Acts 1

Modern English Version

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commandments through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He presented Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, appearing to them for forty days, and speaking concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴ Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.^{[a] 5} For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

⁹ When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.

¹⁰ While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. ¹¹ They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Judas’ Successor

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is a Sabbath day’s walk^[b] from Jerusalem. ¹³ When they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. ¹⁴ These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the disciples (the number of people together was about a hundred and twenty), and said, ¹⁶ “Brothers, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit previously spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became the guide to those who seized Jesus. ¹⁷ For he was numbered with us and took part in this ministry.”

¹⁸ (Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle and all his organs spilled out. ¹⁹ It became known to all the residents of Jerusalem. So this field is called in their dialect Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²⁰ “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

and,

²¹ Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the very day that He was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness of His resurrection.”

²³ So they proposed two, Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two You have chosen ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, to go to his own place.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. So he was numbered with the eleven apostles.