Acts 11

¹Acts 11:1. The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.²Acts 11:2. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him³Acts 11:3. and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”⁴Acts 11:4. But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events:⁵Acts 11:5. “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me.⁶Acts 11:6. I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.⁷Acts 11:7. Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’⁸Acts 11:8. ‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’⁹Acts 11:9. But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’¹⁰Acts 11:10. This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.¹¹Acts 11:11. Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.¹²Acts 11:12. The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s home.¹³Acts 11:13. He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.¹⁴Acts 11:14. He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’¹⁵Acts 11:15. As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.¹⁶Acts 11:16. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’¹⁷Acts 11:17. So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”¹⁸Acts 11:18. When they heard this, they had no further objections, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

¹⁹Acts 11:19. Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.²⁰Acts 11:20. But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.²¹Acts 11:21. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.²²Acts 11:22. When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.²³Acts 11:23. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.²⁴Acts 11:24. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.²⁵Acts 11:25. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,²⁶Acts 11:26. and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

²⁷Acts 11:27. In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.²⁸Acts 11:28. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)²⁹Acts 11:29. So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.³⁰Acts 11:30. This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.