Acts 4:18-31

New Testament for Everyone

¹⁸ So they called them in and gave them orders not to speak at all, or to teach, in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹ But Peter and John gave them this reply.

“You judge,” they said, “whether it’s right before God to listen to you rather than to God! ²⁰ As far as we’re concerned, we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ Then they threatened them some more, and let them go. They couldn’t find any way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. ²² After all, the man to whom this sign of healing had happened was over forty years old.

Look upon their threats

²³ When they had been released, they went back to their own people, and told them everything that the chief priests and the elders had said. ²⁴ When they heard it, they all together lifted up their voices to God.

“Sovereign Master,” they said, “you made heaven and earth, and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ And you said through the holy spirit, by the mouth of our ancestor David, your servant,

²⁷ “It’s true: Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the nations and the peoples of Israel, gathered themselves together in this very city against your holy child Jesus, the one you anointed, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had foreordained to take place. ²⁹ So now, Master, look on their threats; and grant that we, your servants, may speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand for healing, so that signs and wonders may come about through the name of your holy child Jesus.”

³¹ When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the holy spirit, and they boldly spoke the word of God.