Acts 12–13

¹And about that time, Herod the king put forth his hands, to do evil to certain of those of the assembly, ²and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, ³and having seen that it is pleasing to the Jews, he added to lay hold of Peter also—and they were the days of the unleavened food— ⁴whom also having seized, he did put in prison, having delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him, intending after the passover to bring him forth to the people.

⁵Peter, therefore, indeed, was kept in the prison, and fervent prayer was being made by the assembly unto God for him, ⁶and when Herod was about to bring him forth, the same night was Peter sleeping between two soldiers, having been bound with two chains, guards also before the door were keeping the prison, ⁷and lo, a messenger of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the buildings, and having smitten Peter on the side, he raised him up, saying, ‘Rise in haste,’ and his chains fell from off his hands. ⁸The messenger also said to him, ‘Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals;’ and he did so; and he saith to him, ‘Put thy garment round and be following me;’ ⁹and having gone forth, he was following him, and he knew not that it is true that which is done through the messenger, and was thinking he saw a vision, ¹⁰and having passed through a first ward, and a second, they came unto the iron gate that is leading to the city, which of its own accord did open to them, and having gone forth, they went on through one street, and immediately the messenger departed from him. ¹¹And Peter having come to himself, said, ‘Now I have known of a truth that the Lord did sent forth His messenger, and did deliver me out of the hand of Herod, and all the expectation of the people of the Jews;’ ¹²also, having considered, he came unto the house of Mary, the mother of John, who is surnamed Mark, where there were many thronged together and praying. ¹³And Peter having knocked at the door of the porch, there came a damsel to hearken, by name Rhoda, ¹⁴and having known the voice of Peter, from the joy she did not open the porch, but having run in, told of the standing of Peter before the porch, ¹⁵and they said unto her, ‘Thou art mad;’ and she was confidently affirming it to be so, and they said, ‘It is his messenger;’ ¹⁶and Peter was continuing knocking, and having opened, they saw him, and were astonished, ¹⁷and having beckoned to them with the hand to be silent, he declared to them how the Lord brought him out of the prison, and he said, ‘Declare to James and to the brethren these things;’ and having gone forth, he went on to another place. ¹⁸And day having come, there was not a little stir among the soldiers what then was become of Peter, ¹⁹and Herod having sought for him, and not having found, having examined the guards, did command them to be led away to punishment, and having gone down from Judea to Caesarea, he was abiding there.

²⁰And Herod was highly displeased with the Tyrians and Sidonians, and with one accord they came unto him, and having made a friend of Blastus, who is over the bed-chambers of the king, they were asking peace, because of their country being nourished from the king’s; ²¹and on a set day, Herod having arrayed himself in kingly apparel, and having sat down upon the tribunal, was making an oration unto them, ²²and the populace were shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a man;’ ²³and presently there smote him a messenger of the Lord, because he did not give the glory to God, and having been eaten of worms, he expired. ²⁴And the word of God did grow and did multiply, ²⁵and Barnabas and Saul did turn back out of Jerusalem, having fulfilled the ministration, having taken also with them John, who was surnamed Mark.

Chapter 13

¹And there were certain in Antioch, in the assembly there, prophets and teachers; both Barnabas, and Simeon who is called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen also—Herod the tetrarch’s foster-brother—and Saul; ²and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Separate ye to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,’ ³then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.

⁴These, indeed, then, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, thence also they sailed to Cyprus, ⁵and having come unto Salamis, they declared the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John as a ministrant; ⁶and having gone through the island unto Paphos, they found a certain magian, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name is Bar-Jesus; ⁷who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man; this one having called for Barnabas and Saul, did desire to hear the word of God, ⁸and there withstood them Elymas the magian—for so is his name interpreted—seeking to pervert the proconsul from the faith. ⁹And Saul—who also is Paul—having been filled with the Holy Spirit, and having looked stedfastly on him, ¹⁰said, ‘O full of all guile, and all profligacy, son of a devil, enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease perverting the right ways of the Lord? ¹¹and now, lo, a hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season;’ and presently there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and he, going about, was seeking some to lead him by the hand; ¹²then the proconsul having seen what hath come to pass, did believe, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. ¹³And those about Paul having set sail from Paphos, came to Perga of Pamphylia, and John having departed from them, did turn back to Jerusalem.

¹⁴And they having gone through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia, and having gone into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, they sat down, ¹⁵and after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the chief men of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ‘Men, brethren, if there be a word in you of exhortation unto the people—say on.’ ¹⁶And Paul having risen, and having beckoned with the hand, said, ‘Men, Israelites, and those fearing God, hearken: ¹⁷the God of this people Israel did choose our fathers, and the people He did exalt in their sojourning in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm did He bring them out of it; ¹⁸and about a period of forty years He did suffer their manners in the wilderness, ¹⁹and having destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He did divide by lot to them their land.

²⁰‘And after these things, about four hundred and fifty years, He gave judges—till Samuel the prophet; ²¹and thereafter they asked for a king, and God did give to them Saul, son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years; ²²and having removed him, He did raise up to them David for king, to whom also having testified, he said, I found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to My heart, who shall do all My will.

²³‘Of this one’s seed God, according to promise, did raise to Israel a Saviour—Jesus, ²⁴John having first preached, before his coming, a baptism of reformation to all the people of Israel; ²⁵and as John was fulfilling the course, he said, Whom me do ye suppose to be? I am not he, but, lo, he doth come after me, of whom I am not worthy to loose the sandal of his feet.

²⁶‘Men, brethren, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you fearing God, to you was the word of this salvation sent, ²⁷for those dwelling in Jerusalem, and their chiefs, this one not having known, also the voices of the prophets, which every sabbath are being read—having judged him—did fulfil, ²⁸and no cause of death having found, they did ask of Pilate that he should be slain, ²⁹and when they did complete all the things written about him, having taken him down from the tree, they laid him in a tomb; ³⁰and God did raise him out of the dead, ³¹and he was seen for many days of those who did come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

³²‘And we to you do proclaim good news—that the promise made unto the fathers, ³³God hath in full completed this to us their children, having raised up Jesus, as also in the second Psalm it hath been written, My Son thou art—I to-day have begotten thee.

³⁴‘And that He did raise him up out of the dead, no more to return to corruption, he hath said thus—I will give to you the faithful kindnesses of David; ³⁵wherefore also in another place he saith, Thou shalt not give Thy kind One to see corruption, ³⁶for David, indeed, his own generation having served by the will of God, did fall asleep, and was added unto his fathers, and saw corruption, ³⁷but he whom God did raise up, did not see corruption.

³⁸‘Let it therefore be known to you, men, brethren, that through this one to you is the forgiveness of sins declared, ³⁹and from all things from which ye were not able in the law of Moses to be declared righteous, in this one every one who is believing is declared righteous; ⁴⁰see, therefore, it may not come upon you that hath been spoken in the prophets: ⁴¹See, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, because a work I—I do work in your days, a work in which ye may not believe, though any one may declare it to you.’

⁴²And having gone forth out of the synagogue of the Jews, the nations were calling upon them that on the next sabbath these sayings may be spoken to them, ⁴³and the synagogue having been dismissed, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes did follow Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were persuading them to remain in the grace of God. ⁴⁴And on the coming sabbath, almost all the city was gathered together to hear the word of God, ⁴⁵and the Jews having seen the multitudes, were filled with zeal, and did contradict the things spoken by Paul—contradicting and speaking evil. ⁴⁶And speaking boldly, Paul and Barnabas said, ‘To you it was necessary that first the word of God be spoken, and seeing ye do thrust it away, and do not judge yourselves worthy of the life age-during, lo, we do turn to the nations; ⁴⁷for so hath the Lord commanded us: I have set thee for…