16. Paul stood up, raised his hand to get their attention, and said, “People of Israel and all you others who worship the true God, please listen to me!
17. The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out of that country with great power.
18. And he was patient with them for 40 years in the desert.
19. God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave their land to his people.
20. All this happened in about 450 years. “After this, God gave our people judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
21. Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years.
22. After God took Saul away, God made David their king. This is what God said about David: ‘David, the son of Jesse, is the kind of person who does what pleases me. He will do everything I want him to do.’
23. “As he promised, God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus.
24. Before he came, John told all the people of Israel what they should do. He told them to be baptized to show they wanted to change their lives.
25. When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Messiah. He is coming later, and I am not worthy to be the slave who unties his sandals.’
26. “My brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you other people who also worship the true God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us.
27. The Jews living in Jerusalem and their leaders did not realize that Jesus was the Savior. The words the prophets wrote about him were read every Sabbath day, but they did not understand. They condemned Jesus. When they did this, they made the words of the prophets come true.
28. They could not find any real reason why Jesus should die, but they asked Pilate to kill him.
29. “These Jews did all the bad things that the Scriptures said would happen to Jesus. Then they took Jesus down from the cross and put him in a tomb.
30. But God raised him up from death!
31. After this, for many days, those who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his witnesses to our people.
32. “We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors.