Acts 4:1–20

Peter and John Arrested

4Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the ^aSadducees came upon them, ²being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

Addressing the Sanhedrin

⁵And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, ⁶as well as ^bAnnas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, ^c“By what power or by what name have you done this?”

^8dThen Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: ⁹If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, ¹⁰let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, ^ethat by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, ^fwhom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. ¹¹This is the ^g‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ ^12hNor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The Name of Jesus Forbidden

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, ⁱand perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴And seeing the man who had been healed ^jstanding with them, they could say nothing against it. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, ¹⁶saying, ^k“What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a ¹notable miracle has been done through them is ^levident ²to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.”

^18mSo they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered and said to them, ⁿ“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. ^20oFor we cannot but speak the things which ^pwe have seen and heard.”