Acts 13:16-41
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Paul’s Address in the Synagogue. 16 [a]So Paul got up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing,[b] listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and exalted the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt.(A) With uplifted arm he led them out of it 18 and for about forty years he put up with[c] them in the desert.(B) 19 When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance(C) 20 at the end of about four hundred and fifty years.[d] After these things he provided judges up to Samuel [the] prophet.(D) 21 Then they asked for a king. God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.(E) 22 Then he removed him and raised up David as their king; of him he testified, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will carry out my every wish.’(F) 23 From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.(G) 24 John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel;(H) 25 and as John was completing his course, he would say, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’(I)
26 “My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent. 27 The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him, and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophets that are read sabbath after sabbath. 28 For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him put to death,(J) 29 and when they had accomplished all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.(K) 30 But God raised him from the dead,(L) 31 and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.(M) These are [now] his witnesses before the people.[e] 32 We ourselves are proclaiming this good news to you that what God promised our ancestors 33 he has brought to fulfillment for us, [their] children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my son; this day I have begotten you.’(N) 34 And that he raised him from the dead never to return to corruption he declared in this way, ‘I shall give you the benefits assured to David.’(O) 35 That is why he also says in another psalm, ‘You will not suffer your holy one to see corruption.’(P) 36 Now David, after he had served the will of God in his lifetime, fell asleep, was gathered to his ancestors, and did see corruption.(Q) 37 But the one whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 You must know, my brothers, that through him forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you, [and] in regard to everything from which you could not be justified[f] under the law of Moses, 39 in him every believer is justified.(R) 40 Be careful, then, that what was said in the prophets not come about:
41 ‘Look on, you scoffers,
be amazed and disappear.
For I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will never believe
even if someone tells you.’”(S)
Footnotes
- 13:16–41 This is the first of several speeches of Paul to Jews proclaiming that the Christian church is the logical development of Pharisaic Judaism (see also Acts 24:10–21; 26:2–23).
- 13:16 Who are God-fearing: see note on Acts 8:26–40.
- 13:18 Put up with: some manuscripts read “sustained.”
- 13:20 At the end of about four hundred and fifty years: the manuscript tradition makes it uncertain whether the mention of four hundred and fifty years refers to the sojourn in Egypt before the Exodus, the wilderness period and the time of the conquest (see Ex 12:40–41), as the translation here suggests, or to the time between the conquest and the time of Samuel, the period of the judges, if the text is read, “After these things, for about four hundred and fifty years, he provided judges.”
- 13:31 The theme of the Galilean witnesses is a major one in the Gospel of Luke and in Acts and is used to signify the continuity between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the church and to guarantee the fidelity of the church’s teachings to the words of Jesus.
- 13:38–39 Justified: the verb is the same as that used in Paul’s letters to speak of the experience of justification and, as in Paul, is here connected with the term “to have faith” (“every believer”). But this seems the only passage about Paul in Acts where justification is mentioned. In Lucan fashion it is paralleled with “forgiveness of sins” (a theme at Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43) based on Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 13:37) rather than his cross, and is put negatively (Acts 13:38). Therefore, some would translate, “in regard to everything from which you could not be acquitted…every believer is acquitted.”
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