November 17
Acts 11 - 13 (New International Version)
Acts 11
Peter Explains His Actions
1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard
that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So
when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him
3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and
ate with them.”
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. 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.’ 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
Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The
Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six
brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13
He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to
Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you
a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as
he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered
what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave
them the same gift he gave us 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.”
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution
that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus
and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some
of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to
speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.
21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of
people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they
sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what
the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain
true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good
man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were
brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus 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 disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem
to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and
through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the
entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29
The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the
brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did,
sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
Acts 12
Peter’s Miraculous Escape From Prison
1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who
belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He
had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3
When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to
seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over
to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring
him out for public trial after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the
church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter
was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood
guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord
appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke
him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and
sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the
angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison,
but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he
thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first
and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened
for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the
length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know
without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s
clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of
Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered
and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance,
and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When
she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without
opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept
insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the
door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned
with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought
him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about
this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the
soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod
had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined
the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Herod’s Death
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20
He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined
together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of
Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace,
because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing
his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the
people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not
of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give
praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by
worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they
returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
Acts 13
1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and
teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had
been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While
they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart
for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on
them and sent them off.
On Cyprus
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit,
went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. 5
When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish
synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
6 They traveled through the whole
island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false
prophet named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the
proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for
Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8
But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and
tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. 9 Then Saul,
who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at
Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an
enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and
trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to
be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking
someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw
what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the
Lord.
In Pisidian Antioch
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in
Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14
From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the
synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law
and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying,
“Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”
16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his
hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen
to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our
ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with
mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about
forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19
and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as
their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.
21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul
son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him:
‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do
everything I want him to do.’
23 “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel
the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of
Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel.
25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you
suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming
after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing
Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.
27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize
Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that
are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper
ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
29 When they had carried out all that was written about him,
they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30
But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he
was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They
are now his witnesses to our people.
32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our
ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by
raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“‘You are my son;
today I have become your father.’
34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be
subject to decay. As God has said,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
35 So it is also stated elsewhere:
“‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’
36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own
generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body
decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did
not see decay.
38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through
Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39
Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a
justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. 40
Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:
41 “‘Look, you scoffers,
wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
that you would never believe,
even if someone told you.’ ”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the
people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.
43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews
and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with
them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to
hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews saw the
crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul
was saying and heaped abuse on him.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to
speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider
yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47
For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life
believed.
49 The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.
50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of
high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution
against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. 51
So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to
Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and
with the Holy Spirit.