In each and every province as well as in each and every city, wherever the king’s edict and his decree reached, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast, and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the people of the land professed to be Jews because the dread of the Jews fell on them.
Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: the Cushites and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who handle and bend the bow.
Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all who dwell in the wilderness who clip the hair on their temples, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.
But he shall have power over the hidden treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Cushites shall be at his steps.
Thus says the Lord of Hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations will take hold of the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
In the church that was in Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
He found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to them.
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, Paul. For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify at Rome.”
From there, when the brothers heard of us, they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.
And what was said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, who was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Procorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch,
Then some men rose up from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and of Asia), disputing with Stephen.