Acts 3–4

Healing of a Lame Man

3Now Peter and John were going up together to the temple complex at the hour of prayer ^lat three in the afternoon. ^m2And a man who was lame from birth was carried there and placed every day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those entering the temple complex. ⁿ³When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple complex, he asked for help. ⁴Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, “Look at us.” ⁵So he turned to them, ^oexpecting to get something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” ^p7Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. ⁸So he jumped up, stood, and started to walk, and he entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ^q9All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him. ^r

Preaching in Solomon’s Colonnade

¹¹While he ^swas holding on to Peter and John, all the people, greatly amazed, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade. ^t12When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Or why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? ¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, ^uhas glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, ^vwhen he had decided to release Him. ¹⁴But you denied the Holy and Righteous One ^wand asked to have a murderer given to you. ^x15You killed the source ^yof life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this. ^z16By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.

¹⁷“And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. ^a18But what God predicted through the mouth of all the prophets—that His Messiah would suffer—He has fulfilled ^bin this way. ¹⁹Therefore repent ^cand turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, ^dthat seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ^e20and that He may send Jesus, who has been appointed ^ffor you as the Messiah. ²¹Heaven must welcome ^gHim until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about by the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning. ^h22Moses said: ⁱ

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you. ²³And everyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from the people. ^jk

²⁴“In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also announced these days. ²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. ^lm26God raised up His Servant ⁿand sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.” ^o

Peter and John Arrested

4Now as they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them, ^p2because they were provoked that they were teaching the people and proclaiming the resurrection from the dead, using Jesus as the example. ^qr3So they seized them and put them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening. ⁴But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.

Peter and John Face the Jewish Leadership

⁵The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem ⁶with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. ^st7After they had Peter and John stand before them, they asked the question: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

⁸Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: ^uv9If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man—by what means he was healed— ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing here before you healthy. ^w11This Jesus is

the stone rejected by you builders,

which has become the cornerstone. ^xyz

¹²There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.” ^a

The Name Forbidden

¹³When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus. ^b14And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in response. ¹⁵After they had ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, ¹⁶saying, “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign, evident to all who live in Jerusalem, has been done through them, and we cannot deny it! ^c17However, so this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.” ¹⁸So they called for them and ordered them not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; ^d20for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” ^e

²¹After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them, because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done; ^f22for this sign of healing had been performed on a man over 40 years old.

Prayer for Boldness

²³After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, “Master, You are the One who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. ^g25You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Your servant: ^h

Why did the Gentiles rage

and the peoples plot futile things?

²⁶The kings of the earth took their stand

and the rulers assembled together

against the Lord and against His Messiah. ^ij

²⁷“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people ^kof Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, ^l28to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness, ^m30while You stretch out Your hand for healing, signs, and wonders ⁿto be performed through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” ³¹When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness. ^o

Believers Sharing

³²Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. ^p33And the apostles were giving testimony with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. ^q34For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, ^r35and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed for each person’s basic needs. ^st

³⁶Joseph, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas, which is translated Son of Encouragement, ^u37sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. ^v