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¹ Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ² But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who emphasized circumcision[fn] disagreed with him.[xr] ³ They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"[xr] ⁴ Then Peter began to explain to them point by point what had happened. He said,[xr] ⁵ "I was in the town of Joppa praying when in a trance I saw a vision: Something like a large linen sheet was coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came right down to me.[xr] ⁶ When I examined it closely, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷ I also heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.' ⁸ But I replied, 'Absolutely not, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth!' ⁹ Then the voice from heaven answered a second time, 'You must stop calling common what God has made clean!' ¹⁰ This happened three times. Then everything was pulled up to heaven again. ¹¹ "At that very moment three men arrived at the house where we were staying. They had been sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them and not to treat them differently. These six brothers went with me, too, and we went into the man's house.[xr] ¹³ Then he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his home and saying, 'Send messengers[fn] to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.[xr] ¹⁴ He will speak words to you by which you and your entire home will be saved.' ¹⁵ "When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he had on us at the beginning.[xr] ¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord - how he had said, 'John baptized with[fn] water, but you will be baptized with[fn] the Holy Spirit.'[xr] ¹⁷ Now if God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try to stop God?"[xr] ¹⁸ When they heard this, they quieted down, and praised God, saying, "So God has given even the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."[xr]

¹⁹ Now the people who were scattered by the persecution that started because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.[xr] ²⁰ But among them were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch and began talking to the Hellenistic Jews[fn] too, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.[xr] ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number of people believed and turned to the Lord.[xr] ²² News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and so they sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch.[xr] ²³ When he arrived, he rejoiced to see what the grace of God had done,[fn] and with a hearty determination he continuously encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord.[xr] ²⁴ For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And so a large crowd was brought to the Lord.[xr] ²⁵ Then Barnabas left for Tarsus to look for Saul.[xr] ²⁶ When he found him, he brought him to Antioch, and for a whole year they were guests of the church and taught a large crowd. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

²⁷ At that time some prophets from Jerusalem came down to Antioch.[xr] ²⁸ One of them named Agabus got up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine all over the world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.[xr] ²⁹ So every one of the disciples decided, as he was able, to send a contribution to the brothers living in Judea.[xr] ³⁰ They did this by sending Barnabas and Saul to the elders.[xr]