1Acts 1

1My former narrative, Theophilus, dealt with all that Jesus did and taught as a beginning, down to the day on which,Select Acts 1:1

2after giving instruction through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up to Heaven.Select Acts 1:2

3He had also, after He suffered, shown Himself alive to them with many sure proofs, appearing to them at intervals during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God.Select Acts 1:3

4And while in their company He charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promised gift. "This you have heard of," He said, "from me.Select Acts 1:4

5For John indeed baptized with water, but before many days have passed you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."Select Acts 1:5

6Once when they were with Him, they asked Him, "Master, is this the time at which you are about to restore the kingdom of Israel?"Select Acts 1:6

7"It is not for you," He replied, "to know times or epochs which the Father has reserved within His own authority;Select Acts 1:7

8and yet you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the remotest parts of the earth."Select Acts 1:8

9When He had said this, and while they were looking at Him, He was carried up, and a cloud closing beneath Him hid Him from their sight.Select Acts 1:9

10But, while they stood intently gazing into the sky as He went, suddenly there were two men in white garments standing by them,Select Acts 1:10

11who said, "Galilaeans, why stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven."Select Acts 1:11

12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Oliveyard, which is near Jerusalem, about a mile off.Select Acts 1:12

13They entered the city, and they went up to the upper room which was now their fixed place for meeting. Their names were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James.Select Acts 1:13

14All of these with one mind continued earnest in prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.Select Acts 1:14

15It was on one of these days that Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren--the entire number of persons present being about 120--and said,Select Acts 1:15

16"Brethren, it was necessary that the Scripture should be fulfilled--the prediction, I mean, which the Holy Spirit uttered by the lips of David, about Judas, who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.Select Acts 1:16

17For Judas was reckoned as one of our number, and a share in this ministry was allotted to him."Select Acts 1:17

18(Now having bought a piece of ground with the money paid for his wickedness he fell there with his face downwards, and, his body bursting open, he became disembowelled.Select Acts 1:18

19This fact became widely known to the people of Jerusalem, so that the place received the name, in their language, of Achel-damach, which means `The Field of Blood.')Select Acts 1:19

20"For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "`Let his encampment be desolate: let there be no one to dwell there'; and "`His work let another take up.'Select Acts 1:20

21"It is necessary, therefore, that of the men who have been with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--Select Acts 1:21

22beginning from His baptism by John down to the day on which He was taken up again from us into Heaven--one should be appointed to become a witness with us as to His resurrection."Select Acts 1:22

23So two names were proposed, Joseph called Bar-sabbas--and surnamed Justus--and Matthias.Select Acts 1:23

24And the brethren prayed, saying, "Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all, show clearly which of these two Thou hast chosenSelect Acts 1:24

25to occupy the place in this ministry and Apostleship from which Judas through transgression fell, in order to go to his own place."Select Acts 1:25

26Then they drew lots between them. The lot fell on Matthias, and a place among the eleven Apostles was voted to him.Select Acts 1:26