Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
32
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.
33
Being therefore exalted at
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the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.
34
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
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until I make your enemies your
footstool.” ‘
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Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah,
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this Jesus whom you crucified.”
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Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers,
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what should we do?”
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Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”
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And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
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So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
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They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
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Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.
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All who believed were together and had all things in common;
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they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds
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to all, as any had need.
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Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home
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and ate their food with glad and generous
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hearts,
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praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
JEWS AND THE DEATH OF JESUS
Luke-Acts presents Jews as those primarily responsible for the death of Jesus. In Luke, the Roman governor Pilate had declared Jesus innocent (Lk 22.4; 23.22) and was prepared to release him (Lk 23.20,22), but he acquiesced to the demands of the Jewish leaders and multitudes (23.18–25). The theme continues in Acts. At several points Peter accuses Jews as having killed Jesus (2.23,36; 3.15; 4.10; 5.30; 10.39), a charge repeated by Stephen (7.52) and Paul (13.27–29). At the same time, both Luke’s Gospel and Acts note that Jesus’ death happened according to divine plan (2.23; 3.18; 4.28; 13.28; cf. Lk 24.26) and that the Jews acted in ignorance (3.17; 13.27; cf. Lk 23.34). Neither claim, however, exonerates the Jews or lessens their culpability. Their ignorance, rather than justifying their action, becomes inexcusable because they should have been able to discern God’s plan as set forth in the words of the prophets (13.27).
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One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.
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And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.
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When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.
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Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”
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And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
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But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
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stand up and walk.”
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And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
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Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
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All the people saw him walking and praising God,
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and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
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While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished.
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When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites,
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why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
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The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant
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Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
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But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you,
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and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.
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And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus
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has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
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“And now, friends,
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I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
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In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah
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would suffer.
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Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,
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so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah
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appointed for you, that is, Jesus,
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who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.
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Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you from your own people
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a prophet like me. You must listen to whatever he tells you.
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And it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people.’
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And all the prophets, as many as have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, also predicted these days.
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You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
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When God raised up his servant,
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he sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
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While Peter and John
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were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them,
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much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.
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So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
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But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.
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The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
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with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John,
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and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.
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When they had made the prisoners
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stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
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Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,
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if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,
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let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
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whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
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This Jesus
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is
‘the stone that was rejected by you, the
builders;
it has become the cornerstone.’
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There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
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Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus.
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When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
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So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another.
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They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it.
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But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”
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So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
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But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;
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for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
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After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened.
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For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.