Acts 13–15

CHAPTER 13

Barnabas and Saul Sent from Antioch by the Holy Spirit

¹Now there were at ^aAntioch, in the ^bchurch that was there, ^cprophets and ^dteachers: ^eBarnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of ^fCyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with ^gHerod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, ^athe Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me ^bBarnabas and Saul for ^cthe work to which I have called them.”

³Then, when they had fasted and ^aprayed and ^blaid their hands on them, ^cthey sent them away.

On Cyprus

⁴So, being ^asent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^bCyprus.

⁵And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^athe synagogues of the Jews, and they also had ^bJohn as their helper.

⁶And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^amagician, a Jewish ^bfalse prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,

⁷who was with the ^aproconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the ^amagician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^bproconsul away from ^cthe faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^1afilled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,

¹⁰and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^ason of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked ^bthe straight ways of the ¹Lord?

¹¹“Now, behold, ^athe hand of the ¹Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the ^aproconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at ^bthe teaching of the Lord.

In Pisidian Antioch

¹³Now after Paul and his companions set sail from ^aPaphos, they came to ^bPerga in ^cPamphylia, but ^dJohn left them and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^aPisidian ^bAntioch. And on ^cthe Sabbath day, they went into ^dthe synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵And after ^athe reading of the Law and ^bthe Prophets ^cthe synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and ^amotioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^byou who fear God, listen:

¹⁷“The God of this people Israel ^achose our fathers and ^1blifted up the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^cHe led them out from it.

¹⁸“And for ^aa period of about forty years ^bHe put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹“^aAnd when He destroyed ^bseven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^cdistributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^dabout 450 years.

²⁰“After these things He ^agave them judges until ^bSamuel the prophet.

²¹“Then they ^aasked for a king, and God gave them ^bSaul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²“And after He had ^aremoved him, He raised up David to be their king, about whom He also said, bearing witness, ‘^bI have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ¹will.’

²³“^aFrom the seed of this man, ^baccording to promise, God has brought to Israel ^ca Savior, Jesus,

²⁴after ^aJohn had preached before ¹His coming a ^bbaptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵“And as John ^awas fulfilling his course, ^bhe kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of His feet.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of ^athis salvation was sent.

²⁷“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^arulers, ^brecognizing neither Him nor the ¹utterances of ^cthe prophets which are ^dread every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him.

²⁸“And though they found no ground for death, they ^aasked Pilate that He be ¹executed.

²⁹“And when they had ^afinished all that was written concerning Him, ^bthey took Him down from ^cthe tree and ^dlaid Him in a tomb.

³⁰“But God ^araised Him from the dead;

³¹and for many days ^aHe appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^bHis witnesses to the people.

³²“And we ^aproclaim to you the good news of ^bthe promise made to the fathers,

³³that God has fulfilled this promise ¹to our children in that He ^araised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘^bYou are My Son; today I have begotten You.’

³⁴“But that He ^araised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to corruption, He has spoken in this way: ‘^bI will give you the holy and ¹faithful lovingkindnesses of david.’

³⁵“Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘^aYou will not give Your ¹Holy One over to see corruption.’

³⁶“For ^aDavid, after he had ¹served ^bthe purpose of God in his own generation, ^cfell asleep and was laid among his fathers and saw corruption;

³⁷but He whom God ^araised did not see corruption.

³⁸“Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that ^athrough ¹Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and that in Him, ^aeveryone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from ¹through the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰“Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of ^ain the Prophets may not come upon you:

⁴¹‘^aLook, you scoffers, and marvel, and ¹perish;

For I am accomplishing a work in your days,

A work which you will never believe, though someone should recount it to you.’”

⁴²And as ¹Paul and Barnabas were leaving, the people kept pleading that these words might be spoken to them the next ^aSabbath.

⁴³Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the ^aGod-fearing ^1bproselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in ^cthe grace of God.

Many Gentiles Believe

⁴⁴And the next ^aSabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of ¹the ²Lord.

⁴⁵But when ^athe Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, ¹blaspheming.

⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^afirst. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^bwe are turning to the Gentiles.

⁴⁷“For so the ¹Lord has commanded us,

‘^aI have placed You as a ^blight for the Gentiles,

That You may ²bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying ^athe word of ¹the ²Lord, and as many as ^bhad been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹And ^athe word of the ¹Lord was being spread through the whole region.

⁵⁰But ^athe Jews incited the ^1bGod-fearing women ^cof prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their ²district.

⁵¹But ^ahaving shaken off the dust of their feet against them, they went to ^bIconium.

⁵²And the disciples were continually ^afilled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

CHAPTER 14

In Iconium

¹Now it happened that in ^aIconium ^bthey entered the synagogue of the Jews together and spoke in such a manner ^cthat a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of ^dGreeks.

²But ^athe ^1bunbelieving Jews instigated and embittered the ²minds of the Gentiles against ^cthe brothers.

³Therefore they spent a long time there ^aspeaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that ^1bsigns and wonders be done through their hands.

^4aBut the multitude of the city was divided; and some ¹sided with ^bthe Jews, and some with ^cthe apostles.

⁵And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and ^athe Jews with their rulers to mistreat and to ^bstone them,

⁶they became aware of it and fled to the cities of ^aLycaonia, ^bLystra and ^cDerbe, and the surrounding region;

⁷and there they continued to ^aproclaim the gospel.

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸And at ^aLystra ^ba man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

⁹This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, ^awhen he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had ^bfaith to be ¹saved from being lame,

¹⁰said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” ^aAnd he leaped up and began to walk.

¹¹And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the ^aLycaonian language, “^bThe gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

¹²And they began calling Barnabas, ¹Zeus, and Paul, ²Hermes, because he was ³the chief speaker.

¹³And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was ¹just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and ^awas wanting to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

¹⁴But when ^athe apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they ^btore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out

¹⁵and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also ^amen of the same nature as you, ^bproclaiming the gospel to you that you should turn from these ^1cvain things to a ^dliving God, ^ewho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

¹⁶“¹In the generations gone by He ^apermitted all the ²nations to ^bgo their own ways;

¹⁷and yet ^aHe did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and ^bgave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

¹⁸And saying these things, with difficulty they restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

¹⁹But ^aJews came from ^bAntioch and ^cIconium, and after winning over the crowds and ^dstoning Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

²⁰But while ^athe disciples stood around him, he rose up and entered the city. The next day he went away with Barnabas to ^bDerbe.

²¹And after they had ^aproclaimed the gospel to that city and had ^bmade many disciples, they returned to ^cLystra and to ^dIconium and to ^eAntioch,

²²strengthening the souls of ^athe disciples, encouraging them to continue in ^bthe faith, and saying, “^cThrough many…