Peter Reports at Jerusalem

¹Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^[a]those who were circumcised took issue with him, ³ saying, “You ^[b]went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began speaking ^[c]and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an ^[d]object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from ^[e]the sky; and it came right down to me, ⁶ and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it ^[f]I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the ^[g]crawling creatures and the birds of the ^[h]air. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ^[i]kill and eat.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ^[j]unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer ^[k]consider unholy.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into ^[l]the sky. ¹¹ And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² The Spirit told me to go with them ^[m]without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ^[n]standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; ¹⁴ and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ ¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized ^[o]with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could ^[p]stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard this, they ^[q]quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

The Church at Antioch

¹⁹ So then those who were scattered because of the ^[r]persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way ^[s]to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the ^[t]Greeks also, ^[u]preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. ²² The ^[v]news about them ^[w]reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off ^[x]to Antioch. ²³ Then when he arrived and ^[y]witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with ^[z]resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; ²⁴ for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable ^[aa]numbers were ^[ab]brought to the Lord. ²⁵ And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they ^[ac]met with the church and taught considerable ^[ad]numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷ Now ^[ae]at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate ^[af]by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the ^[ag]world. ^[ah]And this took place in the reign of Claudius. ²⁹ And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the ^[ai]relief of the brethren living in Judea. ³⁰ And this they did, sending it ^[aj]in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.