Read the Bible

¹ The first treatise (deare Theophilus) haue I made of all that Iesus beganne to do and to teache,² vntyll ye daye that he was taken vp, after that he (thorow the holy goost) had geuen commaundementes to to the Apostles, whom he had chosen:³ to who also he shewed himself alyue after his passion, by many tokes, and appeared vnto them fourtye dayes longe, and spake vnto them of the kyngdome of God.⁴ And whan he had gathered them together, he commaunded them that they shulde not departe from Ierusalem, but to wayte for the promyse of the father, wherof (sayde he) ye haue herde of me:⁵ For Ihon baptysed with water, but ye shalbe baptysed wt ye holy goost, & that within this few dayes.

⁶ Now whan they were come together, they axed him, and sayde: LORDE, shalt thou at this tyme set vp the kyngdome of Israel agayne?⁷ But he sayde vnto them: It belongeth not vnto you to knowe the tymes or seasons, which the father hath kepte in his awne power,⁸ but ye shal receaue the power of ye holy goost, which shal come vpon you, and ye shalbe my witnesses at Ierusalem, and in all Iewrye and Samaria, and vnto the ende of the earth.⁹ And whan he had spoken these thinges, whyle they behelde, he was taken vp, and a cloude receaued him from their sight.¹⁰ And whyle they loked after him, as he wente in to heauen, beholde, there stode by them two men in whyte garmentes,¹¹ which also sayde: Ye men of Galile, Why stonde ye gasynge vp in to heauen? This Iesus which is take vp from you in to heauen shal come euen so as ye haue sene him go in to heauen.

¹² Then turned they agayne from ye mount that is called Oliuete, which is nye to Ierusalem, and hath a Sabbath dayes iourney.¹³ And whan they came in, they wente vp in to a parler, where abode Peter and Iames, Ihon and Andrew, Philippe and Thomas, Bartilmew and Mathew, Iames the sonne of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Iudas the sonne of Iames.¹⁴ These all contynued with one acorde in prayer and supplicacion, with the wemen and Mary the mother of Iesu and with his brethren.

¹⁵ And in those dayes Peter stode vp in the myddes amonge the disciples, and sayde: (The company of the names together, was aboute an hundreth and twentye.)¹⁶ Ye men and brethren, this scripture must nedes be fulfylled, which ye holy goost by the mouth of Dauid spake before of Iudas, which was a gyde of the that toke Iesus:¹⁷ for he was nombred with vs, and had opteyned the felashippe of this mynistracion.¹⁸ This same trulye possessed the felde for the rewarde of vnrighteousnes, and hanged himself, and brast asunder in the myddes, and all his bowels gusshed out.¹⁹ And it is knowne vnto all the that dwell at Ierusalem, in so moch that the same felde is called in their mother tonge Acheldema, that is to saye, the bloude felde.²⁰ For it is wrytten in the boke of psalmes: His habitacion be voyde, and noman be dwellinge therin. And: His bisshoprike another take.²¹ Wherfore amonge these men which haue bene gathered together with vs (all the tyme that the LORDE Iesus wete out and in amonge vs,²² begynnynge from the baptyme of Ihon, vntyll ye daye that he was take vp from vs) must one be a wytnesse with vs of his resurreccion.²³ And they appoynted two (Ioseph called Barsabas, whose syrname was Iustus, and Mathias.)²⁴ makinge their prayer and sayenge: Thou LORDE, which knowest the hertes of all men, shewe whether of these two thou hast chosen,²⁵ that the one maye take the rowme of this mynistracion and Apostelshippe, from the which Iudas by transgression fell, that he might go awaye in to his awne place.²⁶ And they gaue forth the lottes ouer them, and the lot fell vpon Mathias. And he was counted with the eleuen Apostles.