⁴¹ Then those who ^[a]gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. ^42 (A)And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ ^[b]doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³ Then fear came upon every soul, and ^(B)many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ Now all who believed were together, and ^(C)had all things in common, ⁴⁵ and ^[c]sold their possessions and goods, and ^(D)divided^[d] them among all, as anyone had need.

^46 (E)So continuing daily with one accord ^(F)in the temple, and ^(G)breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And ^(H)the Lord added ^[e]to the church daily those who were being saved.

Paul and Barnabas Are Sent to the Gentiles

13 Now ^(A)in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: ^(B)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, ^(C)Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ^(D)“Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work ^(E)to which I have called them.” ³ Then, ^(F)having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Preaching in Cyprus

⁴ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to ^(G)Cyprus. ⁵ And when they arrived in Salamis, ^(H)they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had ^(I)John as their assistant.

⁶ Now when they had gone through ^[a]the island to Paphos, they found ^(J)a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But ^(K)Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) ^[b]withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ Then Saul, who also is called Paul, ^(L)filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, ^(M)you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ And now, indeed, ^(N)the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”

And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

At Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and ^(O)John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and ^(P)went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. ¹⁵ And ^(Q)after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have ^(R)any word of ^[c]exhortation for the people, say on.”

¹⁶ Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and ^(S)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people ^[d]Israel ^(T)chose our fathers, and exalted the people ^(U)when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with ^[e]an uplifted arm He ^(V)brought them out of it. ¹⁸ Now ^(W)for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And when He had destroyed ^(X)seven nations in the land of Canaan, ^(Y)He distributed their land to them by allotment.

²⁰ “After that ^(Z)He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, ^(AA)until Samuel the prophet. ^21 (AB)And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them ^(AC)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² And ^(AD)when He had removed him, ^(AE)He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ^(AF)‘I have found David the son of Jesse, ^(AG)a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ ^23 (AH)From this man’s seed, according ^(AI)to the promise, God raised up for Israel ^(AJ)a^[f] Savior—Jesus— ^24 (AK)after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ^(AL)‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, ^(AM)there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’

²⁶ “Men and brethren, sons of the ^[g]family of Abraham, and ^(AN)those among you who fear God, ^(AO)to you the ^[h]word of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, ^(AP)because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. ^28 (AQ)And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. ^29 (AR)Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, ^(AS)they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ^30 (AT)But God raised Him from the dead. ^31 (AU)He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people. ³² And we declare to you glad tidings—^(AV)that promise which was made to the fathers. ³³ God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm:

³⁴ And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to ^[i]corruption, He has spoken thus:

³⁵ Therefore He also says in another Psalm:

³⁶ “For David, after he had served ^[k]his own generation by the will of God, ^(AZ)fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and ^[l]saw corruption; ³⁷ but He whom God raised up ^[m]saw no corruption. ³⁸ Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that ^(BA)through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; ³⁹ and ^(BB)by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you:

Blessing and Conflict at Antioch

^42 [n]So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, ^(BD)persuaded them to continue in ^(BE)the grace of God.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they ^(BF)opposed the things spoken by Paul. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ^(BG)“It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but ^(BH)since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, ^(BI)we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us:

⁴⁸ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. ^(BK)And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, ^(BL)raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ^51 (BM)But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Then he came to ^(A)Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, ^(B)named Timothy, ^(C)the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. ² He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he ^(D)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁴ And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the ^(E)decrees to keep, ^(F)which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. ^5 (G)So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

The Macedonian Call

⁶ Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of ^(H)Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in ^[a]Asia. ⁷ After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the ^[b]Spirit did not permit them. ⁸ So passing by Mysia, they ^(I)came down to Troas. ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A ^(J)man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go ^(K)to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia Baptized at Philippi

¹¹ Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to ^(L)Philippi, which is the ^[c]foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. ¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. ¹⁴ Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of ^(M)Thyatira, who worshiped God. ^(N)The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So ^(O)she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

¹⁶ Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl ^(P)possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters ^(Q)much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she did for many days.

But Paul, ^(R)greatly ^[d]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” ^(S)And he came out that very hour. ¹⁹ But ^(T)when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and ^(U)dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰ And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, ^(V)exceedingly trouble our city; ²¹ and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” ²² Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes ^(W)and commanded them to be beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴ Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Saved

²⁵ But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ^26 (X)Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately ^(Y)all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. ²⁷ And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸ But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

²⁹ Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ And he brought them out and said, ^(Z)“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ So they said, ^(AA)“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴ Now when he had brought them into his house, ^(AB)he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly

³⁵ And when it was day, the magistrates sent the ^[e]officers, saying, “Let those men go.”

³⁶ So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned ^(AC)Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”

³⁸ And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. ³⁹ Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and ^(AD)asked them to depart from the city. ⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison ^(AE)and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.