New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Acts chapter 14

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish as they usually did. They spoke so effectively that a huge number of both Jewish and in Jesus.But the Jewish people who stirred up the non-Jewish population, poisoning their minds against the .So Paul and Barnabas stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who backed up their message about his by enabling them to perform .The people of the city were divided — some sided with the Jewish opponents, and some with the .When a plot was hatched by both non-Jewish people and Jewish leaders — along with their officials — to abuse and them,they found out about it and escaped to the cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area.And there they kept .In Lystra there was a man sitting who had no strength in his feet. He had been from birth — he had never taken a single step.This man listened to Paul speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had the to be healed,and called out in a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” The man and started walking around.When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “ to us looking like humans!”They called Barnabas “” and Paul “,” because Paul was the main speaker.The , which was just outside the city, brought bulls and to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about this, they and rushed into the crowd, shouting:“Friends, why are you doing this? We’re just humans like you! We’re here to bring you good news — that you should from these and the , the one who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.In past generations, he let all the go their own way.Yet he hasn’t left himself without . He has shown his goodness by giving you rain from the sky and crops in their seasons, filling your lives with food and .”Even with these words, they barely managed to stop the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.Then some Jewish opponents arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They Paul and dragged him outside the city, assuming he was dead.But after the gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.After they had spread the good news in Derbe and , they returned to Lystra, then to Iconium, and then to Antioch, the hearts of the followers and encouraging them to stay anchored in their . “We have to go through many to enter ,” they said.Paul and Barnabas appointed for them in each , and with prayer and , they handed them over to the Lord they had come to trust.After traveling through , they came to .And when they had spoken in , they went down to Attalia.From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch — where they had originally been for the work they had now completed.When they arrived and together, they reported everything God had done through them, and how he had opened a for .And they stayed there with the for a considerable time.