- Peter and John Before the Sanhedrin
- 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.
- The Believers' Prayer
- 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.
- 28
- They 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.
- The Believers Share Their Possessions
- 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.