Acts 4:1-19

1While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them,

2angry because they were teaching the people and announcing in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

3So they seized them and put them in jail until the next day (for it was already evening).

4But many of those who had listened to the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5On the next day, their rulers, elders, and experts in the law came together in Jerusalem.

6Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family.

7After making Peter and John stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, “Rulers of the people and elders,

9if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man – by what means this man was healed –

10let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy.

11This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.

12And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”

13When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus.

14And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this.

15But when they had ordered them to go outside the council, they began to confer with one another,

16saying, “What should we do with these men? For it is plain to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign has come about through them, and we cannot deny it.

17But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

18And they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

19But Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide,