Acts 1:12-24

¹²Then after the two angels left, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from Olive Tree Hill, which was about ◄a half mile/one kilometer► MTY from Jerusalem.

¹³When they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room in the house where they were staying. Those who were there included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, another James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who belonged to the group that wanted to expel the Romans, and Judas the son of another man named James.

¹⁴All these apostles agreed concerning the things about which they continually were praying together. Others who prayed with them included the women who had accompanied Jesus, Mary who was Jesus' mother, and his younger brothers.

¹⁵During those days Peter stood up among his fellow believers. There were at that place a group of about 120 of Jesus' followers. Peter said,

¹⁶“My fellow believers, there are words that King David wrote MTY in the Scriptures long ago that needed to be fulfilled {to happen as he said they would}. The Holy Spirit, who knew that Judas would be the one who would fulfill those words, told David what to write.

¹⁷Although Judas had been chosen { Jesus had chosen Judas}, along with the rest of us (exc) to serve as an apostle, Judas was the person who led to Jesus the people who seized him.”

¹⁸The Jewish leaders gave Judas money when he promised to treacherously/wickedly betray Jesus. Later Judas returned that money to them. When Judas hanged himself, his body fell down to the ground. His abdomen burst open, and all his intestines spilled out. So the Jewish leaders bought a field using that money.

¹⁹All the people who reside in Jerusalem heard about that, so they called that field in their own Aramaic language, Akeldama, which means ❛Field of Blood❜, because it was where someone bled and died.

²⁰Peter also said, “ I perceive that what happened to Judas is like what the writer of Psalms desired to happen: ‘May his house become deserted, and may there be no one to live in it.’ (OR, ‘ Judge him, Lord, so that neither he nor anyone else may live in his house!)’ And it seems that these other words that David wrote also refer to Judas: ‘Let someone else take over his work as a leader.’”

²¹“So it is necessary for us apostles to choose a man to replace Judas. He must be one who accompanied MTY us all the time when the Lord Jesus was with us.

²²That would be from the time when John the Baptizer baptized Jesus until the day when Jesus was taken {when God took Jesus} from us up to heaven. He must be one who saw Jesus alive again after he died.”

²³So the apostles and other believers suggested the names of two men who qualified. One man was Joseph, who was called {whom people called} Barsabbas (OR, Joseph Barsabbas) who also had the Roman name Justus. The other man was Matthias.

²⁴Then they prayed like this: “Lord Jesus, Judas stopped being an apostle. He died and went to the place where he deserved to be EUP. So we(exc) need to choose someone to replace Judas in order that he can serve you(sg) by becoming an apostle. You (sg) know what everyone is really like. So please show us which of these two men you have chosen.”