Paul and Barnabas Go to Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Then Paul and his men set sail from Paphos and arrived in Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They left Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them,^[a] “Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement^[b] for the people, you may speak.”

¹⁶ Then Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen! ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with a public display of power^[c] he led them out of there. ¹⁸ After he had put up with^[d] them for 40 years in the wilderness, ¹⁹ he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. Then God gave their land to the Israelis^[e] as an inheritance ²⁰ for about 450 years.

“After that, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. ²¹ When they demanded a king, God gave them Kish’s son Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. ²² Then God^[f] removed Saul^[g] and made David their king, about whom he testified, ‘I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’^{[h] 23} It was from this man’s descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus. ²⁴ Before Jesus’ appearance, John had already preached a baptism of repentance to all the people in Israel. ²⁵ When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I’m not the Messiah.^[i] No, but he is coming after me, and I’m not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’

²⁶ “My brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us^[j] that the message of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders, not knowing who Jesus^[k] was, condemned him and so fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ When they had finished doing everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come with him to Jerusalem from Galilee. These are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We’re telling you the good news: What God promised our ancestors ³³ he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’^{[l] 34} God^[m] raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, ‘I’ll give you the holy promises made to David.’^{[n] 35} In another Psalm^[o] he says, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience decay.’^{[p] 36} Now David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died^[q] and was buried with his ancestors, and so he experienced decay. ³⁷ However, the man whom God raised did not experience decay.

³⁸ “Therefore, brothers, you must understand that through him the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and that everyone who believes in him is justified and freed from everything that kept you from being justified by the Law of Moses. ⁴⁰ So be careful that what the prophets said doesn’t happen to you:

⁴² As Paul and Barnabas^[s] were leaving, the people kept urging them to tell them the same things the next Sabbath. ⁴³ When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who kept talking to them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.