Acts 1–2

Chapter 1

Introduction

¹The first account I ¹composed, ^aTheophilus, about all that Jesus ^bbegan to do and teach,

²until the day when He ^awas taken up to heaven, after He ^bhad ¹by the Holy Spirit given orders to ^cthe apostles whom He had ^dchosen.

³To ¹these ^aHe also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of ^bthe things concerning the kingdom of God.

⁴¹Gathering them together, He commanded them ^anot to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^2bwhat the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;

⁵for ^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized ¹with the Holy Spirit ^2bnot many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, ^ais it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which ^athe Father has fixed by His own authority;

⁸but you will receive power ^awhen the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be ^bMy witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and ^cSamaria, and even to ^dthe remotest part of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹And after He had said these things, ^aHe was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into ¹the sky while He was going, behold, ^atwo men in white clothing stood beside them.

¹¹They also said, “^aMen of Galilee, why do you stand looking into ¹the sky? This Jesus, who ^bhas been taken up from you into heaven, will ^ccome in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The Upper Room

¹²Then they ^areturned to Jerusalem from the ^1bmount called ²Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a ³Sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had entered the city, they went up to ^athe upper room where they were staying; ^bthat is, Peter and John and ¹James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and ^cJudas the ²son of James.

¹⁴These all with one mind ^awere continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with ^bthe women, and Mary the ^cmother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵¹At this time Peter stood up in the midst of ^athe brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty ²persons was there together), and said,

¹⁶“Brethren, ^athe Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, ^bwho became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷“For he was ^acounted among us and received his share in ^bthis ministry.”

¹⁸(Now this man ^aacquired a field with ^bthe price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

¹⁹And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in ^atheir own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘^aLet his homestead be made desolate,

And let no one dwell in it’;

and,

‘^bLet another man take his ¹office.’

²¹“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that ^athe Lord Jesus went in and out ¹among us—

^22abeginning ¹with the baptism of John until the day that He ^bwas taken up from us—one of these must become a ^cwitness with us of His resurrection.”

²³So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and ^aMatthias.

²⁴And they ^aprayed and said, “You, Lord, ^bwho know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen

²⁵to ¹occupy ^athis ministry and ^bapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

²⁶And they ^1adrew lots for them, and the lot fell ²to ^bMatthias; and he was ³added to ^cthe eleven apostles.

Chapter 2

The Day of Pentecost

¹When ^athe day of Pentecost ¹had come, they were all together in one place.

²And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled ^athe whole house where they were sitting.

³And there appeared to them tongues as of fire ¹distributing themselves, and ²they ³rested on each one of them.

⁴And they were all ^afilled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^bspeak with other ¹tongues, as the Spirit was giving them ²utterance.

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, ^adevout men from every nation under heaven.

⁶And when ^athis sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ¹language.

^7aThey were amazed and astonished, saying, “¹Why, are not all these who are speaking ^bGalileans?

⁸“And how is it that we each hear them in our own ¹language ²to which we were born?

⁹“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and ^aCappadocia, ^bPontus and ^1cAsia,

^10aPhrygia and ^bPamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around ^cCyrene, and ^1dvisitors from Rome, both Jews and ^2eproselytes,

¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

¹²And ^athey all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But others were mocking and saying, “^aThey are full of ¹sweet wine.”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴But Peter, ¹taking his stand with ^athe eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.

¹⁵“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, ^afor it is only the ¹third hour of the day;

¹⁶but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘^aAnd it shall be in the last days,’ God says,

‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all ¹mankind;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions,

And your old men shall dream dreams;

¹⁸Even on My bondslaves, both men and women,

I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit

And they shall prophesy.

¹⁹‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above

And signs on the earth below,

Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

²⁰‘The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood,

Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.

²¹‘And it shall be that ^aeveryone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^aJesus the Nazarene, ^ba man ¹attested to you by God with ²miracles and ^cwonders and ³signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—

²³this Man, delivered over by the ^apredetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^byou nailed to a cross by the hands of ¹godless men and put Him to death.

²⁴“¹But ^aGod raised Him up again, putting an end to the ²agony of death, since it ^bwas impossible for Him to be held ³in its power.

²⁵“For David says of Him,

‘^aI saw the Lord always in my presence;

For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

²⁶‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;

Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;

²⁷Because You will not abandon my soul to ^aHades,

^bNor ¹allow Your ²Holy One to ³undergo decay.

²⁸‘You have made known to me the ways of life;

You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’

²⁹“¹Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^apatriarch David that he both ^bdied and ^cwas buried, and ^dhis tomb is ²with us to this day.

³⁰“And so, because he was ^aa prophet and knew that ^bGod had sworn to him with an oath to seat one ¹of his descendants on his throne,

³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of ¹the Christ, that ^aHe was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh ²suffer decay.

³²“This Jesus ^aGod raised up again, to which we are all ^bwitnesses.

³³“Therefore having been exalted ^1ato the right hand of God, and ^bhaving received from the Father ^cthe promise of the Holy Spirit, He has ^dpoured forth this which you both see and hear.

³⁴“For it was not David who ascended into ¹heaven, but he himself says:

‘^aThe Lord said to my ²Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

³⁵Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’

³⁶“Therefore let all the ^ahouse of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^bLord and ¹Christ—this Jesus ^cwhom you crucified.”

The Ingathering

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were ¹pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “²Brethren, ^3awhat shall we do?”

³⁸Peter said to them, “^aRepent, and each of you be ^bbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹“For ^athe promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^bfar off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

⁴⁰And with many other words he solemnly ^atestified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “¹Be saved from this ^bperverse generation!”

⁴¹So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^1asouls.

⁴²They were ^acontinually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to ^bthe breaking of bread and ¹to prayer.

⁴³¹Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many ^awonders and ²signs were taking place through the apostles.

⁴⁴And all those who had believed ¹were together and ^ahad all things in common;

⁴⁵and they ^abegan selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

^46aDay by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and ^bbreaking bread ¹from house to house, they were taking their ²meals together with gladness and ³sincerity of heart,

⁴⁷praising God and ^ahaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ^bwas adding ¹to their number day by day ^cthose who were being saved.