Acts 13:22-52

Living Bible

²² But God removed him and replaced him with David as king, a man about whom God said, ‘David (son of Jesse) is a man after my own heart, for he will obey me.’ ²³ And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!

²⁴ “But before he came, John the Baptist preached the need for everyone in Israel to turn from sin to God. ²⁵ As John was finishing his work he asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No! But he is coming soon—and in comparison with him, I am utterly worthless.’

²⁶ “Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also all of you Gentiles here who reverence God—this salvation is for all of us! ²⁷ The Jews in Jerusalem and their leaders fulfilled prophecy by killing Jesus; for they didn’t recognize him or realize that he is the one the prophets had written about, though they heard the prophets’ words read every Sabbath. ²⁸ They found no just cause to execute him, but asked Pilate to have him killed anyway. ²⁹ When they had fulfilled all the prophecies concerning his death, he was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb.

³⁰ “But God brought him back to life again! ³¹ And he was seen many times during the next few days by the men who had accompanied him to Jerusalem from Galilee—these men have constantly testified to this in public witness.

^32-33 “And now Barnabas and I are here to bring you this Good News—that God’s promise to our ancestors has come true in our own time, in that God brought Jesus back to life again. This is what the second Psalm is talking about when it says concerning Jesus, ‘Today I have honored you as my Son.’^[a]

³⁴ “For God had promised to bring him back to life again, no more to die. This is stated in the Scripture that says, ‘I will do for you the wonderful thing I promised David.’ ³⁵ In another Psalm he explained more fully, saying, ‘God will not let his Holy One decay.’ ³⁶ This was not a reference to David, for after David had served his generation according to the will of God, he died and was buried, and his body decayed. ³⁷ No, it was a reference to another^[b]—someone God brought back to life, whose body was not touched at all by the ravages of death.

³⁸ “Brothers! Listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins! ³⁹ Everyone who trusts in him is freed from all guilt and declared righteous—something the Jewish law could never do. ⁴⁰ Oh, be careful! Don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, ⁴¹ ‘Look and perish, you despisers of the truth,^[c] for I am doing something in your day—something that you won’t believe when you hear it announced.’”

⁴² As the people left the synagogue that day, they asked Paul to return and speak to them again the next week. ⁴³ And many Jews and godly Gentiles who worshiped at the synagogue followed Paul and Barnabas down the street as the two men urged them to accept the mercies God was offering. ⁴⁴ The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the Word of God.

⁴⁵ But when the Jewish leaders^[d] saw the crowds, they were jealous, and cursed and argued against whatever Paul said.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that this Good News from God should be given first to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and shown yourselves unworthy of eternal life—well, we will offer it to Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For this is as the Lord commanded when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to lead them from the farthest corners of the earth to my salvation.’”

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and rejoiced in Paul’s message; and as many as wanted^[e] eternal life, believed. ⁴⁹ So God’s message spread all through that region.

⁵⁰ Then the Jewish leaders stirred up both the godly women and the civic leaders of the city and incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas, and ran them out of town. ⁵¹ But they shook off the dust of their feet against the town and went on to the city of Iconium. ⁵² And their converts^[f] were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.