Acts 10:9-23

International Standard Version

Peter Has a Vision

⁹ Around noon^[a] the next day, while they were on their way and coming close to the town, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰ He became very hungry and wanted to eat, and while the food^[b] was being prepared, he fell into a trance ¹¹ and saw heaven open and something like a large linen sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the ground. ¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air.

¹³ Then a voice told him,^[c] “Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.”

¹⁴ But Peter said, “Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!”

¹⁵ Again the voice came to him a second time, “You must stop calling unclean what God has made clean.” ¹⁶ This happened three times. Then the sheet^[d] was quickly taken back into heaven.

¹⁷ While Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men sent by Cornelius asked for Simon’s house and went to the gate. ¹⁸ They called out and asked if Simon who was called Peter was staying there. ¹⁹ Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, “Look! Three men are looking for you. ²⁰ Get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

²¹ So Peter went to the men and said, “I’m the man you’re looking for. Why are you here?”

²² The men replied, “Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say.”

²³ So Peter^[e] 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.