Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, ^[a]your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far from the Lord; this land has been given ^(A)to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^(B)sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will ^(C)gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they come there, they will ^(D)remove all its ^(E)detestable things and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹ And I will ^(F)give them one heart, and put a new spirit within ^[b]them. And I will remove the ^(G)heart of stone from their flesh and give them a ^(H)heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they may ^(I)walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^(J)My people, and I shall be their God.

¹² And ^(A)they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others were jeering and saying, “^(B)They are full of ^[a]sweet wine!”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴ But Peter, taking his stand with ^(C)the other eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, ^[b]know this, and pay attention to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you assume, ^(D)since it is only the ^[c]third hour of the day; ¹⁶ but this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

²² “Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^(G)Jesus the Nazarene, ^(H)a Man ^[i]attested to you by God with ^[j]miracles and ^(I)wonders and ^[k]signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³ this Man, delivered over by the ^(J)predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^(K)you nailed to a cross by the hands of ^[l]godless men and put Him to death. ^24 [m]But ^(L)God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the ^[n]agony of death, since it ^(M)was impossible for Him to be held ^[o]in its power. ²⁵ For David says of Him,

²⁹ “^[s]Brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^(Q)patriarch David that he both ^(R)died and ^(S)was buried, and ^(T)his tomb is ^[t]with us to this day. ³⁰ So because he was ^(U)a prophet and knew that ^(V)God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one ^[u]of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the ^[v]Christ, that ^(W)He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh ^[w]suffer decay. ³² It is this Jesus whom ^(X)God raised up, ^[x]a fact to which we are all ^(Y)witnesses. ³³ Therefore, ^[y]since He has been exalted ^[z](Z)at the right hand of God, and ^(AA)has received ^(AB)the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, He has ^(AC)poured out this which you both see and hear. ³⁴ For it was not David who ascended into ^[aa]heaven, but he himself says:

³⁶ Therefore let all the ^(AE)house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^(AF)Lord and ^[ab]Christ—this Jesus ^(AG)whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were ^[a]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “^[b]Brothers, ^(A)what are we to do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “^(B)Repent, and each of you be ^(C)baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For ^(D)the promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^(E)far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he solemnly ^(F)testified and kept on urging them, saying, “^[c]Be saved from this ^(G)perverse generation!” ⁴¹ So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^[d](H)souls. ⁴² They were ^(I)continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to ^(J)the breaking of bread and ^(K)to ^[e]prayer.

^43 [f]Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many ^(L)wonders and ^[g]signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all the believers ^[h]were together and ^(M)had all things in common; ⁴⁵ and they ^(N)would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need. ^46 (O)Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and ^(P)breaking bread ^[i]from house to house, they were taking their ^[j]meals together with gladness and ^[k]sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and ^(Q)having favor with all the people. And the Lord ^(R)was adding to ^[l]their number day by day ^(S)those who were being saved.