A3fa9c53637d5f0a4352291a

1 The first account I composed, aTheophilus, about all that Jesus bbegan to do and teach, 2 until the day when He awas taken up to heaven, after He bhad by the Holy Spirit given orders to cthe apostles whom He had dchosen. 3 To these aHe also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of bthe things concerning the kingdom of God. 4 Gathering them together, He commanded them anot to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for bwhat the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5 for aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit bnot many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, ais it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which athe Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power awhen the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be bMy witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and cSamaria, and even to dthe remotest part of the earth." 9 And after He had said these things, aHe was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, atwo men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, "aMen of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who bhas been taken up from you into heaven, will ccome in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." 12 Then they areturned to Jerusalem from the bmount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to athe upper room where they were staying; bthat is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and cJudas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind awere continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with bthe women, and Mary the cmother of Jesus, and with His cbrothers. 15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of athe brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, 16 "Brethren, athe Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, bwho became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 "For he was acounted among us and received his share in bthis ministry." 18 (Now this man aacquired a field with bthe price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. 19 And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in atheir own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'aLET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT'; 21 "Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that athe Lord Jesus went in and out among us-- 22 abeginning with the baptism of John until the day that He bwas taken up from us--one of these must become a cwitness with us of His resurrection." 23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and aMatthias. 24 And they aprayed and said, "You, Lord, bwho know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25 to occupy athis ministry and bapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26 And they adrew lots for them, and the lot fell to bMatthias; and he was added to cthe eleven apostles.