Acts 5:17-26

International Standard Version

The Apostles are Tried before the Jewish Council

¹⁷ Then the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out, ¹⁸ arrested the apostles, and put them in the city jail. ¹⁹ But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and led them out. The angel^[a] told them, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have.”^[b]

²¹ After the apostles^[c] heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council^[d] and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word^[e] to the prison to have the men brought in. ²² When the Temple police got there, they did not find them in the prison. They came back and reported, ²³ “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.

²⁵ Then someone came and told them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!” ²⁶ So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.