Acts of Apostles 11:1-30
11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Ju·deʹa heard that people of the nations had also accepted the word of God.
2 So when Peter came up to Jerusalem, the supporters of circumcision+ began to criticize* him,
3 saying: “You went into the house of men who were not circumcised and ate with them.”
4 At this Peter went on to explain the matter in detail to them, saying:
5 “I was in the city of Jopʹpa praying, and while in a trance I saw a vision, something* descending like a great linen sheet being let down by its four corners from heaven, and it came right down to me.+
6 Looking closely into it, I observed four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles,* and birds of heaven.
7 I also heard a voice say to me: ‘Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!’
8 But I said: ‘Certainly not, Lord, because a defiled or unclean thing has never entered my mouth.’
9 The second time, the voice from heaven answered: ‘You stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.’
10 This happened a third time, and everything was pulled up again into heaven.
11 Also just at that moment, three men were standing at the house where we were staying, having been sent to me from Caes·a·reʹa.+
12 Then the spirit told me to go with them, not doubting at all. But these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the house of the man.
13 “He reported to us how he saw the angel stand in his house and say: ‘Send men to Jopʹpa and summon Simon who is called Peter,+
14 and he will tell you things by which you and all your household may get saved.’
15 But when I started to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as it did also on us in the beginning.+
16 At this I recalled the saying of the Lord, how he used to say: ‘John baptized with water,+ but you will be baptized with holy spirit.’+
17 If, therefore, God gave the same free gift to them that he gave to us who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should be able to hinder God?”*+
18 When they heard these things, they stopped objecting,* and they glorified God, saying: “So, then, God has also granted to people of the nations repentance leading to life.”+
19 Now those who had been scattered+ by the tribulation that arose over Stephen went as far as Phoe·niʹcia, Cyʹprus, and Antioch, but they spoke the word only to the Jews.+
20 However, some of the men among them from Cyʹprus and Cy·reʹne came to Antioch and began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus.
21 Furthermore, the hand of Jehovah* was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord.+
22 The report about them reached the ears of the congregation in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barʹna·bas+ as far as Antioch.
23 When he arrived and saw the undeserved kindness of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all to continue in the Lord with heartfelt resolve;+
24 for he was a good man and full of holy spirit and faith. And a considerable crowd was added to the Lord.+
25 So he went to Tarsus to make a thorough search for Saul.+
26 After he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year they assembled with them in the congregation and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.+
27 In those days prophets+ came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 One of them named Agʹa·bus+ stood up and foretold through the spirit that a great famine was about to come on the entire inhabited earth,+ which, in fact, did take place in the time of Claudius.
29 So the disciples determined, each according to what he could afford,+ to send relief*+ to the brothers living in Ju·deʹa;
30 and this they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barʹna·bas and Saul.+
Footnotes
^ Or “contend with.”
^ Lit., “some sort of vessel.”
^ Or “creeping things.”
^ Or “stand in God’s way?”
^ Lit., “they became silent.”
^ Or “a relief ministration.”
