Then an angel of the Lord ¹  said to Philip, ²  “Get up and go south ³  on the road that goes down from Jerusalem ⁴  to Gaza.” (This is a desert ⁵  road.) ⁶ 

So ¹  he got up ²  and went. There ³  he met ⁴  an Ethiopian eunuch, ⁵  a court official of Candace, ⁶  queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He ⁷  had come to Jerusalem to worship, ⁸ 

Now the passage of scripture the man ¹  was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did ²  not open his mouth.

Then the Lord told him, “Get up and go to the street called ‘Straight,’ ¹  and at Judas’ house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying,

All ¹  who heard him were amazed and were saying, “Is this not ²  the man who in Jerusalem was ravaging ³  those who call on this name, and who had come here to bring them as prisoners ⁴  to the chief priests?”

Now while Peter was puzzling over ¹  what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon’s house was ²  and approached ³  the gate.

Therefore if God ¹  gave them the same gift ²  as he also gave us after believing ³  in the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴  who was I to hinder ⁵  God?”

Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen ¹  went as far as ²  Phoenicia, ³  Cyprus, ⁴  and Antioch, ⁵  speaking the message ⁶  to no one but Jews.

Now Herod ¹  was having an angry quarrel ²  with the people of Tyre ³  and Sidon. ⁴  So they joined together ⁵  and presented themselves before him. And after convincing ⁶  Blastus, the king’s personal assistant, ⁷  to help them, ⁸  they asked for peace, ⁹  because their country’s food supply was provided by the king’s country.

But the Jews incited ¹  the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out ²  of their region.

So they stayed there ¹  for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified ²  to the message ³  of his grace, granting miraculous signs ⁴  and wonders to be performed through their hands.

She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, ¹  and turned ²  and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ ³  to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once. ⁴ 

But when her owners ¹  saw their hope of profit ²  was gone, they seized ³  Paul and Silas and dragged ⁴  them into the marketplace before the authorities.

When they opposed him ¹  and reviled him, ²  he protested by shaking out his clothes ³  and said to them, “Your blood ⁴  be on your own heads! I am guiltless! ⁵  From now on I will go to the Gentiles!”

so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body ¹  were brought ²  to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. ³ 

But some itinerant ¹  Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name ²  of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by ³  evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn ⁴  you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

Then the man who was possessed by ¹  the evil spirit jumped on ²  them and beat them all into submission. ³  He prevailed ⁴  against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, ¹  both Jews and Greeks; fear came over ²  them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. ³ 

When ¹  our time was over, ²  we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied ³  us outside of the city. After ⁴  kneeling down on the beach and praying, ⁵ 

take them and purify ¹  yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ²  so that they may have their heads shaved. ³  Then ⁴  everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told ⁵  about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with ⁶  the law. ⁷