When the people who saw him walking about and praising God knew that he
was the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple,
they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him;
and as he still kept close to Peter and John, the astonished crowd
rushed to them in what was called Solomon's Porch.
Then Peter said to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you wonder at
this? Or why do you stare at us as though we had made him walk by some
power or goodness of our own? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of
Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has honored Jesus his servant, whom
you delivered up and denied before Pilate when he had decided to let him
go. But you denied the Holy and Just One and asked that a murderer be
set free and put to death the One who brings life to men! But God
brought him back from the dead, as we bear witness. Jesus, through faith
in his name, has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes,
it is faith in him that has made this man perfectly well in the presence
of you all.
"And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your
rulers. Turn then to God and live right lives that your sins may be
forgiven, so that God may send you strength. After raising his Servant
from the grave, God sent him first to you to bless you by turning each
of you from your wickedness."
While they were speaking to the people, they were interrupted by the
priests, the officer in charge of the Temple, and the Sadducees, who
were angry because they were teaching the people and telling how Jesus
rose from the dead. They arrested the apostles and, as it was already
evening, put them in prison until the following day.
The next morning a meeting of their rulers, elders and scribes was held
in Jerusalem at which the high priest Annas, and Caiaphas, John,
Alexander and all the members of the high priest's family were present.
They made the apostles stand before them and inquired, "By whose power
and in whose name have you done this?"
Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, "Rulers of
the people and elders of Israel, if we are being examined this day for a
good deed done to a lame man, to find out how he was healed, you and all
the people of Israel should know that this man stands before you
completely cured through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucified and whom God raised from the dead. He is the stone despised by
you builders that has become the chief corner-stone. And salvation comes
by none other, for there is no other name under heaven revealed among
men through which we can be saved."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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