Acts
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas,
Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who had been
brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
As they were serving the Lord
and fasting, the holy spirit said, “Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them.”
Then, when they had fasted, prayed, and laid
their hands on them, they sent them out.
So, sent by the holy spirit, Barnabas and Saul went to Seleucia and from
there they sailed to Cyprus.
When they reached Salamis, they proclaimed the
Gospel-word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their
assistant.
When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos,
they met a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus.
He
was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was a man of intelligence.
Sergius Paulus summoned Barnabas and Saul, desiring to hear the Gospel-word of God.
But Elymas the magician (that is the translation of his name)
resisted them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
But Saul, who
was also called Paul, filled with holy spirit, fixed his eyes on him and said,
“You son of the Devil, full of all deceit and fraud, you enemy of all
righteousness! Will you not stop making crooked the straight ways of the
Lord?
Now look, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind,
unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on
him, and he went around trying to find people to lead him by the hand.
When the proconsul saw what had happened, he became a believer,
astonished at the teaching of the lord.
Then Paul and those with him set sail from Paphos and went to Perga in
Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
Then they left
Perga and arrived at Antioch in Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and sat down.
After the reading from the Law and the Prophets,
the synagogue officials said to them, “Brothers, if you have any word of
exhortation to the people, speak to us.”
So Paul stood up, and gesturing with
his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God,
listen to me.
The
God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and made the people increase
when they were living as resident aliens in Egypt, and with uplifted arm He brought them out of Egypt.
For about forty years He put up with them in the desert.
When He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, God gave
His people their land as an inheritance. All this was about 450 years.
After this he gave them judges
until Samuel the prophet.
Then
they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish of the tribe of
Benjamin, for forty years.
After He had removed Saul, He raised up David, putting him on the scene to be king. About David He testified, ‘I have found David, the son of
Jesse, to be a man after My own heart, who will carry out all My will.’
From
David’s descendants, as He promised, God has brought a Savior to
Israel, Jesus.
Before Jesus’ coming on the scene, John had first preached a baptism of
repentance to the people of Israel.
As John was completing his work, he
kept saying, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not he. But look, there is one
coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
“Brothers, descendants of Abraham, and all those Gentiles among you who fear God:
to us the Gospel-word of this salvation has been sent.
For those living in
Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize Jesus or the words
of the prophets read every Sabbath, fulfilled those words by condemning him.
They found no reason to put him to death, but they still asked Pilate to have
him killed.
When they had fulfilled everything written about him, they took
him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.
But God raised him
from the dead,
and he appeared over many days to those who had come with
him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the ones who are now his witnesses to the people.
And we bring you the Gospel of the promise made to the fathers,
which
God has fulfilled to us, their children, by putting Jesus on the scene of
history. As it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today I have
fathered you.’
And as for the fact that God raised him from
the dead, never to die again, He has spoken: ‘I will give all of you the holy and sure
promises decreed to David.’
And in another psalm: ‘You will not allow Your holy one
to experience decay.’
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in
his own generation, fell asleep in death, and was laid with his fathers, and
did experience decay.
But the one whom God resurrected did not experience decay.
Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through him forgiveness of
sins is proclaimed to you.
And through him everyone who believes is made
right from all things from which you could not be made right by the Law of Moses.
So be careful that what is spoken about in the prophets does not
happen to you:
‘Look, you who scorn, be amazed and die! For the work I am
doing in your days you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’”
As Paul and Barnabas were going out of the synagogue, the people kept
begging that this topic might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
After
the meeting in the synagogue, many of the Jews and the God-fearing Gentile
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to
continue in the grace of God.
The following Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to hear the
Gospel-word of the Lord.
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were
filled with jealousy and contradicted what Paul was saying by slandering
him.
Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, “It was necessary that God’s Gospel-word be spoken to you first. But now that you
are rejecting it and judging yourselves unworthy of the Life of the Age to
Come — we are turning to the Gentiles.
For that is what the Lord
commanded us: ‘I have appointed you as a light to the Gentiles, so that you
may bring salvation to the farthest regions of the earth.’”
When the Gentiles heard this they rejoiced and gave glory to the Gospel-word of the Lord. All who were appointed to the Life of the Age to Come
believed.
And the Gospel-word of the Lord was spreading throughout the
region.
But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the
leading men of the city to persecute Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out
of that region.
So they shook off the dust of their feet against them and
went on to Iconium.
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and
with holy spirit.
Acts