Ananias and Sapphira are Punished

5 But then a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property. ² With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³ Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? ⁴ As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn’t lie only^[a] to men, but also^[b] to God!”

⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him. ⁷ After an interval of about three hours, Ananias’^[c] wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ So Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?”

She answered, “Yes, that was the price.”

⁹ “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men^[d] will carry you outside as well.” ¹⁰ She instantly fell down at Peter’s^[e] feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband. ¹¹ And great fear seized the whole church and everyone else who heard about this.