Category: Acts

[12:1] About this time King Herod began to persecute some members of the church.

[12:2] He had James, the brother of John, put to death by the sword.

[12:3] When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he went ahead and had Peter arrested. (This happened during the time of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.)

[12:4] After his arrest Peter was put in jail, where he was handed over to be guarded by four groups of four soldiers each. Herod planned to put him on trial in public after Passover.

[12:5] So Peter was kept in jail, but the people of the church were praying earnestly to God for him.

[12:6] The night before Herod was going to bring him out to the people, Peter was sleeping between two guards. He was tied with two chains, and there were guards on duty at the prison gate.

[12:7] Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shone in the cell. The angel shook Peter by the shoulder, woke him up, and said, “Hurry! Get up!” At once the chains fell off Peter's hands.

[12:8] Then the angel said, “Tighten your belt and put on your sandals.” Peter did so, and the angel said, “Put your cloak around you and come with me.”

[12:9] Peter followed him out of the prison, not knowing, however, if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.

[12:10] They passed by the first guard station and then the second, and came at last to the iron gate that opens into the city. The gate opened for them by itself, and they went out. They walked down a street, and suddenly the angel left Peter.

[12:11] Then Peter realized what had happened to him, and said, “Now I know that it is really true! The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power and from everything the Jewish people expected to happen.”

[12:12] Aware of his situation, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

[12:13] Peter knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer it.

[12:14] She recognized Peter's voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Peter was standing outside.

[12:15] “You are crazy!” they told her. But she insisted that it was true. So they answered, “It is his angel.”

[12:16] Meanwhile Peter kept on knocking. At last they opened the door, and when they saw him, they were amazed.

[12:17] He motioned with his hand for them to be quiet, and he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell this to James and the rest of the believers,” he said; then he left and went somewhere else.

[12:18] When morning came, there was a tremendous confusion among the guards—what had happened to Peter?

[12:19] Herod gave orders to search for him, but they could not find him. So he had the guards questioned and ordered them put to death. After this, Herod left Judea and spent some time in Caesarea.

[12:20] Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, so they went in a group to see him. First they convinced Blastus, the man in charge of the palace, that he should help them. Then they went to Herod and asked him for peace, because their country got its food supplies from the king's country.

[12:21] On a chosen day Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to the people.

[12:22] “It isn't a man speaking, but a god!” they shouted.

[12:23] At once the angel of the Lord struck Herod down, because he did not give honor to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

[12:24] Meanwhile the word of God continued to spread and grow.

[12:25] Barnabas and Saul finished their mission and returned from Jerusalem, taking John Mark with them.

[13:1] In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (who had been brought up with Governor Herod), and Saul.

[13:2] While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them.”

[13:3] They fasted and prayed, placed their hands on them, and sent them off.

[13:4] Having been sent by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went to Seleucia and sailed from there to the island of Cyprus.

[13:5] When they arrived at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues. They had John Mark with them to help in the work.

[13:6] They went all the way across the island to Paphos, where they met a certain magician named Bar-Jesus, a Jew who claimed to be a prophet.

[13:7] He was a friend of the governor of the island, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor called Barnabas and Saul before him because he wanted to hear the word of God.

[13:8] But they were opposed by the magician Elymas (that is his name in Greek), who tried to turn the governor away from the faith.

[13:9] Then Saul—also known as Paul—was filled with the Holy Spirit; he looked straight at the magician

[13:10] and said, “You son of the Devil! You are the enemy of everything that is good. You are full of all kinds of evil tricks, and you always keep trying to turn the Lord's truths into lies!

[13:11] The Lord's hand will come down on you now; you will be blind and will not see the light of day for a time.” At once Elymas felt a dark mist cover his eyes, and he walked around trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.

[13:12] When the governor saw what had happened, he believed; for he was greatly amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

[13:13] Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem.

[13:14] They went on from Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue and sat down.

[13:15] After the reading from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message: “Friends, we want you to speak to the people if you have a message of encouragement for them.”

[13:16] Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Fellow Israelites and all Gentiles here who worship God: hear me!

[13:17] The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors and made the people a great nation during the time they lived as foreigners in Egypt. God brought them out of Egypt by his great power,

[13:18] and for forty years he endured them in the desert.

[13:19] He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and made his people the owners of the land.

[13:20] All of this took about 450 years. “After this he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.

[13:21] And when they asked for a king, God gave them Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, to be their king for forty years.

[13:22] After removing him, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found that David son of Jesse is the kind of man I like, a man who will do all I want him to do.’

[13:23] It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Savior of the people of Israel, as he had promised.

[13:24] Before Jesus began his work, John preached to all the people of Israel that they should turn from their sins and be baptized.

[13:25] And as John was about to finish his mission, he said to the people, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one you are waiting for. But listen! He is coming after me, and I am not good enough to take his sandals off his feet.’

[13:26] “My fellow Israelites, descendants of Abraham, and all Gentiles here who worship God: it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent!

[13:27] For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not know that he is the Savior, nor did they understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Yet they made the prophets' words come true by condemning Jesus.

[13:28] And even though they could find no reason to pass the death sentence on him, they asked Pilate to have him put to death.

[13:29] And after they had done everything that the Scriptures say about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb.

[13:30] But God raised him from death,

[13:31] and for many days he appeared to those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now witnesses for him to the people of Israel. ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’

[13:34] And this is what God said about raising him from death, never to rot away in the grave: ‘I will give you the sacred and sure blessings that I promised to David.’

[13:35] As indeed he says in another passage, ‘You will not allow your faithful servant to rot in the grave.’

[13:36] For David served God's purposes in his own time, and then he died, was buried with his ancestors, and his body rotted in the grave.

[13:37] But this did not happen to the one whom God raised from death.

[13:40] Take care, then, so that what the prophets said may not happen to you:

[13:41] ‘Look, you scoffers! Be astonished and die! For what I am doing today is something that you will not believe, even when someone explains it to you!’”

[13:42] As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to come back the next Sabbath and tell them more about these things.

[13:43] After the people had left the meeting, Paul and Barnabas were followed by many Jews and by many Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism. The apostles spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God.

[13:44] The next Sabbath nearly everyone in the town came to hear the word of the Lord.

[13:45] When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; they disputed what Paul was saying and insulted him.

[13:46] But Paul and Barnabas spoke out even more boldly: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles.

[13:47] For this is the commandment that the Lord has given us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, so that all the world may be saved.’”

[13:48] When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the Lord's message; and those who had been chosen for eternal life became believers.

[13:49] The word of the Lord spread everywhere in that region.

[13:50] But the Jews stirred up the leading men of the city and the Gentile women of high social standing who worshiped God. They started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of their region.

[13:51] The apostles shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went on to Iconium.

[13:52] The believers in Antioch were full of joy and the Holy Spirit.

[14:1] The same thing happened in Iconium: Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of Jews and Gentiles became believers.

[14:2] But the Jews who would not believe stirred up the Gentiles and turned them against the believers.

[14:3] The apostles stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who proved that their message about his grace was true by giving them the power to perform miracles and wonders.

[14:4] The people of the city were divided: some were for the Jews, others for the apostles.

[14:5] Then some Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, decided to mistreat the apostles and stone them.

[14:6] When the apostles learned about it, they fled to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia and to the surrounding territory.

[14:7] There they preached the Good News.

[14:8] In Lystra there was a crippled man who had been lame from birth and had never been able to walk.

[14:9] He sat there and listened to Paul's words. Paul saw that he believed and could be healed, so he looked straight at him

[14:10] and said in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” The man jumped up and started walking around.

[14:11] When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they started shouting in their own Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!”

[14:12] They gave Barnabas the name Zeus, and Paul the name Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

[14:13] The priest of the god Zeus, whose temple stood just outside the town, brought bulls and flowers to the gate, for he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice to the apostles.

[14:14] When Barnabas and Paul heard what they were about to do, they tore their clothes and ran into the middle of the crowd, shouting,

[14:15] “Why are you doing this? We ourselves are only human beings like you! We are here to announce the Good News, to turn you away from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven, earth, sea, and all that is in them.

[14:16] In the past he allowed all people to go their own way.

[14:17] But he has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does: he gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times; he gives you food and fills your hearts with happiness.”

[14:18] Even with these words the apostles could hardly keep the crowd from offering a sacrifice to them.

[14:19] Some Jews came from Antioch in Pisidia and from Iconium; they won the crowds over to their side, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead.

[14:20] But when the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe.

[14:21] Paul and Barnabas preached the Good News in Derbe and won many disciples. Then they went back to Lystra, to Iconium, and on to Antioch in Pisidia.

[14:22] They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. “We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God,” they taught.

[14:23] In each church they appointed elders, and with prayers and fasting they commended them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

[14:24] After going through the territory of Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

[14:25] There they preached the message in Perga and then went to Attalia,

[14:26] and from there they sailed back to Antioch, the place where they had been commended to the care of God's grace for the work they had now completed.

[14:27] When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the people of the church together and told them about all that God had done with them and how he had opened the way for the Gentiles to believe.

[14:28] And they stayed a long time there with the believers.

[15:1] Some men came from Judea to Antioch and started teaching the believers, “You cannot be saved unless you are circumcised as the Law of Moses requires.”

[15:2] Paul and Barnabas got into a fierce argument with them about this, so it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others in Antioch should go to Jerusalem and see the apostles and elders about this matter.

[15:3] They were sent on their way by the church; and as they went through Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported how the Gentiles had turned to God; this news brought great joy to all the believers.

[15:4] When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, to whom they told all that God had done through them.

[15:5] But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses.”

[15:6] The apostles and the elders met together to consider this question.

[15:7] After a long debate Peter stood up and said, “My friends, you know that a long time ago God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the Gentiles, so that they could hear and believe.

[15:8] And God, who knows the thoughts of everyone, showed his approval of the Gentiles by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he had to us.

[15:9] He made no difference between us and them; he forgave their sins because they believed.

[15:10] So then, why do you now want to put God to the test by laying a load on the backs of the believers which neither our ancestors nor we ourselves were able to carry?

[15:11] No! We believe and are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

[15:12] The whole group was silent as they heard Barnabas and Paul report all the miracles and wonders that God had performed through them among the Gentiles.

[15:13] When they had finished speaking, James spoke up: “Listen to me, my friends!

[15:14] Simon has just explained how God first showed his care for the Gentiles by taking from among them a people to belong to him.

[15:15] The words of the prophets agree completely with this. As the scripture says,

[15:16] ‘After this I will return, says the Lord, and restore the kingdom of David. I will rebuild its ruins and make it strong again.

[15:17] And so all the rest of the human race will come to me, all the Gentiles whom I have called to be my own.

[15:18] So says the Lord, who made this known long ago.’

[15:19] “It is my opinion,” James went on, “that we should not trouble the Gentiles who are turning to God.

[15:20] Instead, we should write a letter telling them not to eat any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols; to keep themselves from sexual immorality; and not to eat any animal that has been strangled, or any blood.

[15:21] For the Law of Moses has been read for a very long time in the synagogues every Sabbath, and his words are preached in every town.”