New Testament in a Year
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.’
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.