Beginning

The ascension of Christ. Matthias is chosen in Judas’ place.

1 In the former treatise (dear friend Theophilus), I have written of all that Jesus began to do and teach ² until the day in which he was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³ To them also he showed himself alive after his passion by many certain proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking of the kingdom of God. ⁴ And he gathered them together and instructed them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father – Of which (he said) you have heard from me; ⁵ for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and that within this few days.

⁶ When they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? ⁷ And he said to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power. ⁸ But you will receive power from the Holy Spirit, who shall come on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the world’s end.

⁹ After he had spoken these things, while they looked on, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they looked steadfastly up to heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, ¹¹ who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way as you have seen him go into heaven.

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem a Sabbath day’s journey. ¹³ And when they had come in, they went up into an upper room where abode both Peter and James, John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas, James’ son. ¹⁴ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

¹⁵ And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (the number of names that were together was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was a guide to those who took Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was numbered with us, and had obtained fellowship in this ministry. ¹⁸ And this Judas has now possessed a plot of ground with the reward of iniquity, and when he was hanged, burst in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. ¹⁹ And this is known to all the inhabiters of Jerusalem, insomuch that this field is called in their mother tongue Akel Dama; that is to say, the Field of Blood.

²⁰ It is written in the book of Psalms: Let his habitation be void, and let no one dwell in it; and his office, let another take. ²¹ Therefore, of these men who have been with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning at the baptism of John to the same day that he was taken up from us, one must bear witness with us of his resurrection.

²³ And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, whose surname was Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ And they prayed, saying, You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which of these two you have chosen, ²⁵ so that one may take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place.

²⁶ And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

The coming of the Holy Spirit. The sermon of Peter before the crowds of people at Jerusalem, and the increase of the faithful.

2 When the fiftieth day was come, they were all with one accord together in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the coming of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they sat. ³ And there appeared to them cloven tongues, as if of fire, which sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, even as the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵ And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, who were from all nations under heaven. ⁶ Hearing of this, a large crowd came together. And the people were astonished, because everyone heard them speak his own tongue. ⁷ They all wondered and marvelled, saying among themselves, Are not all these who speak from Galilee? ⁸ And how is that we hear each his own tongue in which he was born? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and the inhabiters of Mesopotamia, of Judea, and of Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, and of Egypt, and of the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, and strangers from Rome, Jews and converts, ¹¹ Greeks and Arabians: we have heard them speak with our own tongues about the great works of God. ¹² They were all amazed, and wondered, saying to one another, What does this mean? ¹³ Others mocked them, saying, They are full of new wine.

¹⁴ But Peter stepped forth with the eleven, and lifted up his voice and said to them, Men of Judea, and all ye who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and with your ears hear my words. ¹⁵ These are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is yet but the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: ¹⁷ It shall be in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸ And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out of my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. ¹⁹ And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire, and the vapour of smoke. ²⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord comes. ²¹ And it shall be that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.

²² Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God among you with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know. ²³ Him you have taken by the hands of unrighteous persons, after he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and have crucified and slain. ²⁴ But God has raised him up, and loosed the sorrows of death, because it was impossible that he should be held by it. ²⁵ For David speaks of him: I foresaw God always before me. For he is on my right hand, that I should not be shaken. ²⁶ Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover also, my flesh shall rest in hope, ²⁷ because you will not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer your Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸ You have shown me the ways of life, and will make me full of joy with your countenance.

²⁹ Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David. For he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre remains with us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, seeing he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his loins would sit on his seat, ³¹ in that Christ would rise again in the flesh, he saw beforehand and spoke of the resurrection of Christ – that his soul would not be left in hell, nor would his flesh see corruption. ³² This Jesus, God has raised up – whereof we are all witnesses.

³³ Since now he is exalted by the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth that which you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend into heaven, but he said: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand ³⁵ until I make your enemies your footstool. ³⁶ So therefore, let all the house of Israel know most certainly that God has made this same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

³⁷ When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and to the other apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

³⁸ Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise was made to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God will call.

⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this perverse generation. ⁴¹ Then those who gladly received his preaching were baptized, and the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls.

⁴² And they continued in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. ⁴³ And fear came over every soul. And many wonders and signs were shown by the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed kept themselves together, and had all things in common, ⁴⁵ and sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, as anyone had need. ⁴⁶ And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and broke bread in every house, and ate their food together, with gladness and singleness of heart praising God, ⁴⁷ and had favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the congregation daily such as were to be saved.

The crippled man is restored to his feet. Peter preaches Christ to the people.

3 Peter and John went up together into the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. ² And there was a certain man crippled from his mother’s womb, whom they brought and laid at the temple gate called Beautiful, to ask alms of the people that entered into the temple; ³ which man, when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, requested alms. ⁴ And Peter fastened his eyes on him with John and said, Look on us. ⁵ And he gave heed to them, trusting to receive something from them. ⁶ Then said Peter, Silver and gold I do not have, but such as I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and anklebones received strength. ⁸ And he sprang up, stood, and also walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and lauding God.

⁹ And all the people saw him walk and laud God. ¹⁰ And they knew him, that it was the man who sat and begged at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him. ¹¹ And as the lame man who was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran amazed to them in Solomon’s porch.

¹² When Peter saw this, he spoke to the people: Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look so steadfastly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had determined to release him. ¹⁴ But you denied the Holy and Just One, and asked for a murderer to be given to you, ¹⁵ and killed the Lord of Life – whom God has raised from death, of which we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And his name, through the faith of his name, has made this man sound, whom you see and know. And the faith which is by him has given this man health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷ And now, brethren, I know well that you did it through ignorance, as did also your leaders. ¹⁸ But those things that God before had shown by the mouth of all his prophets, how the Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled this way. ¹⁹ Repent therefore, and turn, so that your sins may be put away when the time of refreshing comes, which we will have from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and when God will send him who now before is preached to you; that is to say, Jesus Christ, ²¹ who must receive heaven until the time that all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began, are restored again.

²² For Moses said to the fathers: The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you, even from among your brethren, as he did me. Him you must hear, in all things whatsoever he says to you. ²³ For the time will come that every soul who will not hear that same prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. ²⁴ Also all the prophets from Samuel onwards, as many as have spoken, have likewise told of these days.

²⁵ You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant that God made to our fathers, saying to Abraham: Even in your seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. ²⁶ First unto you has God raised up his Son Jesus, and him he has sent to bless you, that every one of you should turn from your wickedness.