Beginning

Peter Returns to Jerusalem

11 The apostles and the believers in Judea heard that non-Jewish people had accepted God’s teaching too. ² But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers argued with him. ³ They said, “You went into the homes of people who are not Jews and are not circumcised! You even ate with them!”

⁴ So Peter explained the whole story to them. ⁵ He said, “I was in the city of Joppa. While I was praying, I had a vision. In the vision, I saw something which looked like a big sheet coming down from heaven. It was being lowered to earth by its four corners. It came down very close to me, and ⁶ I looked inside it. I saw animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. ⁷ I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is unholy or unclean.’ ⁹ But the voice from heaven answered again, ‘God has made these things clean. Don’t call them unholy!’ ¹⁰ This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back to heaven. ¹¹ Right then three men came to the house where I was staying. They were sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them without doubting. These six believers here also went with me. We went to the house of Cornelius. ¹³ He told us about the angel he saw standing in his house. The angel said to him, ‘Send some men to Joppa and invite Simon Peter to come. ¹⁴ He will speak to you. The things he will say will save you and all your family.’ ¹⁵ When I began my speech, the Holy Spirit came on them just as he came on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the words of the Lord. He said, ‘John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit!’ ¹⁷ God gave to them the same gift that he gave to us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So could I stop the work of God? No!”

¹⁸ When the Jewish believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is allowing the non-Jewish people also to turn to him and live.”

The Good News Comes to Antioch

¹⁹ Many of the believers were scattered by the terrible things that happened after Stephen was killed. Some of them went to places as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They were telling the message to others, but only to Jews. ²⁰ Some of these believers were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. When they came to Antioch, they spoke also to Greeks,^[a] telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord was helping the believers. And a large group of people believed and turned to the Lord.

²² The church in Jerusalem heard about all of this, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ^23-24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith. When he reached Antioch and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad. He encouraged all the believers in Antioch. He told them, “Never lose your faith. Always obey the Lord with all your hearts.” Many people became followers of the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he found Saul, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year Saul and Barnabas met with the church. They taught many people there. In Antioch the followers were called Christians for the first time.

²⁷ About that time some prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them was named Agabus. He stood up and spoke with the help of the Holy Spirit. He said, “A very hard time is coming to the whole world. There will be no food for people to eat.” (This happened when Claudius ruled.) ²⁹ The followers all decided to help their brothers who lived in Judea. Each one planned to send them as much as he could. ³⁰ They gathered the money and gave it to Barnabas and Saul, who brought it to the elders in Judea.

Herod Agrippa Hurts the Church

12 During that same time King Herod began to do terrible things to some who belonged to the church. ² He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword. ³ Herod saw that the Jews liked this, so he decided to arrest Peter, too. (This happened during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴ After Herod arrested Peter, he put him in jail and handed him over to be guarded by 16 soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter before the people for trial after the Passover Feast. ⁵ So Peter was kept in jail. But the church kept on praying to God for him.

Peter Leaves the Jail

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping. He was between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Other soldiers were guarding the door of the jail. ⁷ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood there. A light shined in the room. The angel touched Peter on the side and woke him up. The angel said, “Hurry! Get up!” And the chains fell off Peter’s hands. ⁸ The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And so Peter did this. Then the angel said, “Put on your coat and follow me.” ⁹ So the angel went out, and Peter followed him. Peter did not know if what the angel was doing was real. He thought he might be seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They went past the first and the second guard. They came to the iron gate that separated them from the city. The gate opened itself for them. They went through the gate and walked down a street. And the angel suddenly left him.

¹¹ Then Peter realized what had happened. He thought, “Now I know that the Lord really sent his angel to me. He rescued me from Herod and from all the things the Jewish people thought would happen.”

¹² When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary. She was the mother of John. (John was also called Mark.) Many people were gathered there, praying. ¹³ Peter knocked on the outside door. A servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. ¹⁴ She recognized Peter’s voice, and she was very happy. She even forgot to open the door. She ran inside and told the group, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she kept on saying that it was true. So they said, “It must be Peter’s angel.”

¹⁶ Peter continued to knock. When they opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ Peter made a sign with his hand to tell them to be quiet. He explained how the Lord led him out of the jail. And he said, “Tell James and the other believers what happened.” Then he left to go to another place.

¹⁸ The next day the soldiers were very upset. They wondered what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹ Herod looked everywhere for Peter but could not find him. So he questioned the guards and ordered that they be killed.

The Death of Herod Agrippa

Later Herod moved from Judea and went to the city of Caesarea, where he stayed for a while. ²⁰ Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. But the people of those cities all came in a group to Herod. They were able to get Blastus, the king’s personal servant, on their side. They asked Herod for peace because their country got its food from his country.

²¹ On a chosen day Herod put on his royal robes. He sat on his throne and made a speech to the people. ²² They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!” ²³ Herod did not give the glory to God. So an angel of the Lord caused him to become sick. He was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ God’s message continued to spread and reach more and more people.

²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul finished their task in Jerusalem, they returned to Antioch. John, also called Mark, was with them.

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen

13 In the church at Antioch there were these prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with Herod, the ruler) and Saul. ² They were all worshiping the Lord and giving up eating.^[b] The Holy Spirit said to them, “Give Barnabas and Saul to me to do a special work. I have chosen them for it.”

³ So they gave up eating and prayed. They laid their hands on^[c] Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴ Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went to the city of Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ When they came to Salamis, they preached the Good News of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

⁶ They went across the whole island to Paphos. In Paphos they met a Jew who was a magician. His name was Bar-Jesus. He was a false prophet, ⁷ who always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, the governor. Sergius Paulus was a smart man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear the message of God. ⁸ But Elymas, the magician (that is what his name means), was against them. He tried to stop the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹ But Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Saul’s other name was Paul.) He looked straight at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of evil tricks and lies. You are always trying to change the Lord’s truths into lies! ¹¹ Now the Lord will touch you, and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun.”

Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the governor saw this, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus

¹³ Paul and those with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, in Pamphylia. But John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any message that will encourage the people, please speak!”

¹⁶ Paul stood up. He raised his hand and said, “Men of Israel and you other people who worship God, please listen! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt. He brought them out of that country with great power. ¹⁸ And he was patient with them^[d] for 40 years in the desert. ¹⁹ God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. ²⁰ All this happened in about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. ²² After God took him away, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse. He is the kind of man I want. He will do all that I want him to do.’ ²³ So God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. And God promised to do this. ²⁴ Before Jesus came, John^[e] preached to all the people of Israel. He told them about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. ²⁵ When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later. I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you non-Jews who worship God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us. ²⁷ Those who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not realize that Jesus was the Savior. They did not understand the words that the prophets wrote, which are read every Sabbath day. But they made them come true when they said Jesus was guilty. ²⁸ They could not find any real reason for Jesus to die, but they asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹ They did to him all that the Scriptures had said. Then they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him up from death! ³¹ After this, for many days, the people who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors. ³³ We are their children, and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We read about this also in Psalm 2:

³⁴ God raised Jesus from death. He will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said:

³⁵ But in another place God says:

³⁶ David did God’s will during his lifetime. Then he died and was buried with his fathers. And his body did rot in the grave! ³⁷ But the One God raised from death did not rot in the grave. ^38-39 Brothers, you must understand what we are telling you: You can have forgiveness of your sins through Jesus. The law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But everyone who believes is free from all sins through him. ⁴⁰ Be careful! Don’t let what the prophets said happen to you:

⁴² While Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ After the meeting, many Jews followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. With the Jews there were many who had changed to the Jewish religion and worshiped God. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God’s kindness.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath day, almost all the people in the city came to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ Seeing the crowd, the Jews became very jealous. They said insulting things and argued against what Paul said. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, “We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations! ⁴⁷ This is what the Lord told us to do. The Lord said:

⁴⁸ When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message of the Lord. And many of the people believed the message. They were the ones chosen to have life forever.

⁴⁹ And so the message of the Lord was spreading through the whole country. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city against Paul and Barnabas. They started trouble against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their area. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet^[f] and went to Iconium. ⁵² But the followers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.