Acts 1
Lexham English Bible
The Preface
1 I produced the former account, O Theophilus, about all that[a] Jesus began to do and to teach, 2 until the day he was taken up, after he[b] had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, 3 to whom he also presented himself alive after he suffered, with many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking the things about the kingdom of God. 4 And while he[c] was with[d] them,[e] he commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what was promised by the Father, which you heard about from me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”[f]
The Ascension
6 So when[g] they had come together, they began asking[h] him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 But he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when[i] the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest part of the earth.” 9 And after he[j] had said these things, while[k] they were watching, he was taken up, and a cloud received him from their sight. 10 And as they were staring into the sky while[l] he was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood by them 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee,[m] why do you stand there looking[n] into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven like this will come back in the same way you saw him departing into heaven!”
Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olive Grove[o] which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.[p] 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying—Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James. 14 All these were busily engaged with one mind in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with[q] his brothers.
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (and it was a crowd of persons of about one hundred twenty at the same place) and[r] said, 16 “Men and brothers, it was necessary that the scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit proclaimed beforehand through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus, 17 because he was counted among us and received a share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field for the wages of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines spilled out. 19 And it became known to all who live in Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their own language[s] “Akeldama,” that is, “Field of Blood.”) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,
‘Let his residence become deserted,
and let there be no one to live in it,’[t]
and,
‘Let another person take his position.’[u]
21 Therefore it is necessary for one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us—one of these men must become a witness of his resurrection together with us.” 23 And they proposed two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was called Justus) and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and[v] said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show clearly which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to depart to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to serve[w] with the eleven apostles.
Footnotes
- Acts 1:1 Literally “of what”
- Acts 1:2 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had given orders”) which is understood as temporal
- Acts 1:4 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was with”) which is understood as temporal
- Acts 1:4 Or “was assembling with,” or “was sharing a meal with”
- Acts 1:4 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Acts 1:5 Literally “not many days after these”
- Acts 1:6 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had come together”) which is understood as temporal
- Acts 1:6 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began asking”)
- Acts 1:8 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“has come”)
- Acts 1:9 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had said”) which is understood as temporal
- Acts 1:9 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“were watching”)
- Acts 1:10 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was departing”)
- Acts 1:11 Literally “Galileans”
- Acts 1:11 Some manuscripts have “gazing”
- Acts 1:12 This is a variation of the name “Mount of Olives”
- Acts 1:12 Literally “having a journey of a Sabbath”
- Acts 1:14 Some manuscripts omit “with”
- Acts 1:15 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“stood up”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Acts 1:19 That is, Aramaic
- Acts 1:20 A quotation from Ps 69:25
- Acts 1:20 A quotation from Ps 109:8
- Acts 1:24 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“prayed”) has been translated as a finite verb
- Acts 1:26 The words “to serve” are not in the Greek text, but are implied
Acts 1
GOD’S WORD Translation
Introduction
1 In my first book, Theophilus, I wrote about what Jesus began to do and teach. This included everything from the beginning ⌞of his life⌟ 2 until the day he was taken to heaven. Before he was taken to heaven, he gave instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles, whom he had chosen.
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
3 After his death Jesus showed the apostles a lot of convincing evidence that he was alive. For 40 days he appeared to them and talked with them about God’s kingdom.
4 Once, while he was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, “I’ve told you what the Father promises: 5 John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 So when the apostles came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you’re going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 Jesus told them, “You don’t need to know about times or periods that the Father has determined by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then you will be my witnesses to testify about me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken to heaven. A cloud hid him so that they could no longer see him.
10 They were staring into the sky as he departed. Suddenly, two men in white clothes stood near them. 11 They asked, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking at the sky? Jesus, who was taken from you to heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”
A New Apostle Takes Judas’ Place
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives. It is near Jerusalem, about half a mile away.
13 When they came into the city, Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon the Zealot, and Judas (son of James) went to the second-story room where they were staying.
14 The apostles had a single purpose as they devoted themselves to prayer. They were joined by some women, including Mary (the mother of Jesus), and they were joined by his brothers.
15 At a time when about 120 disciples had gathered together, Peter got up and spoke to them.
He said, 16 “Brothers, what the Holy Spirit predicted through David in Scripture about Judas had to come true. Judas led the men to arrest Jesus. 17 He had been one of us and had been given an active role in this ministry. 18 With the money he received from the wrong he had done, he bought a piece of land where he fell headfirst to his death. His body split open, and all his internal organs came out. 19 Everyone living in Jerusalem knows about this. They even call that piece of land Akeldama, which means ‘Field of Blood’ in their dialect. 20 You’ve read in Psalms, ‘Let his home be deserted, and let no one live there,’ and ‘Let someone else take his position.’
“Therefore, someone must be added to our number to serve with us as a witness that Jesus came back to life. 21 He must be one of the men who accompanied Jesus with us the entire time that the Lord Jesus was among us. 22 This person must have been with us from the time that John was baptizing people to the day that Jesus was taken from us.” [a]
23 The disciples determined that two men were qualified. These men were Joseph (who was called Barsabbas and was also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s thoughts. Show us which of these two you have chosen. 25 Show us who is to take the place of Judas as an apostle, since Judas abandoned his position to go to the place where he belongs.”
26 They drew names to choose an apostle. Matthias was chosen and joined the eleven apostles.
Footnotes
- 1:22 Verses 21–22 have been rearranged to express the complex Greek sentence structure more clearly in English.
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