Acts
Chapter 14
1 In Iconium, they both went into the Jewish synagogue, and spoke so well that many Jews and Greeks believed.
2 But the Jews who did not believe upset the non-Jews and turned their thoughts against the believers.
3 They stayed there a long time, speaking bravely about God, who showed that their message of kindness was true by letting them perform miracles and wonders.
4 The people in the city were split: some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
5 When both the non-Jews and the Jews with their leaders attacked them to abuse and stone them,
6 They realized it and ran away to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia, and to the surrounding area.
7 There they shared the good news.
8 In Lystra, there was a man who couldn’t use his feet. He had been unable to walk since he was born.
9 Paul spoke and a man listened; he looked straight at him, saw he believed, and could be healed.
10 Spoke loudly, “Get up on your feet.” And he jumped up and walked.
11 When the people saw what Paul did, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us looking like humans.”
12 People named Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury because Paul was the main speaker.
13 The priest of Jupiter from their city brought bulls and wreaths to the gates and wanted to offer a sacrifice with everyone.
14 When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard this, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd, shouting.
15 And asking, “Friends, why do you do these things? We are just like you, feeling the same things, and we tell you to stop worshipping these worthless things and turn to the real God who created the sky, the land, the sea, and everything in them.”
16 In the past, God allowed all nations to follow their own paths.
17 But God didn’t leave without evidence, doing good, giving us rain from the sky, and seasons of bounty, filling our lives with food and joy.
18 With these words, they barely stopped the people from offering sacrifices to them.
19 Some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and convinced the people to stone Paul. They thought he was dead, so they dragged him out of the city.
20 Even though the followers were standing around him, he got up, went into the city, and the next day he left with Barnabas to Derbe.
21 After they shared the good news with that city and taught many people, they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch.
22 Strengthening the believers and encouraging them to stay true to the faith, and saying that we must go through many hard times to enter God’s kingdom.
23 After they chose leaders for each church and prayed with fasting, they trusted these leaders to God, in whom they believed.
24 After they traveled through Pisidia, they arrived in Pamphylia.
25 After they shared God’s message in Perga, they traveled to Attalia.
26 From there, they sailed to Antioch, where they had been entrusted to God’s care for the task they completed.
27 When they arrived and brought the church together, they told everyone what God had done with them and how He had made it possible for non-Jews to believe.
28 They stayed there a long time with the followers.