¹Theophilus, I first wrote to you about all that Jesus did and taught from the very first[#Lk 1.1-4.; #1.1 The Gospel of Luke.]

²until he was taken up to heaven. But before he was taken up, he gave orders to the apostles he had chosen with the help of the Holy Spirit.

³For 40 days after Jesus had suffered and died, he proved in many ways that he had been raised from death. He appeared to his apostles and spoke to them about God's kingdom.

⁴While he was still with them, he said:[#Lk 24.49.]

Jesus Is Taken to Heaven

⁶While the apostles were still with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, are you now going to give Israel its own king again?”[#1.6 Or “Are you now going to rule Israel as its king?”]

⁷Jesus said to them, “You don't need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.

⁸But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.”[#Mt 28.19; Mk 16.15; Lk 24.47,48.]

⁹After Jesus had said this and while they were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him,[#Mk 16.19; Lk 24.50,51.]

¹⁰but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky.

Suddenly two men dressed in white clothes were standing there beside them.

¹¹They said, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back in the same way you have seen him go.”

Someone To Take the Place of Judas

^12-13The Mount of Olives was about a kilometer from Jerusalem. The apostles who had gone there were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon, known as the Eager One, and Judas the son of James.[#Mt 10.2-4; Mk 3.16-19; Lk 6.14-16.; #1.12,13 The Greek text has “Zealot,” a name later given to the members of a Jewish group that resisted and fought against the Romans.]

After the apostles returned to the city, they went upstairs to the room where they had been staying.

¹⁴The apostles often met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind. The women and Mary the mother of Jesus would meet with them, and so would his brothers.[#1.14 Or “met together in a special place for prayer.”]

¹⁵One day there were about 120 of the Lord's followers meeting together, and Peter stood up to speak to them.

^16-17He said:

“Leave his house empty,

and don't let anyone

live there.”

It also says,

“Let someone else

have his job.”

²³Two men were suggested: One of them was Joseph Barsabbas, known as Justus, and the other was Matthias.

²⁴Then they all prayed, “Lord, you know what everyone is like! Show us the one you have chosen

²⁵to be an apostle and to serve in place of Judas, who got what he deserved.”

²⁶They drew names, and Matthias was chosen to join the group of the eleven apostles.