Acts 5:12-40

¹²God was enabling the apostles to do many amazing miracles among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly in the temple courtyard at the place called Solomon's Porch.

¹³All of the other people who had not yet believed in Jesus were afraid to associate with the believers, because they knew that if they did anything evil, God would punish them, as well as revealing it to the believers. However, those people continued to greatly respect the believers.

¹⁴Many more men and women started believing in the Lord Jesus, and they joined the group of believers.

¹⁵The apostles were doing amazing miracles, so people were bringing those who were sick into the streets, and laying them on stretchers and mats, in order that when Peter came by he would touch them, or at least his shadow might fall upon some of them and heal them.

¹⁶Crowds of people were also coming to the apostles from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing their sick relatives/friends and those who were being tormented/troubled by evil spirits {whom evil spirits were tormenting/troubling}, and God healed all of them.

¹⁷Then the high priest and all who were with him, who were members of the local Sadducee sect in Jerusalem, became very jealous of the apostles, because many people were accepting the apostles' message.

¹⁸So they commanded the Temple guards to seize the apostles and put them in the public jail.

¹⁹The guards did that, but during the night an angel from the Lord God opened the jail doors and brought the apostles outside! The guards were not aware of what the angel had done.

²⁰Then the angel said to the apostles, “Go to the Temple courtyard, stand there, and tell the people all about how God can give them eternal life!”

²¹So having heard this, about dawn they entered the Temple courtyard and began to teach the people again about Jesus. Acts 5:21b-24 Meanwhile, the high priest and those who were with him summoned the other Jewish Council members. Altogether they made up the entire Council of Israel. After they all gathered together, they sent guards to the jail to bring in the apostles.

²²But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that the apostles were not there. So they returned to the Council, and one of them reported,

²³“We (exc) saw that the jail doors were very securely locked, and the guards were standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in to get those men, none of them was inside the jail!”

²⁴When the captain of the temple guards and the chief priests heard that, they became greatly perplexed, wondering what might result from all this.

²⁵Then someone came from the Temple courtyard and excitedly reported to them, “Listen to this! Right now the men whom you put in jail are standing in the Temple courtyard and they are teaching the people about Jesus!”

²⁶So the captain of the Temple guards went to the Temple courtyard with the officers, and they brought the apostles back to the Council room. But they did not treat them roughly, because they were afraid that the people would kill them by throwing stones at them if they hurt the apostles.

²⁷After the captain and his officers had brought the apostles to the Council room, they commanded them to stand in front of the Council members, and the high priest questioned them.

²⁸He said to them accusingly, “We (exc) strongly commanded you not to teach people about that man MTY 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 (exc) are the ones who are guilty MTY for that man's death!”

²⁹But Peter, speaking for himself and the other apostles, replied, “We (exc) have to obey what God commands us to do, not what you people tell us to do!

³⁰God considers that you are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors worshipped, ◄caused Jesus to become alive again after he died/raised Jesus from the dead►.

³¹God has greatly honored Jesus. He has taken him up to heaven! He has authorized him to be the one who will save us and to rule over our lives! God did this so that he might enable us Israelites MTY to turn away from our sinful behavior and that he might forgive us for our sins.

³²We (exc) tell people about these things that we know happened to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to us who obey him, is also confirming that these things are true.”

³³When the Council members heard those words, they became very angry with the apostles, and they wanted to kill them.

³⁴But there was a Council member named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, and one who taught people the Jewish laws, and all the Jewish people respected him. He stood up in the Council and told guards to take the apostles out of the room for a short time.

³⁵After the guards had taken the apostles out, he said to the other Council members, “Fellow Israelites, you need to think carefully about what you are about to do to these men, and I will tell you why.

³⁶Some years ago a man named Theudas rebelled against the Roman government. He told people that he was an important person, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed { soldiers killed him} and all those who had been accompanying him were scattered. So they were not able to do anything that they had planned.

³⁷After that, during the time when they were ◄writing down names of the people/taking the census► in order to tax people, a man named Judas from Galilee province rebelled against the Roman government. He persuaded some people to accompany him. But soldiers killed him, too, and all those who had accompanied him went off in different directions.

³⁸So now I say this to you: Do not harm these men! Release them! I say this because if this is just something that humans have planned, they will not be able to do it. They will fail, like Theudas and Judas did

³⁹But, if God has commanded them to do it, you will not be able to prevent them from doing it, because you will find out that you are opposing God!” The other members of the Council accepted what Gamaliel said.

⁴⁰They told the temple guards to bring the apostles and flog them. So the guards brought them into the Council room and flogged them. Then the Council members commanded them not to speak to people about MTY Jesus, and they released the apostles.