Now the apostles and ^athe believers who were throughout Judea heard with astonishment that the Gentiles also had received and accepted the word of God the message concerning salvation through Christ. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, ^athose of the circumcision certain Jewish believers who followed the Law took issue with him for violating Jewish customs, 3 saying, “^aYou went to uncircumcised men and even ate with them!” 4 But Peter began at the beginning and explained the events to them ^astep by step, saying, 5 “^aI was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^ba vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and it descended until it came right down to me, 6 and looking closely at it, I saw all kinds of the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air both clean and unclean according to the Law, 7 and I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘Not at all, Lord; for nothing common (unholy) or ceremonially unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^aWhat God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy) .’ 10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And right then the three men who had been sent to me from ^aCaesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 ^aThe Spirit told me to go with them ^bwithout the slightest hesitation. So ^cthese six brothers also went with me and we went to the man’s house. 13 And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 14 he will bring ^aa message to you by which you will be saved and granted eternal life, you and ^ball your household.’ 15 When I began to speak, ^athe Holy Spirit fell on them just ^bas He did on us at the beginning at Pentecost. Acts 2:1-4 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^aJohn baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 So, if ^aGod gave Gentiles the same gift equally as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, ^bwho was I to interfere or stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard this, they quieted down and ^aglorified and praised God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles ^brepentance that leads to eternal life that is, real life after earthly death.”

19 ^aSo then since they were unaware of these developments those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with the stoning of Stephen traveled as far as ^bPhoenicia and ^cCyprus and ^dAntioch, without telling the message of salvation through Christ to anyone except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of ^aCyprus and ^bCyrene, who came to ^cAntioch and began speaking to the ^dGreeks as well, ^eproclaiming to them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 And ^athe hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and ^ba great number who believed turned to the Lord for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior. 22 The news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent ^aBarnabas to ^bAntioch. 23 When he arrived and saw ^athe grace of God that was bestowed on them, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with an unwavering heart to stay true and devoted to the Lord. 24 For Barnabas was a good man privately and publicly—his godly character benefited both himself and others and he was ^afull of the Holy Spirit and full of faith in Jesus the Messiah, through whom believers have everlasting life. And a ^bgreat number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 And Barnabas left for ^aTarsus to search for Saul; 26 and when he found him, he brought him back to ^aAntioch. For an entire year they met with others in the church and instructed large numbers; and it was in ^bAntioch that ^cthe disciples were first called ^dChristians. Acts 26:28; 1+@Pet 4:16

27 Now at this time ^asome prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^bAntioch. 28 One of them named ^aAgabus stood up and prophesied through the Holy Spirit that a severe famine would come ^bon the ¹entire world. And this did happen during the reign of ^2cClaudius. 29 So ^athe disciples decided to send a contribution, each according to his individual ability, to ^bthe believers who lived in Judea. 30 ^aAnd this they did, sending the contribution to the ^belders by ^cBarnabas and Saul.