Luke’s Second Volume

1 ·To [^LO] Theophilus [^Ca name meaning “Lover of God”; probably a specific individual, though possibly addressing all who love God].

The ·first [or former; previous] ·book [account; ^Ca reference to the Gospel of Luke] I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach ² until the day he was taken up into heaven. Before this, ·with the help of [through] the Holy Spirit, Jesus ·told [instructed; commanded] the apostles he had chosen [Luke 6:13] what they should do. ³ After his ·death [^Lsuffering], he showed himself to them and ·proved [provided undeniable evidence] in many ways that he was alive [Luke 24:13–49]. The apostles saw Jesus during the forty days after he was raised from the dead, and he spoke to them about the kingdom of God. ⁴ Once when he was ·eating [or staying; meeting] with them, he ·told [commanded] them not to leave Jerusalem. He said, “Wait here to receive the promise from the Father [^Cthe gift of the Holy Spirit] which I told you about [Luke 24:49]. ⁵ John baptized people ·with [or in] water [Luke 3:1–20], but in a few days you will be baptized ·with [by; or in] the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus Is Taken Up into Heaven

⁶ When the apostles were all together, they ·asked [kept asking] Jesus, “Lord, are you ·now [at this time] going to ·give the kingdom back [restore the kingdom] to Israel [^CIsrael had lived for centuries under the oppression of foreign nations; Jer. 16:15; 23:8; Hos. 11:8–11; the disciples were expecting the messianic kingdom; Is. 9:1–7; 11:1–16]?”

⁷ Jesus said to them, “The Father is the only One who has the ·authority [or power] to ·decide [set] dates and times [Mark 13:32]. These things are not for you to know. ⁸ But when the Holy Spirit comes to you, you will receive power. You will be my witnesses—in Jerusalem [2:1—8:3], in all of Judea, in Samaria [8:4—11:18], and ·in every part of the world [to the ends of the earth; 11:19—28:31; Luke 24:45–48].”

⁹ After he said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud ·hid him from [or took him out of; ^Ca reference to the cloud chariot; Dan. 7:13–14] their sight [^Ca description of Christ’s ascension into heaven]. ¹⁰ As he was going, they were ·looking [staring; gazing] into the ·sky [heavens]. Suddenly, two men wearing white clothes [^Cangels] stood beside them. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here ·looking into [staring at] ·the sky [heaven]? Jesus, whom you saw taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go [^Con a cloud; Luke 21:27].”

A New Apostle Is Chosen

¹² Then they went back to Jerusalem from the Mount ·of Olives [or called Olivet]. (This mountain is about ·half a mile [^La Sabbath day’s journey] from Jerusalem.) ¹³ When they entered the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon (known as the Zealot [^Ceither a political revolutionary or one zealous for the Law of Moses; Luke 6:15]), and Judas son of James were there. ¹⁴ They all ·continued [or were constantly] praying together with some women [^Cfollowers of Jesus (Luke 8:3; 24:22) and perhaps wives of the apostles], including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers.

¹⁵ ·During this time [^LIn those days] there was a meeting of the ·believers [^Lbrothers (and sisters)] (about one hundred twenty of them). Peter stood up and said, “·Brothers and sisters [^LMen, brothers; ^CPeter is probably specifically addressing the apostles], in the Scriptures the Holy Spirit ·said [foretold] through [^Lthe mouth of] David ·something that must happen involving [^Lconcerning] Judas. He was one of our own group and ·served together with us [shared part of this ministry]. He ·led [guided] those who arrested Jesus.” ¹⁸ (Judas bought a field with the ·money [wages; reward] he got for his ·evil [unjust] act. But he fell to his death, his body burst open, and all his ·intestines [bowels; guts] poured out [Matt. 27:3–10]. ¹⁹ Everyone in Jerusalem learned about this so they named this place Akeldama. In their language [^CAramaic] Akeldama means “Field of Blood.”) ²⁰ “[^LFor] In the Book of Psalms,” Peter said, “this is written:

And it is also written:

“So now a man must become a witness with us of Jesus’ ·being raised from the dead [resurrection]. He must be one of the men who were part of our group during all the time the Lord Jesus ·was [^Lwent in and out] among us—·from the time John was baptizing people [or from John’s baptism of Jesus; ^Lfrom the baptism of John] until the day Jesus was taken up from us to heaven.”

²³ They put the names of two men before the group. One was Joseph Barsabbas, who was also called Justus. The other was Matthias. The apostles prayed, “Lord, you know the ·thoughts [hearts] of everyone. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to ·do this work and to be an apostle [^Ltake this position of ministry and apostleship] in place of Judas, who turned away and went where he belongs [^Cto death, destruction, or hell].” ²⁶ Then they ·used [cast] lots to choose between them [^Coften used as a means to discern God’s will in the OT; Lev. 16:8; Num. 26:55; 33:54; Josh. 19:1–4; 1 Sam. 23:6], and the lots showed that Matthias was the one. So he ·became [was counted as] an apostle with the other eleven.