1  Dear Theophilus,

In my first book that I wrote for you, I wrote about many of the things that Jesus did and taught 2 until the day on which he was taken {God took him} up to heaven. Before he went to heaven, saying what the Holy Spirit told him, he told the apostles whom he had chosen the things that he wanted them to know. 3 After he had suffered and died on the cross, he became alive again. As he appeared to them often during the next 40 days, the apostles saw him many times. He proved to them in many ways that he was alive again. He talked with them about how God would rule [MET] the lives of people who accepted him as their king.

4  One time while he was with them, he told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem yet. Instead, wait here until my Father sends his Spirit [MTY] to you, as he promised to do. You have heard me speak to you about that. 5 John baptized people in water because they said that they wanted to change their lives, but after a few days [LIT] God will put the Holy Spirit within you(pl) to truly change your lives.”

6 One day when the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you (sg) now become the King [MET] over us Israelite people like King David, who ruled long ago?” (OR, “Lord, will you (sg) now defeat the Romans and restore the kingdom to us Israelite people?”) 7 He replied to them, “You do not need to know the time periods and days when that will happen. My Father alone has decided when he will make me king. 8 But you do need to know that the Holy Spirit will make you spiritually strong when he comes to live in you. Then you will powerfully tell people about me in Jerusalem and in all the other places in Judea district, in Samaria district, and in places far away all over [IDM] the world.” 9 After he said that, he was taken {God took him} up to heaven, while they were watching. He went up into a cloud [PRS], which prevented them from seeing him any more.

10 While the apostles were still staring towards the sky as he was going up, suddenly two men who were wearing white clothes stood beside them. They were angels. 11 One of them said, “You men from Galilee district, ◄you do not need to stand here any longer looking up at the sky!/why do you still stand here looking up at the sky?► [RHQ] Some day this same Jesus, whom God took from you up to heaven, will come back to earth. He will return in the same manner as you just now saw him when he went up to heaven, but he will not return now.”

12 Then after the two angels left, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from Olive Tree Hill, which was about ◄a half mile/one kilometer► [MTY] from Jerusalem. 13 When they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room in the house where they were staying. Those who were there included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, another James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who belonged to the group that wanted to expel the Romans, and Judas the son of another man named James. 14 All these apostles agreed concerning the things about which they continually were praying together. Others who prayed with them included the women who had accompanied Jesus, Mary who was Jesus’ mother, and his younger brothers.

15 During those days Peter stood up among his fellow believers. There were at that place a group of about 120 of Jesus’ followers. Peter said, 16 “My fellow believers, there are words that King David wrote [MTY] in the Scriptures long ago that needed to be fulfilled {to happen as he said they would}. The Holy Spirit, who knew that Judas would be the one who would fulfill those words, told David what to write. 17  Although Judas had been chosen {Jesus had chosen Judas}, along with the rest of us (exc) to serve as an apostle, Judas was the person who led to Jesus the people who seized him.”

18  The Jewish leaders gave Judas money when he promised to treacherously/wickedly betray Jesus. Later Judas returned that money to them. When Judas hanged himself, his body fell down to the ground. His abdomen burst open, and all his intestines spilled out. So the Jewish leaders bought a field using that money. 19 All the people who reside in Jerusalem heard about that, so they called that field in their own Aramaic language, Akeldama, which means ‘Field of Blood’, because it was where someone bled and died.

20  Peter also said, “I perceive that what happened to Judas is like what the writer of Psalms desired to happen: ‘May his house become deserted, and may there be no one to live in it.’ (OR, ‘Judge him, Lord, so that neither he nor anyone else may live in his house!)’ And it seems that these other words that David wrote also refer to Judas: ‘Let someone else take over his work as a leader.’ ”

21 “So it is necessary for us apostles to choose a man to replace Judas. He must be one who accompanied [MTY] us all the time when the Lord Jesus was with us. 22  That would be from the time when John the Baptizer baptized Jesus until the day when Jesus was taken {when God took Jesus} from us up to heaven. He must be one who saw Jesus alive again after he died.”

23 So the apostles and other believers suggested the names of two men who qualified. One man was Joseph, who was called {whom people called} Barsabbas (OR, Joseph Barsabbas) who also had the Roman name Justus. The other man was Matthias. 24-25 Then they prayed like this: “Lord Jesus, Judas stopped being an apostle. He died and went to the place where he deserved to be [EUP]. So we(exc) need to choose someone to replace Judas in order that he can serve you(sg) by becoming an apostle. You (sg) know what everyone is really like. So please show us which of these two men you have chosen.” 26 Then they cast lots to choose between the two of them, and the lot fell for Matthias. (OR, Then one of the apostles shook in a container small objects/stones that they had marked to determine which man God had chosen. And the small object/stone that they had marked for Matthias fell out of the container). So Matthias was considered {they considered Matthias} to be an apostle along with the other eleven apostles.