Acts 4

Soldiers grabbed Peter and John

1 Peter and John were still talking to the people there, then some Jewish boss men came to them. Those bosses were the men that look after the Jewish ceremonies, and the boss over the soldiers that looked after God’s ceremony house, and some men called Sadducees, that didn’t believe that anyone will ever come alive again. They all came to Peter and John. 2 They heard Peter and John teaching the people and saying that God will make people alive, just like he made Jesus alive. And those boss men were really angry, 3 so they grabbed Peter and John. Those boss men wanted to take them to court, but it was already late in the afternoon, so the soldiers locked up Peter and John in jail, to wait until the next day.

4 Some people already heard Peter and John’s message, and a lot of them believed it, so they started to follow Jesus. More and more people started to follow Jesus. There were about 5,000 men following him at that time.

5 The next day, all the Jewish leaders met together in Jerusalem city to judge Peter and John in court. They were the Jewish bosses, and the elders, and the men that taught the Jewish law. 6 The big boss of all the Jewish ceremonies was there. His name was Annas. And 3 men of his family were there. Their names were Cayafas, and John, and Alexander. And there were some other people from his family there too.

7 Those Jewish leaders got Peter and John to stand there in the middle of them, and they said, “This man couldn’t walk. He was crippled. What power did you use to make this man better? And who told you to do that?”

8 The Holy Spirit was in Peter, and he told Peter what to say. Peter said, “Listen, all you elders and bosses of our people. 9 You are asking us now about the good thing we did for this crippled man. You are asking us about how we made him better. 10 Well, we used the power of Jesus Christ to make this man better. And we want you, and all our Israel countrymen, to know about Jesus, the man from Nazareth. You nailed him to a cross and killed him, but God made him alive again.

11 You know, a long time ago, one of God’s men told a picture story about you boss mob, and about Jesus too. They said that some work-men built a house out of big stones, but those work-men thought one of those stones was rubbish, so they chucked it away. But they were wrong. That stone was properly good, and now God made it the most important stone of all. You are like those work-men, and Jesus is like that stone. You did not want him.[a]

12 But Jesus is the only one that can save people. God didn’t send anyone else to save us. Jesus is the only one in the world that has power to save people.”

13 The leaders knew that Peter and John were ordinary men that never went to Jewish school to learn about God’s book, but Peter and John were not frightened to talk back to them. So those leaders were shocked. Then they remembered that Peter and John were Jesus’s friends and often listened to him. 14 Those leaders saw the man that used to be crippled. He stood right there next to Peter and John. So those leaders couldn’t say anything bad about Peter and John.

15 So they told Peter and John to go out of the court, and then they talked to each other. 16 They said, “It’s hard for us to punish those 2 men. Everyone in Jerusalem knows that they did that powerful thing, that they made that crippled man better. We can’t say that it isn’t true. 17 But we have to stop people talking about it. So we will tell those 2 men not to talk to anyone about Jesus again. And we will tell them that if they do talk about Jesus, then we will make trouble for them.”

18 So those leaders called Peter and John back to the court. They told them, “Don’t talk to any other people about Jesus. Don’t teach anyone about him, or we’ll give you big trouble.”

19 But Peter and John said to those leaders, “Do you think that God wants us to listen to you? Or do you think that he wants us to listen to him, and do the things that he says? What do you reckon? We know he wants us to do whatever he says, 20 and we can’t stop now. We have to talk about the things that we have seen and heard.”

21-22 The leaders couldn’t think of any way to punish Peter and John. They knew that all the people were saying that God made that man better. That man was already more than 40 years old, so all the people were saying that God is really great and really good for making him better. So again those bosses told Peter and John, “Don’t talk about Jesus any more, or we’ll give you big trouble.” Then they let them go free.

The Christians prayed together

23 Peter and John left that court and went back to the other people that believed in Jesus. They told them everything that the bosses of the Jewish ceremonies and the other Jewish leaders said. 24 The other followers listened to Peter and John, and then they all prayed to God together. They said to him, “God, you are the boss over everything. You made the sky, and the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.[b] 25 The Holy Spirit talked to your man, David, our grand-father that lived a long time ago, and the Holy Spirit told him to write this in God’s book. David wrote,

‘The people from different countries are really angry,

and they are talking about doing something stupid, something that will not work.

26 Their bosses and leaders are getting ready to fight.

They want to get together to fight against God,

and they want to fight against the man that God picked to be his special person.’[c]

27-28 And now that has happened, just like David wrote. Herod and Pontius Pilate are both bosses from different countries. They, and some of their countrymen, they all met together in this city. And they met with Jewish people too. They all tried to work out a way to get rid of Jesus. He was your worker, the special one that you sent to us. You, God, are the one with power, and you knew everything they were going to do, and you let them do it.[d] 29 And now, God, you heard the bad things they reckon they will do to us. We are your workers. Please help us to not be frightened, and help us to keep on telling everyone about Jesus. 30 Show everyone your great power. Make sick people better. Let us do powerful things with the power of Jesus, your special man that works for you. Then everyone will know that we are telling them the true story.”

31 After they finished praying God shook the house that they were meeting in, and the Holy Spirit went into them all and filled them. They kept on telling everyone God’s message about Jesus, and they weren’t frightened of anyone.

The Christians shared all their things

32 All those people that believed in Jesus agreed with each other and felt the same way about things. They shared everything they owned with each other. They never said, “Those things are mine, you can’t have them.” No, they reckoned everything belonged to everyone.[e] 33 At the same time, Jesus’s special workers talked in a powerful way and told everyone, “Our leader Jesus is alive again.” And God was good to his followers, and he gave them everything they needed.

34-35 All those Christians had everything they needed. Nobody was poor or hungry. You see, sometimes Christians that owned farm land or houses sold them, and got some money, and then they gave it to Jesus’s special workers, and those special workers gave that money to anyone that needed it.

36 One of the Christians that sold their land was Joseph. Jesus’s special workers called him Barnabas. That name means helper. He was from the island called Cyprus, and he belonged to the Levi tribe. 37 Barnabas sold his farm land, then he gave the money to Jesus’s special workers, for them to share it with the other Christians.

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