16. Standing up, Paul gestured with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites and Gentile God-worshippers, please listen to me.
17. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors. God made them a great people while they lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. With his great power, he led them out of that country.
18. For about forty years, God put up with them in the wilderness.
19. God conquered seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the Israelites their land as an inheritance.
20. This happened over a period of about four hundred fifty years. “After this, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.
21. The Israelites requested a king, so God gave them Saul, Kish’s son, from the tribe of Benjamin, and he served as their king for forty years.