1The church at Antioch had prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (the childhood friend of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.

2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart ⁵⁵Barnabas and Saul to do the work I've called them to.”

3After they had fasted, prayed, and placed their hands on them in blessing, they sent them on their way.

4So Barnabas and Saul, directed by the Holy Spirit, went to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.

5Arriving at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John ⁵⁶was with them as their assistant.

6They traveled throughout the island and eventually came to Paphos. There they found a Jewish magician, a false prophet by the name of Bar-jesus.

7He was close to the governor, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. Sergius Paulus invited Barnabas and Saul to come and visit him since he wanted to hear the word of God.

8But the magician Elymas (his Greek name) opposed them, trying to prevent the governor from trusting in God.

9Saul, also called Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and looked straight at him.

10“You are full of deception and all kinds of evil, you son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right! Will you never give up perverting the Lord's true ways?

11Look, the Lord's hand is on you and you will become blind. You will not see the sun for some time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell on him, and he had to find someone who could lead him by the hand.

12When the governor saw what happened he trusted in God, amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

13Then Paul and those with him sailed from Paphos and went to Perga in Pamphylia, while John left them and went back to Jerusalem.

14They went through Perga and on to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and were seated.

15After the readings from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message saying, “Brothers, please share with the congregation any words of encouragement you may have.”

16Paul stood up, motioned with his hand to get their attention, and began speaking. “Men of Israel, and all of you who have reverence for God, listen to me.

17The God of the people of Israel chose our forefathers, and gave our people prosperity during their stay in the land of Egypt. Then with his mighty power he led them out of Egypt,

18and he patiently dealt with them in the desert for about forty years.

19After he had overthrown seven nations living in the land of Canaan, God divided their land among the Israelites and gave it to them to inherit. This took about four hundred and fifty years.

20Then he provided them with judges as leaders until the time of the prophet Samuel.

21Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled for forty years.

22Then God removed Saul, and made David their king. God approved of David, saying ‘I found David the son of Jesse to be a man according to my own heart; he will do everything I intend.’ ⁵⁷

23Jesus is David's descendant; he is the Savior that God promised to bring to Israel.

24Before Jesus came, John announced the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25As John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one you're looking for. But after me one is coming whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie.’ ⁵⁸

26My brothers, children of Abraham and those of you who have reverence for God: the message of this salvation has been sent to us!

27The people living in Jerusalem and their leaders didn't recognize Jesus or understand the words spoken by the prophets that are read every Sabbath. In fact they fulfilled the prophetic words by condemning him!

28Even though they couldn't find any evidence to sentence him to death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed.

29After they had fulfilled everything predicted that they would do to him, they took him down from the cross and buried him in a tomb.

30But God raised him from the dead,

31and he appeared over the course of many days to those who had followed him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to the people.

32We are here to bring to you the good news of the promise that God made to our forefathers,

33that he has now fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus from the dead. As it is written in Psalm 2: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ ⁵⁹

34God raised him from the dead, never to die again, as he indicated by saying, ‘I will give you what is holy and trustworthy, as I promised to David.’ ⁶⁰

35As another psalm says, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ ⁶¹

36But David died, after he had done what God wanted in his own time, and he was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed.

37The one God raised from the dead saw no decay.

38My brothers, I want you to understand that we're telling you that through this man sins are forgiven.

39Through him everyone who trusts in him is made morally right ⁶²from all that is wrong—in a way that you could never be set right by the law of Moses.

40Make sure that what the prophets said doesn't happen to you:

41‘You who are scornful, look in amazement, and die! For what I'm doing in your lifetime is something that you could never believe, even if someone told you!’” ⁶³

42As they were leaving, the people pleaded with them to tell them more the next Sabbath.

43After the meeting in the synagogue, many of the Jews and the converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas who spoke with them, encouraging them to continue to hold on to the grace of God.

44The following Sabbath almost the whole town turned out to hear the word of God.

45However, when the Jews saw the crowds, they became extremely jealous, contradicting what Paul was saying and cursing him.

46So Paul and Barnabas spoke out strongly, saying “We had to speak the word of God to you first. But now that you're rejecting it—you're deciding that you're not worthy of eternal life—well now we're turning to the foreigners.

47That's what the Lord has told us to do: ‘I've made you a light to the foreigners, and through you salvation will go to the ends of the earth.’” ⁶⁴

48When the foreigners heard this they were overjoyed, praising the Lord's word, and all those chosen for eternal life trusted in God.

49So God's word was spread throughout the region.

50But the Jews incited the prominent religious women and leaders of the city to persecute Paul and Barnabas, and had them expelled from their territory.

51So they shook the dust off their feet against them as a sign of protest, and went on to Iconium.

52And the believers continued to be filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.