﻿Acts.
Chapter 4.
While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came up to them, 
greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 
They arrested them and held them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening. 
But many who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about five thousand. 
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes gathered in Jerusalem, 
along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who belonged to the high-priestly family. 
They had the apostles stand in their midst and asked, “By what power or in what name did you do this?” 
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 
if we are being questioned today about a good deed done for a disabled man and how he has been healed, 
let all of you and all the people of Israel know that it is in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healthy. 
He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. 
There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.” 
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed. They also recognized that they had been with Jesus. 
But seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against it. 
So they ordered them to leave the council and conferred with one another, 
saying, “What should we do with these men? It is clear to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable sign has been done through them, and we cannot deny it. 
But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us threaten them so that they no longer speak to anyone in this name.” 
Then they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 
But Peter and John answered them, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God. 
For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 
After threatening them further, they released them, finding no way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. 
For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was over forty years old. 
After their release, they went to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 
When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, you made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them. 
You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant: ‘Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 
The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.’ 
For in this city Herod and Pontius Pilate truly gathered with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, 
to do whatever your hand and your plan had determined beforehand would happen. 
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 
while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 
When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. 
The multitude of those who believed was of one heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they held everything in common. 
With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 
There was no needy person among them, for all who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the sales 
and laid them at the apostles’ feet. These were distributed to each according to need. 
Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement, was a Levite from Cyprus. 
He sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 
