Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
A man walks again!
3 One day, Peter and John went to the temple in Jerusalem. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. This was the time that everyone went there to pray. 2 There was a man who could not walk. He had never been able to walk. Every day, his friends put him at the gate of the temple. It was called the Beautiful Gate. As people were going in through the gate, the man asked them for money. His friends were carrying him there when Peter and John arrived. 3 The man saw Peter and John as they were coming through the gate. So he asked them to give him some money. 4 Peter looked carefully at the man and so did John. Peter said to him, ‘Look at us!’ 5 So the man looked at Peter and John. He thought that they would give him some money.
6 Then Peter said to the man, ‘I do not have any money. But I do have something else that I will give to you. Jesus Christ from Nazareth gave me authority to do this. So now I tell you to walk!’ 7 Peter held the man's right hand and he helped him to stand up. Immediately the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8 The man jumped up and he stood on his feet. Then he began to walk about. He went into the temple with Peter and John. He was walking and jumping and he was praising God. 9 A large crowd of people were there. They saw the man walking. They heard him praising God. 10 ‘Look!’ they said. ‘We know this man. He usually sits at the Beautiful Gate of the temple and he asks people for money. What has happened to him?’ They were all very surprised.
Peter speaks to the crowd in the temple
11 The man was still holding Peter and John as they went into the yard of the temple. All the people were very surprised about what they saw. So they ran to Peter and John at the place called Solomon's porch. 12 Peter saw all the people who had come together. So he said to them, ‘People of Israel, you should not be so surprised about what you have seen. You should not look at us as if we ourselves are powerful. It is not because we obey God that we could cause this man to walk again. 13 It happened because of Jesus, who was the special servant of God. That is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and our other ancestors who lived long ago.[a] God has raised his servant Jesus up to a place of honour.
You helped the rulers to take hold of Jesus. The Roman ruler Pilate had decided to let Jesus go free. But you turned against Jesus. 14 Jesus was God's Holy One who always did what was right. But you did not accept him. You told Pilate to let another man go free instead of Jesus. That man was in prison because he had killed people. 15 But Jesus is the person who leads people to true life. When you refused him, it meant that you killed him. But God made him alive again and raised him up from death. We ourselves saw him alive after he had died and we are telling you about it.
16 It is the power of Jesus that has made this man completely well again. We believe in him. We know that he has authority. You know this man. You saw that he had weak legs. Jesus has caused this man's legs to become strong. You can all see for yourselves what has happened. Yes, he is now well because we havetrusted Jesus and his power.
17 Friends, when you did all this to Jesus, you did not really know what you were doing. Your leaders also did not understand. 18 Jesus was God's Messiah. A long time ago, many of God's prophets spoke about him. They spoke God's message about what would happen to the Messiah. They said that he would suffer. God has now caused these things to happen. 19 So you must stop doing wrong things. Change how you live and turn to God. Then God will forgive you for all the wrong things that you have done. 20 The Lord God will help you. Times will come when he will cause your spirit to be strong. He has already chosen Jesus as the one to help you. He is God's Messiah, and God will send him back to you again. 21 Jesus must stay in heaven until the day that God will cause everything to become new again. Long ago God gave his prophets a message about this, and they told that message to people. 22 For example, Moses said this about the Messiah a long time ago: “The Lord your God will send you a prophet. He will be one of your own people. He will speak God's message as I have done. You must obey everything that he says to you. 23 God will punish anyone who does not obey that prophet. He will no longer be one of God's people and God will destroy him.” ’[b]
24 Peter then said, ‘All of God's prophets spoke about what is happening in these days. Samuel was one of them, and all the prophets who came later also spoke the same message. 25 You are the people who receive that message from God today. The promise that God made to bless our ancestors is the same promise that he makes to you. God said to our ancestor Abraham, “Through your descendants, I will bless all the people on the earth.”[c]
26 God chose Jesus to be his special servant. God sent him to you first. He wants to help you, so that you stop doing bad things. That is how he will bless you.’
The priests put Peter and John in prison
4 Peter and John were still speaking to the crowd in the yard of the temple. Then some priests, the leader of the police in the temple and some Sadducees came to them. 2 They were angry because of the things that Peter and John were teaching the people there. They were teaching that Jesus had become alive again after his death. The Jewish leaders did not agree that dead people could become alive again. 3 So they took hold of Peter and John. They put them in prison, because by then it was evening time. They put them in the prison until the next day. 4 But many of the people who had heard Peter's message believed what he said. There were now about 5,000 men who believed in Jesus.
The Jewish leaders ask Peter and John questions
5 The next day, the Jewish rulers and other important Jews met together in Jerusalem. The teachers of God's Law met together with them. 6 They met with Annas who was the most important priest. Caiaphas, John and Alexander were also there. Other men from the family of the most important priest were with them too. 7 The Jewish leaders made Peter and John stand in front of them. They began to ask them questions. They said, ‘How did you cause that man's legs to become strong? Who gave you the power and the authority to do it?’
8 Then Peter became full with the Holy Spirit and he said to them, ‘All you men are rulers of the people and important Jews. 9 Today you are asking us questions about the good thing that we did for this man. Before that, he could not walk. You are asking us how we caused his legs to become strong. 10 Now I need to tell you and all the people of Israel what is true. Then you will know how this happened. This man is standing here in front of you and he is well. His legs are strong because of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and his authority. You fixed Jesus to a cross so that he died. But after that, God caused him to become alive again. 11 The Bible says this about him:[d]
“The builders refused to use a certain stone. They thought that it had no value.
But now that stone has become the most important stone at the corner of the building.” ’
12 Then Peter said, ‘Only Jesus can save people. There has never been another person in the world that could do this. God has not given any other man the authority to save us.’
13 The Jewish leaders saw that Peter and John were not afraid of them. They also knew that they were not special people. They had not been to any school.[e] So the leaders were very surprised about how Peter and John spoke. They understood that Peter and John had been friends with Jesus.
14 The man who was now well stood in front of the Jewish leaders. They could see that his legs had become strong again. So they could not say anything against Peter and John. 15 They told Peter and John to go out of the room where the leaders were meeting. Then they talked together to decide what they should do. 16 ‘What should we do with these men?’ they said. ‘Everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows about this miracle. They know that Peter and John did a great thing for that man. So we cannot say that they did not do it. 17 But we do not want any more people to know what has happened. So we must say to these men, “You must stop using the name of Jesus. You must stop teaching people about him.” ’[f]
18 Then the Jewish leaders told Peter and John to come back into the room. They said to them, ‘You must not use the authority of Jesus to teach people any more. You must not speak about him.’ 19 Then Peter and John replied to the leaders, ‘What do you think God wants us to do? Should we obey you? Or should we obey God? You decide! 20 We know what is right. We must continue to speak about these things. We must tell people about the things that we have seen and heard.’
21 The Jewish leaders were angry. They told Peter and John that they must obey them. Then they let Peter and John go free. All the people there were praising God because of the miracle. So the leaders could not decide how to punish Peter and John. 22 The man who became well because of this miracle was more than 40 years old.
The group of believers pray to God
23 After the Jewish leaders let them go free, Peter and John went back to the group of believers. They told them what the leaders of the priests and the important Jews had said. 24 The believers listened to what Peter and John told them. Then they all prayed together. They said to God, ‘You are the Lord who rules over everything. You made the sky, the earth and the sea. You also made everything that is in them. 25 Our ancestor, King David, was your servant. You sent your Holy Spirit to him so that he spoke your message. You said through him,[g]
“People of other nations were very angry.
They made plans to do useless things.
Why did they do that?
26 The kings and rulers of the world met together.
They decided to fight against the Lord God
and against his Messiah.”
27 Lord God, it has now happened like that. Herod and Pontius Pilate have met together here in Jerusalem. They met with Israelite people and with people of other nations. Together they made plans to kill your holy servant, Jesus. He is the one that you chose to be your Messiah. 28 But you are powerful. These men did only what you said would happen. You had already decided on these events. 29 Lord God, you know that the Jewish leaders want to punish Peter and John. We are your servants. Please help us not to be afraid. Help us to speak your message to people without fear. 30 Show people that you are strong. Cause sick people to become well. Do other powerful things to show that you are God. It is the authority of your holy servant Jesus that will make these things happen.’
31 The believers finished praying. The house where they were meeting together shook. God filled them all with his Holy Spirit. That made them very brave and they spoke God's message clearly to people.
The believers help each other
32 All the believers agreed completely with each other about how they should live. They wanted to help each other. Nobody kept anything only for themselves. They let the other believers use it. 33 The apostles continued to teach about the Lord Jesus. They spoke with great power. They told people, ‘After Jesus died, God caused him to live again. We saw that happen.’ God was very kind to all the believers and he helped them in many ways. 34 Everyone had as much as they needed. Some believers had land or houses, which belonged to them. They sold those things and then they took the money to the apostles. 35 Then the apostles gave the money to any of the believers who needed it.
36 One of the believers was called Joseph. He was from the family of Levi. He was from the island called Cyprus. The apostles called him Barnabas because he liked to help people. 37 Joseph sold a field that belonged to him. He took the money from this and he gave it to the apostles. He wanted them to use the money to help other believers.[h]
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