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.
ACTS 13:2
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.'
ACTS 13:3
SO AFTER THEY HAD FASTED AND PRAYED, THEY PLACED THEIR HANDS ON THEM AND SENT THEM OFF.
ACTS 13:4
THE TWO OF THEM, SENT ON THEIR WAY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WENT DOWN TO SELEUCIA AND SAILED FROM THERE TO CYPRUS.
ACTS 13:5
WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT SALAMIS, THEY PROCLAIMED THE WORD OF GOD IN THE JEWISH SYNAGOGUES. JOHN WAS WITH THEM AS THEIR HELPER.
ACTS 13:6
THEY TRAVELED THROUGH THE WHOLE ISLAND UNTIL THEY CAME TO PAPHOS. THERE THEY MET A JEWISH SORCERER AND FALSE PROPHET NAMED BAR-JESUS,
ACTS 13:7
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.
ACTS 13:8
BUT ELYMAS THE SORCERER (FOR THAT IS WHAT HIS NAME MEANS) OPPOSED THEM AND TRIED TO TURN THE PROCONSUL FROM THE FAITH.
ACTS 13:9
THEN SAUL, WHO WAS ALSO CALLED PAUL, FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, LOOKED STRAIGHT AT ELYMAS AND SAID,
ACTS 13:10
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?
ACTS 13:11
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.
ACTS 13:12
WHEN THE PROCONSUL SAW WHAT HAD HAPPENED, HE BELIEVED, FOR HE WAS AMAZED AT THE TEACHING ABOUT THE LORD.
ACTS 13:13
FROM PAPHOS, PAUL AND HIS COMPANIONS SAILED TO PERGA IN PAMPHYLIA, WHERE JOHN LEFT THEM TO RETURN TO JERUSALEM.
ACTS 13:14
FROM PERGA THEY WENT ON TO PISIDIAN ANTIOCH. ON THE SABBATH THEY ENTERED THE SYNAGOGUE AND SAT DOWN.Acts 13:
ACTS 13:15
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.'
ACTS 13:16
STANDING UP, PAUL MOTIONED WITH HIS HAND AND SAID: 'FELLOW ISRAELITES AND YOU GENTILES WHO WORSHIP GOD, LISTEN TO ME!Acts 13:
ACTS 13:17
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;
ACTS 13:18
FOR ABOUT FORTY YEARS HE ENDURED THEIR CONDUCT IN THE WILDERNESS;
ACTS 13:19
AND HE OVERTHREW SEVEN NATIONS IN CANAAN, GIVING THEIR LAND TO HIS PEOPLE AS THEIR INHERITANCE.
ACTS 13:20
ALL THIS TOOK ABOUT 450 YEARS. 'AFTER THIS, GOD GAVE THEM JUDGES UNTIL THE TIME OF SAMUEL THE PROPHET.
ACTS 13:21
THEN THE PEOPLE ASKED FOR A KING, AND HE GAVE THEM SAUL SON OF KISH, OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN, WHO RULED FORTY YEARS.
ACTS 13:22
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.'
ACTS 13:23
FROM THIS MAN'S DESCENDANTS GOD HAS BROUGHT TO ISRAEL THE SAVIOR JESUS, AS HE PROMISED.
ACTS 13:24
BEFORE THE COMING OF JESUS, JOHN PREACHED REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.
ACTS 13:25
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.'
ACTS 13:26
FELLOW CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM AND YOU GOD-FEARING GENTILES, IT IS TO US THAT THIS MESSAGE OF SALVATION HAS BEEN SENT.
ACTS 13:27
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.
ACTS 13:28
THOUGH THEY FOUND NO PROPER GROUND FOR A DEATH SENTENCE, THEY ASKED PILATE TO HAVE HIM EXECUTED.
ACTS 13:29
WHEN THEY HAD CARRIED OUT ALL THAT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM, THEY TOOK HIM DOWN FROM THE CROSS AND LAID HIM IN A TOMB.
ACTS 13:30
BUT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD,
ACTS 13:31
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.
ACTS 13:32
WE TELL YOU THE GOOD NEWS: WHAT GOD PROMISED OUR ANCESTORS
ACTS 13:33
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.'
ACTS 13:34
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.'
ACTS 13:35
SO IT IS ALSO STATED ELSEWHERE: ''YOU WILL NOT LET YOUR HOLY ONE SEE DECAY.'
ACTS 13:36
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.
ACTS 13:37
BUT THE ONE WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD DID NOT SEE DECAY.
ACTS 13:38
THEREFORE, MY FRIENDS, I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT THROUGH JESUS THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS IS PROCLAIMED TO YOU.
ACTS 13:39
THROUGH HIM EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IS SET FREE FROM EVERY SIN, A JUSTIFICATION YOU WERE NOT ABLE TO OBTAIN UNDER THE LAW OF MOSES.
ACTS 13:40
TAKE CARE THAT WHAT THE PROPHETS HAVE SAID DOES NOT HAPPEN TO YOU:
ACTS 13:41
'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.''
ACTS 13:42
AS PAUL AND BARNABAS WERE LEAVING THE SYNAGOGUE, THE PEOPLE INVITED THEM TO SPEAK FURTHER ABOUT THESE THINGS ON THE NEXT SABBATH.
ACTS 13:43
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.
ACTS 13:44
ON THE NEXT SABBATH ALMOST THE WHOLE CITY GATHERED TO HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD.
ACTS 13:45
WHEN THE JEWS SAW THE CROWDS, THEY WERE FILLED WITH JEALOUSY. THEY BEGAN TO CONTRADICT WHAT PAUL WAS SAYING AND HEAPED ABUSE ON HIM.
ACTS 13:46
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.
ACTS 13:47
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.''
ACTS 13:48
WHEN THE GENTILES HEARD THIS, THEY WERE GLAD AND HONORED THE WORD OF THE LORD; AND ALL WHO WERE APPOINTED FOR ETERNAL LIFE BELIEVED.
ACTS 13:49
THE WORD OF THE LORD SPREAD THROUGH THE WHOLE REGION.
ACTS 13:50
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.
ACTS 13:51
SO THEY SHOOK THE DUST OFF THEIR FEET AS A WARNING TO THEM AND WENT TO ICONIUM.
ACTS 13:52
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.