Acts 4:8-33

⁸Then, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, “Leaders of the people and elders,

⁹since we are on our trial today for a kind act done to a helpless man, and are asked in what way the man here before you has been cured,

¹⁰let me tell you all and all the people of Israel, that it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead — it is, I say, by his name that this man stands here before you lame no longer.

¹¹Jesus is ‘the stone which, scorned by you the builders, has yet become the corner stone.’

¹²And salvation is in him alone; for there is no other name in the whole world, given to people, to which we must look for our salvation.”

¹³When the Council saw how boldly Peter and John spoke, and found that they were uneducated men of humble station, they were surprised, and realized that they had been companions of Jesus.

¹⁴But, when they looked at the man who had been healed, standing there with them, they had nothing to say.

¹⁵So they ordered them out of court, and then began consulting together.

¹⁶“What are we to do to these men?” they asked one another. “That a remarkable sign has been given through them is obvious to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

¹⁷But, to prevent this thing from spreading further among the people, let us warn them not to speak in this name any more to anyone whatever.”

¹⁸So they called the apostles in, and ordered them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right, in the sight of God, to listen to you rather than to him —

²⁰judge for yourselves, for we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard.”

²¹However, after further warnings, the Council set them at liberty, not seeing any safe way of punishing them, because of the people, for they were all praising God for what had occurred;

²²for the man who was the subject of this miraculous cure was more than forty years old.

²³After they had been set at liberty, the apostles went to their friends and told them what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

²⁴All who heard their story, moved by a common impulse, raised their voices to God in prayer: “Sovereign Lord, it is you who has made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them,

²⁵and who, by the lips of our ancestor, your servant David, who spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have said — ‘Why did the nations rage, and the peoples form vain designs?

²⁶The kings of the earth set their array, and its rulers gathered together, against the Lord and against his Christ.’

²⁷There have indeed gathered together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you has consecrated the Christ, not Herod and Pontius Pilate only, but the nations and the people of Israel besides —

²⁸Yet only to do what you, by your power and of your own will, did long ago destine to be done.

²⁹Now, therefore, Lord, mark their threats, and enable your servants, with all fearlessness, to tell your message,

³⁰while you stretch out your hand to heal, and cause signs and wonders to take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹When their prayer was ended, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to tell God's message fearlessly.

³²The whole body of those who had become believers in Christ were of one heart and mind. Not one of them claimed any of his goods as his own, but everything was held for the common use.

³³The apostles continued with great power to bear their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's blessing rested on them all abundantly.