Acts 11 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Now the emissaries and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that non-Jewish people had also embraced God's message.

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who insisted on circumcision confronted him,

saying, "You went into the homes of uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

But Peter laid it all out for them from the beginning, step by step:

"I was in the city of Joppa, praying, and in a vision I saw something coming down — like a huge sheet being lowered from the sky by its four corners — and it came right down to where I was.

I looked closely at it and saw all kinds of four-footed animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds.

Then I heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'

But I said, 'Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or off-limits has ever touched my lips.'

But the voice from heaven spoke a second time: 'What God has made clean, stop calling off-limits.'

This happened three times, and then the whole thing was pulled back up into the sky.

Right at that moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea showed up at the house where I was staying.

The Breath told me to go with them without any hesitation. These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man's house.

He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send men to Joppa and bring back Simon, the one called Peter.

He will tell you a message through which you and everyone in your household will be rescued.'

"As I began to speak, the Breath of God fell on them just like it fell on us at the very beginning.

Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John submerged people in water, but you will be submerged in the Breath of God.'

So if God gave them the exact same gift he gave us when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus, the One — who was I to think I could stand in God's way?"

When they heard this, they had nothing more to say. They praised God, saying, "So then, God has given even non-Jewish people the chance to rethink everything and find life!"

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out after Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they only shared the message with Jewish people.

But some of them — men from Cyprus and Cyrene — went to Antioch and started telling Greek-speaking people the good news about the Lord Jesus too.

The Lord's power was with them, and a huge number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

News about this reached the gathered community in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

When he arrived and saw the evidence of God's generous favor, he was overjoyed and encouraged them all to stay true to the Lord with all their hearts.

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Breath of God and full of trust in God. And a large number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the gathered community there and taught large numbers of people. It was in Antioch that the followers were first called "people of the One."

During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

One of them, named Agabus, stood up and — through the Breath — predicted that a severe famine was about to hit the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)

So the followers decided that each of them would send help, according to their ability, to the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

They did this, sending their gift to the elders through Barnabas and Saul.