You heard me tell you I was going away and coming back to you; if you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father ??for the Father is greater than I am.

I have told you all this, so that when the time for it arrives, you may remember what I said to you. I did not tell you about this at the beginning, because I was with you then;

When I was with them, I kept them by the power of thy Name which thou hast given me; I guarded them, and not one of them perished ??only the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Then Jesus, who knew everything that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, "Who are you looking for?"

"Jesus the Nazarene," they replied. Jesus said, "I am he." (And Judas the traitor was standing beside them.)

(this was to fulfil his own word: 'I did not lose a single one of those whom thou didst give me').

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear (the servant's name was Malchus);

and brought him first of all to Annas (for Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year ??14 the Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was for their interests that one man should die for the people).

while Peter stood outside at the door. Then this other disciple, who was an acquaintance of the high priest, came out and spoke to the woman at the door, and brought Peter inside.

Now the servants and the attendants were standing and warming themselves at a charcoal fire which they had lit (for it was cold), and Peter also stood beside them and warmed himself.

"If I have said anything wrong," replied Jesus, "prove it; if I said what was true, why strike me?"

& 25] Simon Peter followed Jesus along with another disciple; and as this disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest, he passed into the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus,

Then from the house of Caiaphas they took Jesus to the praetorium. (It was early morning.) They would not enter the praetorium themselves, in case of being ceremonially defiled, for they wanted to eat the passover;

(that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, by which he had indicated the kind of death he was to die).

"So you are a king?" said Pilate, "you!" "Certainly," said Jesus, "I am a king. This is why I was born, this is why I came into the world, to bear testimony to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Again they yelled, "No, not him! Bar-Abbas!" Now Bar-Abbas was a robber.

Now when Pilate heard that, he was still more afraid;

(it was the day of Preparation for the passover, about noon). "There is your king!" he said to the Jews.

Pilate had written an inscription to be put on the cross; what he wrote was, JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Now many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus had been crucified was close to the city; besides, the inscription was in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. But as the tunic was seamless, woven right down in a single piece,

they said to themselves, "Don't let us tear it. Let us draw lots to see who gets it" (that the scripture might be fulfilled, they distributed my clothes among them, and drew lots for my raiment). This was what the soldiers did.

After that, as Jesus knew that everything was now finished and fulfilled, he said (to fulfil the scripture), "I am thirsty."

A jug full of vinegar was lying there; so they put a sponge full of vinegar on a spear and held it to his lips.

Now, as it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath (for that sabbath-day was a great day), the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.

but when they came to Jesus and saw he was dead already, they did not break his legs;

Now at the spot where he had been crucified there was an orchard, and in the orchard a new tomb where no one had yet been laid;

so they put Jesus there, since it was the Jewish day of Preparation, seeing that the tomb was close by.

On the first day of the week Mary of Magdala went early to the tomb, when it was still dark; but as she saw the boulder had been removed from the tomb,

but that the napkin which had been round his head was folded up by itself, instead of lying beside the other bandages.

Upon this the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went inside too, and when he saw for himself he was convinced.

With these words she turned round and noticed Jesus standing ??though she did not know it was Jesus.

"Woman," said Jesus, "why are you sobbing? Who are you looking for?" Supposing he was the gardener, she said, "Oh, sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you put him, and I will remove him."

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called 'the Twin,' was not with them when Jesus came;

After that, Jesus disclosed himself once more to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. It was in this way.

Simon Peter, Thomas (who was called 'the Twin'), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedaeus, and two other disciples of his, were all together.

Now at break of day Jesus was standing on the beach (though the disciples did not know it was Jesus).

So the disciple who was Jesus' favourite said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Hearing it was the Lord, Simon Peter threw on his blouse (he was stripped for work) and jumped into the water,

So Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty three of them; but for all their number the net was not torn.

Jesus said, "Come and breakfast." (Not one of the disciples dared to ask him who he was; they knew it was the Lord.)

This was the third time, now, that Jesus appeared to the disciples after rising from the dead.

For the third time he asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Now Peter was vexed at being asked a third time, "Do you love me?" So he replied; "Lord, you know everything, you can see I love you." Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep.

Peter turned round and saw that the favourite disciple of Jesus was following, the disciple who had leant on his breast at supper and put the question, "Lord, who is to betray you?"

This started the report among the brotherhood that the said disciple was not to die. Jesus, however, did not say he was not to die; what he said was, "If I choose that he should survive till I come back, what does that matter to you?"

This was the disciple who bears testimony to these facts and who wrote them down; his testimony, we know, is true.

down to the day when, after issuing his orders by the holy Spirit to the disciples whom he had chosen, he was taken up to heaven.

After his sufferings he had shown them that he was alive by a number of proofs, revealing himself to them for forty days and discussing the affairs of God's Realm.

On saying this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him out of sight.

Now during these days Peter stood up among the brothers (there was a crowd of about a hundred and twenty persons all together).

from the baptism of John down to the day when he was taken up from us ??of these men one must join us as a witness to his resurrection."

Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was assigned his position with the eleven apostles.

So when this sound was heard, the multitude gathered in bewilderment, for each heard them speaking in his own language.

No, this is what was predicted by the prophet Joel ??17 In the last days, saith God, then will I pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams:

Brothers, I can speak quite plainly to you about the patriarch David; he died and was buried and his tomb remains with us to this day.

(He was a prophet; he knew God had sworn an oath to him that he would seat one of his descendants on his throne;

so he spoke with a prevision of the resurrection of the Christ, when he said that he was not forsaken in the grave nor did his flesh suffer decay.

For it was not David who ascended to heaven; David says, The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand,

when a man lame from birth was carried past, who used to be laid every day at what was called the 'Beautiful Gate' of the temple, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.

and when they recognized this was the very man who used to sit and beg at the Gate Beautiful, they were lost in awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

As he clung to Peter and John, all the people rushed awestruck to them in what was called Solomon's portico.

but you repudiated the Holy and Just One; the boon you asked was a murderer,

Now I know, brothers, that you acted in ignorance, like your rulers ??18 though this was how God fulfilled what he had announced beforehand by the lips of all the prophets, namely the sufferings of his Christ.

It was for you first that God raised up his Servant, and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."

They laid hands on them and, as it was now evening, put them in custody till next morning.

Next morning a meeting was held in Jerusalem of their rulers, elders and scribes,

which was attended by the high priest Annas, by Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high priest's family.

Then they threatened them still further and let them go; on account of the people they found themselves unable to find any means of punishing them, for everybody was glorifying God over what had happened

At their prayer the place of meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the holy Spirit, speaking God's word fearlessly;

[Relocated to before vs 34] Now there was but one heart and soul among the multitude of the believers; not one of them considered anything his personal property, they shared all they had with one another.

the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and great grace was upon them all.

There was not a needy person among them, for those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sale,

laying the money before the feet of the apostles; it was then distributed according to each individual's need.

Thus Joseph, who was surnamed Barnabas or (as it may be translated) 'Son of Encouragement' by the apostles, a Levite of Cypriote birth,

When it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And even after the sale, was the money not yours to do as you pleased about it? How could you think of doing a thing like this? You have not defrauded men but God."

"Tell me," said Peter, "did you only sell the land for such and such a sum?" "Yes," she said, "that was all we sold it for."

But a Pharisee in the Sanhedrin called Gamaliel, a doctor of the Law who was highly respected by all the people, got up and ordered the apostles to be removed for a few moments.

In days gone by Theudas started up, claiming to be a person of importance; a number of men, about four hundred of them, rallied to him, but he was slain, and all his followers were dispersed and wiped out.

Now Stephen, who was full of grace and power, performed great wonders and miracles among the people.

"Listen, brothers and fathers," said Stephen. "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before ever he stayed in Haran,

But he did not give him any inheritance in it, not even a foot of the land. All be did was to promise that he would give it as a possession to him and to his offspring after him (he at the time being childless).

What God said was this: 'His offspring will sojourn in a foreign land, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

God also gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised on the eighth day, Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Out of jealousy the patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt; but God was with him,

But, hearing there was food in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors on their first visit to that country;

at their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed of Joseph's lineage.

It was at this period that Moses was born, a divinely beautiful child. For three months he was brought up in his father's house;

then he was exposed, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

So Moses was educated in all the culture of the Egyptians; he was a strong man in speech and action.

(He thought his brothers would understand God was going to bring them deliverance by means of him, but they did not understand.)

But the man who was injuring his neighbour pushed him aside. "Who made you ruler and umpire over us?" he asked.

'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' Moses was so terrified that he did not dare to look at the bush.

The Moses they refused, when they said, 'Who made you ruler and umpire?' ??that was the very man whom God sent to rule and to redeem them, by aid of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

He it was who led them forth, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert during forty years.

(This was the Moses who told the sons of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brotherhood, as he raised me.')

This was the man who at the assembly in the desert intervened between the angel who spoke to him on mount Sinai and our fathers; he received living Words to be given to us.

No, it was the tent of Moloch and the star-symbol of Rephan your god that you carried, figures that you manufactured for worship. So now I will transport you beyond Babylon!

It was passed on and borne in by our fathers as with Joshua they took possession of the territory of the nations whom God drove out before our fathers. So it remained down to the days of David.

It was Solomon, however, who built him a house.

(Saul quite approved of his murder.) That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone, with the exception of the apostles, was scattered over Judaea and Samaria.

And the crowds attended like one man to what was said by Philip, listening to him and watching the miracles he performed.