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5
Ananias pretended to give the apostles all the money from selling a field.
Acts 5:1-2
1 But there was one of the believers whose name was Ananias, and whose wife’s name was Sapphira. He also sold some land. 2 He kept for himself some of the money he had received for the land, and his wife knew that he had done that. Then he brought the rest of the money and presented it to the apostles [MTY].
People were terrified when they saw or heard that Ananias had died.
Acts 5:3-6
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, you (sg) let Satan completely control you [MTY] so that you (sg) tried to deceive the Holy Spirit and us(exc). ◄That was terrible!/Why did you do such a terrible thing?► [RHQ] You have kept for yourself some of the money you (sg) received for selling the land, pretending that you(sg) were giving us all of it. 4 Before you (sg) sold that land, you truly owned [RHQ] it. And after you sold it, you could [RHQ] certainly still have used the money any way you wanted to. So why did you (sg) ever think [RHQ] about doing this wicked thing? You were not merely trying to deceive us! No, you tried to deceive God himself!!” 5 When Ananias heard that, immediately he fell down dead. So all who were there who heard about Ananias’ death became terrified [PRS]. 6 Some young men came in, wrapped his body in a sheet, and carried it out and buried it.
Sapphira also died because she lied, and some men buried her beside her husband.
Acts 5:7-11
7 About three hours later, his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. 8 As Peter showed her the money that Ananias had brought, he asked her, “Tell me, is this the amount of money you two received for the land you sold?” She said, “Yes, that’s what we(exc) received.” 9 So Peter said to her, “You both did a terrible thing! You two agreed [RHQ] to try to determine if you could do that without the Spirit of the Lord God revealing to anyone that you two tried to deceive them! Listen! Do you(sg) hear the footsteps [SYN] of the men who buried your husband? They are right outside this door, and they will carry your corpse out to bury it, too!” 10 Immediately Sapphira fell down dead at Peter’s feet. Then the young men came in. When they saw that she was dead, they carried her body out and buried it beside her husband’s body.
11 So all the believers in Jerusalem became greatly frightened [PRS] because of what God had done to Ananias and Sapphira. And all the others who heard people tell about those things also became greatly frightened.
The apostles healed many people, and many people believed in Jesus.
Acts 5:12-16
12 God was enabling the apostles to do many amazing miracles among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly in the temple courtyard at the place called Solomon’s Porch. 13 All of the other people who had not yet believed in Jesus were afraid to associate with the believers, because they knew that if they did anything evil, God would punish them, as well as revealing it to the believers. However, those people continued to greatly respect the believers. 14 Many more men and women started believing in the Lord Jesus, and they joined the group of believers. 15 The apostles were doing amazing miracles, so people were bringing those who were sick into the streets, and laying them on stretchers and mats, in order that when Peter came by he would touch them, or at least his shadow might fall upon some of them and heal them. 16 Crowds of people were also coming to the apostles from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing their sick relatives/friends and those who were being tormented/troubled by evil spirits {whom evil spirits were tormenting/troubling}, and God healed all of them.
Jewish leaders jailed the apostles, but an angel freed them to teach people.
Acts 5:17-21a
17 Then the high priest and all who were with him, who were members of the local Sadducee sect in Jerusalem, became very jealous of the apostles, because many people were accepting the apostles’ message. 18 So they commanded the Temple guards to seize the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 The guards did that, but during the night an angel from the Lord God opened the jail doors and brought the apostles outside! The guards were not aware of what the angel had done. 20 Then the angel said to the apostles, “Go to the Temple courtyard, stand there, and tell the people all about how God can give them eternal life!” 21 So having heard this, about dawn they entered the Temple courtyard and began to teach the people again about Jesus.
The Jewish leaders were perplexed because the apostles were not in jail.
Acts 5:21b-24
Meanwhile, the high priest and those who were with him summoned the other Jewish Council members. Altogether they made up the entire Council of Israel. After they all gathered together, they sent guards to the jail to bring in the apostles. 22 But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that the apostles were not there. So they returned to the Council, and one of them reported, 23 “We (exc) saw that the jail doors were very securely locked, and the guards were standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in to get those men, none of them was inside the jail!” 24 When the captain of the temple guards and the chief priests heard that, they became greatly perplexed, wondering what might result from all this.
After finding them, the leaders brought the apostles back to question them.
Acts 5:25-26
25 Then someone came from the Temple courtyard and excitedly reported to them, “Listen to this! Right now the men whom you put in jail are standing in the Temple courtyard and they are teaching the people about Jesus!” 26 So the captain of the Temple guards went to the Temple courtyard with the officers, and they brought the apostles back to the Council room. But they did not treat them roughly, because they were afraid that the people would kill them by throwing stones at them if they hurt the apostles.
Peter and the other apostles said that they must obey God.
Acts 5:27-33
27 After the captain and his officers had brought the apostles to the Council room, they commanded them to stand in front of the Council members, and the high priest questioned them. 28 He said to them accusingly, “We (exc) strongly commanded you not to teach people about that man [MTY] Jesus But you have disobeyed us, and you have taught people all over Jerusalem about him! Furthermore, you are trying to make it seem that we (exc) are the ones who are guilty [MTY] for that man’s death!” 29 But Peter, speaking for himself and the other apostles, replied, “We (exc) have to obey what God commands us to do, not what you people tell us to do! 30 God considers that you are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors worshipped, ◄caused Jesus to become alive again after he died/raised Jesus from the dead►. 31 God has greatly honored Jesus. He has taken him up to heaven! He has authorized him to be the one who will save us and to rule over our lives! God did this so that he might enable us Israelites [MTY] to turn away from our sinful behavior and that he might forgive us for our sins. 32 We (exc) tell people about these things that we know happened to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to us who obey him, is also confirming that these things are true.” 33 When the Council members heard those words, they became very angry with the apostles, and they wanted to kill them.
After beating the apostles, they followed Gamaliel’s advice and released them.
Acts 5:34-40
34 But there was a Council member named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, and one who taught people the Jewish laws, and all the Jewish people respected him. He stood up in the Council and told guards to take the apostles out of the room for a short time. 35 After the guards had taken the apostles out, he said to the other Council members, “Fellow Israelites, you need to think carefully about what you are about to do to these men, and I will tell you why. 36 Some years ago a man named Theudas rebelled against the Roman government. He told people that he was an important person, and about 400 men joined him. But he was killed {soldiers killed him} and all those who had been accompanying him were scattered. So they were not able to do anything that they had planned. 37 After that, during the time when they were ◄writing down names of the people/taking the census► in order to tax people, a man named Judas from Galilee province rebelled against the Roman government. He persuaded some people to accompany him. But soldiers killed him, too, and all those who had accompanied him went off in different directions. 38 So now I say this to you: Do not harm these men! Release them! I say this because if this is just something that humans have planned, they will not be able to do it. They will fail, like Theudas and Judas did 39 But, if God has commanded them to do it, you will not be able to prevent them from doing it, because you will find out that you are opposing God!” The other members of the Council accepted what Gamaliel said. 40 They told the temple guards to bring the apostles and flog them. So the guards brought them into the Council room and flogged them. Then the Council members commanded them not to speak to people about [MTY] Jesus, and they released the apostles.
The apostles rejoiced and continued to tell others about Jesus.
Acts 5:41-42
41 So the apostles left the Council. They were rejoicing, because they knew God had honored them by letting people disgrace them because they were followers [MTY] of Jesus. 42 And every day the apostles went to the temple area and to various people’s houses, and they continued [LIT] teaching people and telling them that Jesus is the Messiah.

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© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.