Acts 13:1–15

PREPARING FOR THE MISSION FIELD

13Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch,^m and Saul.

²As they were worshiping^A the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”^{n 3}Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.^o

THE MISSION TO CYPRUS

⁴So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.^{p 6}When they had traveled the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.^{q 7}He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.^{r 8}But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed^s them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.^t

⁹But Saul—also called Paul—filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at Elymas ¹⁰and said, “You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery, you son of the devil^u and enemy of all that is right. Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths^v of the Lord? ¹¹Now, look, the Lord’s hand is against you.^w You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹²Then, when he saw what happened, the proconsul believed, because he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.^x

PAUL’S SERMON IN ANTIOCH OF PISIDIA

¹³Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and went back to Jerusalem.^{y 14}They continued their journey from Perga and reached Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.^{z 15}After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”^a