Acts 10:1–23

Cornelius Has a Vision

10Now there was a certain man in Caesarea named^a Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Cohort, ²devout and fearing God together with all his household, doing many charitable deeds for the people and praying to God continually.^{b 3}About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴And he stared at him and became terrified and^* said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your charitable deeds have gone up for a memorial offering before God. ⁵And now, send men to Joppa and summon a certain Simon, who is also called Peter. ⁶This man is staying as a guest with a certain Simon, a tanner,^c whose house is by the sea.” ⁷And when the angel who spoke to him departed, he summoned two of the household slaves and a devout soldier from those who attended him, ⁸and after he^* had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Peter Has a Vision

⁹And the next day, as^* they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray at about the sixth hour. ¹⁰And he became hungry and wanted to eat. But while^* they were preparing the food,^* a trance came over him. ¹¹And he saw heaven opened and an object something like a large sheet coming down, being let down to the earth by its four corners, ¹²in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky. ¹³And a voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!” ¹⁴But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common and unclean!” ¹⁵And the voice came again to him for the second time: “The things which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!” ¹⁶And this happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into heaven.

¹⁷Now while Peter was greatly perplexed within himself as to what the vision that he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having found the house of Simon by asking around, stood at the gate. ¹⁸And they called out and^* asked if Simon who was also called Peter was staying there as a guest. ¹⁹And while^* Peter was reflecting about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, men^d are looking for you. ²⁰But get up, go down, and go with them—not hesitating at all, because I have sent them.” ²¹So Peter went down to the men and^* said, “Behold, I am he whom you are looking for! What is the reason for which you have come?” ²²And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man—and well spoken of by the whole nation of the Jews—was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.” ²³So he invited them in and^* entertained them as guests, and on the next day he got up and^* went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.