Acts 11
New King James Version
Peter Defends God’s Grace
11 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, (A)those of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, (B)“You went in to uncircumcised men (C)and ate with them!”
4 But Peter explained it to them (D)in order from the beginning, saying: 5 (E)“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me. 6 When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ 10 Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 12 Then (F)the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover (G)these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 (H)And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, 14 who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, (I)as upon us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, (J)‘John indeed baptized with water, but (K)you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 (L)If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, (M)who was I that I could withstand God?”
18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, (N)“Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”
Barnabas and Saul at Antioch
19 (O)Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to (P)the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And (Q)the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and (R)turned to the Lord.
22 Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out (S)Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. 23 When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and (T)encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, (U)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. (V)And a great many people were added to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas departed for (W)Tarsus to seek Saul. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Relief to Judea
27 And in these days (X)prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 Then one of them, named (Y)Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of (Z)Claudius Caesar. 29 Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send (AA)relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. 30 (AB)This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Skutky apoštolské 11
Slovo na cestu
Petr obhajuje svoji práci mezi pohany
11 Apoštolové a ti bratři, kteří zůstali v Judsku, se dozvěděli, že i pohané uvěřili Boží zvěsti. 2 Když se Petr vrátil do Jeruzaléma, někteří křesťané židovského původu mu vyčítali: 3 „Ty jsi navštěvoval pohany a dokonce jsi s nimi jedl!“ 4 Petr jim to pěkně po pořádku vypověděl. 5-14 Vyprávěl o vidění, které měl na střeše domu v Joppe, o příchodu Kornéliových poslů a o všem, co se pak událo v Césareji. Představil jim i šest křesťanů z Joppe, kteří s ním šli ke Kornéliovi.
Pak Petr ukončil slovy: 15 „Když jsem k nim mluvil o Kristu, sestoupil na ně svatý Duch právě tak jako tenkrát na nás. 16 Vzpomněl jsem si v té chvíli na slova Pána Ježíše: ‚Jan vás křtil na znamení pokání vodou, ale vy budete pokřtěni svatým Duchem.‘ 17 A tak když uvěřili v Pána Ježíše Krista jako my a dostali i stejný dar od Boha, nemohl jsem se přece stavět proti Boží vůli!“ 18 Když to židovští bratři vyslechli, uklidnili se, s radostí děkovali Bohu a říkali: „Tedy i pohany probouzí Bůh k pokání a k novému životu!“
V Antiochii vzniká sbor z pohanů
19 Ti věřící, kteří po Štěpánově smrti při pronásledování uprchli z Jeruzaléma, se dostali až do Fénicie, na Kypr a do města Antiochie v Sýrii. Radostné zvěsti o spáse hlásali jenom židům. 20 Někteří však, rodáci z Kypru a Kyrenaiky, začali v Antiochii mluvit o Ježíši Kristu také pohanům. 21 Pán stál při nich a velký počet lidí uvěřil a obrátil se ke Kristu. 22 Když se o tom doslechli v jeruzalémském sboru, vyslali do Antiochie Barnabáše. 23 Ten tam uviděl, jak mocně zapůsobila Boží milost. Měl z toho velkou radost a všechny povzbuzoval, aby věrně vytrvali při svém rozhodnutí pro Pána. 24 Barnabáš byl muž na svém místě, plný Ducha svatého a víry.
V Antiochii bylo pro Ježíše získáno velké množství pohanů. 25 Barnabáš se odtud vypravil do Tarsu, vyhledal Saula a přivedl ho s sebou do Antiochie. 26 Tam zůstali po celý rok, a když kázali o Kristu, připojilo se ke skupině tamějších věřících překvapivé množství lidí. V Antiochii se poprvé začalo říkat Kristovým následovníkům kristovci – křesťané.
27 Do antiochijského sboru přišli také z Jeruzaléma někteří věřící, kteří měli dar prorockého vidění. 28 Jednomu z nich, Agabovi, ukázal Bůh, že v celé říši bude velký hlad. To se skutečně vyplnilo za vlády císaře Klaudia. 29 Křesťané v Antiochii se tedy rozhodli přispět každý podle svých možností a podpořit věřící v Judsku, kde bylo mnoho chudých. 30 Sbírku poslali představeným církve v Jeruzalémě po Barnabášovi a Saulovi.
Acts 11
EasyEnglish Bible
Peter returns to Jerusalem
11 The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God. 2 Peter then returned from Caesarea and he arrived in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews there who were believers spoke against him. These Jews thought that all believers should be circumcised. 3 So they said to Peter, ‘You stayed in the house of men who were not circumcised. You even ate meals with them!’[a]
4 Peter then began to explain everything that had happened. He said to them, 5 ‘I was staying in a house in the city of Joppa. One day, when I was praying, I had a special dream. In this vision, I saw something that came down from heaven. It was like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground next to me. 6 I looked carefully at it. I saw that there were farm animals with four legs inside the cloth. There were also wild animals, snakes, and birds in it. 7 Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.”
8 But I answered, “No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.”
9 Then the voice spoke to me from heaven again. It said, “God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.” 10 All this happened three times. After that, the cloth went back up into heaven again.
11 At that moment, three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. Someone had sent these men to find me. 12 The Holy Spirit told me that I should go with them. He said that I should not be afraid. These six believers from Joppa also went with me to Caesarea. We all went into Cornelius's house. 13 Then Cornelius told us what had happened to him. He had seen an angel who appeared in his house and said to him, “Send some men to Joppa to fetch a man who is called Simon Peter. 14 He will come and speak to you. His message will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.”
15 When I started to speak to Cornelius and his family, the Holy Spirit came down on them. It happened in the same way that he first came down on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord Jesus had said to us: “John baptized people with water, but God will baptize you with his Holy Spirit.” 17 So we see that God gave these Gentiles his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the same gift that he gave to us Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I could never try to stop God.’
18 The Jewish believers heard what Peter said. They could not say anything more against him. Instead, they praised God and they said, ‘We now see that God has also let Gentiles have life with him. He will accept them if they stop doing bad things and turn to him.’
The believers go to Antioch
19 After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.
20 Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.
22 The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. 23 Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’
24 Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.
27 During this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of these men was called Agabus. The Holy Spirit gave him a message from God. He stood up and he said to the people there, ‘Soon people will be very hungry all over the world because there will be no food.’ (That happened when Claudius ruled the Roman world.)[b]
29 The believers in Antioch wanted to help the other believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided how much of their own money they could give. 30 Then they gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul took this gift to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem.
Footnotes
- 11:3 The Jews that spoke to Peter believed in Jesus. They thought that Peter had done a wrong thing. He had stayed with people who were not Jews. And he had even eaten meals with them.
- 11:28 Claudius ruled the Roman world from AD 41 to 54. There was a famine in many parts of the Roman world at that time. In Judea, this happened in AD 46.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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