Peter’s Report to the Church in Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised disputed with him, ³ saying, “You went in and ate with uncircumcised men!”

⁴ Peter began explaining it to them in order, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in a trance I saw a vision: A vessel like a great sheet was descending, let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me. ⁶ I considered what I had observed and saw four-footed creatures and wild beasts and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’

⁸ “I said, ‘Not at all, Lord. For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’

⁹ “The voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, do not call common.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times. And again everything was taken up into heaven.

¹¹ “And immediately three men sent from Caesarea to me came to the house where I was. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. Moreover these six brothers came with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter. ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as He fell on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{[a] 17} If then God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things, they were silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then God has granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.”

The Church in Antioch

¹⁹ Now those who were scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ Some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

²² News of these things came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and exhorted them all to remain with the Lord with a loyal heart. ²⁴ For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a considerable crowd. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷ In these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them, named Agabus, stood up and prophesied by the Spirit that there would be a great famine throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. ²⁹ Then every disciple, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea. ³⁰ Indeed they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.