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But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
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And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
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But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
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Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
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And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
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And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
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And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
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And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
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Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
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Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
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And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
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And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
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And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
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And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
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Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
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There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
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Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
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And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
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But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
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Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
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And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
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But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned and told,
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Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
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Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
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Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
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Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
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And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
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Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
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Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
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The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
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Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
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And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
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When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
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Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
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And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
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For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself 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 scattered, and brought to nought.
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After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
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And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
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But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
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And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
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And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
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And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
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And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
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Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
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Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
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But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
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And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
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Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
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And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
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And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
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Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
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And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
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Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
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And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
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And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
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For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
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And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
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Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
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And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
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And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
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Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
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And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
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And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
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And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
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And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
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And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
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And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
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Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
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But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
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And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
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Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
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So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
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And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
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But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
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Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
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The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
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In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:
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And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
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And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
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And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
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And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
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For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
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And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
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But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
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Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
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Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
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And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
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When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
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Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
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Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
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I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
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This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
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He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
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This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
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This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
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To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
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Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
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And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
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Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
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Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
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Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
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Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
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Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
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But Solomon built him an house.
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Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
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Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
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Hath not my hand made all these things?
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Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
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Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
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Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
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When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
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But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
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And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
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Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
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And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
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And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
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And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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