Acts 14 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue as they usually did. They spoke so effectively that a huge number of both Jewish and non-Jewish people came to trust in Jesus.

But the Jewish people who refused to believe stirred up the non-Jewish population, poisoning their minds against the brothers and sisters.

So Paul and Barnabas stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who backed up their message about his undeserved kindness by enabling them to perform signs and extraordinary things.

The people of the city were divided — some sided with the Jewish opponents, and some with the apostles.

When a plot was hatched by both non-Jewish people and Jewish leaders — along with their officials — to abuse and stone them,

they found out about it and escaped to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area.

And there they kept spreading the good news.

In Lystra there was a man sitting who had no strength in his feet. He had been unable to walk 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 trust to be healed,

and called out in a loud voice, "Stand up on your feet!" The man jumped up and started walking around.

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us looking like humans!"

They called Barnabas "Zeus" and Paul "Hermes," because Paul was the main speaker.

The priest of the temple of Zeus, which was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths 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 tore their clothes 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 turn away from these worthless things and turn toward the living God, the one who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

In past generations, he let all the nations go their own way.

Yet he hasn't left himself without evidence. He has shown his goodness by giving you rain from the sky and crops in their seasons, filling your lives with food and happiness."

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 stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, assuming he was dead.

But after the followers 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 made many followers, they returned to Lystra, then to Iconium, and then to Antioch,

strengthening the hearts of the followers and encouraging them to stay anchored in their trust. "We have to go through many hardships to enter God's kingdom," they said.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each gathering, and with prayer and fasting, they handed them over to the Lord they had come to trust.

After traveling through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

And when they had spoken the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch — where they had originally been entrusted to God's generous favor for the work they had now completed.

When they arrived and gathered the community together, they reported everything God had done through them, and how he had opened a door of trust for non-Jewish people.

And they stayed there with the followers for a considerable time.