A Successor to Judas

Acts 1

¹⁵Now 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,

¹⁶"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.

¹⁷For he (Judas) was counted among us and received his share [by divine allotment] in this ministry."

¹⁸(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.

¹⁹All 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.)

²⁰"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.'

²¹So of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus spent with us,

²²beginning 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."

²³And they put forward two men, Joseph, the one called Barsabbas (who was surnamed Justus), and Matthias.

²⁴They prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know all hearts [their thoughts, motives, desires], show us which one of these two You have chosen

²⁵to occupy this ministry and apostleship which Judas left to go to his own place [of evil]."

²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.