Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.),

And a man who was lame from birth was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex.

Peter and John having their eyes upon him, Peter said, look on us.

And all the people [there in the Temple area] saw him walking and [heard him] praising God.

And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

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

Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord;

whom 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.

Yes, and all the Prophets from Samuel onwards, and all their successors who had a message to deliver, told of these days.

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

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

Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

And they thrust on them their hands, and put them in custody for the morrow, for it was evening, already.

But many of those who heard the message [of salvation] believed [in Jesus and accepted Him as the Christ]. And the number of the men came to be about 5,000.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,

and Annas the high priest was there , and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest.

When they had put the men in front of them, they repeatedly asked, “By what sort of power, or in what name [that is, by what kind of authority], did you do this [healing]?”

let it be known and clearly understood by all of you, and by all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you [demanded be] crucified [by the Romans and], whom God raised from the dead—in this name [that is, by the authority and power of Jesus] this man stands here before you in good health.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing there with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.

And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

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

The kings of the earth were there, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.

For in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

while thy stretchest forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of thy holy Servant Jesus.

And when their prayer was ended, the place where they were was violently moved, and they all became full of the Holy Spirit, preaching the word of God without fear.

Among all those who had embraced the faith there was but one heart and soul, so that none of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything they had was common property;

And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

and laid them at the apostles feet; and distribution was made to every one according to their necessity.

There was a man of the name of Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold some property but,

And, as Ananias heard these words, he fell, and expired. And there came great fear upon all that heard;

And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

Peter said to her, "How could you arrange to put the Lord's Spirit to the proof? Listen, there are the footsteps of the men who have buried your husband! They are at the door, and they will carry you out as well."

Instantly she fell down at their feet and expired. The younger men came in to find her dead; they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

And there came great fear upon the whole assembly, and upon all them that heard these things.

And through the hands of the apostles came many signs and wonders among the people, and they were with one accord all in the porch of Solomon;

But none of the rest [of the people, the non-believers] dared to associate with them; however, the people were holding them in high esteem and were speaking highly of them.

More and more believers in the Lord, crowds of men and women, were constantly being added to their number,

so that they would even bring out their sick friends into the streets and lay them on light couches or mats, in order that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or other of them.

There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

and a messenger of the Lord through the night opened the doors of the prison, having also brought them forth, he said,

When they heard this, they went at daybreak into the Temple Courts, and began to teach. The High Priest and his party, on their arrival, summoned the High Council, including all the leading men among the Israelites, and sent to the jail to fetch the Apostles.

But when the officers arrived, they did not find them in the prison; and they came back and reported,

saying, "The jail we found quite safely locked, and the warders were on guard at the doors, but upon going in we found no one there."

When the Officer in charge at the Temple and the Chief Priests heard their story, they were perplexed about the Apostles and as to what all this would lead to.

And there came one and told them, Behold, the men whom ye put in the prison are in the temple standing and teaching the people.

And so they brought them in [to their headquarters] to appear before the Council [for questioning]. The head priest spoke to them, [saying],

saying, did not we strictly command you, not to teach in this name? and yet you have spread your doctrine through Jerusalem, and you endeavour to make us responsible for this man's blood.

But God exalted Him at His right side to be a Prince and Savior and to give the people of Israel [an opportunity] to repent [i.e., change their hearts and lives] and [receive] forgiveness of [their] sins [through Him].

But when these words came to their ears, they were cut to the heart, and had a mind to put them to death.

Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody [of importance], and a group of about four hundred men allied themselves with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were scattered and came to nothing.

After this man, there was Judas of Galilee, at the time of the numbering, and some of the people went after him: he was put to death, and all his supporters were put to flight.

And so now I say, hold off your accusations and let these men alone, for if their planning and effort is [merely] of human origin, it will be defeated,

They therefore went their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be dishonoured for the name.

And every day, in the temple, and at their homes, they ceased not teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

And the message of God kept on growing and spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem; and a large number of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith [accepting Jesus as Messiah and acknowledging Him as the Source of eternal salvation].

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

There they produced witnesses who gave false evidence. "This man," they said, "is incessantly saying things against this Holy Place and the Law;

And all that sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God sent him to this country in which you now live.

And He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not even a foot-breadth. And He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, there being no child to him.

And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' said God, 'and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.'

"[And when] these patriarchs, [still living in Canaan as young men], became jealous of [their brother] Joseph, they sold him [as a slave to traveling merchants who took him] to Egypt. But God was with him [during all that time],

Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

And on the second visit Joseph identified himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family and background were revealed to Pharaoh.

Then sent Joseph and caused his father to be brought, and all his kin: three score and fifteen souls.

and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,

and [from Egypt] their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

till there arose another king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.

The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and possessed great influence through his eloquence and his achievements.

And, when there was being fulfilled unto him a period of forty years, it came up on his heart to look after his brethren the sons of Israel;

and he was supposing his brethren to understand that God through his hand doth give salvation; and they did not understand.

The next day Moses came across a couple of his relatives who were fighting and tried to settle their dispute by saying, 'Brothers, since you are fellow-countrymen, why are you hurting each other?'

"Alarmed at this question, Moses fled from the country and went to live in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord,

I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

"This same Moses whom they rejected by saying, "Who made you ruler and judge?' was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

It was he who brought them out of Egypt, and did wonders and signs there, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the desert.

To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

Which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations, that God thrust out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

""Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me,' declares the Lord, "or what place is there in which I can rest?

Which of the Prophets escaped persecution at their hands? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One; of whom you, in your turn, have now become the betrayers and murderers--

you who received the Law given through angels, and yet have not obeyed it."

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

and he said, there I see the heavens open, and the son of man standing on the right hand of God.