Acts 4; Acts 5; Acts 6
1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the
Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They
were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and
proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They
seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until
the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and
the number of men grew to about five thousand. 5 The next day
the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas
the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other
men of the high priest's family. 7 They had Peter and John
brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what
name did you do this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If
we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple
and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and
all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before
you healed. 11 He is " 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone. ' 12 Salvation is found in no
one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must
be saved." 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John
and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and
they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But
since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to
withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 "What
are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in
Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But
to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn
these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name." 18 Then
they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in
the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge
for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For
we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." 21 After
further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them,
because all the people were praising God for what had happened.22 For
the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. 23 On
their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all
that the chief priests and elders had said to them.24 When they
heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign
Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and
everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through
the mouth of your servant, our father David: " 'Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth take
their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his
Anointed One. ' 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met
together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire
against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what
your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now,
Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with
great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform
miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."31 After
they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. 32 All
the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his
possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With
great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no
needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses
sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at
the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. 36 Joseph,
a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of
Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money
and put it at the apostles' feet.
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira,
also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife's full
knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and
put it at the apostles' feet. 3 Then Peter said,
"Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied
to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received
for the land? 4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold?
And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think
of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." 5 When
Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard
what had happened. 6 Then the young men came forward, wrapped
up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three
hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter
asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the
land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." 9 Peter
said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look!
The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will
carry you out also." 10 At that moment she fell down at
his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried
her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear
seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. 12 The
apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all
the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. 13 No
one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14Nevertheless,
more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their
number. 15As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and
laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some
of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the
towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil
spirits, and all of them were healed.17 Then the high priest and
all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled
with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in
the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord
opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 "Go,
stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full
message of this new life." 21 At daybreak they entered
the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When
the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the
Sanhedrin--the full assembly of the elders of Israel--and sent to the jail for
the apostles. 22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did
not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 "We
found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when
we opened them, we found no one inside." 24 On hearing
this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were
puzzled, wondering what would come of this. 25 Then someone
came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple
courts teaching the people." 26 At that, the captain went
with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because
they feared that the people would stone them. 27 Having
brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be
questioned by the high priest. 28 "We gave you strict
orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's
blood." 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We
must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers
raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God
exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give
repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are
witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to
those who obey him." 33 When they heard this, they were
furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee
named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood
up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then
he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to
do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming
to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all
his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After
him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of
people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore,
in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if
their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But
if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find
yourselves fighting against God." 40 His speech persuaded
them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them
not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The
apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of
suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the
temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and
proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,
the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their
widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So
the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be
right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on
tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are
known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility
over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the
ministry of the word." 5 This proposal pleased the whole
group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also
Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert
to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who
prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God
spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large
number of priests became obedient to the faith. 8 Now Stephen,
a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs
among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of
the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria
as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with
Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or
the Spirit by whom he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded
some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against
Moses and against God." 12 So they stirred up the people
and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him
before the Sanhedrin.13 They produced false witnesses, who
testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and
against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus
of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to
us." 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked
intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
