Acts 13:14–52

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.