Now the apostles and ^athe brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^1athose who were circumcised took issue with him, 3 saying, “^aYou ¹went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began speaking ¹and proceeded to explain to them ^ain orderly sequence, saying, 5 “^aI was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^ba vision, ¹an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from heaven, and it came right down to me, 6 and when looking closely at it, I was observing it and saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the ¹sky. 7 And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise up, Peter; ¹slaughter and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing defiled or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^aWhat God has cleansed, no longer consider defiled.’ 10 And this happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven. 11 And behold, immediately three men appeared at the house in which we were, having been sent to me from ^aCaesarea. 12 ^aAnd the Spirit told me to go with them ^1bwithout taking issue at all. ^cThese six brothers also went with me and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ¹standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is also called Peter; 14 and he will speak ^awords to you by which you will be saved, you and ^ball your household.’ 15 And as I began to speak, ^athe Holy Spirit fell upon them just ^bas He did upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized ¹with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 Therefore if ^aGod gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^bwho was I that I could prevent God’s way?” 18 And when they heard this, they ¹quieted down and ^aglorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the ^brepentance that leads to life.”

19 ^aSo then those who were scattered because of the ¹persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way ²to ^bPhoenicia and ^cCyprus and ^dAntioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. 20 But there were some of them, men of ^aCyprus and ^bCyrene, who came to ^cAntioch and began speaking to the ^1dGreeks also, ^eproclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus. 21 And ^athe hand of the Lord was with them, and ^ba large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 Now the ¹news about them ²reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent ^aBarnabas off ³to ^bAntioch, 23 who, when he arrived and saw ^athe grace of God, rejoiced and began to encourage them all with a purposeful heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and ^afull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a ^bconsiderable crowd was ¹brought to the Lord. 25 And he left for ^aTarsus to search for Saul; 26 and when he found him, he brought him to ^aAntioch. And it happened that for an entire year they ¹met with the church and taught a considerable crowd. And ^bthe disciples were first called ^cChristians in ^dAntioch.

27 Now in those days, ^asome prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^bAntioch. 28 And one of them named ^aAgabus stood up and indicated ¹by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine ^ball over the ²world. ³And this took place in the reign of ^cClaudius. 29 And as any of ^athe disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the service of ^bthe brothers living in Judea. 30 ^aAnd this they did, sending it ¹in charge of ^bBarnabas and Saul to the ^celders.