16. And crowds of people came in from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were ill or who had evil spirits in them; and they were all healed.
17. Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action.
18. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19. But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them,
20. “Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.”
21. The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching.The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.
22. But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported,
23. “When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!”
24. When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles.
25. Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!”
26. So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.
27. They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them.
28. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man,” he said; “but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”
29. Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God, not men.
30. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross.
31. God raised him to his right-hand side as Leader and Saviour, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven.