Acts 13:1-25

Christian Standard Bible

Preparing for the Mission Field

13 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch,^(A) and Saul.

² As they were worshiping^[a] the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”^{(B) 3} Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.^(C)

The Mission to Cyprus

⁴ So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.^{(D) 6} When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.^{(E) 7} He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.^{(F) 8} But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed^(G) them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.^(H)

⁹ But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil^(I) and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths^(J) of the Lord? ¹¹ Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you.^(K) You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹² Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.^(L)

Paul’s Sermon in Antioch of Pisidia

¹³ Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and went back to Jerusalem.^{(M) 14} They continued their journey from Perga and reached Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.^{(N) 15} After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”^(O)

¹⁶ Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen!^{(P) 17} The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty^[b] arm.^{(Q) 18} And for about forty years he put up with them^[c] in the wilderness;^{(R) 19} and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan,^(S) he gave them their land as an inheritance. ²⁰ This all took about 450 years. After this, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.^{(T) 21} Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.^{(U) 22} After removing him,^(V) he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart,^[d](W) who will carry out all my will.’

²³ “From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel^(X) the Savior, Jesus.^{[e] 24} Before his coming to public attention, John had previously proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.^{(Y) 25} Now as John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’^(Z)