1 Now there was a certain man, Ananias his name, who, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 but secretly set aside for himself some of the money, with his wife fully aware of it. And bringing forward the rest, it was at the feet of the apostles that he placed it.

3 “Ananias,” Peter said, “how is it that Satan has so deceived and taken hold of ˢyou, that ˢyou have lied to the Holy Spirit and secretly set aside for yourself part of the money from the sale of your field? 4 Before the property was sold it was ˢyou to whom it belonged, was it not? And after it was sold, the money was ˢyours to use however you wanted, was it not? Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not merely to men, but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down dead; and great fear and awe came over everyone who heard about what happened. 6 Then the young men got to work and wrapped up the body, and after carrying it out, placed it in a tomb.

7 About three hours later his wife, unaware of what had happened, came in. 8 “Tell me,” Peter said to her, “is this the full amount that the two of ᵖyou received for the field?”

“Yes,” she said, “that’s the full amount.”

9 “How could the two of ᵖyou agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter said to her. “Listen! It is the feet of the men who entombed your husband that approach just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” 10 At that, she suddenly fell down at his feet dead.

When the young men came in, they saw before them another corpse. And carrying the body out, they placed it next to that of her husband.11 Great fear and awe came over the whole assembly and over everyone else who heard about these events.

12 Through the hands of the apostles many miraculous signs and wonders continued taking place among the people. 13 The believers would all meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. As for the rest, no one dared to associate too closely with their group, though the people did speak highly of them. 14 Still, more and more believers in the Lord were being added to their group, large numbers of both men and women. 15 As a result of the miracles that were taking place, people would even carry out their sick and place them on cots and mats in the main streets, hoping that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 Crowds of people from the towns around Jerusalem also kept gathering, bringing the sick and those who were afflicted by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.

17 Well, the high priest and his officials, who belonged to the Sadducean party, were overcome with jealousy. Taking action, 18 they had the apostles arrested and placed in the city prison. 19 An angel of the Lord, however, during the night, opening the gates of the prison and leading them out, said, 20 “Go into the temple courts and continue declaring to the people the whole message about this new life.” 21 Obeying his instructions, they went at daybreak into the temple courts and began teaching.

Now when the high priest and his officials arrived, they called a meeting of the Sanhedrin (the whole council of elders in leadership over the people of Israel) and sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.22 The Sanhedrin officers, however, upon arrival, did not find them in the prison. At that, the officers went back and reported, 23 “The prison we found locked and fully secure, and the guards standing watch at the gates. When we opened the gates, however, inside we found not a single one of them!”

24 When the officer in charge of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this news, they were at a complete loss about what had happened to the apostles, wondering, “What in the world is going to come of this?” 25 Then someone came in and said to them, “Listen! The men whom ᵖyou ordered to be placed in the prison are in the temple courts, teaching the people!” 26 Then the head officer left with his men and began leading the apostles away without the use of violence, afraid that if they did otherwise the people might stone them to death. 27 After bringing them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest began to question them.

28 “We gave ᵖyou very strict orders not to continue teaching in this name,” he said. “But look! ᵖYou have filled Jerusalem with ᵖyour teaching and are set on making us responsible for this man’s blood!”

29 “It is God whom we must obey, rather than mere men,” Peter and the other apostles replied. 30 “The God of our ancestors ‘raised up’+ Jesus, whom ᵖyou murdered by having him ‘hanged on a tree.’+ 31 This man God has exalted to his own right hand as very Ruler and Savior, to give Israel opportunity to repent and have her sins forgiven. 32 We are witnesses to these things, as is the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to those who obey him.”

33 When the members of the council heard this, they were furious and nearly decided to have the apostles put to death. 34 However, a certain man stood up in the presence of the Sanhedrin—a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Torah, highly respected by all the people—and gave orders for the men to be taken, for a short while, outside. 35 “Men of Israel,” he said to the council, “be careful what ᵖyou are planning to do to these men. 36 Not long ago, you see, Theudas appeared on the scene claiming to be someone important, to whom rallied a group of men about four hundred strong. Yet he was killed, and his entire band of followers was broken up, and the movement died out. 37 After Theudas, Judas the Galilean appeared during the time of the census and rallied some people to join him in a revolt. That man, too, met his ruin, and all his followers were scattered. 38 In the present situation, then, I advise ᵖyou this: Stay away from these men; leave them alone. If this agenda or this undertaking of theirs is of human origin, you see, it will come to nothing. 39 If, on the other hand, God is the one behind it, ᵖyou won’t be able to stop them, and may even be shown to be fighting against God himself!”

The council was persuaded by Gamaliel.40 After calling the apostles in and having them flogged, they gave them orders to stop speaking in the name of Jesus and then released them.

41 While the apostles, therefore, on the one hand, left the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been considered worthy of suffering dishonor for the sake of the Name, 42 day after day, on the other, in the temple courts and in various homes, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.