise up all increased Kepha’s identification with YaHuWSHuWaH’s death, burial, and resurrection.

 12:8 The Messenger said to him, “Tie up your waist and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak, and follow me.”

Tie up your waist: The typical inner garment was much like a nightshirt, which would be pulled up between the legs and tied with a belt much like those seen among field workers in east Asia today. This was one could move about freely without loose ends becoming snagged while working. At such times one usually set aside his outer garment (on the corners of which the tzitziyoth commanded in Numbers 15:38-39 are worn); when sleeping, it was typically used as a blanket. (Deut. 24:13)

 12:9 And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the Messenger was real, but thought he saw a vision. 12:10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and crossed one street, and immediately the Messenger departed from him.

Passed…crossed: Both words are from the root from which the term Hebrew (“crosser-over”) is derived. Kepha was experiencing another re-enactment of the first Pesach in his escape from bondage.

12:11 When Kepha had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that YaHuWaH has sent out his Messenger and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Yehuwdite people were expecting.” 12:12 Thinking about that, he came to the house of Miriam, the mother of Yahuwchanan whose surname was Marq, where many were gathered together and were praying. This Yauwchanan was a nephew of Bar-Naba’ (4:36-37; 13:5, 13; 15:37-39; Col. 4:10) and became the author of the book of Marq.

12:13 When Kepha knocked at the door of the gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 12:14 When she recognized Kepha’s voice, she didn’t open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Kepha was standing in front of the gate.

12:15 They said to her, “You are mad!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his Messenger.” 12:16 But Kepha continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed.  12:17 But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how  YaHuWaH had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to Ya'acob, and to the brothers.” Then he departed, and went to another place.

Ya'aqob: Not the one who had just been killed, but the brother of YaHuWSHuWaH. The brothers: possibly YaHuWSHuWaH’s other natural brothers, but probably including at least the ten other delegates. Though initially he was skeptical of YaHuWSHuWaH’s special role (Yoch. 7:5), Ya'aqob was a believer after the resurrection (1:14) and was already becoming an important leader in the assembly (15:13; 21:18; Gal. 2:9-12), as shown by Kepha’s wanting to be sure he stayed informed. A different location: so those who had captured him previously would not easily find him, especially with the commotion those in this location had just been making.

12:18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Kepha. 12:19 When Herod had sought for him, and didn’t find him, he examined the guards, and ordered them to be killed. He went down from Yehuwdah to Kæsária, and stayed there. 12:20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. For they had allied and invaded him as one, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for cultivated land, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. 12:21 On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them. 12:22 The people shouted, “The voice of a mighty one, and not of a man!” 12:23 Immediately a Messenger of YaHuWaH struck him, because he didn’t give YaHuWaH the esteem, and he was eaten by worms and died.

12:24 Yet the word of YaHuWaH grew and multiplied! 12:25 Bar-Nâbíy and Sha'ul returned from Yahrushalom  to Antioxeia, having fulfilled their service of attending, having also taken with them Yahuwchanan, the one called Marq.

13:1 Now in the assembly that was at Antióxeia there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabah, Shim'on who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Sha'ul. 13:2 As they served YaHuWaH and fasted, the Ruwach haQadosh said, “Separate Bar-Nâbíy and Sha'ul for Me, for the work to which I have called them.”

13:3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.  13:4 So, being sent out by the Ruwach haQadosh, they went down to Seleucia [Just south of Bagdahd]. From there they sailed to Kúpros.  13:5 When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed the Word of YaHuWaH in the Yahuwdite congregations. They had also Marq as their attendant. 13:6 When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Yehuwdim, whose name was Bar-Shuma, 13:7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Shaulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Bar-Nâbíy and Sha'ul, and sought to hear the Word of YaHuWaH. 13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn aside the proconsul from the belief. 13:9 But Sha'ul, filled with the Ruwach haQadosh, fastened his eyes on him,  13:10 and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of Master YaHuWaH?  Now, behold, the hand of YaHuWaH is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!”

Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 13:12 Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of YaHuWaH.

13:13 Now Sha'ul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. Yahuwchanan [Márquwç] departed from them and returned to Yahrushalom.  13:14 But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antióxeia of Pisidia. They went into the congregation on the Shabbath day, and sat down. 13:15 After the reading of the Torah and the Prophets, the rulers of the congregation sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”

13:16 Sha'ul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men, Sons of Ysra'al, and you who fear YaHuWaH, listen. 13:17 The Mighty One of this people Ysra'al chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Mitsrayim, and with an uplifted arm, He led them out of it.  13:18 For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 13:19 When He had destroyed seven nations nations in the land of Kean'na, He gave them their Land for an inheritance, for about four hundred fifty years. 13:20 After these things He gave them judges until Shemuel the prophet. 13:21 Afterward they asked for a sovereign, and YaHuWaH gave to them Sha'ul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Binyamin, for forty years. 13:22 When He had removed him, he raised up Dawiyd to be their sovereign, to whom He also testified, ‘“I found Dâwiyd the son of Yishay, a man according to My heart, who will perform all My will.”  [From 1 Shemuel 13: 14]’  13:23 Of the Seed of this one,  according to His promise to Ysra'al, YaHuWaH has brought a Savior, YaHuWSHuWaH , 13:24 and before His coming,  YaHuWaHnan first preached the immersion of repentance to Ysra'al. 13:25 As Yahuwchanan was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, One comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie [The Glad Tidings of Yâhuwchânân´n 1: 27].’ 13:26 Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear YaHuWaH, the Word of this deliverance is sent out to you. 13:27 For those who dwell in Yahrushalom, and their rulers, because they didn’t know Him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Shabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him. 13:28 Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilatus to have Him killed. 13:29 When they had fulfilled all things that were written about Him, they took Him down from the timber, and laid Him in a tomb. 13:30 But  the Mighty One raised Him from the dead, 13:31 and He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galil to Yahrushalom, who are His witnesses to the people. 13:32 We bring you Besorah of the promise made to the Fathers, 13:33 that YaHuWaH has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that He raised up YaHuWSHuWaH. As it is also written in the second psalm,

‘You are My Son!  Today I have become Your Father.”  [Psalms 2: 7] 

13:34 “Concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: […so I will cut for you an eternal covenant:] I will give to you the confirmed kindness of Dawiyd! YashaYahuw 55: 3 13:35 Therefore He says also in another psalm, “…because You will not abandon My Self to Sh’ówl, You will not concede Your Kind One to see decay!”  [Psalms 16: 9-10] 13:36 For Dawiyd, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of YaHuWaH, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay. 13:37 But He whom the Mighty One raised up saw no decay. 13:38 Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this Man is proclaimed to you liberation from sins, 13:39 and by Him everyone who believes is declared right from all sins, from which you could not be declared right by the Torah of Moshah. 13:40 Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the Prophets:

13:41 ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you . ’” [Chabaqquwq 1: 5]

13:42 So when the Yehuwdim went out of the congregation, they  begged that these words might be preached to them the next Shabbath. 13:43 Now when the congregation broke up, many of the Yahuwdim and of the devout proselytes followed Sha'ul and Bar-Nâbíy; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the favour of YaHuWaH. 13:44 The next Shabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the Word of YaHuWaH. 13:45 But when the Yehuwdim saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Sha'ul, and they were scorning. (blaspheming)

13:46 Sha'ul and Bar-Nâbíy spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that YaHuWaH's Word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the  nations.  13:47 For so has our Master commanded us, saying:

“[…It is a small thing for you to be My Bondman for restoring the tribes of Ya'aqob and to bring back the protected ones of Ysra'al (144,000), so I will also give You for a Light of the heathen masses to bring My deliverance even unto the end of the earth!” YashaYahuw 49: 6,

13:48 As the  nations heard this, they were glad, and  esteemed the Word of  YaHuWaH. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 13:49 The Word of YaHuWaH (Torah) was spread abroad throughout all the region. 13:50 But the Yehuwdim stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Sha'ul and Bar-Nâbíy, and threw them out of their borders. 13:51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. 13:52 The disciples were filled with joy with the Ruwach haQadosh.

14:1 It happened in Iconium that they entered together into the Yahuwdite congregation, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Yahuwdim and of Greeks believed. 14:2 But the disbelieving Yahuwdim stirred up and embittered the beings of the nations against the Brothers. 14:3 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly about YaHuWaH, Who testified to the Word of His favour, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. 14:4 But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Yahuwdim, and part with the emissaries. 14:5 When some of both the nations and the Yahuwdim, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them, 14:6 they became aware of it, and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region. 14:7 There they preached the Besorah.

14:8 At Lystra a certain man sat, incapacitated in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked. 14:9 He was listening to Sha'ul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had belief to be made whole, 14:10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked. 14:11 When the multitude saw what Sha'ul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The mighty ones have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 14:12 They called Barnabah “Zeus,” and Sha'ul “Hermes,” because he was the chief speaker.  14:13 The priest of Zeus, whose Hekal was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made an offering along with the multitudes. 14:14 But when the emissaries, Barnabah and Sha'ul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,  14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you Besorah, that you should turn from these vain things to the living Aluahiym, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them; 14:16 who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 14:17 Yet He didn’t leave Himself without witness, in that he did much and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

14:18 Even saying these things, they hardly stopped the multitudes from making an offering to them. 14:19 But some Yahuwdim from Antióxeia and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Sha'ul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

14:20 But as the disciples stood around him, he rose up, and entered into the city. On the next day he went out with Barnabah to Derbe. 14:21 When they had preached the Besorah to that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antióxeia, 14:22 confirming the beings of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the belief, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the reign of YaHuWaH. 14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to our Master, He in Whom they had believed.

14:24 They passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. 14:25 After they had spoken the Instruction of Master YaHuWaH (Torah is called "instruction in righteousness") in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 14:26 From there they sailed to ’Antióxeia, from where they had been committed to the favour of YaHuWaH for the work which they had fulfilled. 14:27 When they had arrived, and had gathered the assembly together, they reported all the things that YaHuWaH had done with them, and that He had opened a door of belief to the nations.  14:28 They stayed there with the disciples for a long time.

15:1 Some men came down from Yehuwdah (Ebonites/Messianic Pharisees) and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moshah, you can’t be saved.” 15:2 Therefore when Sha'ul and Barnabah had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Sha'ul and Barnabah, and some others of them, to go up to Yahrushalom to the emissaries and elders about this question. 15:3 They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Shomeron, declaring the conversion of the nations. They caused great joy to all the brothers. 15:4 When they had come to Yahrushalom, they were received by the assembly and the emissaries and the elders, and they reported all things that YaHuWaH had done with them.

15:5 Now some stood up, those who believed from the teaching of the Pharisees, and they said,  “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to guard (put of fences) the Torah of Moshah.”

15:6 The emissaries and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter. 15:7 When there had been much discussion, Kepha rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago the Mighty Ones made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the Word of the Besorah, and believe. 15:8 And the Mighty Ones, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Ruwach haQadosh, just like he did to us.  15:9 He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by belief. 15:10 Now therefore why do you tempt YaHuWaH, that you should put a yoke (oral law - the fence around Torah) on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 15:11 Instead, through the favour of our Master YaHuWSHuWaH the Mashiyach, we are persuaded that we are saved, in the same manner as they also.”

15:12 All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabah and Sha'ul reporting what signs and wonders YaHuWaH had done among the nations through them. 15:13 After they were silent, Ya'aqob answered, “Brothers, listen to me. 15:14 Simeon has reported how YaHuWaH first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for His Name.  15:15 This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,

15:16-18 "That after this, I shall return, and “In that Day, I will rebuild the Booth of Dauwd which has fallen down, and I will rebuild its ruins I will raise up it ruins, and I will build her as the ancient days, that they may possess the remnant of Adam, and all the nations upon whom My Name is called, declares YaHuWaH, “Who is doing all this.”  [Amos 9: 11-12] Who has made this known form of old. ( Known to Aluahiym are all His works from the beginning of the world.)

15:19 “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the  nations who turn to YaHuWaH, 15:20 but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from whoring, from what is strangled, and from blood. 15:21 For Moshah from generations of old has in every city those who proclaim him, being read in the congregations every Shabbath.”

15:22 Then it seemed good to the emissaries and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antióxeia with Sha'ul and Barnabah: Yahuwdah called Barsabba, and Silas, chief men among the brothers. 15:23 They wrote these things by their hand:

“The emissaries, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the  nations in ’Antióxeia, Syria, and Kilikía: greetings. 15:24 Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the Torah,’ to whom we gave no commandment; 15:25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabah and Sha'ul, 15:26 men who have risked their lives for the Name of our Master YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach. 15:27 We have sent therefore Yahuwdah and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.  15:28 For it seemed good to the Ruwach haQadosh, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: 15:29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from whoring, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

15:30 So, when they were sent off, they came to Antióxeia. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. 15:31 When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement. 15:32 Yahuwdah and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many words, and strengthened them. 15:33 After they had spent some time there, they were sent back with greetings from the brothers to the emissaries. 15:34 ??? 15:35 But Sha'ul and Barnabah stayed in Antióxeia, teaching and proclaiming the Word of YaHuWaH, with many others also.

15:36 After some days Sha'ul said to Barnabah, “Let’s return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the Word of YaHuWaH, to see how they are doing.” 15:37 Barnabah planned to take Yahuwchanan, who was called Marquwc, with them also. 15:38 But Sha'ul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work. 15:39 Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabah took Marquwc with him, and sailed away to Kúpros, 15:40 but Sha'ul chose Silas, and went out, being commended by the brothers to the favour of YaHuWaH. 15:41 He went through Syria and Kilikía, strengthening the assemblies.

16:1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Yahuwdite woman who believed; but his father was a Greek. 16:2 The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him. 16:3 Sha'ul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Yahuwdim who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 16:4 As they went on their way through the cities, they were proclaiming the glad tidings and delivered the regulation they were to keep which had been given by the emissaries and elders who were at Yahrushalom.  16:5 So the assemblies were strengthened in the belief, and increased in number daily.

16:6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Ruwach haQadosh to speak the Word in Asia. 16:7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Ruwach haQadosh didn’t allow them.  16:8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.  16:9 A vision appeared to Sha'ul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” 16:10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we [Luke joins them] sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Master had called us to proclaim the Besorah to them. 16:11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; 16:12 and from there to Philippospi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.

16:13 On the Shabbath day we went forth outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. 16:14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped YaHuWaH, heard us; whose heart the Master opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Sha'ul. 16:15 When she and her household were immersed, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be trustworthy to YaHuWaH, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.

16:16 It happened, as we were going to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of Puthon met us, who brought her masters much profit by foretelling. 16:17 Following Sha'ul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High Aluahiym, who proclaim to you the path of life!” 16:18 She was doing this for many days.

But Sha'ul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach to come out of her!” It came out that very hour. 16:19 But when her bosses saw that the hope of their business was gone, they seized Sha'ul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 16:20 When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Yahuwdim, are agitating our city, 16:21 and set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

16:22 The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.  16:23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 16:24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.

16:25 But about midnight Sha'ul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to YaHuWaH, and the prisoners were listening to them. 16:26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 16:27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.  16:28 But Sha'ul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”

16:29 He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Sha'ul and Silas, 16:30 and brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to have life?”

16:31 They said, “Trust on the Master YaHuWSHuWaH haMashiyach, and you will have life, you and your household.” 16:32 They spoke the Word of YaHuWaH (Torah) to him, and to all who were in his house.

16:33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately immersed, he and all his household. 16:34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in YaHuWaH.

16:35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”

16:36 The jailer reported these words to Sha'ul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace.”

16:37 But Sha'ul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”

16:38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 16:39 and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.  16:40 They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the Brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.

17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Yahuwdite congregation. 17:2 Sha'ul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Shabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 17:3 explaining and demonstrating that haMashiyach had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This YaHuWSHuWaH, Whom I proclaim to you, is haMashiyach.”

17:4 Some of them were persuaded, and joined Sha'ul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women. 17:5 But the unpersuaded Yahuwdim took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. And came upon the house of Iason, and they sought to bring them out to the people. 17:6 When they didn’t find them, they dragged Iason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 17:7 whom Iason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, YaHuWSHuWaH!” 17:8 The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things. 17:9 When they had taken bail from Iason and the rest of the brothers, they let them go. 17:10 The brothers immediately sent Sha'ul and Silas away by night to Beroia. When they arrived, they went into the Yahudite congregation.

17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures (the TaNaK) daily to see whether these things were so. 17:12 Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men. 17:13 But when the Yahuwdim of Thessalonica had knowledge that the Word of YaHuWaH was proclaimed by Sha'ul at Beroia also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.  17:14 Then the brothers immediately sent out Sha'ul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there. 17:15 But those who escorted Sha'ul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.

17:16 Now while Sha'ul waited for them at Athens, his ruwach was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. 17:17 So he reasoned in the congregation with the Yahuwdim and those who feared Aluahiym (non Jewish followers of YaHuWSHuWaH who worshipped with them) and in the marketplace every day with those who met him. 17:18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be advocating strange mighty ones,” because he brought to them the Besorah of YaHuWSHuWaH and the resurrection.

17:19 They took hold of him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you? 17:20 For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”  17:21 Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

17:22 Sha'ul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. 17:23 For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO THE UNKNOWN MIGHTY ONE.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you. 17:24  YaHuWaH Who made the world and all things in it, He, being the Master of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in dwellings made with hands, 17:25 neither is He served by men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He Himself gives to all life and breath, and all things. 17:26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 17:27 that they should seek YaHuWaH, if perhaps they might reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 17:28 ‘For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 17:29 Being then the offspring of YaHuWaH, we ought not to think that the Mighty One's Person is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. 17:30 The times of ignorance therefore YaHuWaH overlooked. But now He commands that all people everywhere should repent, 17:31 because He has appointed a Day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man Whom He has ordained; of which He has given assurance to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead.”

17:32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

17:33 Thus Sha'ul went out from among them. 17:34 But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

18:1 After these things Sha'ul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth. 18:2 He found a certain Yahuwdim named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Yahuwdim to depart from Rome. He came to them, 18:3 and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were saddle-makers.  18:4 He reasoned in the congregation every Shabbath, and persuaded Yahuwdim and Greeks. 18:5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Sha'ul was pressed by the Ruwach haQadosh, witnessing to the Yahuwdim that YaHuWSHuWaH was haMashiyach. 18:6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the  nations!”

18:7 He departed there, and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who feared YaHuWaH, whose house was next door to the congregation. 18:8 Crispus, the ruler of the congregation, believed in the Master with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were immersed. 18:9 The Master said to Sha'ul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent; 18:10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” 

18:11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the Word of YaHuWaH  among them. 18:12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Yehuwdim with one accord rose up against Sha'ul and brought him before the judgment seat, 18:13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship Aluahiym contrary to the Torah.”

18:14 But when Sha'ul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Yehuwdim, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Yehuwdim, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; 18:15 but if they are questions about words (oral law) and names (of YaHuWaH and YaHuWSHuWaH ) and your own Torah, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.” 18:16 He drove them from the judgment seat.

18:17 Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the congregation, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.

18:18 Sha'ul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the Brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a naziyr (separated) vow [Numbers 6: 9].  18:19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the congregation, and reasoned with the Yahuwdim. 18:20 When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined; 18:21 but taking his leave of them, and saying, “I must by all means keep this coming festival in Yahrushalom , but I will return again to you if YaHuWaH wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.

18:22 When he had landed at Kæsária, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to ’Antióxeia.  18:23 Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples. 18:24 Now a certain Yahuwdim named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an learned man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. 18:25 This man had been instructed in the Way of YaHuWaH; and being fervent in the Ruwach haQadosh, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning YaHuWSHuWaH, although he knew only the immersion of Yahuwchanan. 18:26 He began to speak boldly in the congregation. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the Way of YaHuWaH more accurately.

18:27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the Brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through favour; 18:28 for he powerfully refuted the Yehuwdim, publicly showing by the Scriptures that YaHuWSHuWaH was haMashiyach. [the only Scriptures anyone had was the TaNaK]

19:1 It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Sha'ul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.  19:2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Ruwach haQadosh when you believed?”

They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Ruwach haQadosh.”

19:3 He said, “Into what then were you immersed?”

They said, “Into Yahuwchanan’s immersion.”

19:4 Sha'ul said, “Yahuwchanan indeed immersed with the immersion of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the One Who would come after him, that is, in Mashiyach YaHuWSHuWaH.”

19:5 When they heard this, they were immersed in the Name of our Master YaHuWSHuWaH the Mashiyach. 19:6 When Sha'ul had laid his hands on them, the Ruwach haQadosh came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied. 19:7 They were about twelve men in all. 19:8 He entered into the congregation, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning the Reign of YaHuWaH.

19:9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way of YaHuWaH before the multitude, Sha'ul departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Turannos. 19:10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the Word of the Master YaHuWaH, both Yahuwdim and Greeks.

19:11 YaHuWaH worked special miracles by the hands of Sha'ul, 19:12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil ruwachs went out. 19:13 But some of the itinerant Yehuwdim, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil ruwachs the Name of the Master YaHuWSHuWaH, saying, “We adjure you by YaHuWSHuWaH Whom Sha'ul preaches.” 19:14 There were seven sons of one Skewas (left-handed), a Yehuwdish chief priest, who did this.

19:15 The evil ruwachs answered, “YaHuWSHuWaH I know, and Sha'ul I know, but who are you?” 19:16 The man in whom the evil ruwach was leaped on them, and overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 19:17 This became known to all, both Yahuwdim and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the Name of the Master YaHuWSHuWaH was magnified. 19:18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds. 19:19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 19:20 So the Word of YaHuWaH was growing and becoming mighty.

19:21 Now after these things had ended, Sha'ul determined in the Ruwach haQadosh, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Yahrushalom , saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”

19:22 Having sent into Macedonia two of those who served him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. 19:23 About that time there arose a great riot concerning the Way. 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen, 19:25 whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, “Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth. 19:26 You see and hear, that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Sha'ul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no mighty ones, that are made with hands of man. 19:27 Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the Hekal of the great female mighty one, Artemis will be counted as nothing, and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.” [could this be "prophetic" regarding "churchanity" and all their wares?]

19:28 When they heard this they were filled with anger, and screamed out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 19:29 The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Shaul’s companions in travel. 19:30 When Sha'ul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him. 19:31 Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. 19:32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn’t know why they had come together. 19:33 They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Yehuwdim putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people. 19:34 But when they perceived that he was a Yehuwdim, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

19:35 When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the Hekal keeper of the great female mighty one Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?  19:36 Seeing then that these things can’t be denied, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash.  19:37 For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of Hekals nor blasphemers of your female mighty one. 19:38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them press charges against one another. 19:39 But if you seek anything about other matters, it will be settled in the regular assembly. 19:40 For indeed we are in danger of being accused concerning this day’s riot, there being no cause. Concerning it, we wouldn’t be able to give an account of this commotion.” 19:41 When he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.

20:1 After the uproar had ceased, Sha'ul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia. 20:2 When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece. 20:3 When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Yehuwdim as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. 20:4 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 20:5 But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas. 20:6 We sailed away from Philippospi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

20:7 On the first day of the week, (after Shabbath) when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Sha'ul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight. 20:8 There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together. 20:9 A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Sha'ul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead. 20:10 Sha'ul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.”

20:11 When he had gone up, and had broken bread, and eaten, and had talked with them a long while, even until break of day, he departed. 20:12 They [vv. 4-5] brought the boy in alive, and were greatly comforted.

20:13 But we who went ahead to the ship set sail for Assos, intending to take Sha'ul aboard there, for he had so arranged, intending himself to go by land. 20:14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene. 20:15 Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus. 20:16 For Sha'ul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Yahrushalom on the Day of the Festival of Weeks.   (Shabuot)

20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly. 20:18 When they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time, 20:19 serving YaHuWaH with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Yehuwdim; 20:20 how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, 20:21 testifying both to Yehuwdim and to Greeks repentance toward YaHuWaH  and belief toward our Master YaHuWSHuWaH. 20:22 Now, behold, I go bound by the Ruwach haQadosh to Yahrushalom, not knowing what will happen to me there; 20:23 except that the Ruwach haQadosh testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.  20:24 But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Master YaHuWSHuWaH, to fully testify to the Besorah of the favour of YaHuWaH.

20:25 “Now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about proclaiming the reign of YaHuWaH, will see my face no more. 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all men, 20:27 for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of YaHuWaH. 20:28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Ruwach haQadosh has made you overseers, to shepherd the Assembly of Aluahiym, which He purchased through His Own blood. 20:29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  20:30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking distortions, to draw away pupils to follow after them. 20:31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. 20:32 Now, brothers, I entrust you to YaHuWaH, and to the Word of His favour, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are set apart. 20:33 I coveted no one’s silver, or gold, or clothing. 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me. 20:35 In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Master YaHuWSHuWaH, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

20:36 When he had spoken these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 20:37 They all wept a lot, and fell on Shaul’s neck and kissed him,  20:38 sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

21:1 When it happened that we had parted from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. 21:2 Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set sail. 21:3 When we had come in sight of Kúpros, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo. 21:4 Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Sha'ul through the Ruwach haQadosh, that he should not go up to Yahrushalom . 21:5 When it happened that we had accomplished the days, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed. 21:6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.

21:7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day. 21:8 On the next day, we, who were Shaul’s companions, departed, and came to Kæsária.

We entered into the house of Philippos the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 21:9 Now this man had four maiden daughters who prophesied. 21:10 As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Yahuwdah. 21:11 Coming to us, and taking Shaul’s girdle, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Ruwach haQadosh: ‘So will the Yehuwdim s at Yahrushalom bind the man who owns this girdle, and will deliver him into the hands of the nations.’”

21:12 When we heard these things, both we and they of that place begged him not to go up to Yahrushalom . 21:13 Then Sha'ul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Yahrushalom for the Name of the Master, YaHuWSHuWaH.”

21:14 When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “May YaHuWaH’s will be done.”

21:15 After these days we took up our baggage and went up to Yahrushalom . 21:16 Some of the disciples from Kæsária also went with us, bringing one Mnason of Kúpros, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.

21:17 When we had come to Yahrushalom , the brothers received us gladly. 21:18 The day following, Sha'ul went in with us to Ya'aqob; and all the elders were present. 21:19 When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which YaHuWaH had worked among the  nations through his ministry.  21:20 They, when they heard it,  praised YaHuWaH. But they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Yahuwdims of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Torah. 21:21 And they have been informed about you, that you teach all the Yahuwdim who are among the  nations to forsake Moshah, telling them not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the customs of the Law. 21:22 What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.  21:23 Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow to be purified. 21:24 Take them, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the Torah. 21:25 But concerning the nations who believe, we have written our decision that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from whoring.”

21:26 Then Sha'ul took the men, and the next day, purified himself and went with them into the Hekal, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them. 21:27 When the seven days were almost completed, the Yehuwdim from Asia, when they saw him in the Hekal, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him, 21:28 crying out, “Men of Ysra'al, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the Torah, and this place. Moreover, he also brought Greeks into the Hekal, and has defiled this Hekal!” 21:29 For they had seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed that Sha'ul had brought him into the Hekal.

21:30 All the city was moved, and the people ran together. They seized Sha'ul and dragged him out of the Hekal. Immediately the doors were shut.  21:31 As they were trying to kill him, news came up to the commanding officer of the regiment that all Yahrushalom was in an uproar. 21:32 Immediately he took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. They, when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, stopped beating Sha'ul.  21:33 Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done. 21:34 Some shouted one thing, and some another, among the crowd. When he couldn’t find out the truth because of the noise, he commanded him to be brought into the barracks.

21:35 When he came to the stairs, it happened that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd; 21:36 for the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Do away with him!” 21:37 As Sha'ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he asked the commanding officer in Greek: “Ei exestin moi eipein ti prov se? (Is it permitted for me to say something to you?)”

He said, “Do you know Greek? 21:38 Aren’t you then the Mitsrite, who before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins?”

21:39 But Sha'ul said, “I am actually a Yahuwdim, from Tarsus in Kilikía, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”

21:40 When he had given him permission, Sha'ul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. When there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,

22:1 “Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you.”

22:2 When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said, 22:3 “I am indeed a Yahuwdim, born in Tarsus of Kilikía, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamali'el, instructed according to the strict manner of the Torah of our Fathers, being zealous for the Mighty Ones, even as you all are this day. 22:4 I persecuted this The Way, unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 22:5 As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Dammeseq to bring them also who were there to Yahrushalom in bonds to be punished. 22:6 It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Dammeseq, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great Light around me. 22:7 I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 22:8 I answered, ‘Who are you, My Master?’ He said to me, ‘I am YaHuWSHuWaH of Natsareth, Whom you persecute.’ 

22:9 “Those who were with me indeed saw the Light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of Him Who spoke to me. 22:10 I said, ‘What shall I do, My Master?’ And my Master said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Dammeseq. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 22:11 When I couldn’t see for the brightness of that Light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Dammeseq. 22:12 One ChananYahuw, a devout man according to the Torah, well reported of by all the Yahuwdim who lived in Dammeseq, 22:13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Sha'ul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. 22:14 He said, ‘The Mighty Ones of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to heed the voice from His mouth. 22:15 For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 22:16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be immersed, and wash away your sins, while you invoke His Name!  [YaHuWaH YaHuWSHuWaH]

22:17 “It happened that, when I had returned to Yahrushalom, and while I prayed in the Hekal, I fell into a trance, 22:18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Yahrushalom quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning Me from you.’ 22:19 I said, ‘Master, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every congregation those who believed in you. 22:20 When the blood of Stephanos, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’

22:21 “He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to preach to the nations.’”

22:22 They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”

22:23 As they cried out, and threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, 22:24 the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that. 22:25 When they had tied him up with thongs, Sha'ul asked the centurion who stood by, “ei anyrwpon rwmaion kai akatakriton exestin umin mastizein (Is it lawful for you to whip a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?)”

22:26 When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”

22:27 The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”

He said, “Yes.”

22:28 The commanding officer answered, “I bought my citizenship for a great price.”

Sha'ul said, “But I was born a Roman.”

22:29 Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him. 22:30 But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Yehuwdim, he freed him from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Sha'ul down and set him before them.

23:1 Sha'ul, looking steadfastly at the council, said, “Brothers, I have lived before YaHuWaH in all good conscience until this day.”

23:2 The high priest, ChananYahuw, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

23:3 Then Sha'ul said to him, “YaHuWaH will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to judge me according to the Torah, and command me to be struck contrary to the Torah?”

23:4 Those who stood by said, “Do you malign The Mighty Ones' high priest?”

23:5 Sha'ul said, “I didn’t know, brothers, that he was high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” [Exodus 22: 28] 23:6 But when Sha'ul perceived that the one part were Tsadowq and the other Phrushiym, he cried out in the council, “Men and brothers, I am a Phrushiym, a son of Phrushiym. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!”

23:7 When he had said this, an argument arose between the Phrushiym and Tsadowq, and the assembly was divided. 23:8 For the Tsadowq say that there is no resurrection, nor Messenger, nor the Ruwach haQadosh; but the Phrushiym confess all of these. 23:9 A great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Phrushiym part stood up, and contended, saying, “We find no evil in this man. But if the Ruwach haQadosh or Messenger has spoken to him, let’s not fight against Aluahiym!”

23:10 When a great argument arose, the commanding officer, fearing that Sha'ul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

23:11 The following night, YaHuWaH appeared to him, and said, “Be courageous, Sha'ul, for as you did fully testify the things about Me at Yahrushalom, thus you ought also at Roma bear witness.”

23:12 When it was day, some of the Yahuwdim banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Sha'ul. 23:13 There were more than forty people who had made this conspiracy. 23:14 They came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse, to taste nothing until we have killed Sha'ul. 23:15 Now therefore, you with the council inform the commanding officer that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to judge his case more exactly. We are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

23:16 But Shaul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, and he came and entered into the barracks and told Sha'ul. 23:17 Sha'ul summoned one of the centurions, and said, “Bring this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to tell him.”

23:18 So he took him, and brought him to the commanding officer, and said, “Sha'ul, the prisoner, summoned me and asked me to bring this young man to you, who has something to tell you.”

23:19 The commanding officer took him by the hand, and going aside, asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

23:20 He said, “The Yahuwdim have agreed to ask you to bring Sha'ul down to the council tomorrow, as though intending to inquire somewhat more accurately concerning him.  23:21 Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, looking for the promise from you.”

23:22 So the commanding officer let the young man go, charging him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.” 23:23 He called to himself two of the centurions, and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go as far as Kæsária, with seventy horsemen, and two hundred men armed with spears, at the third hour of the night. [9 PM]” 23:24 He asked them to provide animals, that they might set Sha'ul on one, and bring him safely to Felix the governor. 23:25 He wrote a letter like this:

23:26 “Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

23:27 “This man was seized by the Yehuwdim, and was about to be killed by them, when I came with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.  23:28 Desiring to know the cause why they accused him, I brought him down to their council. 23:29 I found him to be accused about questions of their Torah, but not to be charged with anything worthy of death or of imprisonment. 23:30 When I was told that the Yehuwdim lay in wait for the man, I sent him to you immediately, charging his accusers also to bring their accusations against him before you. Farewell.”

23:31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Sha'ul and brought him by night to Antipatris. 23:32 But on the next day they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the barracks. 23:33 When they came to Kæsária and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Sha'ul to him. 23:34 When the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. When he understood that he was from Kilikía, he said, 23:35 “I will hear you fully when your accusers also arrive.” He commanded that he be kept in the Praetorium of Herod’s palace.

24:1 After five days, the high priest, ChananYahuw, came down with certain elders and a speaker, one Tertullus. They informed the governor against Sha'ul.  24:2 When he was called, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Seeing that by you we enjoy much peace, and that excellent measures are coming to this nation, 24:3 we accept it in all ways and in all places, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. 24:4 But, that I don’t delay you, I entreat you to bear with us and hear a few words. 24:5 For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Yehuwdim throughout the world, and a champion leader of the sect of the Natsarenes (Ne'tsriym). 24:6 He even tried to profane the Hekal, and we arrested him and desired to judge him accodring to our Law, but Lusias the captain of a thousand arrived, and with great violence, seized him away out of our hands, and brought him to you. 24:7 And he commanded his accusers to come before you.   24:8 By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.”

24:9 The Yehuwdim also joined in the attack, affirming that these things were so. 24:10 When the governor had beckoned to him to speak, Sha'ul answered, “Because I know that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I cheerfully make my defense, 24:11 seeing that you can recognize that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Yahrushalom . 24:12 In the Hekal they didn’t find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the congregations, or in the city. 24:13 Nor can they prove to you the things of which they now accuse me.  24:14 But this I confess to you, that after The Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the Aluahiym of our Fathers, believing all things which are according to the Torah, and which are written in the Prophets; 24:15 having hope toward YaHuWaH, which these also themselves look for, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 24:16 Herein I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward Aluahiym and men.  24:17 Now after some years, I came to bring gifts for the needy to my nation, and offerings; 24:18 amid which certain Yehuwdim from Asia found me purified in the Hekal, not with a mob, nor with turmoil.  24:19 They ought to have been here before you, and to make accusation, if they had anything against me.  24:20 Or else let these men themselves say what injustice they found in me when I stood before the council, 24:21 unless it is for this one thing that I cried standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged before you today!’”

24:22 But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning The Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.”  24:23 He ordered the centurion that Sha'ul should be kept in custody, and should have some privileges, and not to forbid any of his friends to serve him or to visit him. 24:24 But after some days, Felix came with Drusilla, his wife, who was a female Yehuwdite, and sent for Sha'ul, and heard him concerning the belief in Mashiach YaHuWSHuWaH. 24:25 As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the Judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, “Go your way for this time, and when it is convenient for me, I will summon you.” 24:26 Meanwhile, he also hoped that silver would be given to him by Sha'ul, that he might release him. Therefore also he sent for him more often, and talked with him. 24:27 But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Yehuwdim, Felix left Sha'ul in bonds.

25:1 Festus therefore, having come into the province, after three days went up to Yahrushalom  from Kæsária. 25:2 Then the high priest and the principal men of the Yehuwdim informed him against Sha'ul, and they begged him, 25:3 asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Yahrushalom ; plotting to kill him on the way. 25:4 However Festus answered that Sha'ul should be kept in custody at Kæsária, and that he himself was about to depart shortly. 25:5 “Let them therefore,” said he, “that are in power among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong in the man, let them accuse him.”

25:6 When he had stayed among them more than ten days, he went down to Kæsária, and on the next day he sat on the judgment seat, and commanded Sha'ul to be brought. 25:7 When he had come, the Yehuwdim who had come down from Yahrushalom  stood around him, bringing against him many and grievous charges which they could not prove, 25:8 while he said in his defense, “Neither against the Torah of the Yehuwdim, nor against the Hekal, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all.”

25:9 But Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Yehuwdim, answered Sha'ul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Yahrushalom , and be judged by me there concerning these things?”

25:10 But Sha'ul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Yehuwdim, as you also know very well. 25:11 For if I have done wrong, and have committed anything worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die; but if none of those things is true that they accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

25:12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.”

25:13 Now when some days had passed, sovereign Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Kæsária, and greeted Festus. 25:14 As he stayed there many days, Festus laid Shaul’s case before the sovereign, saying, “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix; 25:15 about whom, when I was at Yahrushalom , the chief priests and the Yehuwdite elders informed me, asking for a sentence against him. 25:16 To whom I answered that it is not the custom of the Romans to give up any man to destruction, before the accused has met the accusers face to face, and has had opportunity to make his defense concerning the matter laid against him. 25:17 When therefore they had come together here, I didn’t delay, but on the next day sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought. 25:18 Concerning whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought no charge of such things as I supposed;  25:19 but had certain questions against him about their own religion, and about one YaHuWSHuWaH, Who was dead, whom Sha'ul affirmed to be alive. 25:20 Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Yahrushalom  and there be judged concerning these matters. 25:21 But when Sha'ul had appealed to be kept for the decision of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.”

25:22 Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself!”

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”

25:23 So on the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and they had entered into the place of hearing with the commanding officers and principal men of the city, at the command of Festus, Sha'ul was brought in. 25:24 Festus said, “sovereign Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us, you see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Yehuwdim petitioned me, both at Yahrushalom  and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. 25:25 But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and as he himself appealed to the emperor I determined to send him. 25:26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write to my sovereign. Therefore I have brought him forth before you, and especially before you, sovereign Agrippa, that, after examination, I may have something to write. 25:27 For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to also specify the charges against him.”

26:1 Agrippa said to Sha'ul, “You may speak for yourself.”

Then Sha'ul stretched out his hand, and made his defense. 26:2 “I think myself happy, sovereign Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning all the things that I am accused by the Yehuwdim, 26:3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among Yehuwdim. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.

26:4 “Indeed, all Yehuwdim know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Yahrushalom ; 26:5 having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Phrushiym. 26:6 Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by Master YaHuWaH to our Fathers, 26:7 which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Yehuwdim, sovereign Agrippa! 26:8 Why is it judged incredible with you, if Aluahiym does raise the dead?

26:9 “I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH of Natsareth. 26:10 This I also did in Yahrushalom. I both shut up many of the set-apart ones in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. 26:11 Punishing them often in all the congregations, I tried to make them blaspheme the Name of YaHuWSHuWaH the Nazarene. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

26:12 “Whereupon as I traveled to Dammâseq with the authority and commission from the chief priests, 26:13 at noon, O sovereign, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. 26:14 When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the prods.’ 

26:15 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’

“He said, “I am Yahuwshuwah of Netsarowth, Whom you persecute.

Nevertheless get up and stand on your feet, for I appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you an attendant and a witness both of that you did see Me and that in the future I shall appear to you, rescuing you from among the people of Yehuwdah and other people unto whom I send you forth now,

To open their eyes, that they may turn from the darkness unto the Light and from the authority of the Adversary unto YaHuWaH, that they may receive liberation from sins and an inheritance among those that have been purified by the persuasion in Me.”

26:19 “Therefore, sovereign Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 26:20 but declared first to them of Dammâseq, at Yahrushalom , and throughout all the country of Yehuwdah, and also to the  nations, that they should repent and turn to YaHuWaH, doing works worthy of repentance. 26:21 For this reason Yehuwdim seized me in the Hekal, and tried to kill me. 26:22 Having therefore obtained the help that is from YaHuWaH, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing else but what the Prophets and Moshah said would come -   26:23 how haMashiyach must suffer, be the first to rise from the dead, He would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the  nations.”

26:24 As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Sha'ul, you are mad! Your great Scriptural learning is turning you into madness!”

26:25 But he said, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. 26:26 For the sovereign knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. 26:27 sovereign Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”

26:28 Agrippa said to Sha'ul, “With a little you might persuade me to become a Messianic!” (Kristanay)

26:29 Sha'ul said, “I pray to YaHuWaH, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”

26:30 The sovereign rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them. 26:31 When they had withdrawn, they spoke one to another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of chains.” 26:32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

27:1 When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Sha'ul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan regiment. 27:2 Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.  27:3 The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Sha'ul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself. 27:4 Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Kúpros, because the winds were contrary. 27:5 When we had sailed across the sea which is off Kilikía and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.  27:6 There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. 27:7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and had come with difficulty opposite Cnidus, the wind not allowing us further, we sailed under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. 27:8 With difficulty sailing along it we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

27:9 When much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast had now already gone by,  [the Day of Atonement, Yowm Kippur, the 10th day of the 7th month] Sha'ul admonished them, 27:10 and said to them, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 27:11 But the captain  gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship than to those things which were spoken by Sha'ul. 27:12 Because the haven was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised going to sea from there, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter there, which is a port of Crete, looking northeast and southeast.

27:13 When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to shore.  27:14 But before long, a stormy wind beat down from shore, which is called Euroclydon.  27:15 When the ship was caught, and couldn’t face the wind, we gave way to it, and were driven along. 27:16 Running under the lee of a small island called Clauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat. 27:17 After they had hoisted it up, they used cables to help reinforce the ship. Fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis sand bars, they lowered the sea anchor, and so were driven along. 27:18 As we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw things overboard. 27:19 On the third day, they threw out the ship’s tackle with their own hands. 27:20 When neither sun nor stars shone on us for many days, and no small storm pressed on us, all hope that we would be saved was now taken away.

27:21 When they had been long without food, Sha'ul stood up in the middle of them, and said, “Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss. 27:22 Now I exhort you to cheer up, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 27:23 For there stood by me this night an Messenger, belonging to the Aluahiym whose I am and whom I serve, 27:24 saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Sha'ul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, YaHuWaH has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 27:25 Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I trust YaHuWaH, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me. 27:26 But we must run aground on a certain island.”

27:27 But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some land. 27:28 They took soundings, and found twenty fathoms. After a little while, they took soundings again, and found fifteen fathoms. 27:29 Fearing that we would run aground on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for daylight. 27:30 As the sailors were trying to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they would lay out anchors from the bow,  27:31 Sha'ul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these stay in the ship, you can’t be saved.” 27:32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let it fall off.

27:33 While the day was coming on, Sha'ul begged them all to take some food, saying, “This day is the fourteenth day that you wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing. 27:34 Therefore I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety; for not a hair will perish from any of your heads.” 27:35 When he had said this, and had taken bread, he gave thanks to YaHuWaH in the presence of all, and he broke it, and began to eat. 27:36 Then they all cheered up, and they also took food. 27:37 In all, we were two hundred seventy-six souls on the ship. 27:38 When they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. 27:39 When it was day, they didn’t recognize the land, but they noticed a certain bay with a beach, and they decided to try to drive the ship onto it. 27:40 Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time untying the rudder ropes. Hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. 27:41 But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up by the violence of the waves.

27:42 The soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim out and escape. 27:43 But the captain, desiring to save Sha'ul, stopped them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should throw themselves overboard first to go toward the land;  27:44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. So it happened that they all escaped safely to the land.

28:1 When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta.  28:2 The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. 28:3 But when Sha'ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 28:4 When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said one to another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet justice has not allowed to live.” 28:5 However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed. 28:6 But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a mighty one.

28:7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us, and courteously entertained us for three days. 28:8 It happened that the Father of Publius lay sick of fever and dysentery. Sha'ul went in to him, prayed, and laying his hands on him, healed him. 28:9 Then when this was done, the rest also who had diseases in the island came, and were cured. 28:10 They also esteemed us with many praises, and when we sailed, they put on board the things that we needed.

28:11 After three months, we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose figurehead was “The Twin Brothers.” 28:12 Touching at Syracuse, we stayed there three days. 28:13 From there we circled around and arrived at Rhegium. After one day, a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli, 28:14 where we found brothers, and were entreated to stay with them for seven days. So we came to Rome. 28:15 From there the brothers, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as The Marquwcet of Appius and The Three Taverns. When Sha'ul saw them, he thanked YaHuWaH, and took courage.  28:16 When we entered into Rome, the captain delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Sha'ul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

28:17 It happened that after three days Sha'ul called together those who were the Yehuwdite leaders. When they had come together, he said to them, “I, brothers, though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our Fathers, still was delivered prisoner from Yahrushalom  into the hands of the Romans, 28:18 who, when they had examined me, desired to set me free, because there was no cause of death in me. 28:19 But when the Yehuwdim spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything about which to accuse my nation. 28:20 For this cause therefore I asked to see you and to speak with you. For because of the Hope of Ysra'al I am bound with this chain.”

28:21 They said to him, “We neither received letters from Yehuwdah concerning you, nor did any of the brothers come here and report or speak any evil of you. 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”

28:23 When they had appointed him a day, many people came to him at his lodging. He explained to them, testifying about the reign of YaHuWaH, and persuading them concerning YaHuWSHuWaH, both from the Torah of Moshah and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. 28:24 Some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. 28:25 When they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Sha'ul had spoken this last word, “the Ruwach haQadosh spoke rightly through YashaYahuw, the prophet, to our Fathers, 28:26 saying,

‘Go to this people, and say,

in hearing, you will hear,

but will in no way understand.

In seeing, you will see,

but will in no way perceive.

28:27 For this people’s heart has grown callous.

Their ears are dull of hearing.

Their eyes they have closed.

Lest they should see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and would turn again,

and I would heal them.’ YashaYahuw 6: 9-10

28:28 “Be it known therefore to you, that this healing of  YaHuWaH is sent to the heathen masses, and they are understanding it!”

28:29 When he had said these words, the Yehuwdim departed, having a great dispute among themselves.( Not in any of the originals.)

28:30 Sha'ul stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who were coming to him,  28:31 proclaiming the reign of  YaHuWaH, and teaching the things concerning our Master YaHuWSHuWaH  haMashiyach with all boldness, without hindrance.