New Testament Plan

¹In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue, as usual, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

³So they stayed there a long time and spoke boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace by enabling them to do signs and wonders.

⁴But the people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews and others with the apostles.

⁵When an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them,

⁶they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside.

⁷There they continued preaching the gospel.

⁸In Lystra a man was sitting who was without strength in his feet, had never walked, and had been lame from birth.

⁹He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” And he jumped up and began to walk around.

¹¹When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought bulls and wreaths to the gates because he intended, with the crowds, to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:

¹⁵“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

¹⁶In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own way,

¹⁷although he did not leave himself without a witness, since he did what is good by giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹⁸Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰After the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

²¹After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,

²²strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

²³When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

²⁴They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

²⁵After they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

²⁶From there they sailed back to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

²⁸And they spent a considerable time with the disciples.

¹Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

³When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

⁸And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us.

⁹He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

¹²The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James responded: “Brothers and sisters, listen to me.

¹⁴Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name.

¹⁵And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:

¹⁶After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again,

¹⁷so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord — even all the Gentiles who are called by my name — declares the Lord who makes these things

¹⁸known from long ago.

¹⁹Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

²⁰but instead we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from blood.

²¹For since ancient times, Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, and every Sabbath day he is read aloud in the synagogues.”

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

²³They wrote: “From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers and sisters among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

²⁴Since we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

²⁵we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our dearly loved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸For it was the Holy Spirit’s decision — and ours — not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements:

²⁹that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”

³⁰So they were sent off and went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

³¹When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

³²Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and sisters and strengthened them with a long message.

³³After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers and sisters to those who had sent them.

³⁴

³⁵But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark.

³⁸But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

³⁹They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended by the brothers and sisters to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

¹Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

³Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.