Acts 1:15-26

Now on one of these days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (a gathering of about a hundred and twenty believers was there) and he said, “Brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the Scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the lips of David [king of Israel] about Judas [Iscariot], who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he (Judas) was counted among us and received his share [by divine allotment] in this ministry.” (Now Judas Iscariot acquired a piece of land [indirectly] with the [money paid him as a] reward for his treachery, and falling headlong, his body burst open in the middle and all his intestines poured out. All the people in Jerusalem learned about this, so in their own dialect—Aramaic—they called the piece of land Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For in the book of Psalms it is written, ‘LET HIS PLACE OF RESIDENCE BECOME DESOLATE, AND LET THERE BE NO ONE TO LIVE IN IT’; and [again], ‘LET ANOTHER TAKE HIS POSITION AS OVERSEER.’ [Ps 69:25; 109:8] So of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus spent with us, beginning with the baptism by John [at the outset of Jesus’ ministry] until the day when He was taken up from us—one of these men must become a witness with us [to testify] of His resurrection.” And they put forward two men, Joseph, the one called Barsabbas (who was surnamed Justus), and Matthias. They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know all hearts [their thoughts, motives, desires], show us which one of these two You have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship which Judas left to go to his own place [of evil].” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

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