Acts 5–6

Ananias and Sapphira Die

5But a man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold some land. ²He kept back part of the money for himself; his wife knew about this and agreed to it. But he brought the rest of the money and gave it to the apostles. ³Peter said, “Ananias, why did you let Satan rule your thoughts to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep for yourself part of the money you received for the land? ⁴Before you sold the land, it belonged to you. And even after you sold it, you could have used the money any way you wanted. Why did you think of doing this? You lied to God, not to us!” ^5–6When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. Some young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried it out, and buried it. And everyone who heard about this was filled with fear.

⁷About three hours later his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. ⁸Peter said to her, “Tell me, was the money you got for your field this much?”

Sapphira answered, “Yes, that was the price.”

⁹Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” ¹⁰At that moment Sapphira fell down by his feet and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹The whole church and all the others who heard about these things were filled with fear.

The Apostles Heal Many

¹²The apostles did many signs and miracles among the people. And they would all meet together on Solomon’s Porch. ¹³None of the others dared to join them, but all the people respected them. ¹⁴More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to the group of believers. ¹⁵The people placed their sick on beds and mats in the streets, hoping that when Peter passed by at least his shadow might fall on them. ¹⁶Crowds came from all the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those who were bothered by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

Leaders Try to Stop the Apostles

¹⁷The high priest and all his friends (a group called the Sadducees) became very jealous. ¹⁸They took the apostles and put them in jail. ¹⁹But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and led the apostles outside. The angel said, ²⁰“Go stand in the Temple and tell the people everything about this new life.” ²¹When the apostles heard this, they obeyed and went into the Temple early in the morning and continued teaching.

When the high priest and his friends arrived, they called a meeting of the leaders and all the important elders. They sent some men to the jail to bring the apostles to them. ²²But, upon arriving, the officers could not find the apostles. So they went back and reported to the leaders. ²³They said, “The jail was closed and locked, and the guards were standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors, the jail was empty!” ²⁴Hearing this, the captain of the Temple guards and the leading priests were confused and wondered what was happening.

²⁵Then someone came and told them, “Listen! The men you put in jail are standing in the Temple teaching the people.” ²⁶Then the captain and his men went out and brought the apostles back. But the soldiers did not use force, because they were afraid the people would stone them to death.

²⁷The soldiers brought the apostles to the meeting and made them stand before the leaders. The high priest questioned them, ²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in that name. But look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are trying to make us responsible for this man’s death.”

²⁹Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God, not human authority! ³⁰You killed Jesus by hanging him on a cross. But God, the God of our ancestors, raised Jesus up from the dead! ³¹Jesus is the One whom God raised to be on his right side, as Leader and Savior. Through him, all people could change their hearts and lives and have their sins forgiven. ³²We saw all these things happen. The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to all who obey him, also proves these things are true.”

³³When the leaders heard this, they became angry and wanted to kill them. ³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up in the meeting. He was a teacher of the law, and all the people respected him. He ordered the apostles to leave the meeting for a little while. ³⁵Then he said, “People of Israel, be careful what you are planning to do to these men. ³⁶Remember when Theudas appeared? He said he was a great man, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered; they were able to do nothing. ³⁷Later, a man named Judas came from Galilee at the time of the registration. ⁿ He also led a group of followers and was killed, and all his followers were scattered. ³⁸And so now I tell you: Stay away from these men, and leave them alone. If their plan comes from human authority, it will fail. ³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be fighting against God himself!”

The leaders agreed with what Gamaliel said. ⁴⁰They called the apostles in, beat them, and told them not to speak in the name of Jesus again. Then they let them go free. ⁴¹The apostles left the meeting full of joy because they were given the honor of suffering disgrace for Jesus. ⁴²Every day in the Temple and in people’s homes they continued teaching the people and telling the Good News—that Jesus is the Christ.

Seven Leaders Are Chosen

6The number of followers was growing. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers had an argument with the other followers. The Greek-speaking widows were not getting their share of the food that was given out every day. ²The twelve apostles called the whole group of followers together and said, “It is not right for us to stop our work of teaching God’s word in order to serve tables. ³So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your own men who are good, full of the Spirit and full of wisdom. We will put them in charge of this work. ⁴Then we can continue to pray and to teach the word of God.”

⁵The whole group liked the idea, so they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philip, ⁿ Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (a man from Antioch who had become a follower of the Jewish religion). ⁶Then they put these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands ⁿ on them.

⁷The word of God was continuing to spread. The group of followers in Jerusalem increased, and a great number of the Jewish priests believed and obeyed.

Stephen Is Accused

⁸Stephen was richly blessed by God who gave him the power to do great miracles and signs among the people. ⁹But some people were against him. They belonged to the synagogue of Free Men ⁿ (as it was called), which included people from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. They all came and argued with Stephen.

¹⁰But the Spirit was helping him to speak with wisdom, and his words were so strong that they could not argue with him. ¹¹So they secretly urged some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God.”

¹²This upset the people, the elders, and the teachers of the law. They came and grabbed Stephen and brought him to a meeting of the leaders. ¹³They brought in some people to tell lies about Stephen, saying, “This man is always speaking against this holy place and the law of Moses. ¹⁴We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and that Jesus will change the customs Moses gave us.” ¹⁵All the people in the meeting were watching Stephen closely and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.