Acts 11

Peter’s Explanation to the Church in Jerusalem

11Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had accepted the word^a of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision took issue with him, ³saying, “You went to men who were uncircumcised^b and ate with them!” ⁴But Peter began and^* explained it^* to them in an orderly sequence, saying, ⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision—an object something like a large sheet coming down, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me. ⁶As I^* looked intently into it, I was considering it,^* and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild animals and the reptiles and the birds of the sky. ⁷And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!’ ⁸But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has ever entered into my mouth!’ ⁹But the voice replied from heaven for the second time, ‘The things which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!’ ¹⁰And this happened three times, and everything was pulled up into heaven again. ¹¹And behold, at once three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea approached the house in which we were staying.^{* 12}And the Spirit told me to accompany them, not hesitating at all. So these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the man’s house. ¹³And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is also called Peter, ¹⁴who will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ ¹⁵And as I was beginning to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as also on us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^{c 17}Therefore if God gave them the same gift as also to us when we^* believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” ¹⁸And when they^* heard these things, they became silent^* and praised God, saying, “Then God has granted the repentance leading to life to the Gentiles also!”

Developments in the Church in Antioch

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, proclaiming the message to no one except Jews alone. ²⁰But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they^* came to Antioch, began to speak^* to the Hellenists^* also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. ²²And the report came to the attention^d of the church that was in Jerusalem about them, and they sent out Barnabas as far as^e Antioch, ²³who, when he^* arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,^{f 24}because he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large number were added^g to the Lord. ²⁵So he departed for Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶And when he^* found him,^* he brought him^* to Antioch. And it happened to them also that they met together for a whole year with the church and taught a large number of people.^* And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

²⁷Now in those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸And one of them named^h Agabus stood up and^* indicated by the Spirit that a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth (which took place in the time of Claudius). ²⁹So from the disciples, according to their ability to give,ⁱ each one of them determined to send financial aid^* for support to the brothers who lived in Judea, ³⁰which they also did, sending the aid^* to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.