Acts 3
The full text of Acts 3 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 One afternoon Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at three in the afternoon.
2 Now a man who had been lame from birth was being carried in. Every day they would put him at the temple gate called Beautiful, so he could beg from those going into the temple.
3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
11 While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade.
12 When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.
14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
17 Now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus.
21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
22 For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.
23 Anyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from their people.'
24 Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days.
25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'
26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
Translation notes (6)
- Acts 3:1a Greek reads literally tēn hōran tēs proseuchēs tēn enatēn (τὴν ὥραν τῆς προσευχῆς τὴν ἐνάτην), 'the ninth hour of prayer'. Hours were counted from sunrise, so the ninth hour fell at about three in the afternoon, coinciding with the daily evening sacrifice, one of the fixed times of public prayer at the temple.
- Acts 3:2a Greek horaia, 'beautiful', names a gate not otherwise attested in ancient sources under this title. It is commonly identified with the Nicanor Gate, which Josephus describes as made of Corinthian bronze and surpassing the gilded gates in splendor, standing between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Women—a busy passage well suited to begging.
- Acts 3:13a Greek pais (παῖς) can mean either 'servant' or 'child'; here it echoes the Servant Songs of Isaiah, where the Septuagint uses pais for the Lord's Servant, notably Isaiah 52:13, "my servant... shall be glorified." Peter thus identifies Jesus as the Isaianic suffering Servant, a title Acts applies to him again in 3:26 and 4:27, 30.
- Acts 3:15a The Greek archegos (ἀρχηγός), rendered here as 'author', spans 'originator', 'pioneer', and 'leader'; no single English word carries all three senses. The term appears only four times in the New Testament (also Acts 5:31; Hebrews 2:10; 12:2), always of Jesus. It sharpens the paradox: the one who originates life is put to death.
- Acts 3:21a The phrase translates apokatastaseōs pantōn (ἀποκαταστάσεως πάντων), literally 'the restoration of all things'; the noun apokatastasis occurs only here in the New Testament. In later theology, notably in Origen, the word became a technical term for universal restoration, but in this context it denotes the renewal of creation foretold by the prophets.
- Acts 3:22a Peter quotes Deuteronomy 18:15-19, where Moses promises a prophet like himself whom Israel must heed. The Greek verb anastēsei, 'will raise up', is from anistēmi, the same verb Peter uses of the resurrection (Acts 3:26), allowing the promise to carry a double sense in this sermon: God both raises up the prophet in history and raises him from the dead.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Greek and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Acts, is free to read here on the web.
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