25. But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
26. Saul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they would not believe that he was a disciple, and they were all afraid of him.
27. Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
28. And so Saul stayed with them and went all over Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
29. He also talked and disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him.
30. When the believers found out about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
31. And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.
32. Peter travelled everywhere, and on one occasion he went to visit God's people who lived in Lydda.
33. There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralysed and had not been able to get out of bed for eight years.
34. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ makes you well. Get up and make your bed.” At once Aeneas got up.
35. All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
36. In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning “a deer”.) She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor.
37. At that time she became ill and died. Her body was washed and laid in a room upstairs.
38. Joppa was not very far from Lydda, and when the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him with the message, “Please hurry and come to us.”
39. So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded round him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive.
40. Peter put them all out of the room, and knelt down and prayed; then he turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41. Peter reached over and helped her get up. Then he called all the believers, including the widows, and presented her alive to them.
42. The news about this spread all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
43. Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with a tanner of leather named Simon.