Acts 11–12

Chapter 11

Peter Reports at Jerusalem

¹Now the apostles and ^athe brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

²And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^1athose who were circumcised took issue with him,

³saying, “^aYou ¹went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

⁴But Peter began speaking ¹and proceeded to explain to them ^ain orderly sequence, saying,

⁵“^aI was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^ba vision, an ¹object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from ²the sky; and it came right down to me,

⁶and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it ¹I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the ²crawling creatures and the birds of the ³air.

⁷“I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ¹kill and eat.’

⁸“But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ¹unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

⁹“But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^aWhat God has cleansed, no longer ¹consider unholy.’

¹⁰“This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into ¹the sky.

¹¹“And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from ^aCaesarea.

¹²“^aThe Spirit told me to go with them ^1bwithout misgivings. ^cThese six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house.

¹³“And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ¹standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;

¹⁴and he will speak ^awords to you by which you will be saved, you and ^ball your household.’

¹⁵“And as I began to speak, ^athe Holy Spirit fell upon them just ^bas He did upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶“And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized ¹with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁷“Therefore if ^aGod gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^bwho was I that I could ¹stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸When they heard this, they ¹quieted down and ^aglorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the ^brepentance that leads to life.”

The Church at Antioch

^19aSo then those who were scattered because of the ¹persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way ²to ^bPhoenicia and ^cCyprus and ^dAntioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.

²⁰But there were some of them, men of ^aCyprus and ^bCyrene, who came to ^cAntioch and began speaking to the ^1dGreeks also, ^2epreaching the Lord Jesus.

²¹And ^athe hand of the Lord was with them, and ^ba large number who believed turned to the Lord.

²²The ¹news about them ²reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent ^aBarnabas off ³to ^bAntioch.

²³Then when he arrived and ¹witnessed ^athe grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with ²resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;

²⁴for he was a good man, and ^afull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And ^bconsiderable ¹numbers were ²brought to the Lord.

²⁵And he left for ^aTarsus to look for Saul;

²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to ^aAntioch. And for an entire year they ¹met with the church and taught considerable ²numbers; and ^bthe disciples were first called ^cChristians in Antioch.

²⁷Now ¹at this time ^asome prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^bAntioch.

²⁸One of them named ^aAgabus stood up and began to indicate ¹by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine ^ball over the ²world. ³And this took place in the reign of ^cClaudius.

²⁹And in the proportion that any of ^athe disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the ¹relief of ^bthe brethren living in Judea.

^30aAnd this they did, sending it ¹in charge of ^bBarnabas and Saul to the ^celders.

Chapter 12

Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance

¹Now about that time ¹Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.

²And he ^ahad James the brother of John ^bput to death with a sword.

³When he saw that it ^apleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now ¹it was during ^bthe days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four ^1asquads of soldiers to guard him, intending after ^bthe Passover to bring him out before the people.

⁵So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

⁶On ¹the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^abound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

⁷And behold, ^aan angel of the Lord suddenly ^bappeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^chis chains fell off his hands.

⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and ¹put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

⁹And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing ^aa vision.

¹⁰When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which ^aopened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹When Peter ^acame ¹to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that ^bthe Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all ²that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^aJohn who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and ^bwere praying.

¹³When he knocked at the door of the gate, ^aa servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴When she recognized Peter’s voice, ^abecause of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is ^ahis angel.”

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.

¹⁷But ^amotioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to ^1bJames and ^cthe brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to ¹what could have become of Peter.

¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they ^abe led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to ^bCaesarea and was spending time there.

Death of Herod

²⁰Now he was very angry with the people of ^aTyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because ^btheir country was fed by the king’s country.

²¹On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the ¹rostrum and began delivering an address to them.

²²The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³And immediately ^aan angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and ¹died.

²⁴But ^athe word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵And ^aBarnabas and Saul returned ¹from Jerusalem ^bwhen they had fulfilled their ²mission, taking along with them ^cJohn, who was also called Mark.