Acts 11; Acts 12
1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that
the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when
Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and
said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with
them." 4 Peter began and explained everything to them
precisely as it had happened: 5 "I was in the city of
Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large
sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where
I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the
earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 Then I
heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' 8 "I
replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my
mouth.' 9 "The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do
not call anything impure that God has made clean.' 10 This
happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. 11 "Right
then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where
I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation
about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the
man's house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in
his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He
will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be
saved.' 15 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on
them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I
remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 So if God gave them the
same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to
think that I could oppose God?" 18 When they heard this,
they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has
granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." 19 Now
those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen
traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to
Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene,
went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news
about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a
great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News
of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to
Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace
of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all
their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit
and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then
Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found
him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with
the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called
Christians first at Antioch. 27 During this time some prophets
came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named
Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would
spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of
Claudius.) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability,
decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This
they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who
belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had
James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When
he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This
happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4 After
arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four
squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial
after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the
church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night
before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two
soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly
an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on
the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains
fell off Peter's wrists.8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on
your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around
you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed
him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was
really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They
passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the
city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had
walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then
Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord
sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the
Jewish people were anticipating." 12When this had dawned on
him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where
many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at
the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When
she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening
it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" 15 "You're
out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so,
they said, "It must be his angel." 16 But Peter kept
on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter
motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had
brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this,"
he said, and then he left for another place. 18 In the
morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become
of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him
and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be
executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20 He
had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together
and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a
trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they
depended on the king's country for their food supply. 21 On the
appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a
public address to the people. 22 They shouted, "This is
the voice of a god, not of a man." 23 Immediately,
because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down,
and he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God
continued to increase and spread. 25 When Barnabas and Saul
had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them
John, also called Mark.
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