Beginning
Peter’s Report to Jerusalem
11 Now the emissaries and brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”
4 So Peter began explaining to them point by point, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision—something like a great sheet coming down, being lowered from heaven by its four corners, and it came right to me. 6 I looked inside, considering it carefully, and saw four-footed creatures of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 “But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! For never has anything unholy or unclean entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider unholy.’ 10 This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven.
11 “At that very moment, three men arrived at the house where we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 The Ruach told me to go with them without hesitating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon called Peter. 14 He will speak words to you by which you will be saved—you and all your household.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Ruach ha-Kodesh fell on them, just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John immersed with water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach ha-Kodesh.’ 17 Therefore if God gave them the same gift as also to us after we put our trust in the Lord Messiah Yeshua, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
18 When they heard this they became quiet, and they glorified God, saying, “Then even to the Gentiles God has granted repentance leading to life!”
Discipling in Diaspora
19 Now those scattered because of the persecution that happened in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Judeans. 20 However, there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Yeshua. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
22 News about these things reached the ears of the community in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was thrilled. He encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with heartfelt devotion. 24 For Barnabas was a good man, full of the Ruach ha-Kodesh and faith. And a large number was added to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas left for Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met together with Messiah’s community and taught a large number. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christianoi.”[a]
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted through the Ruach that there was going to be a great famine over all the world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the disciples decided to send relief to those brothers and sisters living in Judea, each according to his ability. 30 This they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Persecution and Deliverance
12 Now at that time Herod the king seized some from Messiah’s community to do them harm. 2 He had Jacob, John’s brother, put to death with the sword. 3 Seeing it pleased the Judean leaders, he proceeded to capture Peter as well. This was during the Days of Matzah. 4 After seizing him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads with four soldiers each to guard him. He was intending to bring him before the people after Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being offered fervently to God by Messiah’s community.
6 Now that very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping—bound with two chains between two soldiers, while guards before the gate were keeping watch over the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He poked Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up! Quick!” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals,” and he did so. Then he tells him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” 9 Peter went out and kept following him—he didn’t know that what was happening with the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they passed a first guard and a second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them by itself. They went out and walked along a narrow street. Suddenly the angel left him.
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for real that the Lord has sent His angel[b] and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Judean people were expecting.” 12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Miriam, the mother of John (also called Mark), where many were assembled together and praying. 13 When he knocked on the door of the entrance gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Although she recognized Peter’s voice, out of joy she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You’re crazy!” But she kept insisting it was so. But they were saying, “It is his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed! 17 But he motioned with his hand for them to be silent, and he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Go tell these things to Jacob and the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.
18 When day came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod made a search for him and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea and stayed in Caesarea.
Herod Gets His Due
20 Now it happened that Herod was furious with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him, united. Having won over Blastus, the king’s personal aide, they began asking for peace—because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.
21 On an appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes and, taking his seat upon the throne, began to make a speech to them. 22 The people were shouting, “The voice of a god and not a human!” 23 Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him down—because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God kept on growing and multiplying. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their service, taking along John (who was also called Mark).
Sent Out from Antioch
13 Now in the Antioch community, there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (brought up since childhood with Herod the Tetrarch), and Saul. 2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Ruach ha-Kodesh said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting, praying, and laying hands on them, they sent them off.
4 So, sent out by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John[c] as a helper.
6 When they had gone throughout the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a man who was a magician—a Jewish false prophet, whose name was Bar-Yeshua. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who is also Paul, filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh, fixed his gaze on him 10 and said, “O you, full of all deceit and trickery, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness—will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? [d] 11 Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you,[e] and you shall be blind and not see the sun for awhile.” Immediately, cloudiness and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 When he saw what had happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
Paul’s Message in Diaspora Synagogues
13 Setting sail from Paphos, Paul’s company came to Perga in Pamphylia. John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. Entering the synagogue on the Shabbat, they sat down. 15 After the reading of the Torah and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, speak.”
16 So Paul, standing up and motioning with his hand, said, “Men of Israel and God-fearers, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt,[f] and with an outstretched arm He led them out of there. 18 For about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. [g] 19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave their land as an inheritance[h]— 20 all of this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After removing him, He raised up David to be their king. He also testified about him and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do My will.’[i]
23 “From this man’s seed, in keeping with His promise, God brought to Israel a Savior[j]—Yeshua. 24 Before His coming, John had proclaimed an immersion of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his service, he said, ‘What do you suppose me to be? I am not He. But behold, One is coming after me, whose sandal I’m not worthy to untie.’
26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who are God-fearers, it is to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers—not recognizing Him or the sayings of the Prophets that are read every Shabbat—fulfilled these words by condemning Him. 28 Though they found no charge worthy of a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that had been written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. 30 But God raised Him from the dead! 31 For many days He appeared to those who had come up from the Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 “And we proclaim to you Good News—the promise to the fathers has arrived! 33 For God has fulfilled this promise to the children—to us—by raising up Yeshua, as it is also written in the second psalm:
‘You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.’[k]
34 “But since He raised Him up from the dead, never to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure mercies of David.’ [l] 35 Therefore He also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit Your Holy One to see decay.’ [m] 36 For after David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he went to sleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay. 37 But the One whom God raised up did not see decay.
38 “Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this One is proclaimed to you the removal of sins, including all those from which you could not be set right by the Torah of Moses. 39 Through this One everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous.
40 “Be careful, then, so that what is said in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41 ‘Look, you scoffers,
be amazed and vanish away.
For I am doing a work in your days—
a work you will never believe,
even if someone tells it to you in detail.’[n]”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them the next Shabbat. 43 When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. 46 Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unfit for eternal life—behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 For so the Lord has commanded us,
‘I have placed you as a light to the nations,
so that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’[o]”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were thrilled and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as had been inscribed for eternal life believed.[p]
49 Now the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district. 51 But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them,[q] and they went on to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.