Acts 1:12-20

Contemporary English Version

Someone To Take the Place of Judas

^12-13^(A) The Mount of Olives was about a kilometer from Jerusalem. The apostles who had gone there were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon, known as the Eager One,^[a] and Judas the son of James.

After the apostles returned to the city, they went upstairs to the room where they had been staying.

¹⁴The apostles often met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind.^[b] The women and Mary the mother of Jesus would meet with them, and so would his brothers. ¹⁵One day there were about 120 of the Lord's followers meeting together, and Peter stood up to speak to them. ^16-17He said:

My friends, long ago by the power of the Holy Spirit, David said something about Judas, and what he said has now happened. Judas was one of us and had worked with us, but he brought the mob to arrest Jesus. ¹⁸^(B) Then Judas bought some land with the money he was given for doing that evil thing. He fell headfirst into the field. His body burst open, and all his insides came out. ¹⁹When the people of Jerusalem found out about this, they called the place Akeldama, which in the local language means “Field of Blood.”

²⁰^(C) In the book of Psalms it says,

“Leave his house empty,
and don't let anyone
live there.”

It also says,

“Let someone else
have his job.”

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Footnotes

1.12,13 known as the Eager One: The Greek text has “Zealot,” a name later given to the members of a Jewish group that resisted and fought against the Romans.
1.14 met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind: Or “met together in a special place for prayer.”