Acts 3:1-16

1One day, Peter and John went to the temple in Jerusalem. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. This was the time that everyone went there to pray.

2There was a man who could not walk. He had never been able to walk. Every day, his friends put him at the gate of the temple. It was called the Beautiful Gate. As people were going in through the gate, the man asked them for money. His friends were carrying him there when Peter and John arrived.

3The man saw Peter and John as they were coming through the gate. So he asked them to give him some money.

4Peter looked carefully at the man and so did John. Peter said to him, ‘Look at us!’

5So the man looked at Peter and John. He thought that they would give him some money.

6Then Peter said to the man, ‘I do not have any money. But I do have something else that I will give to you. Jesus Christ from Nazareth gave me authority to do this. So now I tell you to walk!’

7Peter held the man's right hand and he helped him to stand up. Immediately the man's feet and ankles became strong.

8The man jumped up and he stood on his feet. Then he began to walk about. He went into the temple with Peter and John. He was walking and jumping and he was praising God.

9A large crowd of people were there. They saw the man walking. They heard him praising God.

10‘Look!’ they said. ‘We know this man. He usually sits at the Beautiful Gate of the temple and he asks people for money. What has happened to him?’ They were all very surprised.

11The man was still holding Peter and John as they went into the yard of the temple. All the people were very surprised about what they saw. So they ran to Peter and John at the place called Solomon's porch.

12Peter saw all the people who had come together. So he said to them, ‘People of Israel, you should not be so surprised about what you have seen. You should not look at us as if we ourselves are powerful. It is not because we obey God that we could cause this man to walk again.

13It happened because of Jesus, who was the special servant of God. That is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and our other ancestors who lived long ago. God has raised his servant Jesus up to a place of honour. You helped the rulers to take hold of Jesus. The Roman ruler Pilate had decided to let Jesus go free. But you turned against Jesus.

14Jesus was God's Holy One who always did what was right. But you did not accept him. You told Pilate to let another man go free instead of Jesus. That man was in prison because he had killed people.

15But Jesus is the person who leads people to true life. When you refused him, it meant that you killed him. But God made him alive again and raised him up from death. We ourselves saw him alive after he had died and we are telling you about it.

16It is the power of Jesus that has made this man completely well again. We believe in him. We know that he has authority. You know this man. You saw that he had weak legs. Jesus has caused this man's legs to become strong. You can all see for yourselves what has happened. Yes, he is now well because we havetrusted Jesus and his power.