In Iconium

14 At Iconium^(A) Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.^(B) There they spoke so effectively that a great number^(C) of Jews and Greeks believed. ² But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.^{(D) 3} So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly^(E) for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.^{(F) 4} The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.^{(G) 5} There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews,^(H) together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them.^{(I) 6} But they found out about it and fled^(J) to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, ⁷ where they continued to preach^(K) the gospel.^(L)

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth^(A) and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed^{(B) 10} and called out, “Stand up on your feet!”^(C) At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.^(D)

¹¹ When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”^{(E) 12} Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.^{(F) 13} The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes^(G) and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human,^(H) like you. We are bringing you good news,^(I) telling you to turn from these worthless things^(J) to the living God,^(K) who made the heavens and the earth^(L) and the sea and everything in them.^{(M) 16} In the past, he let^(N) all nations go their own way.^{(O) 17} Yet he has not left himself without testimony:^(P) He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons;^(Q) he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”^{(R) 18} Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

Psalm 19^[a]

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(A) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(B) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(C) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(D) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(E) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(F) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](G) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(H) 30} In the past God overlooked^(I) such ignorance,^(J) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^(K)

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity

¹⁸ The wrath of God^(A) is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.^{(B) 20} For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,^(C) so that people are without excuse.^(D)

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.^{(E) 22} Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools^{(F) 23} and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images^(G) made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over^(H) in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.^{(I) 25} They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,^(J) and worshiped and served created things^(K) rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.^(L) Amen.^(M)

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over^(N) to shameful lusts.^(O) Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.^{(P) 27} In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.^(Q)

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over^(R) to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,^{(S) 30} slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;^{(T) 31} they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,^(U) no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,^(V) they not only continue to do these very things but also approve^(W) of those who practice them.

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^(B)

¹⁹ Then some Jews^(A) came from Antioch and Iconium^(B) and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul^(C) and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. ²⁰ But after the disciples^(D) had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

A Final Charge to Timothy

¹⁰ You, however, know all about my teaching,^(A) my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch,^(B) Iconium^(C) and Lystra,^(D) the persecutions I endured.^(E) Yet the Lord rescued^(F) me from all of them.^{(G) 12} In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,^{(H) 13} while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse,^(I) deceiving and being deceived.^{(J) 14} But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,^{(K) 15} and how from infancy^(L) you have known the Holy Scriptures,^(M) which are able to make you wise^(N) for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed^(O) and is useful for teaching,^(P) rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,^{(Q) 17} so that the servant of God^[a](R) may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.^(S)

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra,^(A) where a disciple named Timothy^(B) lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer^(C) but whose father was a Greek. ² The believers^(D) at Lystra and Iconium^(E) spoke well of him. ³ Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.^(F)