Acts 11-13

21st Century King James Version

11 And the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God.

² And when Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the Circumcision contended with him,

³ saying, “Thou wentest in to uncircumcised men and didst eat with them.”

⁴ But Peter reviewed the matter from the beginning and expounded it in order unto them, saying,

⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. A certain vessel descended as though it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came even to me.

⁶ And when I had fastened my eyes on it, I considered it and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things and fowls of the air.

⁷ And I heard a voice saying unto me, ‘Arise, Peter; slay and eat.’

⁸ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.’

⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven, ‘What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.’

¹⁰ And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.

¹¹ And behold, immediately three men had already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.

¹² And the Spirit bade me go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house.

¹³ And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, who stood and said unto him, ‘Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter,

¹⁴ who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all of thy house shall be saved.’

¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.’

¹⁷ If therefore God gave them the same gift as He did unto us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose on account of Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the Word to none but unto the Jews only.

²⁰ And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke unto the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus.

²¹ And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.

²² Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.

²³ And when he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord,

²⁴ for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And many people were added unto the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas departed to Tarsus to seek out Saul;

²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass that for a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught many people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

²⁷ And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

²⁸ And one of them named Agabus stood up, and signified by the Spirit that there would be a great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

²⁹ Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren who dwelt in Judea.

³⁰ This also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

12 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

² And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

³ And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (This was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴ And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

⁵ Peter therefore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing by the church unto God for him.

⁶ And when Herod would have brought him forth, that same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the keepers were guarding the door of the prison.

⁷ And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise up quickly.” And his chains fell off from his hands.

⁸ And the angel said unto him, “Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals.” And so he did. And the angel said unto him, “Cast thy garment about thee and follow me.”

⁹ And he went out and followed him, and knew not whether what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.

¹⁰ When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him.

¹¹ And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know in truth that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectations of the people of the Jews.”

¹² And when he had considered this thing, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

¹³ And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel named Rhoda came to ask who was there.

¹⁴ And when she recognized Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter stood before the gate.

¹⁵ And they said unto her, “Thou art mad.” But she continued to affirm that it was even so. Then they said, “It is his angel.”

¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

¹⁷ But he, beckoning unto them with his hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go and tell these things unto James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went into another place.

¹⁸ Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

¹⁹ And when Herod had sought him and found him not, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea and there stayed.

²⁰ And Herod was highly displeased with those from Tyre and Sidon. But they came with one accord to him and, having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was nourished by the king’s country.

²¹ And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and delivered an oration unto them.

²² And the people gave a shout, saying, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!”

²³ And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and gave up the ghost.

²⁴ But the Word of God grew and multiplied.

²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

13 Now there were in the church at Antioch certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene,and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

² As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

³ And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

⁴ So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

⁵ And when they were at Salamis, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had also John in their ministry.

⁶ And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus.

⁷ He was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the Word of God.

⁸ But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

⁹ Then Saul (who also is called Paul), filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him

¹⁰ and said, “O, full of all guile and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

¹¹ And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.” And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹² Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

¹³ Now when Paul and his company cast loose from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴ But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.

¹⁵ And after the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, “Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”

¹⁶ Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and ye that fear God, give audience!

¹⁷ The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm He brought them out of it.

¹⁸ And for about forty years, He suffered their ways in the wilderness.

¹⁹ And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land among them by lot.

²⁰ And after that, He gave unto them judges for about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

²¹ And afterward they desired a king, and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for the space of forty years.

²² And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, who shall fulfill all My will.’

²³ Of this man’s seed hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus.

²⁴ John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵ And as John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘Whom think ye that I am? I am not He. But behold, there cometh One after me, the shoes of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’

²⁶ “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

²⁷ For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew Him not nor yet understood the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath day, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.

²⁸ And though they found no cause for death in Him, yet they asked Pilate that He should be slain.

²⁹ And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher.

³⁰ But God raised Him from the dead;

³¹ and He was seen many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people.

³² And we declare unto you glad tidings of the promise which was made unto the fathers:

³³ God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.’

³⁴ And concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’

³⁵ Therefore He saith also in another Psalm: ‘Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.’

³⁶ For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption.

³⁷ But He whom God raised again saw no corruption.

³⁸ Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins;

³⁹ and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰ Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets:

⁴¹ ‘Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; for I work a work your days, a work in which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.’”

⁴² And when the Jews had gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

⁴³ Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴ And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God.

⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy, and spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, “It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you. But seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷ For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest bring salvation unto the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ And the Word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region.

⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their borders.

⁵¹ But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

⁵² And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.