CHAPTER XI.
THE FIRST MISSION OF PAUL AND BARNABAS TO CYPRUS AND ASIA MINOR.—A.D. 46-49.
1 12:25AND Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having performed the service, taking with them also John who was called Mark. 13:1And there were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch; Barnabas and Simeon called Niger [the black], and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen the foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. 13:2And while they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. 13:3Then having fasted and prayed and imposed hands on them, they sent them forth. 13:4They, therefore, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit went down to Seleucia, and thence sailed to Cyprus; 13:5and coming to Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John for a servant.
2 13:6And having gone through the whole island to Paphos, they found a certain magian, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, 13:7who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man having called for Barnabas and Saul desired to hear the word of God; 13:8but Elymas the magian, for so his name is interpreted, opposed them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. 13:9But Saul, [called] also Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looking steadily at him 13:10said, O full of all deceit and all craft, son of a devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 13:11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and going about he sought guides. 13:12Then the proconsul seeing what was done believed, and was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
3 13:13And those with Paul, sailing from Paphos, went to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. 13:14And passing on from Perga, they went to Antioch in Pisidia, and going into the synagogue on the Sabbath they sat down. 13:15And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent to them, saying, Men and brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.
4 13:16And Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you that fear God, hear. 13:17The God of this people chose our fathers, and raised up the people in the exile in the land of Egypt, and brought them out of it with a high arm. 13:18And when he had borne with their conduct forty years in the wilderness, 13:19and had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he distributed their land to them by lot. 13:20And after this he gave judges four hundred and fifty years till Samuel the prophet. 13:21And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, forty years; 13:22and removing him, he raised up for them David for a king, of whom also he said and testified, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.
5 13:23Of the posterity of this man, according to his promise, has God raised up to Israel a Saviour, Jesus; 13:24John having preached before his coming the baptism of a change of mind to all the people of Israel. 13:25And when John completed his course, he said, Who do you suppose I am? I am not [the Christ]; but behold, there comes after me one the sandal of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.
6 13:26Men and brothers, children of the race of Abraham, and you that fear God, the word of this salvation is sent to you. 13:27For those living at Jerusalem, and their rulers, not knowing him and the words of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning [him]; 13:28and [although] they found no cause of death [in him], they requested of Pilate that he might be destroyed; 13:29and when they had performed all things written of him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. 13:30But God raised him from the dead, 13:31and he appeared many days to those who went up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 13:32And we declare to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, 13:33that God has fulfilled this to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is written also in the first psalm, You are my son, to-day have I begotten you. 13:34And that he raised him from the dead never more to return to destruction, he said thus; I will give you the sure promises of David. 13:35Wherefore also in another place he says, Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see destruction. 13:36For David, having in his generation served the will of God, fell asleep, and was gathered to his fathers and saw destruction; 13:37but he whom God raised up saw not destruction. 13:38Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, 13:39and every one who believes is justified by him from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 13:40See then that what is said by the prophets does not come upon you; 13:41Behold, despisers, and wonder and perish, for I perform a work in your days, a work which you shall by no means believe even if one declares it to you.
7 13:42And when they had gone out, [the people] requested that these words might be spoken to them on the next sabbath. 13:43And the congregation being dismissed, many of the Jews and pious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who gave them additional instructions, and persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 13:44And on the following sabbath almost all the city came together to hear the word of the Lord. 13:45And the Jews seeing the multitudes were filled with envy, and contradicted the things said by Paul, disputing and blaspheming. 13:46And both Paul and Barnabas speaking boldly said, It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you; but since you cast it away, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the gentiles. 13:47For thus has the Lord commanded us; I have set you for a light of nations, that you should be a salvation even to the end of the earth. 13:48And the gentiles hearing this rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed; 13:49and the word of the Lord was spread through all the country. 13:50But the Jews excited the pious and honorable women, and the first men of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out from their limits. 13:51And shaking off the dust of their feet against them, they went to Iconium; 13:52and the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
8 14:1And at Iconium they went together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude of the Jews and Greeks believed. 14:2But the unbelieving Jews excited the minds of the gentiles against the brothers, and made them ill-disposed. 14:3Then they spent a long time in speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting miracles and prodigies to be performed by their hands. 14:4And the multitude of the city were divided; some were with the Jews, and some with the apostles. 14:5And when a design was formed by the gentiles and Jews with their rulers to treat them injuriously, and stone them, 14:6knowing it, they fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country, 14:7and preached the good news there.
9 14:8And there sat a certain man at Lystra, infirm in his feet, lame from his birth, who had never walked. 14:9This man heard Paul speaking, who, looking steadily at him and seeing that he had faith to be cured, 14:10said with a loud voice, Stand up erect on your feet. And he leaped, and walked. 14:11And the multitude seeing what Paul did, lifted up their voice in the language of Lycaonia, saying, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men; 14:12and they called Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercury, because he was a master of eloquence. 14:13And the priest of the Jupiter which was before the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates, and wished to offer sacrifices with the multitudes. 14:14But the apostles Barnabas and Paul hearing of it, rending their clothes ran among the multitude, crying 14:15and saying, Men, why do you do these things? We are also men subject to like sufferings with you, preaching that you should turn from these vain [services] to the living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things in them, 14:16who in past generations permitted all nations to walk in their own ways; 14:17although indeed he left not himself without a witness, doing good, giving rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. 14:18And saying these things they with difficulty restrained the multitudes from sacrificing to them.
10 14:19But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the multitudes, and having stoned Paul, they dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 14:20But while the disciples stood around him, he arose and entered into the city. And on the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe. 14:21And having preached the good news to that city, and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and Iconium, and Antioch, 14:22confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of God. 14:23And having appointed them elders in every church, and having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
11 14:24And passing through Pisidia they came to Pamphylia, 14:25and having spoken the word in Perga they went down to Attalia, 14:26and thence sailed to Antioch, whence they had been commended to the favor of God for the work which they performed. 14:27And having arrived, and assembled the church, they reported what God had done with them, and that he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles. 14:28And they remained there not a little time with the disciples.