¹² When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “Fellow Israelites,^[a] why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

¹³ The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,^[a] the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant^[b] Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him.^{(A) 14} But you rejected the holy and righteous^[c] one and asked to have a murderer given to you,^{(B) 15} and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.^(C)

¹⁷ “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.^{(A) 18} In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah^[a] would suffer.^{(B) 19} Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, ²⁰ so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Messiah^[b] appointed for you, that is, Jesus, ²¹ who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.^{(C) 22} Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you.^{(D) 23} And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.’ ²⁴ And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days. ²⁵ You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’^{(E) 26} When God raised up his servant,^[c] he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”^(F)

Psalm 111

Praise for God’s Wonderful Works

Faith Conquers the World

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^[a] has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.^{(A) 2} By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³ For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,^{(B) 4} for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.^{(C) 5} Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?^(D)

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”^{(A) 20} After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.^{(B) 21} Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”^{(C) 22} When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”^(D)

Jesus and Thomas

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin^[a]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.^{(E) 25} So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”^(F)

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”^{(G) 27} Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”^{(H) 28} Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”^(I)

The Purpose of This Book

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue^[b] to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,^[c] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.^(J)