Acts 1 - 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1The first account, O ^aTheophilus, I ¹composed, about all that Jesus ^bbegan to do and teach, ²until the day when He ^awas taken up to heaven, after He ^bhad ¹by the Holy Spirit given orders to ^cthe apostles whom He had ^dchosen, ³to whom ^aHe also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking about ^bthe things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴And ¹gathering them together, He commanded them ^anot to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the ^bpromise of the Father, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; ⁵for ¹^,^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized ²with the Holy Spirit ³^,^bnot many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, ^ais it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷But He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which ^athe Father has set by His own authority; ⁸but 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 ¹^,^dthe end of the earth.”

The Ascension

⁹And after He had said these things, ^aHe was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. ¹⁰And as they were gazing intently into ¹the sky while He was going, behold, ^atwo men in white clothing stood beside them. ¹¹They also said, “^aMen of Galilee, why do you stand looking toward heaven? 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.”

Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

¹²Then they ^areturned to Jerusalem from the ¹^,^bmount called ²Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a ³Sabbath day’s journey away. ¹³And when they had entered the city, they went up to ^athe upper room where they were staying; ^bthat is, Peter and John and ¹James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and ^cJudas the ²son of James. ¹⁴These all with one accord ^awere continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with ^bthe women, and Mary the ^cmother of Jesus, and His ^dbrothers.

¹⁵And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of ^athe brothers (a crowd of about 120 ¹persons was there together), and said, ¹⁶“Men, brothers, ^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 unrighteousness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. ¹⁹And 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 residence be made desolate,And let no one dwell in it’; and,‘^bLet another man take his ¹office.’

²¹“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that ^athe Lord Jesus went in and out ¹among us— ²²^abeginning ¹with 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.” ²³And they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and ^aMatthias. ²⁴And they ^aprayed and said, “You, Lord, ^bwho know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen ²⁵to take the place of ^athis ministry and ^bapostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they ¹^,^acast lots for them, and the lot fell ²to ^bMatthias; and he was ³added to ^cthe eleven apostles.

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2And when ^athe day of Pentecost ¹had fully come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing ^awind, and it filled ^bthe whole house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared to them tongues like fire ¹^,^adistributing themselves, and ²they ³rested on each one of them. ⁴And they were all ^afilled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^bspeak with other ¹tongues, as the Spirit was giving them ²utterance.

⁵Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, ^adevout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And when ^athis sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own ¹language. ⁷^aSo they were astounded and marveling, saying, “Behold, are not all these who are speaking ^bGalileans? ⁸“And how is it that we each hear them in our own ¹language in which we were born? ⁹“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and ^aCappadocia, ^bPontus and ¹^,^cAsia, ¹⁰^aPhrygia and ^bPamphylia, Egypt and the district of Libya around ^cCyrene, and ¹^,^dvisitors from Rome, both Jews and ²^,^eproselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” ¹²And ^athey all continued in astonishment and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others, mocking, were saying, “^aThey are full of new wine.”

Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

¹⁴But Peter, ¹taking his stand with ^athe eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. ¹⁵“For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, ^afor it is the ¹third hour of the day; ¹⁶but this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘^aAnd it shall be in the last days,’ God says,‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all ¹mankind;And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,And your young men shall see visions,And your old men shall dream dreams;¹⁸Even on My male slaves and female slaves,I will in those days pour out My SpiritAnd they shall prophesy.¹⁹‘And I will put wonders in the sky aboveAnd signs on the earth below,Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.²⁰‘The sun will be turned into darknessAnd the moon into blood,Before the great and awesome day of the ¹Lord comes.²¹‘And it will be that ^aeveryone who calls on the name of the ¹Lord will be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: ^aJesus the Nazarene, ^ba man ¹attested to you by God with ²miracles and ^cwonders and ³signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— ²³this Man, delivered over by the ^apredetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, ^byou nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death. ²⁴“¹But ^aGod raised Him up again, putting an end to the ²agony of death, since it ^bwas impossible for Him to be held ³in its power. ²⁵“For David says of Him, ‘^aI saw the ¹Lord continually before me;Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken.

²⁶‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;²⁷Because You will not forsake my soul to ^aHades,^bNor give Your ¹Holy One over to see corruption.²⁸‘You have made known to me the ways of life;You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’

²⁹“Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the ^apatriarch David that he both ^bdied and ^cwas buried, and ^dhis tomb is ¹with us to this day. ³⁰“And so, because he was ^aa prophet and knew that ^bGod had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit ¹of his body on his throne, ³¹he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the ¹Christ, that ^aHe was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. ³²“This Jesus ^aGod raised up again, to which we are all ^bwitnesses. ³³“Therefore having been exalted ¹^,^ato the right hand of God, and ^bhaving received from the Father ^cthe promise of the Holy Spirit, He has ^dpoured out this which you both see and hear. ³⁴“For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: ‘^aThe ¹Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand,

³⁵Until I put Your enemies as a footstool for Your feet.”’

³⁶“Therefore let all the ^ahouse of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both ^bLord and ¹Christ—this Jesus ^cwhom you crucified.”

About Three Thousand Souls Saved

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were ¹pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, ^awhat should we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “^aRepent, and each of you be ^bbaptized in the name of Jesus Christ ¹for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹“For ^athe promise is for you and your children and for all who are ^bfar off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he solemnly ^abore witness and kept on exhorting them, saying, “¹Be saved from this ^bcrooked generation!” ⁴¹So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand ^asouls. ⁴²And they were ^acontinually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to ^bthe breaking of bread and ^cto the prayers.

⁴³And fear came upon every soul; and many ^awonders and ¹signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all those who had believed ¹were together and ^ahad all things in common; ⁴⁵and they ^abegan selling their property and possessions and were ^bdividing them up with all, as anyone might have need. ⁴⁶^aAnd daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and ^bbreaking bread ¹from house to house, they were taking their ²meals together with gladness and ³sincerity of heart, ⁴⁷praising God and ^ahaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ^bwas adding ¹to their number daily ^cthose who were being saved.