Bible in 90 Days

If the world hates you

¹⁸ “If the world hates you,” Jesus went on, “know that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were from the world, the world would be fond of its own. But the world hates you for this reason: that you’re not from the world. No: I chose you out of the world.

²⁰ “Remember the word that I said to you: servants are not greater than their masters. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they kept my word, they will keep yours too. ²¹ But they will do all these things to you because of my name, because they don’t know the one who sent me.

²² “If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ (Anyone who hates me, hates my father as well!) ²⁴ If I hadn’t done, there in the middle of them, the works which nobody else did, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now they have seen me, and my father—and they’ve hated us both! ²⁵ All this has happened, however, so that the word written in their law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’

²⁶ “When the helper comes—the one I shall send you from the father, the spirit of truth who comes from the father—he will give evidence about me. ²⁷ And you will give evidence as well, because you have been with me from the start.”

The spirit and the world

16 “I’ve said these things to you,” Jesus went on, “to stop you from being tripped up. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will suppose that they are thereby offering worship to God. ³ They will do these things because they haven’t known the father, or me. ⁴ But I have been talking to you about these things so that, when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

“I didn’t say these things to you from the start, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I’m going to the one who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I’ve said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ However, it’s the truth that I’m telling you: it’s better for you that I should go away. If I don’t go away, you see, the helper won’t come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you.

⁸ “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong on three counts: sin, justice and judgment. ⁹ In relation to sin—because they don’t believe in me. ¹⁰ In relation to justice—because I’m going to the father, and you won’t see me anymore. ¹¹ In relation to judgment—because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Your hearts will rejoice

¹² “There are many things I still have to say to you,” Jesus continued, “but you’re not yet strong enough to take them. ¹³ When the spirit of truth comes, though, he will guide you in all the truth. He won’t speak on his own account, you see, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will announce to you what’s to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, because he will take what belongs to me and will announce it to you. ¹⁵ Everything that the father has is mine. That’s why I said that he would take what is mine and announce it to you.

¹⁶ “Not long from now, you won’t see me anymore. Then again, not long after that, you will see me!”

¹⁷ “What’s he talking about?” some of his disciples asked each other. “What’s this business about ‘not long from now, you won’t see me, and again not long after that you will see me’? And what’s this about ‘going to the father’?”

¹⁸ They kept on saying it.

“What is this ‘not long’?”

“What’s it all about?”

“We don’t know what he means!”

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him.

“You’re discussing with each other what I meant, aren’t you?” he said. “You want to know what I meant by saying, ‘Not long from now, you won’t see me; and then again, not long after that, you will see me.’ That’s it, isn’t it? ²⁰ Well, I’m going to tell you the solemn truth.

“You will weep and wail, but the world will celebrate. You will be overcome with sorrow, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is giving birth she is in anguish, because her moment has come. But when the child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering, because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² In the same way, you have sorrow now. But I shall see you again, and your hearts will celebrate, and nobody will take your joy away from you.”

Ask, and you will receive

²³ “On that day,” Jesus went on, “you won’t ask me for anything. I’m telling you the solemn truth: whatever you ask the father in my name, he will give you. ²⁴ Up to now, you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full!

²⁵ “I’ve been saying all this to you in picture-language. The time is coming when I won’t speak in pictures anymore. Instead, I’ll tell you about the father quite plainly. ²⁶ On that day you will ask in my name. I won’t say I will ask the father on your behalf, ²⁷ because the father himself loves you! That’s because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the father, and I’ve come into the world. Now I’m leaving the world, and going back to the father.”

²⁹ “Ah!” said his disciples. “Now you’re speaking plainly! You’re not talking in pictures. ³⁰ Now we know that you know all things, and you don’t need to have anybody ask you anything. This makes us trust that you came from God.”

³¹ “So you do now believe, do you?” replied Jesus. ³² “Look here: the time is coming (in fact, it’s now arrived!) when you will be scattered, each of you to his own place. You will leave me alone—though I’m not alone, because the father is with me. ³³ I’ve said these things to you so that you can have peace in me. You’ll have trouble in the world. But cheer up! I have defeated the world!”

Glorify the son

17 After Jesus had said this, he lifted up his eyes to heaven.

“Father,” he said, “the moment has come. Glorify your son, so that your son may glorify you. ² Do this in the same way as you did when you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he could give the life of God’s coming age to everyone you gave him. ³ And by ‘the life of God’s coming age’ I mean this: that they should know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah, the one you sent.

⁴ “I glorified you on earth, by completing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ So now, Father, glorify me, alongside yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I revealed your name to the people you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you; you gave them to me; and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything which you gave me comes from you. ⁸ I have given them the words you gave me, and they have received them. They have come to know, in truth, that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.”

Jesus prays for his people

⁹ “I’m praying for them. I’m not praying for the world, but for the people you’ve given me. They belong to you. ¹⁰ All mine are yours; all yours are mine; and I’m glorified in them.

¹¹ “I’m not in the world any longer, but they’re still in the world; I’m coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name you’ve given to me, so that they may be one, just as we are one.

¹² “When I was with them, I kept them in your name, the name you’ve given me. I guarded them, and none of them has been destroyed (except the son of destruction; that’s what the Bible said would happen). ¹³ But now I’m coming to you. I’m speaking these things in the world, so that they can have my joy fulfilled in them.

¹⁴ “I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not from the world, just as I am not from the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They didn’t come from the world, just as I didn’t come from the world. ¹⁷ Set them apart for yourself in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And on their account I set myself apart for you, so that they, too, may be set apart for you in the truth.”

That they may be one

²⁰ “I’m not praying simply for them. I’m praying, too, for the people who will come to believe in me because of their word. ²¹ I am praying that they may all be one—just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they too may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

²² “I have given them the glory which you have given to me, so that they may be one, just as we are one. ²³ I in them, and you in me; yes, they must be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them just as you loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want the ones you’ve given me to be with me where I am. I want them to see my glory, the glory which you’ve given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ “Righteous Father, even the world didn’t know you. But I have known you, and these ones have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I made your name known to them—yes, and I will make it known; so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The arrest of Jesus

18 With these words, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden. He and his disciples went in.

² Judas, his betrayer, knew the place, because Jesus often used it as a meeting-place with his disciples. ³ So Judas took a band of soldiers, with some servants of the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with torches, lights and weapons.

⁴ Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him. He went out to meet them.

“Who are you looking for?” he asked.

⁵ “Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

“I’m the one,” he said to them.

Judas, his betrayer, was standing there with them. ⁶ So when he said, “I’m the one,” they went back a few paces, and fell down on the ground.

⁷ Jesus repeated his question.

“Who are you looking for?” he asked.

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

⁸ “I told you, I’m the one!” said Jesus. “So, if you’re looking for me, let these people go.” ⁹ (He said this so as to fulfill the word he had spoken, when he said, “I haven’t lost any of the people you gave me.”)

¹⁰ Simon Peter had a sword. He drew it and hit the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

¹¹ “Put your sword back in its sheath!” said Jesus to Peter. “Do you imagine I’m not going to drink the cup my father has given me?”

¹² So the band of soldiers, with the officer and the Judaean attendants, arrested Jesus and tied him up. ¹³ They led him off first to Annas; he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had given advice to the Judaeans that the best thing would be for one man to die for the people.

Peter denies Jesus

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple was known to the high priest; he went in to the high priest’s courtyard along with Jesus, ¹⁶ while Peter stood outside by the gate. So the other disciple, being known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the woman on the gate. Then he brought Peter inside.

¹⁷ The woman on the gate spoke to Peter.

“You’re not one of that man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked.

“No, I’m not,” he replied.

¹⁸ It was cold. The slaves and the attendants had made a charcoal fire, and they were standing round it, warming themselves. Peter was standing there with them and warming himself.

¹⁹ The high priest asked Jesus about his disciples, and about his teaching.

²⁰ “I’ve spoken to the world quite openly,” replied Jesus. “I always taught in the synagogue and in the Temple, where all the Judaeans gather. I didn’t say anything in secret. ²¹ Why are you asking me? There were people who listened to me. Ask them what I said to them. Don’t you see? They know what I said.”

²² When Jesus said that, one of the attendants standing there gave him a slap on the face.

“Is that how you answer the high priest?” he said.

²³ “If I’ve said something wrong,” replied Jesus, “give evidence about what was wrong with it. But if what I said was true, why are you hitting me?”

²⁴ So Annas sent him off, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵ Simon Peter, meanwhile, was standing there and warming himself.

“You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” they asked him.

He denied it. “No, I’m not,” he said.

²⁶ Then one of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, spoke up.

“Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” he said.

²⁷ Peter denied it once more. Instantly, the cock crowed.

Pilate and the Judaeans

²⁸ So they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, the governor’s residence. It was early in the morning. They didn’t themselves go inside the Praetorium. They were anxious not to pollute themselves, so that they would still be able to eat the Passover.

²⁹ So Pilate went outside and spoke to them.

“What’s the charge, then?” he asked. “What have you got against this fellow?”

³⁰ “If he wasn’t doing wicked things,” they replied, “we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

³¹ “Take him yourselves,” said Pilate to them, “and judge him by your own law.”

“We’re not allowed to put anyone to death,” replied the Judaeans. ³² (This was so that the word of Jesus might come true, when he had indicated what sort of death he was going to die.)

My kingdom is not from this world

³³ So Pilate went back in to the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked.

³⁴ “Was it your idea to ask that?” asked Jesus. “Or did other people tell you about me?”

³⁵ “I’m not a Jew, am I?” retorted Pilate. “Your own people, and the chief priests, have handed you over to me! What have you done?”

³⁶ “My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought, to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”

³⁷ “So!” said Pilate. “You are a king, are you?”

“You’re the one who’s calling me a king,” replied Jesus. “I was born for this; I’ve come into the world for this: to give evidence about the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸ “Truth!” said Pilate. “What’s that?”

With those words, he went back out to the Judaeans.

“I find this man not guilty!” he said to them. ³⁹ “But look here: you’ve got this custom that I should let someone free at Passover-time. So what about it? Would you like me to release ‘The King of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ “No!” they shouted. “We don’t want him! Give us Barabbas!”

Now Barabbas was a brigand.

Here’s the man!

19 So Pilate then took Jesus and had him flogged. ² The soldiers wove a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and dressed him up in a purple robe. ³ Then they came up to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they slapped him.

⁴ Pilate went out again.

“Look,” he said to them, “I’m bringing him out to you, so that you’ll know I find no guilt in him.”

⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.

“Look!” said Pilate. “Here’s the man!”

⁶ So when the chief priests and their attendants saw him, they gave a great shout.

“Crucify him!” they yelled. “Crucify him!”

“Take him yourselves and crucify him!” said Pilate. “I find him not guilty!”

⁷ “We’ve got a law,” replied the Judaeans, “and according to that law he deserves to die! He made himself the son of God!”

No king but Caesar

⁸ When Pilate heard that, he was all the more afraid. ⁹ He went back into the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus.

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰ So Pilate addressed him again.

“Aren’t you going to speak to me?” he said. “Don’t you know that I have the authority to let you go, and the authority to crucify you?”

¹¹ “You couldn’t have any authority at all over me,” replied Jesus, “unless it was given to you from above. That’s why the person who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From that moment on, Pilate tried to let him go.

But the Judaeans shouted at him.

“If you let this fellow go,” they said, “you are no friend of Caesar! Everyone who sets himself up as a king is speaking against Caesar!”

¹³ So when Pilate heard them saying that, he brought Jesus out and sat down at the official judgment seat, called The Pavement (in Hebrew, “Gabbatha”). ¹⁴ It was about midday on the day of Preparation for the Passover.

“Look,” said Pilate, “here is your king!”

¹⁵ “Take him away!” they shouted. “Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Do you want me to crucify your king?” asked Pilate.

“We have no king,” the chief priests replied, “except Caesar!”

¹⁶ Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

The King of the Jews

So they took Jesus away. ¹⁷ He carried his own cross, and went to the spot called Skull Place (in Hebrew, “Golgotha”). ¹⁸ That was where they crucified him. They also crucified two others, one on either side of him, with Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate wrote a notice and had it placed on the cross:

²⁰ Lots of the Judaeans read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was close to the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

²¹ So the chief priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write ‘The King of the Jews’! Write that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’!”

²² “What I’ve written,” replied Pilate, “I’ve written.”

²³ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, giving each soldier one part. When they came to his tunic, they found that it was a single piece of cloth, woven from top to bottom.

²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to each other. “Let’s throw lots for it, to see who’s going to have it.”

This was so that the Bible would be fulfilled, when it says,

And that’s what the soldiers did.

The death of Jesus

²⁵ Jesus’ mother was standing beside his cross. So was her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, with Mary Magdalene too. ²⁶ Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple he specially loved, standing there.

“Mother,” he said. “Look! There’s your son.”

²⁷ Then he spoke to the disciple.

“Look!” he said. “There’s your mother.”

From that time, the disciple welcomed her into his own home.

²⁸ After this, Jesus knew that everything had at last been completed.

“I’m thirsty,” he said (fulfilling what the Bible had said).

²⁹ There was a jar there full of sour wine. So they put a sponge filled with the sour wine on a hyssop rod and lifted it to his mouth. ³⁰ Jesus drank it.

“It’s all done!” he said.

Then he let his head drop, and gave up his spirit.

Blood and water

³¹ It was the day of Preparation. The coming sabbath was a very special one, and the Judaeans were anxious that the bodies should not remain on the cross during the sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken, and their bodies taken away.

³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the men who were crucified with Jesus, first the one, then the other. ³³ But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers thrust a spear into his side, and blood and water came out. ³⁵ (The one who saw it is giving evidence, and his evidence is true. He knows he’s speaking the truth, so that you too may believe.) ³⁶ These things, you see, came about so that the Bible might come true: “No bone of his will be broken.” ³⁷ And, again, another passage in the Bible says, “They shall look on the one whom they pierced.”

The burial of Jesus

³⁸ After this, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take Jesus’ body away. He was a disciple of Jesus, but he kept it secret because he was afraid of the Judaeans. Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took his body. ³⁹ Nicodemus came too (the man who, at first, had visited Jesus by night). He brought a concoction of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. ⁴⁰ They took Jesus’ body, and wrapped it up in cloths with the spices, according to the normal Judaean burial custom.

⁴¹ There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. In the garden, there was a new tomb in which nobody had ever been buried. ⁴² So, because the tomb was nearby, and because of the Judaean day of Preparation, they buried Jesus there.

The empty tomb

20 On the first day of the week, very early, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb while it was still dark.

She saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. ² So she ran off, and went to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved.

“They’ve taken the master out of the tomb!” she said. “We don’t know where they’ve put him!”

³ So Peter and the other disciple set off and went to the tomb. ⁴ Both of them ran together. The other disciple ran faster than Peter, and got to the tomb first. ⁵ He stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came up, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the napkin that had been around his head, not lying with the other cloths, but folded up in a place by itself.

⁸ Then the other disciple, who had arrived first at the tomb, went into the tomb as well. He saw, and he believed. ⁹ They did not yet know, you see, that the Bible had said he must rise again from the dead.

¹⁰ Then the disciples returned to their homes.

Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus

¹¹ But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she wept, she stooped down to look into the tomb. ¹² There she saw two angels, clothed in white, one at the head and one at the feet of where Jesus’ body had been lying.

¹³ “Woman,” they said to her, “why are you crying?”

“They’ve taken away my master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him!”

¹⁴ As she said this she turned around, and saw Jesus standing there. She didn’t know it was Jesus.

¹⁵ “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

She guessed he must be the gardener.

“Sir,” she said, “if you’ve carried him off somewhere, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”

¹⁶ “Mary!” said Jesus.

She turned and spoke in Aramaic.

“Rabbouni!” she said (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ “Don’t cling to me,” said Jesus. “I haven’t yet gone up to the father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I’m going up to my father and your father—to my God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples, “I’ve seen the master!” and that he had said these things to her.

Jesus and the disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Judaeans. Jesus came and stood in the middle of them.

“Peace be with you,” he said.

²⁰ With these words, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were overjoyed when they saw the master.

²¹ “Peace be with you,” Jesus said to them again. “As the father has sent me, so I’m sending you.”

²² With that, he breathed on them.

“Receive the holy spirit,” he said. ²³ “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”

Jesus and Thomas

²⁴ One of the Twelve, Thomas (also known as Didymus), wasn’t with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples spoke to him.

“We’ve seen the master!” they said.

“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands,” replied Thomas, “and put my finger into the nail-marks, and put my hand into his side—I’m not going to believe!”

²⁶ A week later the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut. Jesus came and stood in the middle of them.

“Peace be with you!” he said.

²⁷ Then he addressed Thomas.

“Bring your finger here,” he said, “and inspect my hands. Bring your hand here and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless! Just believe!”

²⁸ “My Lord,” replied Thomas, “and my God!”

²⁹ “Is it because you’ve seen me that you believe?” replied Jesus. “God’s blessing on people who don’t see, and yet believe!”

³⁰ Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which aren’t written in this book. ³¹ But these ones are written so that you may believe that the Messiah, the son of God, is none other than Jesus; and that, with this faith, you may have life in his name.

Jesus on the beach

21 After this, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the sea of Tiberias. This was how he showed himself.

² Simon Peter, Thomas (known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples, were all together.

³ Simon Peter spoke up.

“I’m going fishing,” he said.

“We’ll go with you,” they replied.

So they went off and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ As dawn was breaking, Jesus stood beside the seashore, but the disciples didn’t know that it was Jesus.

⁵ “Children,” said Jesus to them, “haven’t you got anything to eat?”

“No!” they replied.

⁶ “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” he said, “and you’ll find something.”

So they cast the net; and now they couldn’t draw it in because of the weight of the fish.

⁷ So the disciple that Jesus loved spoke to Peter.

“It’s the master!” he said.

When Simon Peter heard that it was the master, he wrapped his cloak around him (he had been naked for work), and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples brought the boat in to land, dragging the net full of fish. They weren’t far from shore, about a hundred yards away.

Breakfast by the shore

⁹ When they came to land, they saw a charcoal fire laid there, with fish and bread on it.

¹⁰ Jesus spoke to them.

“Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” he said.

¹¹ So Simon Peter went and pulled the net onto the shore. It was full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three in all. The net wasn’t torn, even though there were so many.

¹² “Come and have breakfast,” said Jesus to them.

None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the master.

¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so also with the fish. ¹⁴ This was now the third time that Jesus had appeared to the disciples after he had been raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵ So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus spoke to Simon Peter.

“Simon, son of John,” he said, “do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Master,” he said. “You know I’m your friend.”

“Well, then,” he said, “feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ “Simon, son of John,” said Jesus again, for a second time, “do you love me?”

“Yes, Master,” he said. “You know I’m your friend.”

“Well, then,” he said, “look after my sheep.”

¹⁷ “Simon, son of John,” said Jesus a third time, “are you my friend?”

Peter was upset that on this third time Jesus asked, “Are you my friend?”

“Master,” he said, “you know everything! You know I’m your friend!”

“Well, then,” said Jesus, “feed my sheep.

¹⁸ “I’m telling you the solemn truth,” he went on. “When you were young, you put on your own clothes and went about wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you’ll stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you up and take you where you don’t want to go.”

¹⁹ He said this to indicate the sort of death by which Peter would bring God glory. And when he had said this, he added, “Follow me!”

The beloved disciple

²⁰ Peter turned and saw, following them, the disciple that Jesus loved. This was the disciple who had leaned back against Jesus’ chest at the supper, and had asked, “Master, who is it that’s going to betray you?”

²¹ “Master,” said Peter to Jesus, seeing him there, “what about him?”

²² “If it’s my intention,” replied Jesus, “that he should remain here until I come, what’s that got to do with you? You must follow me!”

²³ So the rumor went around the Christian family that this disciple wouldn’t die. But Jesus didn’t say he wouldn’t die. What he said, rather, was this: “If it’s my intention that he should remain here until I come, what’s that got to do with you?”

²⁴ (This is the disciple who is giving evidence about these things, and who wrote them down. We know that his evidence is true.)

²⁵ There are many other things which Jesus did. If they were written down one by one, I don’t think the world itself would be able to contain the books that would be written.

Here comes the sequel!

1 Dear Theophilus,

The previous book which I wrote was about everything Jesus began to do and teach. ² I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the holy spirit to his chosen apostles.

³ He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs. He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God’s kingdom. ⁴ As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, but to wait, as he put it, “for the father’s promise, which I was telling you about earlier. ⁵ John baptized with water, you see; but in a few days from now you will be baptized with the holy spirit.”

When, what and how?

⁶ So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus.

“Master,” they said, “is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ “It’s not your business to know about times and dates,” he replied. “The father has placed all that under his own direct authority. ⁸ What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.”

Ascension!

⁹ As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared. Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.

¹¹ “Galileans,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”

¹² Then they went back to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, which is close to Jerusalem, about the distance you could travel on a sabbath. ¹³ They then entered the city (“they” here means Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James) and went to the upstairs room where they were staying. ¹⁴ They all gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer, with the women, including Mary, Jesus’ mother, and his brothers.

Restoring the Twelve

¹⁵ Around that time Peter stood up in the middle of the gathering, which by this stage numbered about a hundred and twenty.

¹⁶ “My dear family,” he said, “the holy spirit spoke long ago, through the mouth of David, about Judas, who became a guide to the people who arrested Jesus. There it is in the Bible, and it had to come true. ¹⁷ He was counted along with us, and he had his own share in the work we’ve been given.”

(¹⁸ Judas, you see, had bought a field with the money his wickedness had brought him, where he fell headlong and burst open, with all his innards gushing out. ¹⁹ This became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem, so that the field was called, in their local language, “Akeldamach,” which means “Blood-place.”)

²⁰ “For this is what it says in the book of Psalms:

and again,

²¹ “So this is what has to be done. There are plenty of people who have gone about with us all the time that our master Jesus was coming and going among us, ²² starting from John’s baptism until the day he was taken from us. Let one of them be chosen to be alongside us as a special witness of his resurrection.”

²³ So they chose two: Joseph who was called Barsabbas, with the surname Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴ “Lord,” they prayed, “you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to receive this particular place of service and apostleship, from which Judas went away to go to his own place.”

²⁶ So they cast lots for them. The lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled along with the eleven apostles.

Here comes the power

2 When the day of Pentecost had finally arrived, they were all together in the same place. ² Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like the sound of a strong, blowing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then tongues, seemingly made of fire, appeared to them, moving apart and coming to rest on each one of them. ⁴ They were all filled with the holy spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the spirit gave them the words to say.

New words for new news

⁵ There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem at that time. ⁶ When they heard this noise they came together in a crowd. They were deeply puzzled, because every single one of them could hear them speaking in his or her own native language. ⁷ They were astonished and amazed.

“These men who are doing the speaking are all Galileans, aren’t they?” they said. ⁸ “So how is it that each of us can hear them in our own mother tongues? ⁹ There are Parthians here, and Medians, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judaea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya that belong to Cyrene; there are people from Rome, ¹¹ proselytes as well as Jews; there are Cretans and Arabs. We can hear them speaking about the powerful things God has done—in our own languages!”

¹² Everyone was astonished and perplexed.

“What does it all mean?” they were asking each other.

¹³ But some sneered.

“They’re full of new wine!” they said.

It’s all coming true at last!

¹⁴ Then Peter got up, with the eleven. He spoke to them in a loud voice.

“People of Judaea!” he began. “All of you staying here in Jerusalem! There’s something you have to know! Listen to what I’m saying! ¹⁵ These people aren’t drunk, as you imagine. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what the prophet Joel was talking about, when he said,

David speaks of Jesus’ resurrection

²² “You people of Israel,” Peter continued, “listen to this. The man Jesus of Nazareth was marked out for you by God through the mighty works, signs and portents which God performed through him right here among you, as you all know. ²³ He was handed over in accordance with God’s determined purpose and foreknowledge—and you used people outside the law to nail him up and kill him.

²⁴ “But God raised him from the dead! Death had its painful grip on him; but God released him from it, because it wasn’t possible for him to be mastered by it. ²⁵ This, you see, is how David speaks of him:

²⁹ “My dear family, I can surely speak freely to you about the patriarch David. He died and was buried, and his tomb is here with us to this day. ³⁰ He was of course a prophet, and he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to set one of his own physical offspring on his throne. ³¹ He foresaw the Messiah’s resurrection, and spoke about him ‘not being left in Hades,’ and about his flesh ‘not seeing corruption.’ ³² This is the Jesus we’re talking about! God raised him from the dead, and all of us here are witnesses to the fact! ³³ Now he’s been exalted to God’s right hand; and what you see and hear is the result of the fact that he is pouring out the holy spirit, which had been promised, and which he has received from the father.

³⁴ “David, after all, did not ascend into the heavens. This is what he says:

³⁶ “So the whole house of Israel must know this for a fact: God has made him Lord and Messiah—this Jesus, the one you crucified.”

God’s rescue plan

³⁷ When they heard this, the people in the crowd were cut to the heart.

“Brothers,” they said to Peter and the other apostles, “what shall we do?”

³⁸ “Turn back!” replied Peter. “Be baptized—every single one of you—in the name of Jesus the Messiah, so that your sins can be forgiven, and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and for your children, and for everyone who is far away, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ He carried on explaining things to them with many other words.

“Let God rescue you,” he was urging them, “from this wicked generation!”

⁴¹ Those who welcomed his word were baptized. About three thousand people were added to the community that day.

The new family

⁴² They all gave full attention to the teaching of the apostles and to the common life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ Great awe fell on everyone, and many remarkable deeds and signs were performed by the apostles.

⁴⁴ All of those who believed came together, and held everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold their possessions and belongings and divided them up to everyone in proportion to their various needs. ⁴⁶ Day by day they were all together attending the Temple. They broke bread in their various houses, and ate their food with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and standing in favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being rescued.

More than he bargained for

3 One day, Peter and John were going up to the Temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the time for prayer. ² There was a man being carried in who had been lame since birth. People used to bring him every day to the Temple gate called “Beautiful,” so that he could ask for alms from folk on their way in to the Temple. ³ When he saw Peter and John going in to the Temple, he asked them to give him some money. ⁴ Peter, with John, looked hard at him.

“Look at us,” he said.

⁵ The man stared at them, expecting to get something from them.

⁶ “I haven’t got any silver or gold,” Peter said, “but I’ll give you what I have got. In the name of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

⁷ He grabbed the man by his right hand and lifted him up. At once his feet and ankles became strong, ⁸ and he leaped to his feet and began to walk. He went in with them into the Temple, walking and jumping up and down and praising God. ⁹ All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰ and they recognized him as the man who had been sitting begging for alms by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him.

An explanation is called for

¹¹ All the people ran together in astonishment towards Peter and John, and the man who was clinging onto them. They were in the part of the Temple known as Solomon’s Porch. ¹² Peter saw them all and began to speak.

“Fellow Israelites,” he said, “why are you amazed at this? Why are you staring at us as though it was our own power or piety that made this man walk? ¹³ ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob—the God of our ancestors’—he has glorified his child Jesus, the one you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, although he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ But you denied the Holy One, the Just One, and requested instead to have a murderer given to you; ¹⁵ and so you killed the Prince of Life. But God raised him from the dead, and we are witnesses to the fact. ¹⁶ And it is his name, working through faith in his name, that has given strength to this man, whom you see and know. It is faith which comes through him that has given him this new complete wholeness in front of all of you.”

Restoration and refreshment

¹⁷ “Now, my dear family,” Peter continued, “I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did. ¹⁸ But this is how God has fulfilled what he promised through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹ So now repent, and turn back, so that your sins may be blotted out, ²⁰ so that times of refreshment may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he will send you Jesus, the one he chose and appointed to be his Messiah. ²¹ He must be received in heaven, you see, until the time which God spoke about through the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient days, the time when God will restore all things. ²² Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, one from among your own brothers; whatever he says to you, you must pay attention to him. ²³ And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be cut off from the people.’ ²⁴ All the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors, told us about these days too. ²⁵ You are the children of the prophets, the children of the covenant which God established with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, ‘In your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ ²⁶ When God raised up his servant he sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each of you away from your wicked deeds.”

Resurrection plus the name of Jesus equals trouble

4 As they were speaking to the people, along came the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and the Sadducees. ² They were thoroughly annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming that “the resurrection of the dead” had begun to happen in Jesus. ³ They seized them and put them under guard until the next day, since it was already evening. ⁴ But a large number of the people who had heard the message believed it, and the number of men grew to five thousand.

⁵ On the next day their rulers, the elders and the scribes gathered in Jerusalem, ⁶ along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander and all the members of the high-priestly family. ⁷ They stood them in the midst.

“How did you do this?” they asked them. “What power did you use? What name did you invoke?”

⁸ Peter was filled with the holy spirit. “Rulers of the people and elders,” he said, ⁹ “if the question we’re being asked today is about a good deed done for a sick man, and whose power it was that rescued him, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man stands before you fit and well because of the name of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. ¹¹ He is the stone which you builders rejected, but which has become the head cornerstone. ¹² Rescue won’t come from anybody else! There is no other name given under heaven and among humans by which we must be rescued.”

The clash of loyalties

¹³ When they saw how boldly Peter and John were speaking, and realized that they were untrained, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they recognized them as people who had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ And when they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. ¹⁵ They ordered them to be put out of the assembly while they conferred among themselves.

¹⁶ “What can we do to these men?” they said. “This is a spectacular sign that has happened through them. All Jerusalem knows it, and we can’t deny it! ¹⁷ But we certainly don’t want it to spread any further among the people. So let’s threaten them with awful consequences if they speak any more in this name to anybody.”

¹⁸ So they called them in and gave them orders not to speak at all, or to teach, in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹ But Peter and John gave them this reply.

“You judge,” they said, “whether it’s right before God to listen to you rather than to God! ²⁰ As far as we’re concerned, we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ Then they threatened them some more, and let them go. They couldn’t find any way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. ²² After all, the man to whom this sign of healing had happened was over forty years old.

Look upon their threats

²³ When they had been released, they went back to their own people, and told them everything that the chief priests and the elders had said. ²⁴ When they heard it, they all together lifted up their voices to God.

“Sovereign Master,” they said, “you made heaven and earth, and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ And you said through the holy spirit, by the mouth of our ancestor David, your servant,

²⁷ “It’s true: Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the nations and the peoples of Israel, gathered themselves together in this very city against your holy child Jesus, the one you anointed, ²⁸ to do whatever your hand and your plan had foreordained to take place. ²⁹ So now, Master, look on their threats; and grant that we, your servants, may speak your word with all boldness, ³⁰ while you stretch out your hand for healing, so that signs and wonders may come about through the name of your holy child Jesus.”

³¹ When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the holy spirit, and they boldly spoke the word of God.

Signs of the new covenant

³² The company of those who believed had one heart and soul. Nobody said that they owned their property; instead, they had everything in common. ³³ The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and great grace was upon all of them. ³⁴ For there was no needy person among them, since any who possessed lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sale, ³⁵ and placed it at the feet of the apostles, who then gave to each according to their need.

³⁶ Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, to whom the apostles gave the surname “Barnabas” (which means “son of encouragement”), ³⁷ sold some land which belonged to him, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Disaster

5 There was, however, a man named Ananias, married to a woman called Sapphira. He sold some property, ² and, with his wife’s knowledge, kept back part of the price. He brought the rest and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³ “Ananias!” said Peter. “Why did the satan fill your heart, to make you tell a lie to the holy spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land? ⁴ While it was still yours, it belonged to you, didn’t it? And, when you sold it, it was still in your power! Why did you get such an idea in your heart? It isn’t humans that you’ve lied to: it’s God!”

⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. Everyone who heard about it was scared out of their wits. ⁶ The young men got up, took him away, wrapped up his body and buried him.

⁷ After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

⁸ Peter spoke to her.

“Tell me,” he said, “did you sell the land for this much?”

“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”

⁹ “So why,” Peter answered, “did you agree together to put the holy spirit to the test? Look: the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door—and they will carry you out too!”

¹⁰ At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men were just coming in, and they found her dead, so they took her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹ Great fear came upon the whole gathering, and on all who heard about these things.

Healed by Peter’s shadow

¹² Many signs and wonders were performed by the apostles among the people. They were all together in Solomon’s Porch, ¹³ while none of the others dared join them, though the people spoke highly of them. ¹⁴ But more people, a crowd both of men and women, believed in the Lord, and were added to their number. ¹⁵ They used to bring the sick into the streets, and place them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on them as he went by. ¹⁶ Crowds gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing people who were sick, or infested with unclean spirits. All of them were cured.

The words of this life

¹⁷ Then the high priest got up, and all who were with him, namely the group called the Sadducees. They were filled with righteous indignation, ¹⁸ and seized the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But an angel of the Lord came in the night, opened the prison doors, and brought them out.

²⁰ “Go and take your stand in the Temple,” he said, “and speak all the words of this Life to the people.”

²¹ When they heard this, they went in at early morning and began to teach.

When the high priest arrived with his entourage, they called the official Assembly and all the elders of the children of Israel, and they sent to the prison to have the apostles brought in. ²² But when the attendants went, they didn’t find them in the prison. So they came and reported back.

²³ “We found the jail shut up with maximum security,” they said, “and the guards were standing in front of the doors. But when we opened up we found nobody inside.”

²⁴ When they heard these words, the commander of the Temple police and the chief priests were at a loss about them, with no idea what had happened. ²⁵ But then someone came with a message for them.

“Look!” he said. “The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!”

²⁶ Then the commander went with his attendants and brought them. They didn’t use force, though, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

Human inventions and divine instructions

²⁷ So they brought them and stood them in the Assembly. The high priest questioned them.

²⁸ “We gave you strict orders, didn’t we?” he demanded. “We told you not to teach in this Name, and look what you’re doing! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you’re trying to bring this man’s blood on us!”

²⁹ “We must obey God, not human beings!” responded Peter and the apostles. ³⁰ “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, after you had laid violent hands on him and hanged him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him to his right hand as leader and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the holy spirit, which God gave to those who obey him.”

³³ When they heard this, they were infuriated, and wanted to kill them. ³⁴ But then a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel stood up in the Assembly. He was a law-teacher, highly respected by all the people. He ordered the men to be put outside for a short while.

³⁵ “Men of Israel,” he said to the gathering, “be careful what you do to these men. ³⁶ Before these times Theudas rose up, claiming to be someone special, and about four hundred men went off to join him. But he was killed, and all the people who had trusted him were dispersed. The movement came to nothing. ³⁷ After that, Judas the Galilean arose, in the days of the census, and drew a crowd after himself. But he was killed, and all those who trusted him were scattered. ³⁸ So my advice to you now is this. Leave off from these men; let them be. You see, if this plan or this work is of merely human origin, it will come to ruin. ³⁹ But if it’s from God—well, you won’t be able to stop them. You might even be found to be fighting against God!”

They were persuaded by him, ⁴⁰ and they called the apostles back in. They beat them and told them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Then they let them go. ⁴¹ They, however, went out from the presence of the Assembly celebrating, because they had been reckoned worthy to suffer disgrace for the Name. ⁴² And all day, in the Temple and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.

Problems of family living

6 Around that time, as the number of disciples increased, the “Hellenists” raised a dispute with the “Hebrews” because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ² So the Twelve called the whole crowd of disciples together.

“Listen,” they said. “It wouldn’t be right for us to leave the word of God to wait on tables. ³ So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among yourselves who are well spoken of and filled with the spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of what needs to be done in this matter. ⁴ We will continue to pay attention to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

⁵ The whole gathering was pleased with what they said. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the holy spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus (a proselyte from Antioch). ⁶ They presented them before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ The word of God increased, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem grew by leaps and bounds. This included a large crowd of priests who became obedient to the faith.