₆When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?”

₇Jesus said to them, “The times and occasions are set by my Father's own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. ₈But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ₉After saying this, he was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

₁₀They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them ₁₁and said, “Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”

₁₂Then the apostles went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is about a kilometre away from the city. ₁₃They entered the city and went up to the room where they were staying: Peter, John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Patriot, and Judas son of James. ₁₄They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.