² and both Jesus and His ^(A)disciples were invited to the wedding.

¹⁵ And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of ^(A)the brothers (a crowd of about 120 ^[a]persons was there together), and said,

Selection of the Seven

6 Now in those days, while the ^(A)disciples were ^(B)multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the ^[a](C)Hellenists against the ^(D)Hebrews, because their ^(E)widows were being overlooked in ^(F)the daily serving of food. ² So the twelve summoned the ^[b]congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. ³ Therefore, ^(G)brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, ^(H)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need. ⁴ But we will ^(I)devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.” ⁵ And this word pleased the whole ^[c]congregation, and they chose ^(J)Stephen, a man ^(K)full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and ^(L)Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a ^[d](M)proselyte from ^(N)Antioch. ⁶ And these they stood before the apostles, and after ^(O)praying, they ^(P)laid their hands on them.

^7 (Q)And the word of God kept on spreading, and ^(R)the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great ^[e]many of the priests were becoming obedient to ^(S)the faith.

Stephen Accused of Blasphemy

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great ^(T)wonders and ^[f]signs among the people. ⁹ But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both ^(U)Cyrenians and ^(V)Alexandrians, and some from ^(W)Cilicia and ^[g](X)Asia, rose up and were arguing with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they were unable to oppose the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they ^(Y)came up to him, dragged him away, and brought him to ^(Z)the Sanhedrin. ¹³ And they put forward ^(AA)false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases speaking words against this ^(AB)holy place and the Law; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that ^(AC)this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and alter ^(AD)the customs which Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵ And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the ^(AE)Sanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel.

¹⁹ and he took food and was strengthened.

Saul Begins to Preach Christ

Now ^(A)for several days he was with ^(B)the disciples who were at Damascus,

²⁵ but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a large basket.

^26 (A)And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, ^[a]but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.