of sin, because they don't believe in me;

They kept saying, "What is this "in a little while' that he keeps talking about? We don't know what he means."

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him a question, so he asked them, "Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, "In a little while you will no longer see me, then in a little while you will see me again'?

I have made your name known to these men whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they realize that everything you gave me comes from you,

because the words that you gave me I passed on to them. They have received them and know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

"I am asking on their behalf. I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you gave me, because they are yours.

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your Name, the Name that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

"And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world.

They don't belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world.

It is for their sakes that I sanctify myself, so that they, too, may be sanctified by the truth.

so that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are one.

I am in them, and you are in me. May they be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you have loved them as you loved me.

They answered him, "Jesus from Nazareth." Jesus told them, "I AM." Judas, the man who betrayed him, was standing with them.

When Jesus told them, "I AM," they backed away and fell to the ground.

So he asked them again, "Who are you looking for?" They said, "Jesus from Nazareth."

First they brought him to Annas, because he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

Meanwhile, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire they had built and were warming themselves because it was cold. Peter was also standing with them, keeping himself warm.

They answered him, "If he weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have handed him over to you."

At this, they shouted out again, "Not this fellow, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

They kept coming up to him and saying, "Long live the king of the Jews!" Then they began to slap him on the face.

When the high priests and the officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate told them, "You take him and crucify him. I find no basis for a charge against him."

Then they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Should I crucify your king?"

The high priests responded, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to be crucified, and they took Jesus away.

There they crucified him, along with two others, one on each side of him with Jesus in the middle.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and took his cloak as well. The cloak was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.

So they told each other, "Let's not tear it. Instead, let's throw dice to see who gets it." This was to fulfill the Scripture that says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they threw dice." So that is what the soldiers did.

A jar of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

In addition, another passage of Scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they pierced."

They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths along with spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews.

Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and because the tomb was nearby, they put Jesus there.

So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

For they did not yet understand the Scripture that said that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

They asked her, "Lady, why are you crying?" She told them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him."

It was the evening of the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, "Peace be with you."

After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side, and when they saw the Lord, the disciples were overjoyed.

If you forgive people's sins, they are forgiven. If you retain people's sins, they are retained."

Simon Peter told them, "I'm going fishing." They all told him, "We'll go with you, too." So they went out and got into the boat but didn't catch a thing that night.

Jesus asked them, "Children, you don't have any fish, do you?" They answered him, "No."

He told them, "Throw the net on the right hand side of the boat, and you'll catch some." So they threw it out and were unable to haul it in because it was so full of fish.

But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. They were only about 200 cubits away from the shore.

When they arrived at the shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish lying on it, and some bread.

Then Jesus told them, "Come, have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?", because they knew it was the Lord.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" Peter told him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus told him, "Feed my lambs."

While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, two men in white robes stood right beside them.

They asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go up into heaven."

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

When they came into the city, these men went to the upstairs room where they had been staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

So they nominated two men Joseph called Barsabbas, who also was called Justus, and Matthias.

Then they prayed, "Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen

So they drew lots for them, and when the lot fell on Matthias, he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.

Suddenly, a sound like the roar of a mighty windstorm came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them.

Stunned and amazed, they asked, "All of these people who are speaking are Galileans, aren't they?

All of them continued to be stunned and puzzled, and they kept asking one another, "What can this mean?"

But others kept saying in derision, "They're drunk on sweet wine!"

In those days I will even pour out my Spirit on my slaves, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.

When the crowd that had gathered heard this, they were pierced to the heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

They made it their practice to sell their possessions and goods and to distribute the proceeds to anyone who was in need.

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.

They were praising God and enjoying the good will of all the people. Every day the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved.

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 he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people came running to them in what was called "Solomon's Colonnade". They were dumbfounded.

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

They were greatly disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people and announcing that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead.

So they arrested them and placed them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening.

They made Peter and John stand in front of them and began asking, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"

Now when the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could not say anything against them.

So they ordered them to leave the Council and began to discuss the matter among themselves.

They said, "What should we do with these men? For it's obvious to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable sign has been done by them, and we cannot deny it.

So they called Peter and John back in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

So they threatened Peter and John even more and then let them go. They couldn't find any way to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened,

After they were released, Peter and John went to their fellow believers and told them everything the high priests and the elders had said.

When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, you made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

When they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak messages from God boldly.

Now all the believers were one in heart and soul, and nobody called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything they owned.

She instantly fell down at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

Then the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out,

"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.

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.

When they brought them back, they made them stand before the Council, and the high priest began to question them.

When the Council heard this, they became furious and wanted to kill them.

So they were convinced by him. After calling in the apostles and beating them, they again ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus and let them go.

They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.

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

This suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch.

They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

But they could neither refute the wisdom nor withstand the Spirit by which he kept speaking.

So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. Then they rushed at Stephen, grabbed him, and brought him before the Council.

They had false witnesses stand up and say, "This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law.

"But I will punish the nation they serve,' said God, "and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'