Acts 3

Peter and John were going up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, which was the ninth hour.

1Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

NoteThe ninth hour counted from about six in the morning, so roughly three in the afternoon. It was one of the set times of daily prayer at the temple, tied to the afternoon sacrifice. "Went up" is literal as well as customary: the temple stood on the high ground of Jerusalem, so people always spoke of going up to it.

2A man who had been unable to walk since birth was being carried there. Every day people set him down at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg for money from those going into the temple.

2And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;

NoteThe temple was not one building but a walled complex of open courts with gates in the outer wall, and the crowds passing through those gates were the best place in the city to beg. Giving to the poor was a religious duty, which is why beggars stationed themselves at the entrances. The King James word for such gifts is "alms." Which gate was called Beautiful is not certain; no other ancient source uses the name.

3When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for money.

3Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

4Peter looked straight at him, and so did John. Peter said, "Look at us."

4And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

5So the man paid close attention to them, expecting to get something from them.

5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

6Then Peter said, "I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk."

6Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

NoteA person's name stood for that person's authority. To command something "in the name of Jesus Christ" was to act as his agent, on his authority, not simply to mention him. Calling him "of Nazareth" identifies him the ordinary way, by his home village in Galilee.

7Peter took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and at once the man's feet and ankles became strong.

7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

8He jumped up, stood, and began to walk. He went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

8And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

9All the people saw him walking and praising God.

9And all the people saw him walking and praising God:

10They recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the temple's Beautiful Gate, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

10And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

11While the healed man held on to Peter and John, all the people were amazed and came running to them in the covered walkway called Solomon's Porch.

11And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

NoteSolomon's Porch was a long roofed colonnade running along the eastern side of the temple's outer court. It carried Solomon's name by tradition, though the structure people stood in dated from a much later rebuilding. Being sheltered and public, it was a normal place for teachers to gather a crowd.

12When Peter saw this, he said to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

12And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

13The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has honored his servant Jesus. You handed him over and rejected him in front of Pilate, even though Pilate had decided to let him go.

13The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

NoteThe King James "his Son" and the rendering's "his servant" translate one Greek word, pais, which covers both child and servant. Here it echoes the figure called the Lord's servant in Isaiah, so most translators take it as servant. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, the only man in the province with authority to order an execution.

14You rejected the Holy and Righteous One, and asked instead that a murderer be set free for you.

14But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

Note"A murderer" is Barabbas, the prisoner released instead of Jesus at the festival. The King James "granted unto you" means handed over to you as a favor.

15You killed the one who is the source of life, but God raised him from the dead, and we are witnesses of that.

15And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

NoteThe Greek word behind "Prince of life" is archegos, which can mean leader, founder, or the one who originates something. The rendering takes the last sense. The point of the phrase is the sharp contrast: they killed the one from whom life comes.

16It is his name, through faith in his name, that has made this man strong, the man you see and know. The faith that comes through Jesus has given him this complete healing in front of you all.

16And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

NoteThe Greek of this verse is knotted and repeats itself, and it is genuinely unclear whose faith is meant, the healed man's or the faith that Jesus himself makes possible. The rendering keeps the doubling rather than smoothing it out.

17And now, brothers, I know that you did it without understanding what you were doing, and so did your rulers.

17And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

Note"I wot" is old English for "I know." It has nothing to do with doubting.

18But in this way God has brought about what he had announced long ago through the mouths of all his prophets: that his Christ would suffer.

18But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Note"Christ" is not a surname but a title, the Greek for "anointed one," the same word Hebrew renders as Messiah. Anointing with oil was how kings and priests were installed, so the title means the figure God appoints and commissions.

19So change your hearts and turn back to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, when times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.

19Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Note"Be converted" in 1611 English simply meant turn around or turn back; it did not carry the modern sense of changing religions. "Blotted out" pictures writing sponged off a document, the way a record of debt was erased. The Greek connective is ambiguous: it can mean "so that times of refreshing may come" as a result, or "when they come" as a time marker. The rendering follows the King James in taking it as a time marker.

20And then he will send Jesus Christ, the one who was announced to you beforehand.

20And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

NoteThe King James "which before was preached unto you" follows a Greek manuscript reading meaning "proclaimed beforehand." The better attested reading is a similar word meaning "appointed beforehand," which is what most modern translations give.

21Heaven must keep him until the time when all things are made right again, the time God spoke about through the mouths of all his holy prophets since the world began.

21Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Note"Restitution" here does not mean paying something back. The Greek word means restoring things to their proper condition, putting the world right again. "Since the world began" translates a phrase meaning "from of old" or "long ago"; it is a way of saying ancient, not a claim about the moment of creation.

22For Moses truly said to our fathers, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people. You must listen to him in everything he says to you.

22For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

NotePeter is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 18, where God promises a prophet like Moses from among the people themselves. "Raise up" there means bring forward or appoint, not raise from the dead.

23And it will happen that anyone who will not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from among the people."

23And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Note"Every soul" is a Hebrew way of saying every person, not a statement about a soul as distinct from a body. "Cut off from among the people" is a standing formula in Israel's law for being removed from the community.

24In fact, all the prophets from Samuel on, every one of them who spoke, also told about these days.

24Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

NoteSamuel was counted as the first of the line of prophets after Moses, so "from Samuel on" is a way of saying the whole prophetic tradition.

25You are the children of the prophets, and of the agreement God made with our fathers when he said to Abraham, "Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed."

25Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

Note"Children of the prophets" means heirs to them, the people the promises were made for. A covenant was a binding agreement with obligations on both sides, the kind of formal pact nations and kings made; this one is the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis. "Thy seed" is a collective singular meaning descendants, and the King James "kindreds" means families or clans of people.

26God raised up his servant Jesus and sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each one of you away from your evil ways."

26Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Note"Raised up" here picks up the wording of the promise quoted in verse 22, meaning brought onto the scene and commissioned. It can also be heard as raised from the dead, and the Greek allows both. "Iniquities" means wrongdoing, acts that are crooked or twisted.