Acts 5:12-26

12At that time, the apostles were doing many miracles that showed God's power among the people. All the believers often met together in the yard of the temple in a place called Solomon's porch.

13The other people were afraid to meet with the group of believers. But people respected the believers very much.

14More and more people became believers and they joined the group. So now many men and women believed in the Lord Jesus.

15As a result, people carried their sick friends into the streets and put them on beds and mats. They hoped that Peter would pass that way and make their sick friends well again. They just wanted Peter's shadow to touch them.

16Many people also came into Jerusalem from the small towns near the city. They brought their sick friends with them. Some of those sick people had bad spirits that gave them trouble. God caused all these sick people to become well again.

17People liked the apostles very much. So the most important priest and his friends who belonged to the Sadducees' group were very jealous.

18These important men took hold of the apostles and they put them in the city's prison.

19But during the night, one of the Lord God's angels came and he opened the prison gates. He led the apostles out of the prison.

20The angel said to them, ‘Go and stand in the yard of the temple. Tell the people everything about this new life that God gives.’

21The apostles did what the angel told them to do. At dawn they went into the yard of the temple. They began to teach the people there. Then the most important priest and his friends arrived. They told the group of Jewish leaders to meet with them. All the most important people in Israel were in that group. Then they sent their police to the prison to bring the apostles to the meeting place.

22But when the police arrived at the prison, they did not find the apostles there. So the police returned to the Jewish leaders and they told them the news.

23They said, ‘We arrived at the prison. We saw that the soldiers had locked the gates. They were standing at the gates and they were watching carefully. But when we opened the gates of the prison, we did not find anyone there!’

24The leader of the police of the temple and the leaders of the priests heard the news. They could not understand what had happened. They were afraid of what might happen next.

25Then a man came to the leaders. He said to them, ‘Listen! Those men that you put in the prison are now standing in the yard of the temple. They are teaching the people there.’

26So the leader of the police took his men with him to find the apostles. They took hold of the apostles to take them back to the Jewish leaders. But they did not hurt them because they were afraid of the people. They thought that the people might be angry. They might throw stones at them to kill them.