Peter Heals a Crippled Man

3 One day Peter and John went to the Temple. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. This was the time for the daily prayer service. ² There, at the Temple gate called Beautiful Gate, was a man who had been crippled all his life. Every day he was carried to this gate to beg. He would ask for money from the people going into the Temple. ³ The man saw Peter and John going into the Temple and asked them for money. ⁴ Peter and John looked straight at him and said, “Look at us!” ⁵ The man looked at them; he thought they were going to give him some money. ⁶ But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold, but I do have something else I can give you: By the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth—stand up and walk!” ⁷ Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong. ⁸ He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple with them, walking and jumping, and praising God. ^9-10 All the people recognized him. They knew he was the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate begging for money. Now they saw this same man walking and praising God. The people were amazed. They could not understand how this could happen.

Peter Speaks to the People

¹¹ The man was holding on to Peter and John. All the people were amazed and ran to Peter and John at Solomon’s Porch. ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them, “Men of Israel, why are you surprised? You are looking at us as if it were our own power that made this man walk. Do you think this happened because we are good? No! ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, gave glory to Jesus, his servant. But you gave him up to be killed. Pilate decided to let him go free. But you told Pilate you did not want Jesus. ¹⁴ He was pure and good, but you said you did not want him. You told Pilate to give you a murderer^[a] instead of Jesus. ¹⁵ And so you killed the One who gives life! But God raised him from death. We are witnesses to this. ¹⁶ It was the power of Jesus that made this crippled man well. This happened because we trusted in the power of Jesus. You can see this man, and you know him. He was made completely well because of trust in Jesus. You all saw it happen!

¹⁷ “Brothers, I know you did those things to Jesus because you did not understand what you were doing. Your leaders did not understand either. ¹⁸ God said this would happen. He said through the prophets that his Christ would suffer and die. And now God has made these things come true in this way. ¹⁹ So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins. ²⁰ Then the Lord will give you times of spiritual rest. He will give you Jesus, the One he chose to be the Christ. ²¹ But Jesus must stay in heaven until the time comes when all things will be made right again. God told about this time long ago when he spoke through his holy prophets. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will give you a prophet like me. He will be one of your own people. You must obey everything he tells you. ²³ Anyone who does not obey him will die, separated from God’s people.’^{[b] 24} Samuel, and all the other prophets who spoke for God after Samuel, told about this time now. ²⁵ You have received what the prophets talked about. You have received the agreement God made with your ancestors. He said to your father Abraham, ‘Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed.’^{[c] 26} God has raised up his servant and sent him to you first. He sent Jesus to bless you by turning each of you away from doing evil things.”