Acts 13; Acts 14
1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers:
Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought
up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were
worshiping 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 So
after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them
off. 4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit,
went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5 When
they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish
synagogues. John was with them as their helper. 6 They
traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a
Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was
an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent
man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But
Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to
turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who was also
called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 "You
are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full
of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right
ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you.
You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light
of the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped
about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the
proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching
about the Lord. 13From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to
Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14 From
Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the
synagogue and sat down.15 After the reading from the Law and the
Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, "Brothers, if
you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak." 16 Standing
up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: "Men of Israel and you Gentiles
who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of
Israel chose our fathers; he made the people prosper during their stay in
Egypt, with mighty power he led them out of that country, 18 he
endured their conduct for about forty years in the desert, 19 he
overthrew seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to his people as their
inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years. "After
this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then
the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of
Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he
made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of
Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' 23 "From
this man's descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he
promised. 24Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance
and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was
completing his work, he said: 'Who do you think I am? I am not that one. No,
but he is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.' 26 "Brothers,
children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this
message of salvation has been sent. 27The people of Jerusalem and
their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the
words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though
they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him
executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was 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 and for many days he was seen
by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his
witnesses to our people. 32 "We tell you the good news:
What God promised our fathers 33 he has fulfilled for us,
their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
" 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father. ' 34 The
fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these
words: " 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.' 35 So
it is stated elsewhere: " 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.' 36 "For
when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he
was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. 37 But the
one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. 38 "Therefore,
my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is
justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. 40 Take
care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: 41 "
'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your
days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.' " 42 As
Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak
further about these things on the next Sabbath. 43 When the
congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism
followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in
the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city
gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw
the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what
Paul was saying. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them
boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it
and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the
Gentiles. 47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
" 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation
to the ends of the earth.' " 48 When the Gentiles heard
this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were
appointed for eternal life believed. 49 The word of the Lord
spread through the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the
God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred
up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51 So
they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to
Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with
the Holy Spirit.
1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish
synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and
Gentiles believed. 2 But the Jews who refused to believe
stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So
Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord,
who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs
and wonders.4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with
the Jews, others with the apostles. 5 There was a plot afoot
among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and
stone them. 6 But they found out about it and fled to the
Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7 where
they continued to preach the good news. 8In Lystra there sat a man
crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. 9 He
listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he
had faith to be healed 10 and called out, "Stand up on
your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. 11 When
the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language,
"The gods have come down to us in human form!" 12 Barnabas
they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The
priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and
wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices
to them. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of
this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15 "Men,
why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing
you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living
God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In
the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has
not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain
from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and
fills your hearts with joy." 18 Even with these words,
they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. 19 Then
some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned
Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But
after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the
city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. 21 They
preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then
they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the
disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go
through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.23 Paul
and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and
fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After
going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when
they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. 26From
Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace
of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving
there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done
through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And
they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
