New Testament in a Year
Ananias and Sapphira Die
5 But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold ·some land [a piece of property]. 2 He ·kept back [pilfered; skimmed off] part of the ·money [proceeds; price] for himself; his wife knew about this and agreed to it. But he brought the rest of the money and ·gave it to [L laid it at the feet of] the apostles. 3 Peter said, “Ananias, why did you let Satan ·rule your thoughts [L fill your heart] to lie to the Holy Spirit and to ·keep [pilfer; skim off] for yourself part of the ·money [proceeds] you received for the land? 4 Before you sold the land, it belonged to you. And even after you sold it, you could have used the ·money [proceeds] any way you wanted. Why did you think of doing this? You lied to God, not to us!”
7 About three hours later his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. 8 Peter said to her, “Tell me, was the ·money [payment] you got for your field this much?”
Sapphira answered, “Yes, that was the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband ·agree [conspire] to test the Spirit of the Lord [Gal. 6:7–8]? Look! The ·men [L feet of those] who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 ·At that moment [Instantly] Sapphira fell down by his feet and died. When the young men came in and ·saw [discovered; found] that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 The whole church and all the others who heard about these things were filled with ·fear [terror; awe].
The Apostles Heal Many
12 The apostles did many ·signs [miracles] and ·miracles [wonders] among the people. And they would all meet together on Solomon’s Porch [see 3:11]. 13 None of the others dared to join them, ·but [or even though] all the people ·respected [praised; highly regarded] them. 14 More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to the ·group [crowd; multitude] of believers. 15 [As a result] The people placed their sick on ·beds [cots] and mats in the streets, hoping that when Peter passed by at least his shadow might fall on [L some of] them. 16 Crowds came from all the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those who were ·bothered [tormented] by ·evil [L unclean; C demons were viewed as “unclean” or defiling spirit-beings] spirits, and all of them were healed.
Leaders Try to Stop the Apostles
17 The high priest and all his friends (a ·group [sect; religious party] called the Sadducees [4:1]) became very ·jealous [indignant; or zealous; C perhaps referring to their religious zeal]. 18 They ·took [seized; arrested; L put hands on] the apostles and put them in [public] ·jail [custody]. 19 But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the ·jail [prison] and led the apostles outside. The angel said, 20 “Go stand in the Temple [C courts; 2:46] and tell the people ·everything [or the full message; L all the words] about this new life.” 21 When the apostles heard this, they obeyed and went into the Temple [C courts; 2:46] early in the morning and ·continued [or began] teaching.
When the high priest and his friends arrived, they called a meeting of the ·leaders [L Sanhedrin; 4:15] ·and [or that is,] ·all the important elders [L the whole senate/council of the sons of Israel]. They sent some men to the ·jail [prison] to bring the apostles to them.
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