1While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came up to them.
2They were disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
3They arrested them and held them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening.
4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5The next day the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.
6Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family.
7They had Peter and John brought before them and demanded, "By what power or in what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people,
9if we are being questioned today about a good deed done to a man who was lame — about how he was healed —
10then know this, all of you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you completely healed.
11Jesus is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.'
12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were ordinary, unschooled men, they were astonished, and they recognized that these men had been with Jesus.
14But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
15So they ordered them to withdraw from the council and then conferred together.
16"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everyone in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it.
17But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18So they called Peter and John back in and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
19But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes — to listen to you or to God? You judge.
20We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened.
22The man who had been miraculously healed was over forty years old.
23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and elders had said to them.
24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.'
27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was powerfully at work in them all.
34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had a need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas — which means "son of encouragement" —
37sold a field he owned and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.