Acts 11:1–18

Peter’s Report to the Church at Jerusalem

11The apostles and the other believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ²When Peter went to Jerusalem, those who were in favour of circumcising Gentiles criticized him, saying, ³“You were a guest in the home of uncircumcised Gentiles, and you even ate with them!” ⁴So Peter gave them a complete account of what had happened from the very beginning:

⁵“While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I had a vision. I saw something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it stopped next to me. ⁶I looked closely inside and saw domesticated and wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. ⁷Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’ ⁸But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! No ritually unclean or defiled food has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹The voice spoke again from heaven, ‘Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.’ ¹⁰This happened three times, and finally the whole thing was drawn back up into heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I wasⁿ staying. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six fellow-believers from Joppa accompanied me to Caesarea, and we all went into the house of Cornelius. ¹³He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send someone to Joppa for a man whose full name is Simon Peter. ¹⁴He will speak words to you by which you and all your family will be saved.’ ¹⁵And when I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as 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.’ ¹⁷It is clear that God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, then, to try to stop God!”

¹⁸When they heard this, they stopped their criticism and praised God, saying, “Then God has given to the Gentiles also the opportunity to repent and live!”