Introduction
1 The firstaccount I made, Theophilus, was [a continuous report] about all the things that Jesus began to do and toteach
2 until the day when He ascendedto heaven,after He had by the Holy Spirit given instruction to the apostles (special messengers) whom He had chosen.
3 To these [men] He also showed Himself alive after His suffering [in Gethsemane and on the cross], by [a series of] many infallible proofsandunquestionable demonstrations, appearing to them overa period offorty days and talking to them about the things concerning the kingdom of God.
4 While being togetherandeating with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised,“Of which,”He said,“you have heard Me speak.
5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptizedandempoweredandunited with the Holy Spirit, not long from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked Himrepeatedly,“Lord, are You at this time reestablishing the kingdomandrestoring it to Israel?”
7 He said to them,“It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.
8 But you will receive powerandability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses[to tell people about Me]both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
The Ascension
9 And after He said these things, He was caught up as they looked on, and a cloud took Him up out of their sight.
10 While they were looking intently into the sky as He was going, two men in white clothing suddenly stood beside them,
11 who said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This [same] Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
The Upper Room
12 Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet (Olive Grove), which is near Jerusalem, [only] a Sabbath day’s journey (less than one mile) away.
13 When they had enteredthe city,they went upstairs to the upper room where they were staying [indefinitely]; that is, Peter, and John and [his brother] James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew (Nathanael) and Matthew,Jamesthe sonof Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas (Thaddaeus) the son of James.
14 All these with one mindandone purpose were continually devoting themselves to prayer, [waiting together] along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
15 Now on one of these days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a gathering of about a hundred and twenty believers was there) and he said,
16 “Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David [king of Israel] about Judas [Iscariot], who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.
17 For he (Judas) was counted among us and received his share [by divine allotment] in this ministry.”
18 (Now Judas Iscariotacquired a piece of land [indirectly] with the [money paid him as a] reward for his treachery, and falling headlong, his body burst open in the middle and all his intestines poured out.
19 All the people in Jerusalem learned about this, so in their own dialect–Aramaic–they called the piece of land Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
20 “For in the book of Psalms it is written,
‘Let his place of residence become desolate,
And let there be no one to live in it’;
and [again],
‘Let another take his position as overseer.’
21 So of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus spent with us,
22 beginning with the baptism by John [at the outset of Jesus’ ministry] until the day when He was taken up from us–one of these menmustbecome a witness with us [to testify] of His resurrection.”
23 And they put forward two men, Joseph, the one called Barsabbas (who was surnamed Justus), and Matthias.
24 They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know all hearts [their thoughts, motives, desires], show us which one of these two You have chosen
25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship which Judas left to go to his own place [of evil].”
26 And theycast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.