²³ So Peter^[a] welcomed them as his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along with him.

Peter Speaks with Cornelius

²⁴ The next day, they arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called his relatives and close friends together. ²⁵ When Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him, bowed down at his feet, and began to worship him. ²⁶ But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up! I, too, am only a man.”

²⁷ As Peter^[b] talked with him, he went in and found that many people had gathered. ²⁸ He told them, “You understand how wrong it is for a Jew to associate or visit with unbelievers.^[c] But God has shown me that I should stop calling anyone common or unclean, ²⁹ and that is why I didn’t hesitate when I was sent for. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”

³⁰ Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, three o’clock in the afternoon,^[d] I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me ³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. God has remembered your gifts to the poor, ³² so send messengers^[e] to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, to come to you. He is a guest in the home of Simon, a leatherworker, by the sea.’ ³³ So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. All of us are here now in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has ordered you to say.”

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “Now I understand that God shows no partiality. ³⁵ Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation. ³⁶ He has sent his word to the descendants of Israel and brought them the good news of peace through Jesus the Messiah.^[f] This man is the Lord of everyone. ³⁷ You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. ³⁸ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, he went around doing good and healing everyone who was oppressed by the Devil. ³⁹ We are witnesses of everything Jesus^[g] did in the land of the Jews, including Jerusalem.

“They hung him on a tree and killed him, ⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear— ⁴¹ not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God to be witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He also ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus^[h] receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”