¹Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch from childhood) and Saul. ²While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off. ⁴So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. (Now they also had John as their assistant.) ⁶When they had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus, ⁷who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸But the magician Elymas (for that is the way his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, stared straight at him ¹⁰and said, “You who are full of all deceit and all wrongdoing, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness—will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time!” Immediately mistiness and darkness came over him, and he went around seeking people to lead him by the hand. ¹²Then when the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed because he was greatly astounded at the teaching about the Lord. ¹³Then Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴Moving on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵After the reading from the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, “Brothers, if you have any message of exhortation for the people, speak it.”¹⁶So Paul stood up, gestured with his hand and said,“Men of Israel, and you Gentiles who fear God, listen: ¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay as foreigners in the country of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. ¹⁸For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. ¹⁹After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave his people their land as an inheritance. ²⁰All this took about 450 years. After this he gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. ²²After removing him, God raised up David their king. He testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’²³From the descendants of this man God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised. ²⁴Before Jesus arrived, John had proclaimed a baptism for repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵But while John was completing his mission, he said repeatedly, ‘What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!’ ²⁶Brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us. ²⁷For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him.²⁸Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹When they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead, ³¹and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses to the people. ³²And we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors, ³³that this promise God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you.’ ³⁴But regarding the fact that he has raised Jesus from the dead, never again to be in a state of decay, God has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.’ ³⁵Therefore he also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit your Holy One to experience decay.’³⁶For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died, was buried with his ancestors, and experienced decay, ³⁷but the one whom God raised up did not experience decay. ³⁸Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹and by this one everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you.⁴⁰Watch out, then, that what is spoken about by the prophets does not happen to you:⁴¹‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! For I am doing a work in your days,a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” ⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God. ⁴⁴On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him.⁴⁶Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” ⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed for eternal life believed. ⁴⁹So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region. ⁵⁰But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region. ⁵¹So after they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, they went to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.