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The Acts of the Apostles 5

5 Now there was one of the believers whose name was Ananias. He was married, and his wife’s name was Sapphira. They also sold some land. 2 He kept for himself some of the money he had received for the land. His wife knew that he had done that. Then he brought the rest of the money and gave it to the Representatives.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, you have allowed Satan to control you so completely that you tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. You kept for yourself some of the money you received for selling the land. You did not give us all of it. 4 Before you sold that land, you truly owned it. And after you sold it, the money was still yours. So you should never have thought about doing such a wicked thing. You were not just trying to deceive people! No, you were trying to deceive God himself!” 5 When Ananias heard the things Peter told him, he immediately fell down dead. And everyone who learned about Ananias’ death felt a great awe for God. 6 When Ananias died, some young men came forward, wrapped his body in a sheet, and carried it out and buried it.

7 About three hours later, his wife came in. But she did not know that Peter confronted her husband about the lie they had told and that her husband had died as a result. 8 Then Peter showed her the money that Ananias had brought and asked her, “Tell me, is this the amount of money you two received for the land you sold?” She said, “Yes, that is what we received.” 9 So Peter said to her, “You both did a terrible thing when you agreed to try to deceive the Holy Spirit! This is what will happen to you as a result. God struck your husband dead as a punishment and some young men are just coming back from burying him. God is also going to strike you dead, and they will take your body out and bury it as well.” 10 Immediately Sapphira fell down dead right in front of Peter. Just then the young men came back in. When they saw that she had also died, they carried her body out and buried it next to her husband’s body.

11 All the believers in Jerusalem felt a great awe for God because of what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Everyone else who heard about these things also felt great awe for God.

12 God was enabling the Representatives to do many amazing miracles that showed the truth of what they were preaching among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly in the temple courtyard at the place called Solomon’s Porch. 13 All of the other people who had not believed in Jesus were afraid to meet with the believers. However, those people continued to speak very highly of them. 14 Many more men and women started believing in the Lord Jesus, and they joined the group of believers. 15 Because the people were seeing such amazing miracles, they started bringing those who had various diseases right into the streets and placing them on stretchers and mattresses there. They were hoping that when Peter walked by his shadow might touch some of them, because if even that happened, God would heal them. 16 Large crowds of people were also coming from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing those who had various diseases and those whom evil spirits were tormenting, and God healed all of them.

17 However, the high priest became very resentful that such large crowds were coming to the Representatives. Many priests who were members of the Sadducee group were also very resentful of them. They joined together with the high priest to work against them. 18 So they commanded the temple guards to arrest them and to put them in the public jail. 19 The high priest and his allies kept them in jail overnight so that they could question them in the morning. But that night an angel from the Lord God opened the jail doors and led all the Representatives outside. Then the angel told them, 20 “Go to the temple courtyard, stand there, and tell the people about the eternal life that Jesus can give them. Do not leave anything out, even though the Sanhedrin has commanded you not to say certain things.” 21 So when the Representatives heard what the angel said, they went to the temple courtyard and began to teach the people once more about Jesus. By then it was about dawn. Around that same time, the high priest and the other priests who were working with him gathered together in the Jewish council chamber. From there they summoned the other council members. Together they were all the leaders of Israel. Once the whole council was present, they sent guards to the jail to get the Representatives. 22 But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that they were not there. So they returned to the council and told the members, 23 “We saw that the jail doors were very safely locked and that the guards were keeping watch in front of the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in to get those men, none of them were inside the jail.” 24 When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the temple guards heard that, they were greatly confused. They wondered what the consequences would be.

25 Then someone came and reported to them, “Listen to this! The men you put in jail have somehow gotten into the temple courtyard. And they are telling the people there about Jesus!” 26 So the officer in charge of the temple guards went to the temple courtyard with the officers. They brought the Representatives back to the council room. But they did not treat them roughly. They were afraid that if they did that, the people would try to kill them by throwing stones at them.

27 After the captain and his officers had brought the Representatives to the council room, they commanded them to stand in front of the council members. Then the high priest questioned them intensely. 28 He said to them, “We ordered you very clearly not to teach people about that man Jesus! But you have disobeyed us, and you have taught people all over Jerusalem about him! Furthermore, you are trying to make it seem that we are the ones who are guilty of that man’s death!” 29 But Peter, speaking for himself and the other Representatives, replied, “We have to obey what God commands us to do, not what you people tell us to do! 30 You are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors worshiped, caused Jesus to live again after he died. 31 God has honored Jesus more than he has honored anyone else. He has made him the one to save us and rule over us. He has enabled us Israelites to stop sinning and he has forgiven us for the sins we committed. 32 We tell people about these things that we saw happen to Jesus. The Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to us who obey him, is also confirming that these things are true.” 33 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became so angry with the Representatives that they wanted to kill them.

34 But there was a council member named Gamaliel. He was a member of the Pharisee group. He taught the Jewish laws, and the Jewish people respected him highly. He stood up in the council and told the guards to take the Representatives out of the room for a short time. 35 After the guards had taken them out, Gamaliel said to the other council members, “You leaders of the people of Israel, you must think carefully about what you are going to do to these men. 36 Some years ago a man named Theudas led a revolt against the government. He claimed that he was a great man, and about 400 men joined him. But the Romans captured and executed him, and all those who had joined him went back to where they came from. So this revolt did not succeed. 37 After that, during the time when the Romans were recording the names of people in order to tax them, a man named Judas from the region of Galilee rebelled. He convinced some people to rebel with him. But he too died, and all those who had joined him went off in different directions. 38 Based on these examples, let me offer some advice. Do not kill these men! Set them free! I say this because if the things that are happening now are just something that humans have planned, someone will stop them. They will fail. 39 But if God has commanded them to do these things, you will not be able to stop them. You may even discover that you are working against God!” The other members of the council accepted what Gamaliel said. 40 They told the temple guards to bring in the Representatives and beat them. So the guards brought them into the council room and beat them. Then the council members commanded them not to speak to people about Jesus any more, and they let them go.

41 So they left the council chamber. As they did, they even rejoiced that God had honored them by allowing people to treat them badly because they were testifying to Jesus. 42 Every day after that, they went to the temple area and to various people’s houses, and they continued teaching people and telling them that Jesus is the Messiah.

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