Acts 5-6

New American Standard Bible

Fate of Ananias and Sapphira

5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, ² and ^(A)kept back some of the ^[a]proceeds for himself, with his wife’s ^[b]full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he ^(B)laid it at the apostles’ feet. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why has ^(C)Satan filled your heart to lie ^(D)to the Holy Spirit and to ^(E)keep back some of the ^[c]proceeds of the land? ⁴ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not ^[d]under your control? Why is it that you have ^[e]conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but ^(F)to God.” ⁵ And as he heard these words, Ananias ^(G)collapsed and ^[f]died; and ^(H)great fear came over all who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up and ^(I)covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

⁷ Now an interval of about three hours elapsed, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land ^(J)for ^[g]this price?” And she said, “Yes, for ^[h]that price.” ⁹ Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to ^(K)put ^(L)the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” ¹⁰ And immediately she ^(M)collapsed at his feet and ^[i]died; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ And ^(N)great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard about these things.

^12 [j]At the hands of the apostles many ^[k](O)signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all ^[l]together in ^(P)Solomon’s ^[m]portico. ¹³ But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, ^(Q)the people held them in high esteem. ¹⁴ And increasingly ^(R)believers in the Lord, large numbers of men and women, were being ^(S)added to their number, ¹⁵ to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by ^(T)at least his shadow might fall on any of them. ¹⁶ The ^[n]people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick ^[o]or tormented with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

Imprisonment and Release

¹⁷ But the high priest stood up, along with all his associates (that is ^(U)the sect of ^(V)the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They laid hands on the apostles and ^(W)put them in a public prison. ¹⁹ But during the night ^(X)an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said, ²⁰ “Go, stand and ^[p]speak to the people in the temple area ^[q](Y)the whole message of this Life.” ²¹ Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple area ^(Z)about daybreak and began to teach.

Now when ^(AA)the high priest and his associates came, they called ^(AB)the ^[r]Council together, that is, all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and sent orders to the prison for them to be brought. ²² But ^(AC)the officers who came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported, ²³ saying, “We found the prison locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ Now when ^(AD)the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them as to what ^[s]would come of this. ²⁵ But someone came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple area and teaching the people!” ²⁶ Then ^(AE)the captain went along with ^(AF)the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for ^(AG)they were afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).

²⁷ When they had brought them, they had them stand ^[t]before ^(AH)the Council. The high priest interrogated them, ²⁸ saying, “We gave you ^(AI)strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and ^[u]yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and ^(AJ)intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “^(AK)We must obey God rather than men. ^30 (AL)The God of our fathers ^(AM)raised up Jesus, whom you ^(AN)put to death by hanging Him on ^[v](AO)a cross. ^31 (AP)He is the one whom God exalted ^[w]to His right hand as a ^[x](AQ)Prince and a ^(AR)Savior, to grant ^(AS)repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are ^(AT)witnesses ^[y]of these things; and ^(AU)so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Gamaliel’s Counsel

³³ But when they heard this, they became ^(AV)infuriated and nearly decided to execute them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee named ^(AW)Gamaliel, a ^(AX)teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in ^(AY)the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For, some time ago Theudas appeared, ^(AZ)claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. ^[z]But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of ^(BA)the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or ^[aa]movement ^(BB)is men, it will be overthrown; ³⁹ but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found ^(BC)fighting against God.”

⁴⁰ They followed his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they ^(BD)flogged them and ordered them not to ^[ab]speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. ⁴¹ So they went on their way from the presence of the ^[ac](BE)Council, ^(BF)rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame ^(BG)for His name. ^42 (BH)And every day, in the temple and ^[ad]from house to house, they did not stop teaching and ^(BI)preaching the good news of Jesus as the ^[ae]Christ.

Choosing of the Seven

6 Now ^[af]at this time, as the ^(BJ)disciples were ^(BK)increasing in number, a complaint developed on the part of the ^[ag](BL)Hellenistic Jews against the native ^(BM)Hebrews, because their ^(BN)widows were being overlooked in ^(BO)the daily serving of food. ² So the twelve summoned the ^[ah]congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. ³ Instead, ^(BP)brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, ^(BQ)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. ⁴ But we will ^(BR)devote ourselves to prayer and to the ^[ai]ministry of the word.” ⁵ The ^[aj]announcement found approval with the whole ^[ak]congregation; and they chose ^(BS)Stephen, a man ^(BT)full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and ^(BU)Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and ^[al]Nicolas, a ^[am](BV)proselyte from ^(BW)Antioch. ⁶ And they brought these men before the apostles; and after ^(BX)praying, they ^(BY)laid their hands on them.

^7 (BZ)The word of God kept spreading; and ^(CA)the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to ^(CB)the faith.

⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great ^(CC)wonders and ^[an]signs among the people. ⁹ But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both ^(CD)Cyrenians and ^(CE)Alexandrians, and some from ^(CF)Cilicia and ^[ao](CG)Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they were unable to ^[ap]cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they ^(CH)came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him ^[aq]before ^(CI)the ^[ar]Council. ¹³ They put forward ^(CJ)false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop ^[as]speaking against this ^(CK)holy place and the Law; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that ^(CL)this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change ^(CM)the customs which Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵ And all who were sitting in the ^[at](CN)Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.