Acts 4:5-29

⁵The next day, the rulers, elders, and religious leaders met together in Jerusalem.

⁶They included the high priest Annas, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest's family.

⁷They brought Peter and John before them and asked, “By what power or by whose authority have you done this?”

⁸Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered them. “Rulers of the people, and elders:

⁹Are we being interrogated regarding a good deed done to a man who couldn't help himself, and how he came to be healed?

¹⁰If so, all of you should know, and all the people of Israel, that it was in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one you killed on a cross and whom God raised from the dead—it's because of him that this man stands before you completely healed.

¹¹‘He is the stone you builders rejected, but he has been made the chief cornerstone.’

¹²There is no salvation in anyone else; there is no other name under heaven given to humanity that can possibly save us.”

¹³When they saw Peter and John's confidence, and realized they were uneducated, ordinary men, they were very surprised. They also recognized them as Jesus' companions.

¹⁴Since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there with them, they had nothing to say in response to what had happened.

¹⁵So they instructed them to wait outside the council while they discussed the matter among themselves.

¹⁶“What should we do with these men?” they asked. “We can't deny a significant miracle has happened through them. Everybody living here in Jerusalem knows about it.

¹⁷But to prevent it spreading among the people any further, we should threaten them never to speak to anybody in this name again.”

¹⁸So they called them back in and ordered them never to speak or teach in the name of Jesus again.

¹⁹But Peter and John responded, “Whether it's right in God's eyes to obey you rather than God—you decide.

²⁰We can't help talking about what we've seen and heard!”

²¹After making more threats they let them go. They couldn't work out how to punish them because everyone was glorifying God for what had happened.

²²For the man who received this miracle of healing was more than forty years old.

²³After the disciples had been released, they went to the other believers and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them.

²⁴When they heard what had happened, they prayed to God together: “Lord, you made heaven and earth and sea, and everything that is in them.

²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through David, our forefather and your servant, saying ‘Why did the people of the other nations become so angry? Why did they plot so foolishly against me?

²⁶The kings of the earth prepared for war the rulers united together against the Lord and against his Chosen One.’

²⁷Now this has really happened right here in this city! Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the foreigners and the people of Israel, united together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed as Messiah.

²⁸They did whatever you had already decided because you had the power and the will to do it.

²⁹Now Lord: look at all their threats against us! Help us your servants to speak your word really boldly.