Beginning

11 The emissaries and the brothers throughout Y’hudah heard that the Goyim had received the word of God; ² but when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, the members of the Circumcision faction criticized him, ³ saying, “You went into the homes of uncircumcised men and even ate with them!”

⁴ In reply, Kefa began explaining in detail what had actually happened: ⁵ “I was in the city of Yafo, praying; and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came down to me. ⁶ I looked inside and saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, crawling creatures and wild birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!’ ⁸ I said, ‘No, sir! Absolutely not! Nothing unclean or treif has ever entered my mouth!’ ⁹ But the voice spoke again from heaven: ‘Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then everything was pulled back up into heaven.

¹¹ “At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying; ¹² and the Spirit told me to have no misgivings about going back with them. These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Yafo and bring back Shim‘on, known as Kefa. ¹⁴ He has a message for you which will enable you and your whole household to be saved.’

¹⁵ “But I had hardly begun speaking when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on them, just as on us at the beginning! ¹⁶ And I remembered that the Lord had said, ‘Yochanan used to immerse people in water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as he gave us after we had come to put our trust in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸ On hearing these things, they stopped objecting and began to praise God, saying, “This means that God has enabled the Goyim as well to do t’shuvah and have life!”

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution which had arisen over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch; they spoke God’s word, but only to Jews. ²⁰ However, some of these, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, when they arrived at Antioch, began speaking to the Greeks too, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Yeshua. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people trusted and turned to the Lord.

²² News of this reached the ears of the Messianic community in Yerushalayim, and they sent Bar-Nabba to Antioch. ²³ On arriving and seeing for himself the grace of God at work, he was glad; and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with their whole hearts; ²⁴ for he was a good man, full of the Ruach HaKodesh and trust.

²⁵ Then Bar-Nabba went off to Tarsus to look for Sha’ul; ²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They met with the congregation there for a whole year and taught a sizeable crowd. Also it was in Antioch that the talmidim for the first time were called “Messianic.”

²⁷ During this time, some prophets came down from Yerushalayim to Antioch; ²⁸ and one of them named Agav stood up and through the Spirit predicted that there was going to be a severe famine throughout the Roman Empire. (It took place while Claudius was Emperor.) ²⁹ So the talmidim decided to provide relief to the brothers living in Y’hudah, each according to his means; ³⁰ and they did it, sending their contribution to the elders in the care of Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul.

12 It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community; ² and he had Ya‘akov, Yochanan’s brother, put to death by the sword. ³ When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of Matzah, ⁴ so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after Pesach. ⁵ So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.

⁶ The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of Adonai stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa’s side and woke him. “Hurry! Get up!” he said; and the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals,” and he did. “Throw on your robe,” he said, “and follow me!” ⁹ Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real — he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹ Then Kefa came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod’s power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for.”

¹² Realizing what had happened, he went to the house of Miryam the mother of Yochanan (surnamed Mark), where many people had gathered to pray. ¹³ He knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ She recognized Kefa’s voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Kefa was standing outside. ¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind!” they said to her. But she insisted it was true. So they said, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ Meanwhile, Kefa kept knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. ¹⁷ Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and said, “Tell all this to Ya‘akov and the brothers.” Then he left and went elsewhere.

¹⁸ When daylight came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Kefa. ¹⁹ Herod had a thorough search made for him, but they failed to find him, so he cross-examined the guards and ordered them put to death. Then Herod went down from Y’hudah to Caesarea and spent some time there.

²⁰ Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tzor and Tzidon, so they joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, the king’s chief personal servant, they asked for peace; because they depended on the king’s lands for their food supply. ²¹ A day was set, and Herod in his royal robes sat on the throne and made a speech to them. ²² The mob cried out, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!” ²³ At once, because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of Adonai struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of the Lord went on growing and being multiplied.

²⁵ Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul, having completed their errand, returned from Yerushalayim, bringing with them Yochanan, surnamed Mark.

13 In the Antioch congregation were prophets and teachers — Bar-Nabba, Shim‘on (known as “the Black”), Lucius (from Cyrene), Menachem (who had been brought up with Herod the governor) and Sha’ul. ² One time when they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Ruach HaKodesh said to them, “Set aside for me Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ After fasting and praying, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴ So these two, after they had been sent out by the Ruach HaKodesh, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. ⁵ After landing in Salamis, they began proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues, with Yochanan (Mark) as an assistant; ⁶ and thus they made their way throughout the whole island.

They ended up in Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and pseudo-prophet named Bar-Yeshua. ⁷ He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. Now the governor had called for Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul and was anxious to hear the message about God; ⁸ but the sorcerer Elymas (for that is how his name is translated) opposed them, doing his best to turn the governor away from the faith. ⁹ Then Sha’ul, also known as Paul, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, stared straight at him and said, ¹⁰ “You son of Satan, full of fraud and evil! You enemy of everything good! Won’t you ever stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?^{[a] 11} So now, look! The hand of the Lord is upon you; and for a while you will be blind, unable to see the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over Elymas; and he groped about, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then, on seeing what had happened, the governor trusted, astounded by the teaching about the Lord.

¹³ Having set sail from Paphos, Sha’ul and his companions arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. There Yochanan left them and returned to Yerushalayim, ¹⁴ but the others went on from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, and on Shabbat they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading from the Torah and from the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message, “Brothers, if any of you has a word of exhortation for the people, speak!” ¹⁶ So Sha’ul stood, motioned with his hand, and said:

“Men of Isra’el and God-fearers, listen! ¹⁷ The God of this people Isra’el chose our fathers. He made the people great during the time when they were living as aliens in Egypt and with a stretched-out arm he led them out of that land.^{[b] 18} For some forty years^[c] he took care of them in the desert, ¹⁹ and after he had destroyed seven nations^[d] in the land of Kena‘an he gave their land to his people as an inheritance. ²⁰ All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges,^[e] down to the prophet Sh’mu’el. ²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha’ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years, ²² God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, ‘I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.’^[f]

²³ “In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra’el from this man’s descendants a deliverer, Yeshua. ²⁴ Now before the coming of Yeshua, Yochanan proclaimed to all the people of Isra’el an immersion in connection with turning to God from sin. ²⁵ But as Yochanan was ending his work, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? Well — I’m not! But after me is coming someone, the sandals of whose feet I am unworthy to untie.’

²⁶ “Brothers! — sons of Avraham and those among you who are ‘God-fearers’! It is to us that the message of this deliverance has been sent! ²⁷ For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every Shabbat, so they fulfilled that message by condemning him. ²⁸ They could not find any legitimate ground for a death sentence; nevertheless they asked Pilate to have him executed; ²⁹ and when they had carried out all the things written about him, he was taken down from the stake^[g] and placed in a tomb.

³⁰ “But God raised him from the dead! ³¹ He appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from the Galil to Yerushalayim; and they are now his witnesses to the people.

³² “As for us, we are bringing you the Good News that what God promised to the fathers, ³³ he has fulfilled for us the children in raising up Yeshua, as indeed it is written in the second Psalm,

³⁴ And as for his raising him up from the dead, to return to decay no more, he said,

³⁵ This is explained elsewhere:

³⁶ For David did indeed serve God’s purposes in his own generation; but after that, he died, was buried with his fathers and did see decay. ³⁷ However, the one God raised up did not see decay.

³⁸ “Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through this man is proclaimed forgiveness of sins! ³⁹ That is, God clears everyone who puts his trust in this man, even in regard to all the things concerning which you could not be cleared by the Torah of Moshe.

⁴⁰ “Watch out, then, so that this word found in the Prophets may not happen to you:

⁴² As they left, the people invited Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba to tell them more about these matters the following Shabbat. ⁴³ When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the born Jews and devout proselytes followed Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba, who spoke with them and urged them to keep holding fast to the love and kindness of God.

⁴⁴ The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord; ⁴⁵ but when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Sha’ul was saying and insulted him. ⁴⁶ However, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba answered boldly: “It was necessary that God’s word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life — why, we’re turning to the Goyim! ⁴⁷ For that is what Adonai has ordered us to do:

⁴⁸ The Gentiles were very happy to hear this. They honored the message about the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life came to trust. ⁴⁹ And the message about the Lord was carried throughout the whole region.

⁵⁰ But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the women ‘God-fearers’ of high social standing and the leading men of the city, and they organized persecution against Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba and expelled them from their district. ⁵¹ However, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba shook off the dust of their feet against them and went on to Iconium; ⁵² and the talmidim were filled with joy and with the Ruach HaKodesh.