Beginning

Peter returns to Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God. ² Peter then returned from Caesarea and he arrived in Jerusalem. Some of the Jews there who were believers spoke against him. These Jews thought that all believers should be circumcised. ³ So they said to Peter, ‘You stayed in the house of men who were not circumcised. You even ate meals with them!’^[a]

⁴ Peter then began to explain everything that had happened. He said to them, ⁵ ‘I was staying in a house in the city of Joppa. One day, when I was praying, I had a special dream. In this vision, I saw something that came down from heaven. It was like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground next to me. ⁶ I looked carefully at it. I saw that there were farm animals with four legs inside the cloth. There were also wild animals, snakes, and birds in it. ⁷ Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.”

⁸ But I answered, “No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.”

⁹ Then the voice spoke to me from heaven again. It said, “God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.” ¹⁰ All this happened three times. After that, the cloth went back up into heaven again.

¹¹ At that moment, three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. Someone had sent these men to find me. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me that I should go with them. He said that I should not be afraid. These six believers from Joppa also went with me to Caesarea. We all went into Cornelius's house. ¹³ Then Cornelius told us what had happened to him. He had seen an angel who appeared in his house and said to him, “Send some men to Joppa to fetch a man who is called Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will come and speak to you. His message will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.”

¹⁵ When I started to speak to Cornelius and his family, the Holy Spirit came down on them. It happened in the same way that he first came down on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord Jesus had said to us: “John baptized people with water, but God will baptize you with his Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷ So we see that God gave these Gentiles his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the same gift that he gave to us Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I could never try to stop God.’

¹⁸ The Jewish believers heard what Peter said. They could not say anything more against him. Instead, they praised God and they said, ‘We now see that God has also let Gentiles have life with him. He will accept them if they stop doing bad things and turn to him.’

The believers go to Antioch

¹⁹ After the Jewish leaders had killed Stephen, the believers had a lot of trouble. The believers left Jerusalem and they went to many different places. Some of them went away as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. They told God's message to people in these places. But they only told the message to Jews.

²⁰ Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord God helped these men with his power. Very many people believed their message and they trusted in the Lord Jesus.

²² The believers in Jerusalem heard about what had happened in Antioch. So they decided to send Barnabas there. ²³ Barnabas arrived in Antioch. He saw how God had been kind to the people there and helped them. Barnabas was happy about this. So he said to the new believers, ‘Continue to trust the Lord Jesus completely.’

²⁴ Barnabas was a good man. The power of God's Holy Spirit was with him. He trusted God completely. Many people in Antioch believed in Jesus and joined the group of believers.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When Barnabas found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For one whole year, Barnabas and Saul met together with the group of believers there. They taught very many of them about Jesus. Antioch was the first place where the believers were called Christians.

²⁷ During this time, some prophets travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of these men was called Agabus. The Holy Spirit gave him a message from God. He stood up and he said to the people there, ‘Soon people will be very hungry all over the world because there will be no food.’ (That happened when Claudius ruled the Roman world.)^[b]

²⁹ The believers in Antioch wanted to help the other believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided how much of their own money they could give. ³⁰ Then they gave the money to Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul took this gift to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem.

King Herod puts Peter in prison

12 At that time, King Herod took hold of some of the group of believers in Jerusalem. He wanted to cause them to suffer. ² He sent his soldiers to cut off James's head. James was John's brother.^[c]

³ King Herod saw that the Jews were happy because he had killed James. So he sent his soldiers to take hold of Peter too. This happened during the Festival of Flat Bread.^[d]

⁴ After the soldiers caught Peter, they put him in prison. While he was in prison, four different groups of soldiers guarded him. There were four soldiers in each group.^[e] Herod wanted to judge Peter in front of everybody. After the Passover festival had finished, he would bring Peter out of the prison to do this.

⁵ So Herod kept Peter in prison. But during that time, the group of believers prayed that God would help Peter.

Peter walks out of the prison

⁶ It was the night before King Herod wanted to bring Peter out of the prison and judge him. The soldiers had tied Peter to themselves with chains. So Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Some other soldiers were guarding the doors of the prison. ⁷ Then, an angel from the Lord God suddenly appeared in the prison. A bright light shone in the room where Peter was sleeping. The angel touched Peter's shoulder so that Peter woke up. He said to Peter, ‘Hurry! Stand up!’ Immediately the chains fell off Peter's hands.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and your shoes.’ Peter did what the angel told him to do. Then the angel said, ‘Now put on your coat and follow me.’ ⁹ So Peter followed the angel out of the prison. He was not sure that all these things were really happening to him. He thought that he might be dreaming. ¹⁰ Peter and the angel walked past the first group of soldiers in the prison. Then they walked past the second group of soldiers. After that, they came to the big metal gate in the wall of the prison. The city was outside this gate. The gate opened by itself in front of them. So Peter and the angel went out of the prison through the gate. They walked together along one street and then, suddenly, the angel went away.

¹¹ Then Peter understood what had happened. He said to himself, ‘Now I know that these things really have happened to me. The Lord God sent one of his angels to rescue me from Herod's power. The Jewish leaders wanted Herod to cause me to suffer. But God has saved me from those bad things.’

¹² When Peter realized what God had done for him, he went to Mary's house. She was the mother of John Mark. Many people were meeting together in her house. They were praying to God.^[f]

¹³ Peter knocked on the outside door of the house. A servant girl called Rhoda came to the door. ¹⁴ She recognized Peter's voice and she was very happy. But she did not open the door. Instead, she ran back into the house and she said to all the people there, ‘Peter is standing outside the door!’

¹⁵ The people in the house said to her, ‘You are crazy.’ But she told them again that Peter really was there. So then they said, ‘It is not him, but it is his angel.’^[g]

¹⁶ While all this was happening, Peter was still knocking at the door. Then someone went and opened the door. They were all very surprised when they saw him there. ¹⁷ Peter raised his hand towards them so that they would all be quiet. Then he explained to them how the Lord God had brought him out of the prison. He said to them, ‘Tell James and all the other believers what has happened to me.’^[h] Then he left the house and he went away to another place.

¹⁸ When morning arrived, there was a lot of trouble at the prison. The soldiers did not understand what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod knew about it, he said to the soldiers, ‘Go and look for Peter!’ But they could not find him anywhere. Herod then asked the soldiers who guarded the prison some questions. They could not explain what had happened. So Herod commanded other soldiers to cut off their heads.

After this happened, Herod left Judea. He went to Caesarea and he stayed there for some time.

King Herod dies

²⁰ At that time, King Herod was angry with the people who lived in Tyre and Sidon. A group of men from these cities went together to speak to Herod about the problem. A man called Blastus was an important servant in King Herod's house. The group of men said to Blastus, ‘Please help us when we speak to King Herod.’ Then they went and they said to Herod, ‘Please stop being angry with our people. We want to be friends again.’ They said this because they needed to buy food in King Herod's country.^[i]

²¹ Herod decided on which day he would meet with them. He put on his beautiful clothes and he sat in his special seat as king. Then he spoke his message to all the people. ²² When he spoke, the people shouted, ‘This is not a man who is speaking to us. This is the voice of a god!’

²³ Herod let the people praise him, instead of God. So, immediately, an angel of the Lord God caused him to become very ill. Worms ate his body and later he died.

Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch

²⁴ Everywhere that the believers went, they told people God's message. People heard the message in more and more places and many of them believed in Jesus.

²⁵ Barnabas and Saul had gone to Jerusalem to help the believers there. They finished their work and then they returned to Antioch. They took John Mark with them.

The believers in Antioch send Saul and Barnabas to Cyprus

13 There were some prophets among the group of believers in Antioch. They taught the other believers more about Jesus. Barnabas and Simeon were two of these men. (People also called Simeon ‘Niger’.)^[j] There was Lucius who had lived in Cyrene. There was also Manaen who had lived together with the ruler Herod when they were children. And there was Saul.

² One day, the believers were meeting together. They were praising the Lord God and they were praying. They also fasted for a time. During that time, the Holy Spirit said to them, ‘I have chosen Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. Let them go now and do it.’

³ The believers continued to pray and to fast. Then the leaders put their hands on Barnabas and Saul and they prayed for them. They sent them away to start this new work.

What happened in Cyprus

⁴ The Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul away from Antioch. They travelled to the town of Seleucia, which is near the coast. From there they travelled on a ship to an island called Cyprus. ⁵ They arrived at a town called Salamis. There they went into the Jewish meeting places and they told the people God's message about Jesus. John Mark went with Barnabas and Saul to help them with their work.

⁶ They travelled across the whole island and they arrived at a town called Paphos. There they met a man called Bar-Jesus.^[k] He was a Jew. He used magic to do surprising things. He said that he was a prophet from God. But his messages were not true.

⁷ The ruler of Cyprus was called Sergius Paulus. Bar-Jesus was his friend. Sergius Paulus understood things well. So he asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him. He wanted them to tell him God's message. ⁸ Bar-Jesus was also called Elymas. That was his name in the Greek language. He did not like what Barnabas and Saul were saying. He did not want Sergius Paulus to believe in Jesus. So he tried to stop him. ⁹ Then God filled Saul with the power of his Holy Spirit. (Saul was also now called Paul.^[l] ) Paul looked straight at Elymas and he said, ¹⁰ ‘You are a servant of the Devil! You are against everything that is right. Your mind is full of lies and other bad things. You try to change the true message of the Lord and make it into lies. You must stop doing that! ¹¹ The Lord will now punish you. You will become blind for a time. You will not even see the light of the sun.’

When Paul said that, immediately something like a dark cloud covered Elymas's eyes. He could not find his own way. He needed someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² Sergius Paulus saw what had happened to Elymas. He was very surprised about the things that Barnabas and Paul taught him about the Lord Jesus. And so he believed in Jesus.

Paul and Barnabas go to Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Paul and the two other men got in a ship and they sailed away from Paphos. They arrived at a town called Perga, which is in the region called Pamphylia. John Mark left them there and he returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Paul and Barnabas left Perga, and they went to a town called Antioch in Pisidia. On the Jewish day of rest, they went into the meeting place and they sat down. ¹⁵ Someone read aloud some words from the Bible. They read from God's Law and from the messages of God's prophets. After this, the leaders of the Jewish meeting place passed a note to Paul and Barnabas. The note said, ‘Friends, do you have a message that will help the people? If you do, please speak now.’

¹⁶ So Paul stood up. He raised his hand towards the people so that they would listen to him. Then he said to them, ‘Some of you are Jews, like us. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. All of you, listen carefully to me.

¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors to be his people. While they lived in Egypt, God caused his people to become a very large group. They lived as foreign people in Egypt. But God used his great power to bring them out from that country.^{[m] 18} The people of Israel did not obey God. But God took care of them in the wilderness for 40 years. ¹⁹ He destroyed seven nations of people who lived in the land of Canaan. God gave their land to his own people so that they could live there. ²⁰ All of these things happened during about 450 years.

After this, God gave to his people leaders who were called judges. They ruled Israel until the time when God's prophet Samuel was alive. ²¹ Then the people of Israel asked Samuel to choose a king for them. So God gave Saul to them as their king. Saul was the son of Kish and he was from the tribe of Benjamin. He ruled Israel for 40 years. ²² Then God removed Saul as king. He caused David to be their king instead.^[n] God said this about David: “I have watched David, the son of Jesse. He does things that make me happy. I know that he will do everything that I want.”

²³ God promised to send to the people of Israel someone who would save us. Jesus is the man that God sent to save us. He is a descendant of King David. ²⁴ Before Jesus began his work in this world, John spoke a message to all the people of Israel. He told people to stop doing wrong things and to turn to God. Then he would baptize them.^{[o] 25} When John had almost finished his work, he said to the people, “Perhaps you think that I am the special man that God will send. I am not that man. But listen! That man will come soon. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him.” ’^[p]

²⁶ Paul then said, ‘I speak to all you people here. Some of you, like us, have Abraham as your ancestor. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. God has sent this message to all of us. It tells us how he will save us. ²⁷ The people who were living in Jerusalem, and their leaders, did not understand about Jesus. They did not know that he was God's special man. Every Jewish day of rest, someone reads aloud the messages of God's prophets. But the people in Jerusalem did not understand. Instead, they said that Jesus had done bad things. They said that he should die. In that way, they caused the message of the prophets to become true. ²⁸ The Jewish leaders could not find any reason to kill Jesus for what he had done. But they continued to say to Pilate, “Your soldiers must kill him.” ²⁹ When the soldiers did that, it happened just like the prophets had written about him long ago. After that, some of Jesus' disciples took him down from the cross where he had died. They took his body and they buried it. ³⁰ But after Jesus died, God caused him to become alive again. ³¹ For many days after this, Jesus appeared to his disciples. The people who had earlier travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now telling the people of Israel all about it.^[q]

³² So we have come here to tell you this good news. God promised our ancestors that he would do these great things for his people. ³³ Now he has done these things for us who are alive today. He has raised up Jesus to live again. We can read about this in the second Psalm. God says,

³⁴ God caused Jesus to live again so that nothing would destroy his body. He will not die again. This is what God said to our ancestors:

³⁵ God also says this in another Psalm:

³⁶ While David was alive, he served God as God wanted him to do. Then he died and men buried him next to his ancestors. So worms destroyed David's body. ³⁷ But as for Jesus, God caused him to become alive again. He did not die again and nothing destroyed his body.

³⁸ My friends, I want all of you to know this. God forgives us for the bad things that we have done. He does this because of what Jesus did. That is my message to you. ³⁹ God can cause anyone to become right with him. If you believe in Jesus, God will make you free from your sins. God's Law that he gave to Moses cannot do this for you. That Law cannot make you free, even if you obey all of it. ⁴⁰ Be careful then! Remember what God's prophets spoke about long ago. Do not let that happen to you. This is what one of them wrote:^[u]

⁴¹ “Listen to me, you people who laugh at God!

⁴² After Paul spoke this message, he and Barnabas were leaving the meeting place. The people there said to them, ‘Please return on our next day of rest. Then you can tell us more about what you have already told us.’ ⁴³ When the meeting finished, many people followed Paul and Barnabas. Some of them were Jews. Others were Gentiles who now worshipped God. Paul and Barnabas said to them, ‘God has been very kind to you. You should continue to trust him.’

⁴⁴ On the next Jewish day of rest, almost everyone in the town came together to hear the Lord God's message. ⁴⁵ But when some Jews saw the crowds of people, they became angry. They were very jealous because the people listened to Paul and Barnabas. They said that Paul was teaching wrong things. They also said bad things against him.

⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas were not afraid of them. They said to them, ‘It was right that we first tell you who are Jews the message from God. But now you say that God's message is not true. You have shown that you do not deserve true life with God. So we will leave you now. We will go and tell this message to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷ The Lord God has also told us to do this. He said:

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles there heard this, they were very happy. They thanked God for the message about the Lord Jesus. Many people believed in Jesus. They were the people that God had chosen to have true life with him.

⁴⁹ Many people in that part of the country heard the message about the Lord Jesus. ⁵⁰ But the Jewish leaders spoke to the important men in the city. They also spoke to some rich women who worshipped God. The Jewish leaders told them bad things about Paul and Barnabas. So these important people started to speak against Paul and Barnabas. They caused Paul and Barnabas to leave that region. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas cleaned the dirt of that place off their feet. This showed that the people in that town had done a bad thing. Paul and Barnabas then travelled to a town called Iconium.

⁵² The believers in Antioch continued to be very happy. The Holy Spirit completely filled them.