Barnabas and Saul Given a Special Work
1In the church (group of believers) at Antioch there were some prophets
2These men were all serving the Lord and fasting.
3So the church fasted
Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus
4Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit.
5When Barnabas and Saul came to the city of Salamis, they told the message
6They went across the whole island to the city of Paphos. In Paphos they met a Jewish man who did magic. His name was Barjesus. He was a false prophet.
7Barjesus always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, the governor. Sergius Paulus was a wise man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him. He wanted to hear the message
8But Elymas, the magician, was against Barnabas and Saul. (Elymas is another name for Barjesus.) Elymas tried to stop the governor from believing {in Jesus}.
9But Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit.
10and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of evil tricks and lies. You always try to change the Lord’s truths into lies!
11Now the Lord will touch you and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun.” Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around lost. He was trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.
12When the governor (Sergius Paulus) saw this, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas Go to Antioch in Pisidia
13Paul and those people with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia. But John {Mark} left them; he returned to Jerusalem.
14They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city near Pisidia. In Antioch on the Sabbath day
15The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets
16Paul stood up. He raised his hand
17The God of Israel (the Jews) chose our ancestors. God helped his people to have success during the time they lived in Egypt as strangers. God brought them out of that country with great power.
18And God was patient with them for 40 years in the desert.
19God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. He gave their land to his people.
20All this happened in about 450 years. “After this, God gave {our people} judges (leaders) until the time of Samuel
21Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of Kish. Saul was from the family group of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years.
22After God took Saul away, God made David
23God has brought one of David’s descendants
24Before Jesus came, John
25When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ.
26“My brothers, sons in the family of Abraham,
27The {Jews} living in Jerusalem and the Jewish leaders did not realize that {Jesus} was the Savior. The words that the prophets
28They could not find any real reason why Jesus should die, but they asked Pilate to kill him.
29These Jews did all the bad things that the Scriptures
30But God raised him up from death!
31After this, for many days, the people that had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw Jesus. These people are now his witnesses to the people.
32We tell you the Good News
33We are their children (descendants), and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We also read about this in Psalm 2: ‘ You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’ Psalm 2:7
34God raised Jesus from death. Jesus will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said: ‘I will give you the true and holy promises that I made to David.’ Isaiah 55:3
35But in another Psalm it says: ‘ You will not let {the body of} your Holy One rot in the grave.’ Psalm 16:10
36David did God’s will during the time he lived. Then he died and was buried like all his ancestors. And his body did rot in the grave!
37But the One (Jesus) that God raised from death did not rot in the grave.
38Brothers, you must understand what we are telling you: You can have forgiveness of your sins through this One (Jesus). The law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But every person who believes {in Jesus} is free from all his sins through him (Jesus).
39(13:38)
40The prophets
41‘ Listen, you people that doubt!You can wonder, but then go awayand die; because during your time, I (God) will do something that you will not believe. You will not believe it, even if someone explains it to you!’”
42While Paul and Barnabas were leaving {the synagogue
43After the meeting, many of the Jews followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. With the Jews there were many converts
44On the next Sabbath day,
45The Jews saw all these people there. So the Jews became very jealous. They said some very bad things and argued against the words that Paul said.
46But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, “We must speak the message
47This is what the Lord (God) told us to do. The Lord said: ‘I have made you to be a light for other nations, so that you can show the way of salvation to people all over the world.’” Isaiah 49:6
48When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message
49And so the message
50But the Jews caused some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city to become angry and to be against Paul and Barnabas. These people did things against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of town.
51So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet.
52But the followers {of Jesus in Antioch} were happy and full of the Holy Spirit.