Acts 5

KJV · Chapter 5/28

¹But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,

²And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

³But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

⁴Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

⁵And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

⁶And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

⁷And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

⁸And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

⁹Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

¹⁰Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

¹¹And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

¹²And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

¹³And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

¹⁴And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

¹⁵Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

¹⁶There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

¹⁷Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

¹⁸And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

¹⁹But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

²⁰Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

²¹And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

²²But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,

²³Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.

²⁴Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.

²⁵Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.

²⁶Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

²⁷And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

²⁸Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.

²⁹Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

³⁰The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

³¹Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

³²And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

³³When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

³⁴Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

³⁵And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.

³⁶For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

³⁷After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

³⁸And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

³⁹But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

⁴⁰And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

⁴¹And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

⁴²And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Ananias and Sapphira lie about a donation and suddenly die before the community. The apostles continue healing multitudes, are arrested, freed by an angel, and defended by the respected teacher Gamaliel.

Explanation

The episode of Ananias and Sapphira is one of the harshest in the New Testament: the sin wasn't keeping back part of the money (that was allowed), but lying by pretending total generosity before God and the community. It's a warning about the seriousness of integrity in the life of the young church. Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee, advises caution with practical reasoning: if the movement is of human origin, it will fall apart on its own; if it's from God, no one can stop it — a principle that still helps distinguish passing fads from genuine movements today.

Fun facts

Gamaliel was one of the most respected rabbis of his time, grandson of the famous Hillel, and would later be cited as the teacher of the apostle Paul himself (Acts 22:3).
Theudas and Judas the Galilean, mentioned by Gamaliel, are also cited by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus as leaders of real revolts against Rome in the first century, confirming the historical backdrop of the account.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Acts 5:1Ananias and Sapphira appear right after the example of Barnabas, who had sold a piece of land and handed over everything to the apostles; the couple follows the same gesture, but in a different way, as seen next.
Acts 5:2Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of land and handed over only part of the money, pretending it was the whole amount. The problem was not keeping part for themselves, since the money was theirs to do with as they pleased—it was lying by pretending they had given all of it.
Acts 5:3Saying that Satan filled Ananias’ heart is an expression describing someone giving in to a strong temptation—in this case, wanting to appear generous without really paying the price; it is not a statement about possession in the modern sense.
Acts 5:4Peter makes clear that the problem was never keeping part of the money: before selling, the property was theirs, and after it was sold, the money was still theirs to do with as they pleased. The sin was lying by pretending they had donated the entire amount.
Acts 5:5The sudden death of Ananias, and later of Sapphira, is one of the harshest episodes in the book. The text links the lie to the Holy Spirit with an immediate consequence, but does not explain the mechanism, only records the fear this produced in the community.
Acts 5:6Ananias’ burial happens right away, carried out by young men from the community itself, without the usual time for mourning or notifying the family—a detail that shows the shock and urgency of the scene.
Acts 5:7Sapphira comes in about three hours later, not knowing that her husband had already died and been buried while she was out.
Acts 5:8Peter gives Sapphira the chance to tell the truth, asking her directly whether that was the full amount for which they had sold the property.
Acts 5:9Peter realizes the couple had agreed on the lie together, and announces that the same young men who buried Ananias are ready at the door to carry her out as well.
Acts 5:10Sapphira dies just as suddenly as her husband and is buried beside him, closing out the harshest episode in the early part of the book of Acts.
Acts 5:11The fear that takes hold of the church after this episode helps explain why no one else tried to deceive the community by treating it lightly.
Acts 5:12Solomon’s porch is the same place from chapter 3, a fixed meeting spot for Christians within the temple. It shows that at this early stage they still saw themselves as part of ordinary Jewish religious life, not as a separate group.
Acts 5:13Despite the popular respect for the apostles, no outsider dared to join the group on their own, a mix of admiration and caution after the episode with Ananias and Sapphira.
Acts 5:14Even with that fear, the number of believers kept growing, including both men and women, a detail Luke records more than once in Acts.
Acts 5:15The text records the popular belief that even Peter’s shadow had healing power, without confirming or denying that it actually worked that way. It is similar to a later episode in which cloths touched by Paul heal people.
Acts 5:16The apostles’ fame was no longer limited to Jerusalem: people from neighboring towns brought the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits, and the text states that all of them were healed.
Acts 5:17The high priest and the Sadducees, the religious group that had already arrested the apostles before, act out of envy at their growing success and popularity among the people.
Acts 5:18The apostles are arrested again, this time placed in the common public prison, not just held for a day as the first time.
Acts 5:19An angel opens the prison doors during the night and personally sets them free, a miracle that contrasts with the human attempt to silence their preaching.
Acts 5:20The angel’s instruction is clear: go back to the temple and keep preaching openly, the most public and closely watched place possible—the opposite of hiding.
Acts 5:21The apostles obey right away, going to teach early in the morning, while the religious authorities gather without knowing the prison was already empty.
Acts 5:22The officers sent to fetch the apostles come back empty-handed, finding the jail with no one inside.
Acts 5:23The guards’ report is the strangest detail: the prison was locked and normally guarded from outside, but inside there was no one, reinforcing the miraculous nature of the escape.
Acts 5:24The authorities are left not understanding what is happening, already worried about the consequences of having lost prisoners in such an inexplicable way.
Acts 5:25The confusion grows when someone arrives to report that the very men who had been imprisoned are, in fact, teaching openly in the temple.
Acts 5:26The captain of the temple has to fetch the apostles carefully, without violence, fearing that the people, who admired them, might react by stoning the soldiers themselves.
Acts 5:27Brought back before the council, the apostles face the high priest for the second time, the same kind of formal interrogation as before.
Acts 5:28The high priest complains that the earlier ban was completely ignored, and further accuses the apostles of wanting to bring Jesus’ blood upon the council.
Acts 5:29The apostles’ answer sums up the chapter’s central conflict: when a human authority’s order contradicts what they understand to be God’s command, they choose to obey God.
Acts 5:30Peter repeats the direct accusation against the council, saying that it was God who raised up the very man they killed by “hanging him on a tree,” an expression for crucifixion.
Acts 5:31Peter describes Jesus as exalted by God to be “a Prince and a Saviour,” with the specific role of bringing Israel the chance of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Acts 5:32Peter presents two witnesses of the resurrection: the apostles themselves, who saw the events, and the Holy Spirit, given by God to those who obey Him.
Acts 5:33The council’s reaction is one of extreme fury, to the point of planning to kill the apostles right there, before the intervention that follows.
Acts 5:34“Gamaliel” was a respected Pharisee and, according to Jewish tradition, Paul’s own teacher. His pragmatic advice to wait and see saved the apostles’ lives at that moment.
Acts 5:35Gamaliel asks the council to think calmly before acting against the apostles, avoiding a hasty decision made only out of the anger of the moment.
Acts 5:36Gamaliel cites the example of Theudas, a leader who gathered about four hundred followers by claiming to be somebody important, but who was killed, and whose movement fell apart on its own afterward.
Acts 5:37The reference to Judas the Galilean recalls an armed Jewish revolt against a Roman census, years before. Gamaliel cites him and another failed leader as examples of movements that died out on their own when they were merely human affairs.
Acts 5:38Gamaliel’s practical advice is simple: do not interfere; if the apostles’ movement is merely of human origin, it will fall apart on its own, as happened with Theudas and Judas.
Acts 5:39But if it is of God, Gamaliel warns, nothing the council does will be able to stop it, and they risk ending up fighting against God Himself without realizing it.
Acts 5:40The council partially accepts Gamaliel’s advice: it does not kill the apostles, but still has them beaten before releasing them, repeating the order not to speak in the name of Jesus.
Acts 5:41Instead of leaving humiliated, the apostles leave rejoicing, regarding the physical punishment as an honor for suffering something in the name of Jesus.
Acts 5:42Despite the official ban, the apostles keep preaching every day, both in the temple and from house to house, not stopping because of the threat.

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