Now the apostles and ^athe brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^1athe Jewish believers took issue with him, 3 saying, “^aYou ¹went to ²uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained at length to them ^ain an orderly sequence, saying, 5 “^aI was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^ba vision, an ¹object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came to where I was, 6 and I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the ¹crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ¹kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ¹unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^aWhat God has cleansed, no longer ¹consider unholy.’ 10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. 11 And behold, at that moment three men who had been sent to me from ^aCaesarea came up to the house where we were staying. 12 ^aAnd the Spirit told me to go with them ^bwithout ¹misgivings. ^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 some men to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 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 them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^bwho was I that I could ¹stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard this, they ¹quieted down and ^aglorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles 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, ^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 as well, ^epreaching 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 The ¹news about them ²reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent ^aBarnabas off ³to ^bAntioch. 23 Then when he arrived and ¹witnessed ^athe grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with ²resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and ^afull of the Holy Spirit and faith. And ^1bconsiderable numbers were added to the Lord. 25 And he left for ^aTarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to ^aAntioch. And for an entire year they ¹met with the church and taught ²considerable numbers of people; and ^bthe disciples were first called ^cChristians in ^dAntioch.

27 Now ¹at this time some ^aprophets came down from Jerusalem to ^bAntioch. 28 One of them, named ^aAgabus, stood up and ¹indicated ²by the Spirit that there would definitely be a severe famine ^ball over the ³world. ⁴And this took place in the reign of ^cClaudius. 29 And to the extent that any of ^athe disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the ¹relief of ^bthe brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 ^aAnd they did this, sending it ¹with ^bBarnabas and Saul to the ^celders.