A UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING
Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
By Lawrence M. Krauss
Illustrated. 202 pp. Free Press. $24.99.
Saturday 31 May 2014
Wednesday 28 May 2014
David albert on Lawrence krauss' claim that something can emerge from nothing.
On the Origin of Everything
‘A Universe From Nothing,’ by Lawrence M. Krauss
By DAVID ALBERT
Published: March 23, 2012
Lawrence M. Krauss, a well-known cosmologist and prolific popular-science writer, apparently means to announce to the world, in this new book, that the laws of quantum mechanics have in them the makings of a thoroughly scientific and adamantly secular explanation of why there is something rather than nothing. Period. Case closed. End of story. I kid you not. Look at the subtitle. Look at how Richard Dawkins sums it up in his afterword: “Even the last remaining trump card of the theologian, ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?,’ shrivels up before your eyes as you read these pages. If ‘On the Origin of Species’ was biology’s deadliest blow to supernaturalism, we may come to see ‘A Universe From Nothing’ as the equivalent from cosmology. The title means exactly what it says. And what it says is devastating.”
Well, let’s see. There are lots of different sorts of conversations one might want to have about a claim like that: conversations, say, about what it is to explain something, and about what it is to be a law of nature, and about what it is to be a physical thing. But since the space I have is limited, let me put those niceties aside and try to be quick, and crude, and concrete.
Where, for starters, are the laws of quantum mechanics themselves supposed to have come from? Krauss is more or less upfront, as it turns out, about not having a clue about that. He acknowledges (albeit in a parenthesis, and just a few pages before the end of the book) that everything he has been talking about simply takes the basic principles of quantum mechanics for granted. “I have no idea if this notion can be usefully dispensed with,” he writes, “or at least I don’t know of any productive work in this regard.” And what if he did know of some productive work in that regard? What if he were in a position to announce, for instance, that the truth of the quantum-mechanical laws can be traced back to the fact that the world has some other, deeper property X? Wouldn’t we still be in a position to ask why X rather than Y? And is there a last such question? Is there some point at which the possibility of asking any further such questions somehow definitively comes to an end? How would that work? What would that be like?
Never mind. Forget where the laws came from. Have a look instead at what they say. It happens that ever since the scientific revolution of the 17th century, what physics has given us in the way of candidates for the fundamental laws of nature have as a general rule simply taken it for granted that there is, at the bottom of everything, some basic, elementary, eternally persisting, concrete, physical stuff. Newton, for example, took that elementary stuff to consist of material particles. And physicists at the end of the 19th century took that elementary stuff to consist of both material particles and electromagnetic fields. And so on. And what the fundamental laws of nature are about, and all the fundamental laws of nature are about, and all there is for the fundamental laws of nature to be about, insofar as physics has ever been able to imagine, is how that elementary stuff is arranged. The fundamental laws of nature generally take the form of rules concerning which arrangements of that stuff are physically possible and which aren’t, or rules connecting the arrangements of that elementary stuff at later times to its arrangement at earlier times, or something like that. But the laws have no bearing whatsoever on questions of where the elementary stuff came from, or of why the world should have consisted of the particular elementary stuff it does, as opposed to something else, or to nothing at all.
The fundamental physical laws that Krauss is talking about in “A Universe From Nothing” — the laws of relativistic quantum field theories — are no exception to this. The particular, eternally persisting, elementary physical stuff of the world, according to the standard presentations of relativistic quantum field theories, consists (unsurprisingly) of relativistic quantum fields. And the fundamental laws of this theory take the form of rules concerning which arrangements of those fields are physically possible and which aren’t, and rules connecting the arrangements of those fields at later times to their arrangements at earlier times, and so on — and they have nothing whatsoever to say on the subject of where those fields came from, or of why the world should have consisted of the particular kinds of fields it does, or of why it should have consisted of fields at all, or of why there should have been a world in the first place. Period. Case closed. End of story.
What on earth, then, can Krauss have been thinking? Well, there is, as it happens, an interesting difference between relativistic quantum field theories and every previous serious candidate for a fundamental physical theory of the world. Every previous such theory counted material particles among the concrete, fundamental, eternally persisting elementary physical stuff of the world — and relativistic quantum field theories, interestingly and emphatically and unprecedentedly, do not. According to relativistic quantum field theories, particles are to be understood, rather, as specific arrangements of the fields. Certain arrangements of the fields, for instance, correspond to there being 14 particles in the universe, and certain other arrangements correspond to there being 276 particles, and certain other arrangements correspond to there being an infinite number of particles, and certain other arrangements correspond to there being no particles at all. And those last arrangements are referred to, in the jargon of quantum field theories, for obvious reasons, as “vacuum” states. Krauss seems to be thinking that these vacuum states amount to the relativistic-quantum-field-theoretical version of there not being any physical stuff at all. And he has an argument — or thinks he does — that the laws of relativistic quantum field theories entail that vacuum states are unstable. And that, in a nutshell, is the account he proposes of why there should be something rather than nothing.
But that’s just not right. Relativistic-quantum-field-theoretical vacuum states — no less than giraffes or refrigerators or solar systems — are particular arrangements of elementary physical stuff. The true relativistic-quantum-field-theoretical equivalent to there not being any physical stuff at all isn’t this or that particular arrangement of the fields — what it is (obviously, and ineluctably, and on the contrary) is the simple absence of the fields! The fact that some arrangements of fields happen to correspond to the existence of particles and some don’t is not a whit more mysterious than the fact that some of the possible arrangements of my fingers happen to correspond to the existence of a fist and some don’t. And the fact that particles can pop in and out of existence, over time, as those fields rearrange themselves, is not a whit more mysterious than the fact that fists can pop in and out of existence, over time, as my fingers rearrange themselves. And none of these poppings — if you look at them aright — amount to anything even remotely in the neighborhood of a creation from nothing.
Krauss, mind you, has heard this kind of talk before, and it makes him crazy. A century ago, it seems to him, nobody would have made so much as a peep about referring to a stretch of space without any material particles in it as “nothing.” And now that he and his colleagues think they have a way of showing how everything there is could imaginably have emerged from a stretch of space like that, the nut cases are moving the goal posts. He complains that “some philosophers and many theologians define and redefine ‘nothing’ as not being any of the versions of nothing that scientists currently describe,” and that “now, I am told by religious critics that I cannot refer to empty space as ‘nothing,’ but rather as a ‘quantum vacuum,’ to distinguish it from the philosopher’s or theologian’s idealized ‘nothing,’ ” and he does a good deal of railing about “the intellectual bankruptcy of much of theology and some of modern philosophy.” But all there is to say about this, as far as I can see, is that Krauss is dead wrong and his religious and philosophical critics are absolutely right. Who cares what we would or would not have made a peep about a hundred years ago? We were wrong a hundred years ago. We know more now. And if what we formerly took for nothing turns out, on closer examination, to have the makings of protons and neutrons and tables and chairs and planets and solar systems and galaxies and universes in it, then it wasn’t nothing, and it couldn’t have been nothing, in the first place. And the history of science — if we understand it correctly — gives us no hint of how it might be possible to imagine otherwise.
And I guess it ought to be mentioned, quite apart from the question of whether anything Krauss says turns out to be true or false, that the whole business of approaching the struggle with religion as if it were a card game, or a horse race, or some kind of battle of wits, just feels all wrong — or it does, at any rate, to me. When I was growing up, where I was growing up, there was a critique of religion according to which religion was cruel, and a lie, and a mechanism of enslavement, and something full of loathing and contempt for everything essentially human. Maybe that was true and maybe it wasn’t, but it had to do with important things — it had to do, that is, with history, and with suffering, and with the hope of a better world — and it seems like a pity, and more than a pity, and worse than a pity, with all that in the back of one’s head, to think that all that gets offered to us now, by guys like these, in books like this, is the pale, small, silly, nerdy accusation that religion is, I don’t know, dumb.
Tuesday 27 May 2014
In the path of the fourth horseman.
Six reasons superbugs will be worse than Aids
Idea for a movie. The year is 2015. We open in a London hospital, where a surgeon (I'm thinking Cara Delevingne) is performing a routine operation. Her hand slips and she pricks her finger on a rib. A week later, she is dead. Meanwhile, her sister (Rachel Weisz?) is giving her fractious toddler some amoxil, but its ear infection just gets worse and worse. Soon the toddler is dead. On the way to the double funeral Rachel Weisz falls in a puddle. Dead. People start to panic. Antibiotics don’t seem to work anymore. East London hipsters look paler than usual, coughing up blood into vintage handkerchiefs: tuberculosis; and Hooray Henrys meet green, agonising ends on the King’s Road: cholera. These diseases have not been seen in Britain in a hundred years! But there’s a modern twist. The clean water in the taps is dangerous. The healthy imported food in the supermarkets is dangerous. People flood into shiny, reassuring 2014 hospitals, but this is a bad mistake. Enter those buildings and you are dead. The hospitals are the worst place to hide.
This state of affairs is closer than you might think. The World Health Organisation has warned that there is an “antibiotics crisis” looming. What they mean is that antibiotics are becoming increasingly useless as resistance to them rises. Soon, we could very well run out of new antibiotics, which means we could start dying of the kinds of infections we learned how to treat 100 years ago.
The World Health Organisation has warned this could be “worse than Aids.” They’re right, it would be much, much worse. Here are six reasons why.
1. There’ll be nowhere to hide. Avoiding HIV/Aids means avoiding unprotected sex and needle swapping. Avoiding superbugs means avoiding falling off your bike, getting a bladder infection, entering a care home, entering a hospital, breaking any bones, catching the flu, diarrhoea, and minor scratches and bruises.
2. In 2012, germs resistant to antibiotics infected 2 million people and HIV infected 2.3 million people. But new HIV infections have been on a 33 per cent decrease since 2001. By contrast, between 2005 and 2012, the World Health Organization found cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Africa rose by 650 per cent.
3. No one is working on a solution, because the financial motivation for finding new antibiotics just isn’t there. In fact, development of new drugs has slowed hugely. Between 1980 and 1984, the US Food and Drug Administration approved 20 new antibiotics. Between 2005 and 2009 it approved three.
This is because it takes hundreds of millions to develop a new drug, and antibiotics don’t give investors much return. When a doctor prescribes you antibiotics, you only take it for a couple of weeks, so these drugs just can’t compete with drugs for lifelong diseases, such as HIV.
It’s also because people aren’t scared enough yet. They are terrified of Aids. Sepsis: not so much.
Infectious disease expert Brad Spellberg has said:
“We will pay US$50,000 for a course of cancer chemotherapy that prolongs life by 3 months, but we don't want to pay more than $100 for a course of antibiotics that cures the target infection.”
And why? “People are terrified of cancer, but not of infections”.
4. Unlike HIV/Aids, raising awareness about drug resistance could make the situation worse. As experts (correctly) preach the need to use fewer antibiotics, only using them when absolutely necessary, pharmaceutical companies are given less and less motivation to develop new ones.
5. Antibiotic-resistant enzymes can spread through food and through water. Last year 341 tonnes of seafood from Vietnam were found to have antibiotic residue. China’s rivers are increasingly full of drug-resistant enzymes.
6. Drug resistant diseases thrive in the very places set up to treat them. Hospitals bring people together, resistance pre-lowered, and provide them with handy disease carriers, in the form of doctors, nurses, cleaners and the laundry service. This is what experts mean when they say the new superbugs could destroy the infrastructure of the health system. In the event of an antibiotopocolypse, we are screwed.
Monday 26 May 2014
Acts1-5NWT(2013 Edition)
1 The first account, O The·oph′i·lus, I composed about all the things Jesus started to do and to teach+ 2 until the day that he was taken up,+ after he had given instructions through holy spirit to the apostles he had chosen.+ 3 After he had suffered, he showed himself alive to them by many convincing proofs.+ He was seen by them throughout 40 days, and he was speaking about the Kingdom of God.+ 4 While he was meeting with them, he ordered them: “Do not leave Jerusalem,+ but keep waiting for what the Father has promised,+ about which you heard from me; 5 for John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized with holy spirit+ not many days after this.”
6 So when they had assembled, they asked him: “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”+ 7 He said to them: “It does not belong to you to know the times or seasons that the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction.*+ 8 But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you,+ and you will be witnesses+ of me in Jerusalem,+ in all Ju·de′a and Sa·mar′i·a,+ and to the most distant part* of the earth.”+ 9 After he had said these things, while they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their sight.+ 10 And as they were gazing into the sky while he was on his way, suddenly two men in white garments+ stood beside them 11 and said: “Men of Gal′i·lee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was taken up from you into the sky will come in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem+ from a mountain called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, only a sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they arrived, they went up into the upper room where they were staying. There were Peter as well as John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bar·thol′o·mew and Matthew, James the son of Al·phae′us, and Simon the zealous one, and Judas the son of James.+ 14 With one purpose all of these were persisting in prayer, together with some women+ and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.+
15 During those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (the number* of people was altogether about 120) and said: 16 “Men, brothers, it was necessary for the scripture to be fulfilled that the holy spirit spoke prophetically through David about Judas,+ who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.+ 17 For he had been numbered among us+ and he obtained a share in this ministry. 18 (This very man, therefore, purchased a field with the wages for unrighteousness,+ and falling headfirst, his body burst open* and all his insides spilled out.+ 19 This became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language A·kel′da·ma, that is, “Field of Blood.”) 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his dwelling become desolate, and let there be no inhabitant in it’+ and, ‘His office of oversight let someone else take.’+ 21 It is therefore necessary that of the men who accompanied us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus carried on his activities* among us, 22 starting with his baptism by John+ until the day he was taken up from us,+ one of these men should become a witness with us of his resurrection.”+
23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Bar′sab·bas, who was also called Justus, and Mat·thi′as. 24 Then they prayed and said: “You, O Jehovah,* who know the hearts of all,+ designate which one of these two men you have chosen 25 to take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas deviated to go to his own place.”+ 26 So they cast lots over them,+ and the lot fell to Mat·thi′as, and he was counted* along with the 11 apostles.
2 Now while the day of the Festival of Pentecost+ was in progress, they were all together at the same place. 2 Suddenly there was a noise from heaven, just like that of a rushing, stiff breeze, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.+ 3 And tongues as if of fire became visible to them and were distributed, and one came to rest on each one of them, 4 and they all became filled with holy spirit+ and started to speak in different languages,* just as the spirit enabled them to speak.+
5 At that time devout Jews from every nation under heaven were staying in Jerusalem.+ 6 So when this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Indeed, they were utterly amazed and said: “See here, all these who are speaking are Gal·i·le′ans,+ are they not? 8 How is it, then, that each one of us is hearing his own native language?* 9 Par′thi·ans, Medes,+ and E′lam·ites;+ the inhabitants of Mes·o·po·ta′mi·a, Ju·de′a and Cap·pa·do′ci·a, Pon′tus and the province of Asia,+ 10 Phryg′i·a and Pam·phyl′i·a, Egypt and the regions of Lib′y·a near Cy·re′ne; sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes;+ 11 Cre′tans; and Arabians—we hear them speaking in our languages about the magnificent things of God.” 12 Yes, they were all astonished and perplexed, saying to one another: “What does this mean?” 13 However, others mocked them and said: “They are full of sweet wine.”*
14 But Peter stood up with the Eleven+ and spoke to them in a loud voice: “Men of Ju·de′a and all you inhabitants of Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen carefully to my words. 15 These people are, in fact, not drunk, as you suppose, for it is the third hour of the day.* 16 On the contrary, this is what was said through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘“And in the last days,” God says, “I will pour out some of my spirit on every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams,+ 18 and even on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.+ 19 And I will give wonders* in heaven above and signs on earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and illustrious day of Jehovah* comes. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah* will be saved.”’+
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus the Naz·a·rene′ was a man publicly shown to you by God through powerful works and wonders* and signs that God did through him in your midst,+ just as you yourselves know. 23 This man, who was handed over by the determined will* and foreknowledge of God,+ you fastened to a stake by the hand of lawless men, and you did away with him.+ 24 But God resurrected him+ by releasing him from the pangs* of death, because it was not possible for him to be held fast by it.+ 25 For David says about him: ‘I keep Jehovah* constantly in front of me,* for he is at my right hand that I may never be shaken. 26 On this account my heart became cheerful and my tongue rejoiced greatly. And I* will reside in hope; 27 because you will not leave me* in the Grave,* nor will you allow your loyal one to see corruption.+ 28 You have made life’s ways known to me; you will fill me with great joy in your presence.’*+
29 “Men, brothers, it is permissible to speak with freeness of speech to you about the family head David, that he died and was buried,+ and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath that he would seat one of his offspring* on his throne,+ 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he forsaken in the Grave* nor did his flesh see corruption.*+ 32 God resurrected this Jesus, and of this we are all witnesses.+ 33 Therefore, because he was exalted to the right hand of God+ and received the promised holy spirit from the Father,+ he has poured out what you see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah* said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35 until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.”’+ 36 Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord+ and Christ, this Jesus whom you executed on a stake.”+
37 Now when they heard this, they were stabbed to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Men, brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them: “Repent,+ and let each one of you be baptized+ in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins,+ and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit. 39 For the promise+ is to you and your children, and to all those who are far away, to all those whom Jehovah* our God may call to himself.”+ 40 And with many other words he gave a thorough witness and kept exhorting them, saying: “Get saved from this crooked generation.”+ 41 So those who gladly accepted his word were baptized,+ and on that day about 3,000 people* were added.+ 42 And they continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to associating together,* to the taking of meals,+ and to prayers.+
43 Indeed, fear began to fall upon everyone,* and many wonders* and signs began to occur through the apostles.+ 44 All those who became believers were together and had everything in common, 45 and they were selling their possessions+ and properties and distributing the proceeds to all, according to what each one needed.+ 46 And day after day they were in constant attendance in the temple with a united purpose, and they took their meals in different homes and shared their food with great rejoicing and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and finding favor with all the people. At the same time Jehovah* continued to add to them daily those being saved.+
3 Now Peter and John were going up into the temple for the hour of prayer, the ninth hour,* 2 and a man who was lame from birth was being carried. Every day they would put him near the temple door that was called Beautiful, so he could ask for gifts of mercy from those entering the temple. 3 When he caught sight of Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking for gifts of mercy. 4 But Peter, together with John, looked straight at him and said: “Look at us.” 5 So he fixed his attention on them, expecting to get something from them. 6 However, Peter said: “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I do have is what I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Naz·a·rene′, walk!”+ 7 With that he took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up.+ Instantly his feet and his ankles were made firm;+ 8 and leaping to his feet,+ he began walking and went with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 And they began to recognize him, that this was the man who used to sit waiting for gifts of mercy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,+ and they were completely astonished and ecstatic about what had happened to him.
11 While the man was still holding on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at what was called Sol′o·mon’s Colonnade,+ completely surprised. 12 When Peter saw this, he said to the people: “Men of Israel, why are you so amazed at this, and why are you staring at us as though by personal power or godly devotion we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob,+ the God of our forefathers, has glorified his Servant,+ Jesus,+ whom you handed over+ and disowned before Pilate, even though he had decided to release him. 14 Yes, you disowned that holy and righteous one, and you asked for a man who was a murderer to be given to you,+ 15 whereas you killed the Chief Agent of life.+ But God raised him up from the dead, of which fact we are witnesses.+ 16 And through his name, and by our faith in his name, this man whom you see and know has been made strong. The faith that is through him has made this man completely healthy in front of all of you. 17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance,+ just as your rulers also did.+ 18 But in this way God has fulfilled the things he announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer.+
19 “Repent,+ therefore, and turn around+ so as to get your sins blotted out,+ so that seasons of refreshing may come from Jehovah himself* 20 and he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus. 21 Heaven must hold this one within itself until the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old. 22 In fact, Moses said: ‘Jehovah* your God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me.+ You must listen to whatever he tells you.+ 23 Indeed, anyone* who does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.’+ 24 And all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed him, as many as have spoken, have also plainly declared these days.+ 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your forefathers,+ saying to Abraham: ‘And by means of your offspring* all the families of the earth will be blessed.’+ 26 God, after raising up his Servant, sent him to you first+ to bless you by turning each one of you away from your wicked deeds.”
4 While the two were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees+ came up to them. 2 These were annoyed because the apostles were teaching the people and were openly declaring the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.*+ 3 So they seized* them and took them into custody+ until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who had listened to the speech believed, and the number of the men became about 5,000.+
5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 along with An′nas+ the chief priest, Ca′ia·phas,+ John, Alexander, and all who were relatives of the chief priest. 7 They stood Peter and John in their midst and began to question them: “By what power or in whose name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with holy spirit,+ said to them:
“Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today about a good deed to a crippled man,+ and you want to know who made this man well, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ the Naz·a·rene′,+ whom you executed on a stake+ but whom God raised up from the dead,+ by means of him this man stands here healthy in front of you. 11 This is ‘the stone that was treated by you builders as of no account that has become the chief cornerstone.’*+ 12 Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name+ under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.”+
13 Now when they saw the outspokenness* of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated* and ordinary men,+ they were astonished. And they began to realize that they had been with Jesus.+ 14 As they were looking at the man who had been cured standing with them,+ they had nothing to say in answer to this.+ 15 So they commanded them to go outside the San′he·drin hall, and they began consulting with one another, 16 saying: “What should we do with these men?+ Because, for a fact, a noteworthy sign has occurred through them, one evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,+ and we cannot deny it. 17 So that this does not spread any further among the people, let us threaten them and tell them not to speak to anyone anymore on the basis of this name.”+
18 With that they called them and ordered them not to say anything at all or to teach on the basis of the name of Jesus. 19 But in reply Peter and John said to them: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. 20 But as for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.”+ 21 So after they had threatened them further, they released them, since they did not find any grounds for punishing them and on account of the people,+ because they were all glorifying God over what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this miracle* of healing had been done was more than 40 years old.
“Sovereign Lord, you are the One who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them,+ 25 and who said through holy spirit by the mouth of our forefather David,+ your servant: ‘Why did nations become agitated and peoples meditate on empty things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers gathered together as one against Jehovah* and against his anointed one.’*+ 27 For truly both Herod and Pontius Pilate+ with men of the nations and with peoples of Israel were gathered together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,+ 28 to do what your hand and counsel had determined beforehand to occur.+ 29 And now, Jehovah,* give attention to their threats, and grant to your slaves to keep speaking your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand for healing and while signs and wonders* occur+ through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”+
32 Moreover, the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul,* and not even one of them would say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.+ 33 And with great power the apostles continued giving the witness about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,+ and undeserved kindness was upon them all in large measure. 34 In fact, no one was in need among them,+ for all those who owned fields or houses would sell them and bring the value of what was sold, 35 and they would deposit it at the feet of the apostles.+ In turn distribution would be made to each one according to his need.+ 36 So Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Bar′na·bas+ (which means, when translated, “Son of Comfort”), a Levite, a native of Cy′prus, 37 owned a piece of land, and he sold it and brought the money and deposited it at the feet of the apostles.+
5 However, a man named An·a·ni′as, together with his wife Sap·phi′ra, sold some property. 2 But he secretly held back some of the price, with his wife’s knowledge, and he brought just a part of it and deposited it at the feet of the apostles.+ 3 But Peter said: “An·a·ni′as, why has Satan emboldened you to lie+ to the holy spirit+ and secretly hold back some of the price of the field? 4 As long as it remained with you, did it not remain yours? And after it was sold, was it not in your control? Why have you thought up such a deed as this in your heart? You have lied, not to men, but to God.” 5 On hearing these words, An·a·ni′as collapsed and died. And great fear came over all those who heard about it. 6 Then the younger men rose, wrapped him in cloths, carried him out, and buried him.
7 Now after an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter said to her: “Tell me, did you two sell the field for so much?” She said: “Yes, for that amount.” 9 So Peter said to her: “Why did you two agree to make a test of the spirit of Jehovah?* Look! The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Instantly she collapsed at his feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her alongside her husband. 11 So great fear came over the whole congregation and over all those hearing about these things.
12 Moreover, through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders* continued to occur among the people;+ and they would all meet together in Sol′o·mon’s Colonnade.+ 13 True, none of the others had the courage to join them; nevertheless, the people were speaking highly of them. 14 More than that, believers in the Lord kept on being added, great numbers both of men and of women.+ 15 They even brought the sick out into the main streets and laid them there on small beds and mats, so that as Peter would pass by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.+ 16 Also, crowds of people from the cities around Jerusalem kept coming, carrying sick people and those troubled with unclean spirits, and they were one and all cured.
17 But the high priest rose, and all those with him, who were of the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with jealousy. 18 And they seized* the apostles and put them in the public jail.+ 19 But during the night, Jehovah’s* angel opened the doors of the prison,+ brought them out, and said: 20 “Go and take your stand in the temple, and keep on speaking to the people all the sayings about this life.” 21 After hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Now when the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the San′he·drin and the entire assembly of elders of the sons of Israel, and they sent out to the jail to have the apostles brought before them. 22 But when the officers got there, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and made their report, 23 saying: “We found the jail locked and secure, and the guards were standing at the doors, but on opening it up, we found no one inside.” 24 Well, when both the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about what would come of this. 25 But someone came and reported to them: “Look! The men you put in prison are in the temple, standing and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain went off with his officers and brought them in, but without violence, because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.+
27 So they brought them and stood them before the San′he·drin. Then the high priest questioned them 28 and said: “We strictly ordered you not to keep teaching on the basis of this name,+ and yet look! you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring the blood of this man upon us.”+ 29 In answer Peter and the other apostles said: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.+ 30 The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a stake.*+ 31 God exalted this one as Chief Agent+ and Savior+ to his right hand,+ to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.+ 32 And we are witnesses of these matters,+ and so is the holy spirit,+ which God has given to those obeying him as ruler.”
33 When they heard this, they were infuriated* and wanted to do away with them. 34 But a Pharisee named Ga·ma′li·el+ rose in the San′he·drin; he was a Law teacher esteemed by all the people, and he gave the command to put the men outside for a little while. 35 Then he said to them: “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you intend to do about these men. 36 For instance, before these days Theu′das rose up, saying he himself was somebody, and a number of men, about 400, joined his party. But he was done away with, and all those who were following him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Gal·i·le′an rose up in the days of the registration, and he drew followers after himself. That man also perished, and all those who were following him were scattered. 38 So under the present circumstances, I say to you, do not meddle with these men, but let them alone. For if this scheme or this work is from men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them.+ Otherwise, you may even be found fighters against God himself.”+ 40 At this they took his advice, and they summoned the apostles, flogged* them,+ and ordered them to stop speaking on the basis of Jesus’ name, and let them go.
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