‏ Acts 4

1And while they were speaking these words to the people, the priests and the Sadducees and the rulers of the temple rose up against them; 2being angry with them, that they taught the people, and preached a resurrection from the dead by the Messiah. 3And they laid hands on them, and kept them until the next day; because evening was drawing near. 4And many who had heard the word, believed; and they were, in number, about five thousand men. 5And the next day, the rulers and the Elders and the Scribes assembled; 6and also Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and they who were of the kindred of the high priests. 7And when they had set them in the midst, they interrogated them: By what power or what name, have ye done this? 8Then Simon Cephas was filled with the Holy Spirit, and said to them: Ye rulers of the people, and Elders of the house of Israel, hear ye. 9If we are judged by you this day, respecting the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he was healed; 10be it known to you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Messiah the Nazarean, whom ye crucified, and whom God hath raised from the dead, lo, by him, doth this man stand here before you recovered. 11This is the stone, which ye builders rejected; and it hath become the head of the corner. 12Neither is there deliverance in any other; for there is not another name under heaven, which is given to men, whereby to live. 13And when they heard the speech of Simon and John, which they pronounced confidently, they reflected that these were unlearned and plebeian men, and they were surprised at them, and recognized them as having been conversant with Jesus. 14And they saw that the lame man, who had been healed, stood near them; and they could say nothing to confront them. 15Then they commanded to remove them from the presence of the council; and said one to another: 16What shall we do to these men? For lo, that a manifest sign hath been wrought by them, is known to all that reside at Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17But that the fame of it spread no further, let us interdict their speaking any more to any man in this name. 18And they called them, and commanded them not to speak nor to teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19Simon Cephas and John answered, and said to them: Whether it be right before God, that we hearken to you more than to God, judge ye. 20For we cannot but speak that which we have seen and heard. 21And they threatened them, and dismissed them. For they found no ground for punishing them, because of the people: for every one praised God for what had been done; 22for the man, on whom this sign of healing had been wrought, was more than forty years old. 23And when they were dismissed, they went to their brethren, and told them all that the priests and Elders had said. 24And they, when they heard it, unitedly lifted up their voice to God and said: Lord, thou art God, who hast made heaven, and earth, and seas, and every thing in them. 25And it is thou who hast said, by the Holy Spirit in the mouth of David thy servant: Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 26The kings of the earth and the potentates stood up, and they consulted together, against the Lord, and against his anointed. 27For, in reality, against thy holy Son Jesus whom thou hast anointed, Herod and Pilate, with the Gentiles and the congregation of Israel, have been combined together in this city, 28to do whatever thy hand and thy pleasure previously marked out to be done. 29And also now, Lord, behold and see their menaces: and grant to thy servants, that they may proclaim thy word boldly, 30while thou extendest thy hand for cures and prodigies, to be done in the name of thy holy Son Jesus. 31And when they had prayed and made supplications, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God boldly. 32And in the assembly of the persons that believed, there was one soul, and one mind: and no one of them said, of the property he possessed, that it was his own; but whatever was theirs, it was the community's. 33And with great power, the legates testified to the resurrection of Jesus Messiah: and great grace was with them all. 34And no one among them was destitute; for those who possessed lands or houses, sold, and brought the price of what was sold, 35and placed it at the feet of the legates; and distribution was made to every one, as he had need. 36And Joseph, who by the legates was surnamed Barnabas, (which is interpreted Son of Consolation,) a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37had a field: and he sold it, and brought the price of it, and laid it before the feet of the legates.