Acts 3-4

Acts 3

¹And Peter and John were going up at the same time to the temple, at the hour of the prayer, the ninth hour,

²and a certain man, being lame from the womb of his mother, was being carried, whom they were laying every day at the gate of the temple, called Beautiful, to ask a kindness from those entering into the temple,

³who, having seen Peter and John about to go into the temple, was begging to receive a kindness.

⁴And Peter, having looked stedfastly toward him with John, said, ‘Look toward us;'

⁵and he was giving heed to them, looking to receive something from them;

⁶and Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I have none, but what I have, that I give to thee; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and be walking.'

⁷And having seized him by the right hand, he raised him up, and presently his feet and ankles were strengthened,

⁸and springing up, he stood, and was walking, and did enter with them into the temple, walking and springing, and praising God;

⁹and all the people saw him walking and praising God,

¹⁰they were knowing him also that this it was who for a kindness was sitting at the Beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what hath happened to him.

¹¹And at the lame man who was healed holding Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch called Solomon's -- greatly amazed,

¹²and Peter having seen, answered unto the people, ‘Men, Israelites! why wonder ye at this? or on us why look ye so earnestly, as if by our own power or piety we have made him to walk?

¹³‘The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, did glorify His child Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, he having given judgment to release him,

¹⁴and ye the Holy and Righteous One did deny, and desired a man -- a murderer -- to be granted to you,

¹⁵and the Prince of the life ye did kill, whom God did raise out of the dead, of which we are witnesses;

¹⁶and on the faith of his name, this one whom ye see and have known, his name made strong, even the faith that is through him did give to him this perfect soundness before you all.

¹⁷‘And now, brethren, I have known that through ignorance ye did it, as also your rulers;

¹⁸and God, what things before He had declared through the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ should suffer, He did thus fulfil;

¹⁹reform ye, therefore, and turn back, for your sins being blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

²⁰and He may send Jesus Christ who before hath been preached to you,

²¹whom it behoveth heaven, indeed, to receive till times of a restitution of all things, of which God spake through the mouth of all His holy prophets from the age.

²²‘For Moses, indeed, unto the fathers said -- A prophet to you shall the Lord your God raise up out of your brethren, like to me; him shall ye hear in all things, as many as he may speak unto you;

²³and it shall be, every soul that may not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed out of the people;

²⁴and also all the prophets from Samuel and those following in order, as many as spake, did also foretell of these days.

²⁵‘Ye are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant that God made unto our fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall be blessed all the families of the earth;

²⁶to you first, God, having raised up His child Jesus, did send him, blessing you, in the turning away of each one from your evil ways.'

Acts 4

¹And as they are speaking unto the people, there came to them the priests, and the magistrate of the temple, and the Sadducees --

²being grieved because of their teaching the people, and preaching in Jesus the rising again out of the dead --

³and they laid hands upon them, and did put them in custody unto the morrow, for it was evening already;

⁴and many of those hearing the word did believe, and the number of the men became, as it were, five thousand.

⁵And it came to pass upon the morrow, there were gathered together of them the rulers, and elders, and scribes, to Jerusalem,

⁶and Annas the chief priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the chief priest,

⁷and having set them in the midst, they were inquiring, ‘In what power, or in what name did ye do this?'

⁸Then Peter, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, said unto them: ‘Rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

⁹if we to-day are examined concerning the good deed to the ailing man, by whom he hath been saved,

¹⁰be it known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye did crucify, whom God did raise out of the dead, in him hath this one stood by before you whole.

¹¹‘This is the stone that was set at nought by you -- the builders, that became head of a corner;

¹²and there is not salvation in any other, for there is no other name under the heaven that hath been given among men, in which it behoveth us to be saved.'

¹³And beholding the openness of Peter and John, and having perceived that they are men unlettered and plebeian, they were wondering -- they were taking knowledge also of them that with Jesus they had been --

¹⁴and seeing the man standing with them who hath been healed, they had nothing to say against it,

¹⁵and having commanded them to go away out of the sanhedrim, they took counsel with one another,

¹⁶saying, ‘What shall we do to these men? because that, indeed, a notable sign hath been done through them, to all those dwelling in Jerusalem is manifest, and we are not able to deny it;

¹⁷but that it may spread no further toward the people, let us strictly threaten them no more to speak in this name to any man.'

¹⁸And having called them, they charged them not to speak at all, nor to teach, in the name of Jesus,

¹⁹and Peter and John answering unto them said, ‘Whether it is righteous before God to hearken to you rather than to God, judge ye;

²⁰for we cannot but speak what we did see and hear.'

²¹And they having further threatened them, let them go, finding nothing how they may punish them, because of the people, because all were glorifying God for that which hath been done,

²²for above forty years of age was the man upon whom had been done this sign of the healing.

²³And being let go, they went unto their own friends, and declared whatever the chief priests and the elders said unto them,

²⁴and they having heard, with one accord did lift up the voice unto God, and said, ‘Lord, thou art God, who didst make the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all that are in them,

²⁵who, through the mouth of David thy servant, did say, Why did nations rage, and peoples meditate vain things?

²⁶the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ;

²⁷for gathered together of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, were both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with nations and peoples of Israel,

²⁸to do whatever Thy hand and Thy counsel did determine before to come to pass.

²⁹‘And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant to Thy servants with all freedom to speak Thy word,

³⁰in the stretching forth of Thy hand, for healing, and signs, and wonders, to come to pass through the name of Thy holy child Jesus.'

³¹And they having prayed, the place was shaken in which they were gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and were speaking the word of God with freedom,

³²and of the multitude of those who did believe the heart and the soul was one, and not one was saying that anything of the things he had was his own, but all things were to them in common.

³³And with great power were the apostles giving the testimony to the rising again of the Lord Jesus, great grace also was on them all,

³⁴for there was not any one among them who did lack, for as many as were possessors of fields, or houses, selling them, were bringing the prices of the thing sold,

³⁵and were laying them at the feet of the apostles, and distribution was being made to each according as any one had need.

³⁶And Joses, who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas -- which is, having been interpreted, Son of Comfort -- a Levite, of Cyprus by birth,

³⁷a field being his, having sold it, brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles.