New Testament in a Year
The Holy Spirit Calls Paul and Barnabas
13 Now in the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas; Simeon, who was called Niger; Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch; and Saul. 2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.
4 So they were sent out by the Holy Spirit and went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.
6 When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
8 Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and looking straight at him, 10 said, “You are full of every kind of deceit and fraud, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all righteousness! Will you never stop twisting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now look! The hand of the Lord is against you. You will be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching of the Lord.
At Pisidian Antioch
13 Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But they went on from Perga and arrived at Antioch in Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Gentlemen,[a] brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
16 Then Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with his uplifted arm, he led them out of it. 18 He put up with them[b] for about forty years in the wilderness. 19 Then he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, and he gave their land to his people as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges[c] until the time of Samuel the prophet.
21 “Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After removing him, he raised up David as their king. God testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart. He will do all that I want him to do.’[d]
23 “From this man’s descendants[e] God brought the Savior Jesus to Israel, in keeping with his promise. 24 Before he appeared publicly, John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But look! That One is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’[f]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.