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Peter Reports to the Church

¹ Now the apostles and ^(a)the brothers^[a] who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, ^(b)the circumcision party^[b] criticized him, saying, ^3 (c)"You went to uncircumcised men and ^(d)ate with them." ⁴ But Peter began and explained it to them in order: ^5 (e)"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. ⁶ Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' ⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' ⁹ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.' ¹⁰ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² And the Spirit told me to go with them, ^(f)making no distinction. ^(g)These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. ¹³ And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; ^14 (h)he will declare to you a message by which ⁽ⁱ⁾you will be saved, you and all your household.' ¹⁵ As I began to speak, ^(j)the Holy Spirit fell on them ^(k)just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ^(l)‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' ¹⁷ If then ^(m)God gave ⁽ⁿ⁾the same gift to them as he gave to us ^(o)when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^(p)who was I ^(q)that I could stand in God's way?" ¹⁸ When they heard these things they fell silent. And they ^(r)glorified God, saying, ^(s)"Then to the Gentiles also God has ^(t)granted ^(u)repentance that leads to life."

The Church in Antioch

^19 (v)Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists^[c] also, ^(w)preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And ^(x)the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ^(y)turned to the Lord. ²² The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he came and saw ^(z)the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord ^(aa)with steadfast purpose, ²⁴ for he was a good man, ^(ab)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people ^(ac)were added to the Lord. ²⁵ So Barnabas went to ^(ad)Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called ^(ae)Christians.

²⁷ Now in these days ^(af)prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ And one of them named ^(ag)Agabus stood up and foretold ^(ah)by the Spirit that there would be a great ^(ai)famine over all the world (this took place in the days of ^(aj)Claudius). ²⁹ So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, ^(ak)to send relief to ^(al)the brothers^[d] living in Judea. ^30 (am)And they did so, sending it to ^(an)the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.