Acts
Chapter 4
1 While they were talking to the people, the priests, the temple leader, and the Sadducees confronted them.
2 They were upset because they taught the people and proclaimed through Jesus that the dead would rise again.
3 They arrested them and kept them in custody until the next day because it was evening.
4 However, many who heard the message believed, and the count of the men was around five thousand.
5 The next day, their leaders, older men, and writers,
6 Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the high priest’s relatives met in Jerusalem.
7 They placed them in the center and asked, “With what power or by whose name did you do this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You leaders of the people and elders of Israel,”
9 If today we are being asked how the man who could not walk was healed;
10 Let everyone, and all the people of Israel, know that this man stands before you healed because of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead.
11 This stone that you builders ignored has now become the cornerstone.
12 There is no salvation through anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.
13 When people saw how brave Peter and John were, and realized they were not formally educated, they were amazed; they recognized that Peter and John had been with Jesus.
14 Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could not argue against it.
15 When they told them to leave the meeting, they talked with each other.
16 They said, “What should we do with these men? Everyone in Jerusalem knows they performed a remarkable miracle, and we can’t deny it.”
17 To stop this from spreading among the people, let’s firmly warn them not to speak to anyone in this name anymore.
18 They called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John replied, “Decide for yourselves if it’s right before God to listen to you more than to God.
20 We must speak about what we have seen and heard.
21 After threatening them more, they released them. They found no way to punish them because everyone praised God for what had happened.
22 The man was over forty years old when this healing miracle happened to him.
23 After they were released, they returned to their friends and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24 When they heard this, they all spoke to God together, saying, “Lord, you are God, who made the sky, the land, the sea, and everything in them.”
25 God said through your servant David, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot foolish things?”
26 The kings of the earth rose up, and the leaders met together against God and his chosen one.
27 Truly, Herod, Pontius Pilate, the non-Jewish people, and the people of Israel united against your holy child Jesus, whom you chose.
28 To do whatever your hand and plan had already decided should happen.
29 And now, God, see their threats: and let your servants speak your word with all courage.
30 By reaching out your hand to heal; and that miracles and amazing things may happen in the name of your holy child Jesus.
31 After they prayed, the place where they were gathered trembled; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke God’s word confidently.
32 The many people who believed were united in heart and mind. No one claimed that their possessions were only their own. Instead, they shared everything they had.
33 The apostles showed the resurrection of Jesus with great power, and all of them had a lot of grace.
34 Everyone had what they needed because those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales.
35 They put the gifts at the apostles’ feet, and it was shared out to each person as they needed.
36 And Joses, called Barnabas by the apostles (which means Son of Encouragement), a Levite from Cyprus,
37 Someone who owned land sold it, brought the money, and placed it at the apostles’ feet.