United in purpose, they went to the Temple every day, ate at each other's homes, and shared their food with glad and humble hearts.

One afternoon, Peter and John were on their way to the Temple for the three o'clock prayer time.

Now a man who had been crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day people would lay him at what was called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from those who were going into the Temple.

When he saw that Peter and John were about to go into the Temple, he asked them to give him something.

and he sprang to his feet, stood up, and began to walk. Then he went with them into the Temple, walking, jumping, and praising God.

they knew that he was the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the Temple guards, and the Sadducees came to them.

"Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have."

After the apostles heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word to the prison to have the men brought in.

When the Temple police got there, they did not find them in the prison. They came back and reported,

When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.

Then someone came and told them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!"

So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.

Every day in the Temple and from house to house they kept teaching and proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah.

The priest of the temple of Zeus, which was just outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates. He and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices.

There is a danger not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into disrepute and that she will be robbed of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her."

When the city recorder had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world doesn't know that this city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell down from heaven?

For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme our goddess.

Then Paul took those men and the next day purified himself with them. Then he went into the Temple to announce the time when their days of purification would end and when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them.

When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the Temple, stirred up a large crowd. They grabbed Paul,

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place."

For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

The whole city was in chaos. The people rushed together, grabbed Paul, dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the doors were sealed shut.

"Then I returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance

and even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him.

They never found me debating with anyone in the Temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or throughout the city,

They found me in the Temple doing these things just as I had completed the purification ceremony. No crowd or noisy mob was present.

Paul said in his defense, "I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews, or of the Temple, or of the emperor."

For this reason the Jewish leaders grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me.