Acts 11

New American Standard Bible

Peter Reports in Jerusalem

11 Now the apostles and ^(A)the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ²And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, ^[a]^(B)the Jewish believers took issue with him, ³saying, “^(C)You ^[b]went to ^[c]uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴But Peter began and explained at length to them ^(D)in an orderly sequence, saying, ⁵“^(E)I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw ^(F)a vision, an ^[d]object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came to where I was, ⁶and I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the ^[e]crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; ^[f]kill and eat.’ ⁸But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing ^[g]unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘^(G)What God has cleansed, no longer ^[h]consider unholy.’ ¹⁰This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. ¹¹And behold, at that moment three men who had been sent to me from ^(H)Caesarea came up to the house where we were staying. ¹²^(I)And the Spirit told me to go with them ^(J)without ^[i]misgivings. ^(K)These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³And he reported to us how he had seen the angel ^[j]standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send some men to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; ¹⁴and he will speak ^(L)words to you by which you will be saved, you and ^(M)all your household.’ ¹⁵And as I began to speak, ^(N)the Holy Spirit fell upon them just ^(O)as He did upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘^(P)John baptized with water, but you will be baptized ^[k]with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷Therefore, if ^(Q)God gave them the same gift as He also gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^(R)who was I that I could ^[l]stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸When they heard this, they ^[m]quieted down and ^(S)glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has also granted to the Gentiles the ^(T)repentance that leads to life.”

The Church in Antioch

¹⁹^(U)So then those who were scattered because of the ^[n]persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way ^[o]to ^(V)Phoenicia, ^(W)Cyprus, and ^(X)Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. ²⁰But there were some of them, men of ^(Y)Cyprus and ^(Z)Cyrene, who came to ^(AA)Antioch and began speaking to the ^[p]^(AB)Greeks as well, ^(AC)preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus. ²¹And ^(AD)the hand of the Lord was with them, and ^(AE)a large number who believed turned to the Lord. ²²The ^[q]news about them ^[r]reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent ^(AF)Barnabas off ^[s]to ^(AG)Antioch. ²³Then when he arrived and ^[t]witnessed ^(AH)the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with ^[u]resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; ²⁴for he was a good man, and ^(AI)full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And ^[v]^(AJ)considerable numbers were added to the Lord. ²⁵And he left for ^(AK)Tarsus to look for Saul; ²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to ^(AL)Antioch. And for an entire year they ^[w]met with the church and taught ^[x]considerable numbers of people; and ^(AM)the disciples were first called ^(AN)Christians in ^(AO)Antioch.

²⁷Now ^[y]at this time some ^(AP)prophets came down from Jerusalem to ^(AQ)Antioch. ²⁸One of them, named ^(AR)Agabus, stood up and ^[z]indicated ^[aa]by the Spirit that there would definitely be a severe famine ^(AS)all over the ^[ab]world. ^[ac]And this took place in the reign of ^(AT)Claudius. ²⁹And to the extent that any of ^(AU)the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the ^[ad]relief of ^(AV)the brothers and sisters living in Judea. ³⁰^(AW)And they did this, sending it ^[ae]with ^(AX)Barnabas and Saul to the ^(AY)elders.