The Apostles before the Sanhedrin
The captain of the temple guard and the chief priests are perplexed by the report from the jail until someone tells them the apostles are teaching in the temple courts. The captain then brings them in without force because of the people.
W24hen the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening. 25Then someone came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!” 26At that point, the captain went with the officers and brought the apostles — but not by force, for fear the people would stone them.
The apostles are set before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest charges them with ignoring the order not to teach in Jesus' name. He says they have filled Jerusalem with their teaching and are trying to place this man's blood on them.
27They brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, where the high priest interrogated them. 28“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”
Peter and the other apostles answer that God must be obeyed rather than men. They say the God of their fathers raised Jesus, whom the council killed by hanging him on a tree, and exalted him as Prince and Savior to grant repentance and forgiveness to Israel, and they add that both they and the Holy Spirit bear witness to these things.
29But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. 31God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”