Acts 2–5

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.

Chapter 3

Healing the Lame Beggar

¹Now ^aPeter and John were going up to the temple at the ¹ninth hour, ^bthe hour of prayer.

²And ^aa man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they ^bused to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^cin order to beg ¹alms of those who were entering the temple.

³When he saw ^aPeter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.

⁴But Peter, along with John, ^afixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!”

⁵And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: ^aIn the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”

⁷And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

^81aWith a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

⁹And ^aall the people saw him walking and praising God;

¹⁰and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to ^asit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter’s Second Sermon

¹¹While he was clinging to ^aPeter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called ^1bportico of Solomon, full of amazement.

¹²But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

¹³“^aThe God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, ^bthe God of our fathers, has glorified His ^1cservant Jesus, the one whom ^dyou delivered and disowned in the presence of ^ePilate, when he had ^fdecided to release Him.

¹⁴“But you disowned ^athe Holy and Righteous One and ^basked for a murderer to be granted to you,

¹⁵but put to death the ^1aPrince of life, the one whom ^bGod raised from the dead, a fact to which we are ^cwitnesses.

¹⁶“And on the basis of faith ^ain His name, it is ¹the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“And now, brethren, I know that you acted ^ain ignorance, just as your ^brulers did also.

¹⁸“But the things which ^aGod announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, ^bthat His ¹Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

¹⁹“Therefore ^arepent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that ^btimes of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

²⁰and that He may send Jesus, the ¹Christ appointed for you,

^21awhom heaven must receive until the ¹period of ^brestoration of all things about which ^cGod spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

²²“Moses said, ‘^aThe Lord God will raise up for you a prophet ¹like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.

²³‘^aAnd it will be that every ^bsoul that does not heed that prophet ^cshall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

²⁴“And likewise, ^aall the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.

²⁵“It is you who are ^athe sons of the prophets and of the ^bcovenant which God ¹made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘^cAnd in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

²⁶“For you ^afirst, God ^braised up His ¹Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

Chapter 4

Peter and John Arrested

¹As they were speaking to the people, the priests and ^athe captain of the temple guard and ^bthe Sadducees ^ccame up to them,

²being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming ^1ain Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

³And they laid hands on them and ^aput them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

⁴But many of those who had heard the ¹message believed; and ^athe number of the men came to be about five thousand.

⁵On the next day, their ^arulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;

⁶and ^aAnnas the high priest was there, and ^bCaiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.

⁷When they had placed them…