Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Acts 1
The Promise of the Spirit
In my first account, Theophilus, I wrote about everything Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself alive to them with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over forty days and spoke about God’s kingdom. While meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Father’s promise, “which,” he said, “you heard from me. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Witnesses to the Ends of the Earth
So when they came together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After saying this, while they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. As they stood staring into heaven while he was going, look—two men in white clothing stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
The Disciples Gather
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All of them were devoting themselves together to prayer, along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
Matthias Is Chosen
In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters—the gathering numbered about one hundred twenty people—and said,
“Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
He was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”
Now this man acquired a field with the wages of unrighteousness. Falling headfirst, he burst open in the middle, and all his insides spilled out.
This became known to everyone living in Jerusalem, so the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.
“For it is written in the book of Psalms:
‘Let his dwelling become desolate,
and let no one live in it,’
and,
‘Let another take his office.’
Therefore one of the men who accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
beginning from John’s baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us, must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
They put forward two men: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
They cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was counted with the eleven apostles.