Since those who dwell in Jerusalem, along with their rulers, failed to recognize this man and the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they fulfilled their words by condemning him.
as the high priest can testify about me, along with the whole council of elders. From them I received letters to the brothers in Damascus and then made my way there to make arrests and bring the prisoners back to Jerusalem to be punished.
They said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about yoʋ, and none of the brothers who have come here have reported or spoken anything bad about yoʋ.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
They are darkened in their understanding, being excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.