Acts 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 30-33, within weeks of Jesus' crucifixion and the first Christian Pentecost
Location
Jerusalem, at the Beautiful Gate and Solomon's Colonnade in the temple complex rebuilt by Herod the Great
Audience
Theophilus, a Roman-world patron or official, and through him the wider Greek-speaking readership of Luke's two-volume history
Situation
Peter and John heal a man who had been unable to walk from birth as they go up for the afternoon prayer hour, and the crowd that gathers in astonishment becomes the audience for Peter's second public sermon.
Key Background
The temple ran on a fixed daily rhythm, and the three o'clock hour named here was the time of the evening sacrifice, so the courts were crowded with worshippers. Begging at temple gates was ordinary practice, since almsgiving counted as an act of piety and the gates funnelled every visitor past the same spot. Solomon's Colonnade was a long covered walkway along the east side of the outer court, a normal place for teachers to gather listeners, which is why an unplanned sermon could draw a crowd without anyone forcing entry anywhere.
One day Peter and John were heading up to the for the — around three in the
There was a man who had been unable to walk since the day he was born. Every day, people would carry him to the temple called "the so he could ask for money from people going in.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for money.
Peter at him — so did John — and said, "Look at us."
The man gave them his full attention, expecting to get something from them.
But Peter said, "I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have, I'm giving you: in the of Jesus, The from Nazareth — get up and walk."
He the man's right hand and pulled him up. Instantly, the man's and
He jumped to his feet and started walking! He went into the temple with them, walking and and God.
Everyone there saw him walking and praising God,
and they recognized him as the same man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate asking for money. They were and couldn't believe what had happened to him.
While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people came running toward them at the area called completely amazed.
When Peter saw this, he spoke to the crowd: of why does this surprise you? Why are you staring at us as if we made this man walk by our own power or because we're so to
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the God of our ancestors — has the to his Jesus. You handed him over and rejected him in front of even though had decided to let him go.
You rejected the no other, the who did what was and instead asked for a to be released to you.
You killed the of itself, but God raised him from the dead. We are to this.
It's the power of Jesus' name — and the that comes through him — that has made this man strong. You can see him right here, and you know who he is. The that Jesus gives is what has him, right in front of all of you.
"Now, and I know that you acted out of — and so did your leaders.
But this is how God fulfilled what he announced beforehand through all the — that his chosen one, The One, would suffer.
So and to God, so that your can be and of can come from Yahweh's presence,
and so that he can send Jesus, The One who was for you of
Heaven must receive until the time comes for God to the restoration he talked about long ago through the who to
Moses said, 'Yahweh your God will up a for you from among your own people, just like he raised up me. You must listen to everything he tells you.
Anyone who refuses to listen to that prophet will be completely from the
"In fact, all the prophets from onward — every single one who spoke — announced what's happening right now.
You are the descendants of those prophets and the heirs of the God made with your ancestors when he told Abraham, 'Through your all the families of the earth will experience God's
God up his and sent him to you first, to bring you by turning each of you away from your