Category: Acts

[4:32] The group of believers was one in mind and heart. None of them said that any of their belongings were their own, but they all shared with one another everything they had.

[4:33] With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God poured rich blessings on them all.

[4:34] There was no one in the group who was in need. Those who owned fields or houses would sell them, bring the money received from the sale,

[4:35] and turn it over to the apostles; and the money was distributed according to the needs of the people.

[4:36] And so it was that Joseph, a Levite born in Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “One who Encourages”),

[4:37] sold a field he owned, brought the money, and turned it over to the apostles.

[5:1] But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them.

[5:2] But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles.

[5:3] Peter said to him, “Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property?

[5:4] Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people—you have lied to God!”

[5:5] As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified.

[5:6] The young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him.

[5:7] About three hours later his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.

[5:8] Peter asked her, “Tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property?” “Yes,” she answered, “the full amount.”

[5:9] So Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband decide to put the Lord's Spirit to the test? The men who buried your husband are at the door right now, and they will carry you out too!”

[5:10] At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and saw that she was dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

[5:11] The whole church and all the others who heard of this were terrified.

[5:12] Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon's Porch.

[5:13] Nobody outside the group dared join them, even though the people spoke highly of them.

[5:14] But more and more people were added to the group—a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord.

[5:15] As a result of what the apostles were doing, sick people were carried out into the streets and placed on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.

[5:16] And crowds of people came in from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were sick or who had evil spirits in them; and they were all healed.

[5:17] Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action.

[5:18] They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

[5:19] But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them,

[5:20] “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.”

[5:21] The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching. The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.

[5:22] But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported,

[5:23] “When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!”

[5:24] When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles.

[5:25] Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!”

[5:26] So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

[5:27] They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them.

[5:28] “We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man,” he said; “but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”

[5:29] Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God, not men.

[5:30] The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross.

[5:31] God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven.

[5:32] We are witnesses to these things—we and the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to those who obey him.”

[5:33] When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death.

[5:34] But one of them, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was a teacher of the Law and was highly respected by all the people, stood up in the Council. He ordered the apostles to be taken out for a while,

[5:35] and then he said to the Council, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men.

[5:36] You remember that Theudas appeared some time ago, claiming to be somebody great, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, all his followers were scattered, and his movement died out.

[5:37] After that, Judas the Galilean appeared during the time of the census; he drew a crowd after him, but he also was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

[5:38] And so in this case, I tell you, do not take any action against these men. Leave them alone! If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear,

[5:39] but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them. You could find yourselves fighting against God!” The Council followed Gamaliel's advice.

[5:40] They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free.

[5:41] As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.

[5:42] And every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah.

[6:1] Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds.

[6:2] So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God's word in order to handle finances.

[6:3] So then, friends, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter.

[6:4] We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching.”

[6:5] The whole group was pleased with the apostles' proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism.

[6:6] The group presented them to the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.

[6:7] And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.

[6:8] Stephen, a man richly blessed by God and full of power, performed great miracles and wonders among the people.

[6:9] But he was opposed by some men who were members of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), which had Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. They and other Jews from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started arguing with Stephen.

[6:10] But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him.

[6:11] So they bribed some men to say, “We heard him speaking against Moses and against God!”

[6:12] In this way they stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. They seized Stephen and took him before the Council.

[6:13] Then they brought in some men to tell lies about him. “This man,” they said, “is always talking against our sacred Temple and the Law of Moses.

[6:14] We heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will tear down the Temple and change all the customs which have come down to us from Moses!”

[6:15] All those sitting in the Council fixed their eyes on Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

[7:1] The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”

[7:2] Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia

[7:3] and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’

[7:4] And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live.

[7:5] God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children.

[7:6] This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years.

[7:7] But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’

[7:8] Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.

[7:9] “Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him

[7:10] and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household.

[7:11] Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food,

[7:12] and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there.

[7:13] On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family.

[7:14] So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt.

[7:15] Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died.

[7:16] Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.

[7:17] “When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger.

[7:18] At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt.

[7:19] He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.

[7:20] It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months,

[7:21] and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

[7:22] He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.

[7:23] “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated.

[7:24] He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. (

[7:25] He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)

[7:26] The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’

[7:27] But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked.

[7:28] ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’

[7:29] When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

[7:30] “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

[7:31] Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:

[7:32] ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.

[7:33] The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

[7:34] I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’

[7:35] “Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.

[7:36] He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

[7:37] Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.’

[7:38] He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

[7:39] “But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.

[7:40] So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’

[7:41] It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made.

[7:42] So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘People of Israel! It was not to me that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals for forty years in the desert.

[7:43] It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried, and the image of Rephan, your star god; they were idols that you had made to worship. And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

[7:44] “Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown.

[7:45] Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David.

[7:46] He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

[7:47] But it was Solomon who built him a house.

[7:48] “But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,

[7:49] ‘Heaven is my throne, says the Lord, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? Where is the place for me to live in?

[7:50] Did not I myself make all these things?’

[7:51] “How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit!

[7:52] Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.

[7:53] You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels—yet you have not obeyed it!”

[8:1] That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria.

[8:2] Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.

[8:3] But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.

[8:4] The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the message.

[8:5] Philip went to the principal city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there.

[8:6] The crowds paid close attention to what Philip said, as they listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed.

[8:7] Evil spirits came out from many people with a loud cry, and many paralyzed and lame people were healed.

[8:8] So there was great joy in that city.

[8:9] A man named Simon lived there, who for some time had astounded the Samaritans with his magic. He claimed that he was someone great,

[8:10] and everyone in the city, from all classes of society, paid close attention to him. “He is that power of God known as ‘The Great Power,’” they said.

[8:11] They paid this attention to him because for such a long time he had astonished them with his magic.

[8:12] But when they believed Philip's message about the good news of the Kingdom of God and about Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

[8:13] Simon himself also believed; and after being baptized, he stayed close to Philip and was astounded when he saw the great wonders and miracles that were being performed.

[8:14] The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had received the word of God, so they sent Peter and John to them.

[8:15] When they arrived, they prayed for the believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

[8:16] For the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[8:17] Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

[8:18] Simon saw that the Spirit had been given to the believers when the apostles placed their hands on them. So he offered money to Peter and John,

[8:19] and said, “Give this power to me too, so that anyone I place my hands on will receive the Holy Spirit.”

[8:20] But Peter answered him, “May you and your money go to hell, for thinking that you can buy God's gift with money!

[8:21] You have no part or share in our work, because your heart is not right in God's sight.

[8:22] Repent, then, of this evil plan of yours, and pray to the Lord that he will forgive you for thinking such a thing as this.

[8:23] For I see that you are full of bitter envy and are a prisoner of sin.”

[8:24] Simon said to Peter and John, “Please pray to the Lord for me, so that none of these things you spoke of will happen to me.”

[8:25] After they had given their testimony and proclaimed the Lord's message, Peter and John went back to Jerusalem. On their way they preached the Good News in many villages of Samaria.