Acts 14:8–20

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸In Lystra there was a man who had been lame from birth and had never been able to walk. ⁹He sat there and listened to Paul’s words. Paul saw that he believed and could be healed, so he looked straight at him ¹⁰and said in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” The man jumped up and started walking around. ¹¹When 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!” ¹²They gave Barnabas the name Zeus, and Paul the name Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³The 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.

¹⁴When Barnabas and Paul heard what they were about to do, they tore their clothes and ran into the middle of the crowd, shouting, ^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. ¹⁶In the past he allowed all people to go their own way. ¹⁷But 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.” ¹⁸Even with these words the apostles could hardly keep the crowd from offering a sacrifice to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch in Pisidia and from Iconium; they won the crowd over to their side, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. ²⁰But when the believers gathered round him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe.