Acts 13–14

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen

13In the church at Antioch there were these prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with Herod, the ruler), and Saul. ²They were all worshiping the Lord and fasting ⁿ for a certain time. During this time the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for which I have chosen them.”

³So after they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on ⁿ Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went to the city of Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵When they came to Salamis, they preached the Good News of God in the synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

⁶They went across the whole island to Paphos where they met a magician named Bar-Jesus. He was a false prophet ⁷who always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, the governor and a smart man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear the message of God. ⁸But Elymas, the magician, was against them. (Elymas is the name for Bar-Jesus in the Greek language.) He tried to stop the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹But Saul, who was also called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked straight at Elymas ¹⁰and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of evil tricks and lies, always trying to change the Lord’s truths into lies. ¹¹Now the Lord will touch you, and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun.”

Then everything became dark for Elymas, and he walked around, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹²When the governor saw this, he believed because he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus

¹³Paul and those with him sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, in Pamphylia. There John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem. ¹⁴They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵After the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read, the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any message that will encourage the people, please speak.”

¹⁶Paul stood up, raised his hand, and said, “You Israelites and you who worship God, please listen! ¹⁷The God of the Israelites chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt, and he brought them out of that country with great power. ¹⁸And he was patient with them ⁿ for forty years in the desert. ¹⁹God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. ²⁰All this happened in about four hundred fifty years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then the people asked for a king, so God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin and was king for forty years. ²²After God took him away, God made David their king. God said about him: ‘I have found in David son of Jesse the kind of man I want. He will do all I want him to do.’ ²³So God has brought Jesus, one of David’s descendants, to Israel to be its Savior, as he promised. ²⁴Before Jesus came, John ⁿ preached to all the people of Israel about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. ²⁵When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and others who worship God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us. ²⁷Those who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not realize that Jesus was the Savior. They did not understand the words that the prophets wrote, which are read every Sabbath day. But they made them come true when they said Jesus was guilty. ²⁸They could not find any real reason for Jesus to be put to death, but they asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹When they had done to him all that the Scriptures had said, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him up from the dead! ³¹After this, for many days, those who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his witnesses to the people. ³²We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors. ³³God has made this promise come true for us, his children, by raising Jesus from the dead. We read about this also in Psalm 2:

‘You are my Son.

Today I have become your Father.’

³⁴God raised Jesus from the dead, and he will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said:

‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings

that I promised to David.’

³⁵But in another place God says:

‘You will not let your Holy One rot.’

³⁶David did God’s will during his lifetime. Then he died and was buried beside his ancestors, and his body did rot in the grave. ³⁷But the One God raised from the dead did not rot in the grave. ^38–39Brothers, understand what we are telling you: You can have forgiveness of your sins through Jesus. The law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But through Jesus everyone who believes is free from all sins. ⁴⁰Be careful! Don’t let what the prophets said happen to you:

⁴¹‘Listen, you people who doubt!

You can wonder, and then die.

I will do something in your lifetime

that you won’t believe even when you are told about it!’ ”

⁴²While Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³When the meeting was over, many people with those who had changed to worship God followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God’s grace.

⁴⁴On the next Sabbath day, almost everyone in the city came to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵Seeing the crowd, the Jewish people became very jealous and said insulting things and argued against what Paul said. ⁴⁶But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly, saying, “We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations. ⁴⁷This is what the Lord told us to do, saying:

‘I have made you a light for the nations;

you will show people all over the world the way to be saved.’ ”

⁴⁸When those who were not Jewish heard Paul say this, they were happy and gave honor to the message of the Lord. And the people who were chosen to have life forever believed the message.

⁴⁹So the message of the Lord was spreading through the whole country. ⁵⁰But the Jewish people stirred up some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city. They started trouble against Paul and Barnabas and forced them out of their area. ⁵¹So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet ⁿ and went to Iconium. ⁵²But the followers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium

14In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual to the synagogue. They spoke so well that a great many Jews and Greeks believed. ²But some people who did not believe excited the others and turned them against the believers. ³Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium a long time and spoke bravely for the Lord. He showed that their message about his grace was true by giving them the power to work miracles and signs. ⁴But the city was divided. Some of the people agreed with the Jews, and others believed the apostles.

⁵Some who were not Jews, some Jews, and some of their rulers wanted to mistreat Paul and Barnabas and to stone them to death. ⁶When Paul and Barnabas learned about this, they ran away to Lystra and Derbe, cities in Lycaonia, and to the areas around those cities. ⁷They announced the Good News there, too.

Paul in Lystra and Derbe

⁸In Lystra there sat a man who had been born crippled; he had never walked. ⁹As this man was listening to Paul speak, Paul looked straight at him and saw that he believed God could heal him. ¹⁰So he cried out, “Stand up on your feet!” The man jumped up and began walking around. ¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul did, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like humans and have come down to us!” ¹²Then the people began to call Barnabas “Zeus” ⁿ and Paul “Hermes,” ⁿ because he was the main speaker. ¹³The priest in the temple of Zeus, which was near the city, brought some bulls and flowers to the city gates. He and the people wanted to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. ¹⁴But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard about it, they tore their clothes. They ran in among the people, shouting, ¹⁵“Friends, why are you doing these things? We are only human beings like you. We are bringing you the Good News and are telling you to turn away from these worthless things and turn to the living God. He is the One who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. ¹⁶In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted. ¹⁷Yet he proved he is real by showing kindness, by giving you rain from heaven and crops at the right times, by giving you food and filling your hearts with joy.” ¹⁸Even with these words, they were barely able to keep the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.

¹⁹Then some evil people came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people to turn against Paul. So they threw stones at him and dragged him out of town, thinking they had killed him. ²⁰But the followers gathered around him, and he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹Paul and Barnabas told the Good News in Derbe, and many became followers. Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, ²²making the followers of Jesus stronger and helping them stay in the faith. They said, “We must suffer many…