Acts 13:13–25

In Antioch in Pisidia

¹³Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴They went on from Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵After the reading from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message: “Brothers and sisters, we want you to speak to the people if you have a message of encouragement for them.” ¹⁶Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak:

“Fellow-Israelites and all Gentiles here who worship God: hear me! ^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, ^18*and for forty years he endured^s them in the desert. ^19*He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and made his people the owners of the land. ^20*All this took about four hundred and fifty years.

“After this^t he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. ^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. ^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.’ ²³It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Saviour of the people of Israel, as he had promised. ^24*Before Jesus began his work, John preached to all the people of Israel that they should turn from their sins and be baptized. ^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.’