In every province, and in every city, wherever the king's mitzvah and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen on them.
Go up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Kush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
Egypt, and Yehudah, and Edom, and the children of `Ammon, and Mo'av, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yisra'el are uncircumcised in heart.
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lubbians and the Kushim shall be at his steps.
Thus says the LORD of Armies: *In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'*
and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, *Out of Egypt I called my son.*
Woe to you, scribes and Perushim, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehinnom as yourselves.
They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Shim`on of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.
Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Bar-Nabba, Shim`on who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Menachem the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Sha'ul.
Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Judeans and of the devout proselytes followed Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
But Sha'ul didn't think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn't go with them to do the work.
He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
The following night, the Lord stood by him, and said, *Cheer up, Sha'ul, for as you have testified about me at Yerushalayim, so you must testify also at Rome.*
From there the brothers, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as The Market of Appius and The Three Taverns. When Sha'ul saw them, he thanked God, and took courage.
These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;
But some of those who were of the synagogue called *The Libertines,* and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.