Acts 5:17–29

The Apostles Are Persecuted

¹⁷Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action. ¹⁸They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them, ²⁰“Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.” ²¹The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching.

The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them. ²²But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported, ²³“When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!” ²⁴When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles. ²⁵Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!” ²⁶So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

²⁷They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them. ^28*“We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man,” he said; “but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!” ²⁹Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God, not men.