Peter Explains His Actions

11 The apostles and the believerss throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.t 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believersu criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”v

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision.w I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’x 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesareay stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit toldz me to have no hesitation about going with them.a These six brothersb also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angelc appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a messaged through which you and all your householde will be saved.’

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came onf them as he had come on us at the beginning.g 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized witha water,h but you will be baptized withb the Holy Spirit.’i 17 So if God gave them the same giftj he gave usk who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”l

The Church in Antioch

19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killedm traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch,n spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cypruso and Cyrene,p went to Antiochq and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good newsr about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them,s and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.t

22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabasu to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done,v he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.w 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spiritx and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.y

25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsusz to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciplesa were called Christians firstb at Antioch.

27 During this time some prophetsc came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus,d stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.e (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)f 29 The disciples,g as each one was able, decided to provide helph for the brothers and sistersi living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the eldersj by Barnabask and Saul.l