Acts 1:1-11

Living Bible

1 ^1-2 Dear friend who loves God:

In my first letter^[a] I told you about Jesus’ life and teachings and how he returned to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions from the Holy Spirit. ³ During the forty days after his crucifixion he appeared to the apostles from time to time, actually alive, and proved to them in many ways that it was really he himself they were seeing. And on these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

⁴ In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them.

⁵ “John baptized you with water,”^[b] he reminded them, “but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days.”

⁶ And another time when he appeared to them, they asked him, “Lord, are you going to free Israel from Rome^[c] now and restore us as an independent nation?”

⁷ “The Father sets those dates,” he replied, “and they are not for you to know. ⁸ But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power to testify about me with great effect, to the people in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, about my death and resurrection.”

⁹ It was not long afterwards that he rose into the sky and disappeared into a cloud, leaving them staring after him. ¹⁰ As they were straining their eyes for another glimpse, suddenly two white-robed men were standing there among them, ¹¹ and said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has gone away to heaven, and some day, just as he went, he will return!”