Acts 1:9

New Testament

7 He told them, “You are not permitted to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” 9 After he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 As they were still staring into the sky while he was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood near them 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.” 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Mount of Olives (which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away).

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 4.320

Classical

But Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were remote from him; and bid them stay behind in quiet: while he exhorted those that were near to him, that they would not render his departure so lamentable. Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favour, to let him depart according as he himself desired: so they restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him were, the Senate; and Eleazar the High Priest; and Joshua their Commander. Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim, (which is a very high mountain situate over against Jericho; and one that affords to such as are upon it a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan) he dismissed the Senate. And as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the sudden, and he disappeared, in a certain valley: although he wrote in the Holy Books that he died: which was done out of fear lest they should venture to say, that because of his extraordinary virtue he went to God.

 Notes and References

"... The Jewish tradition often influenced the formation of such legends, but not Josephus himself. The story of the punishment of Elymas influenced the legend of Ananias, while the story of the conversion of Simon Magus (8,14f.) had an impact on the legend of Philip (8,5f.). Moreover, much of what was told about the Red Sea influenced Acts 12. The author of Acts combined these two writings, and in his description of Jesus' Ascension, he followed the reports of Josephus Ant. IV, 8, 48, suggesting that he was often influenced by Josephus in individual traits, as well as in diction. He added numerous speeches and processed all the material with the Lucan text, creating a new work. As a result, from the Acts of Paul, it became the Acts of Peter and Paul, forming part of the Acts of the Apostles of the New Testament ..."

Soltau, Wilhelm Petrusanekdoten und Petruslegenden in der Apostelgeschichte (pp. 805-815) Orientalische Studien Theodor Nöldeke zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, 1906

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