Chapter 11, verse 24 - Chapter 14, verse 13
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For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.
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Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul.
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When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. It happened, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the assembly, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
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Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
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One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
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As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea
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which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Chapter 12
1
Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.
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He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
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When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.
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When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
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Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.
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The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.
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And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off from his hands.
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The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak, and follow me.”
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And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.
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When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out, and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
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When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”
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Thinking about that, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
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When Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.
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When she recognized Peter’s voice, she didn’t open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate.
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They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”
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But Peter continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed.
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But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these things to James, and to the brothers.” Then he departed, and went to another place.
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Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
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When Herod had sought for him, and didn’t find him, he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be put to death. He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.
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Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king’s personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
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On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them.
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The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
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Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
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But the word of God grew and multiplied.
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Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their service, also taking with them John whose surname was Mark.
Chapter 13
1
Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2
As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
3
Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.
5
When they were at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had also John as their attendant.
6
When they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar Jesus,
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who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of understanding. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, and sought to hear the word of God.
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But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn aside the proconsul from the faith.
9
But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
10
and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
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Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
12
Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
13
Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.
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But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.
15
After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”
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Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen.
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The God of this people chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it.
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For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
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When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred fifty years.
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After these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
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Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
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When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
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From this man’s seed, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise,
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before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.
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As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
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Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.
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For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
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Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.
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When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
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But God raised him from the dead,
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and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
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We bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers,
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that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’
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“Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
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Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’
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For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw decay.
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But he whom God raised up saw no decay.
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Be it known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins,
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and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
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Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets:
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‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish
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So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
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Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas
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The next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God.
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But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.
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Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, and said, “It was necessary that God’s word should be spoken to you first. Since indeed you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
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For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’”
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As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
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The Lord’s word was spread abroad throughout all the region.
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But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their borders.
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But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium.
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The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 14
1
It happened in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.
2
But the disbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.
3
Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4
But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
5
When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
6
they became aware of it, and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.
7
There they preached the Good News.
8
At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.
9
He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole,
10
said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and walked.
11
When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”
12
They called Barnabas “Jupiter,” and Paul “Mercury,” because he was the chief speaker.
13
The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
