Acts 2–5

Coming of the Holy Spirit

2When ^athe Day of Pentecost had fully come, ^bthey were all ¹with one accord in one place. ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and ^cit filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³Then there appeared to them ²divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴And ^dthey were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began ^eto speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Crowd’s Response

⁵And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, ^fdevout men, from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when this sound occurred, the ^gmultitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. ⁷Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak ^hGalileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each in our own ³language in which we were born? ⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and ⁱCappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and ⁴Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ¹²So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

¹³Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon

¹⁴But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. ¹⁵For these are not drunk, as you suppose, ^jsince it is only ⁵the third hour of the day. ¹⁶But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘And ^kit shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

^lThat I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and ^myour daughters shall prophesy,

Your young men shall see visions,

Your old men shall dream dreams.

¹⁸And on My menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days;

ⁿAnd they shall prophesy.

^19oI will show wonders in heaven above

And signs in the earth beneath:

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

^20pThe sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood,

Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

²¹And it shall come to pass

That ^qwhoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you ^rby miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—²³Him, ^sbeing delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, ^tyou ⁶have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; ^24uwhom God raised up, having ⁷loosed the ⁸pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. ²⁵For David says concerning Him:

^v‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,

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

²⁶Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;

Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.

²⁷For You will not leave my soul in Hades,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see ^wcorruption.

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

You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

²⁹“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you ^xof the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰Therefore, being a prophet, ^yand knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, ⁹according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, ³¹he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, ^zthat His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ^32aThis Jesus God has raised up, ^bof which we are all witnesses. ³³Therefore ^cbeing exalted ¹to ^dthe right hand of God, and ^ehaving received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He ^fpoured out this which you now see and hear.

³⁴“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

^g‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

³⁵Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’

³⁶“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

³⁷Now when they heard this, ^hthey were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

³⁸Then Peter said to them, ⁱ“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the ²remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is to you and ^jto your children, and ^kto all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

A Vital Church Grows

⁴⁰And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this ³perverse generation.” ⁴¹Then those who ⁴gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. ^42lAnd they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ ⁵doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³Then fear came upon every soul, and ^mmany wonders and signs were done through the apostles. ⁴⁴Now all who believed were together, and ⁿhad all things in common, ⁴⁵and ⁶sold their possessions and goods, and ^odivided ⁷them among all, as anyone had need.

^46pSo continuing daily with one accord ^qin the temple, and ^rbreaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people. And ^sthe Lord added ⁸to the church daily those who were being saved.

A Lame Man Healed

3Now Peter and John went up together ^ato the temple at the hour of prayer, ^bthe ninth hour. ²And ^ca certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, ^dto ¹ask alms from those who entered the temple; ³who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. ⁴And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” ⁵So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: ^eIn the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸So he, ^fleaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ^9gAnd all the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰Then they knew that it was he who ^hsat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Preaching in Solomon’s Portico

¹¹Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch ⁱwhich is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. ¹²So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ^13jThe God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, ^kglorified His Servant Jesus, whom you ^ldelivered up and ^mdenied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. ¹⁴But you denied ⁿthe Holy One ^oand the Just, and ^pasked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵and killed the ²Prince of life, ^qwhom God raised from the dead, ^rof which we are witnesses. ^16sAnd His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“Yet now, brethren, I know that ^tyou did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸But ^uthose things which God foretold ^vby the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. ^19wRepent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰and that He may send ³Jesus Christ, who was ⁴preached to you before, ^21xwhom heaven must receive until the times of ^yrestoration of all things, ^zwhich God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since ⁵the world began. ²²For Moses truly said to the fathers, ^a‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. ²³And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ ²⁴Yes, and ^ball the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also ⁶foretold these days. ^25cYou are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ^d‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ²⁶To you ^efirst, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, ^fin turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Peter and John Arrested

4Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the ^aSadducees came upon them, ²being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

Addressing the Sanhedrin

⁵And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, ⁶as well as ^bAnnas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, ^c“By what power or by what name have you done this?”

^8dThen Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: ⁹If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, ¹⁰let it be known to you all, and to all…