While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them."

Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go.

After they had been sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.

Arriving in Salamis, they began to preach God's word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John to help them.

They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish occult practitioner and false prophet named Bar-jesus.

They left Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.

"After that, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. When they demanded a king, God gave them Kish's son Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.

Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

When they had finished doing everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb.

But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to object to the statements made by Paul and even to abuse him.

When the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

They stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak boldly for the Lord, who kept affirming his word of grace and granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

There they kept talking about the good news.

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

They began to call Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, because he was the main speaker.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting,

But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds by persuasion. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking he was dead.

As they were proclaiming the good news in that city, they discipled a large number of people. Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,

strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. "We must endure many hardships," they said, "to get into the kingdom of God."

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

They spoke the word in Perga and went down to Attalia.

From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been entrusted to the grace of God for the work they had completed.

When they arrived, they called the church together and told them everything that God had done with them and how he had opened a door so that gentiles would believe.

Then they spent a long time with the disciples.

They were sent on their way by the church, and as they were going through Phoenicia and Samaria they told of the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done through them.

We certainly believe that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that we are saved, just as they are."

The whole crowd was silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell about all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the gentiles.

They wrote this letter for them to deliver: "From: The apostles and the elders, your brothers To: Their gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

So the men were sent on their way and arrived in Antioch. They gathered the congregation together and delivered the letter.

When the people read it, they were pleased with how the letter encouraged them.

After staying there for some time, they were sent back with a greeting from the brothers to those who had sent them.

A few days later, Paul told Barnabas, "Let's go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they're doing."

The disagreement was so sharp that they parted ways. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus,

As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for them to obey.

Because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia, Paul and Timothy went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

They went as far as Mysia and tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them,

so they bypassed Mysia and went down to Troas.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities who met together in the public square.

They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are stirring up a lot of trouble in our city. They are Jews

After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in jail and ordered the jailer to keep them under tight security.

They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved."

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and everyone in his home.

But Paul told the guards, "The magistrates have had us beaten publicly without a trial and have thrown us into jail, even though we are Roman citizens. Now are they going to throw us out secretly? Certainly not! Have them come and escort us out."

The guards reported these words to the magistrates, and they became afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

So the magistrates came, apologized to them, and escorted them out. Then they asked them to leave the city.

Leaving the jail, Paul and Silas went to Lydia's house. They saw the brothers, encouraged them, and then left.

But the Jewish leaders became jealous, and they took some contemptible characters who used to hang out in the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the people.

When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These fellows who have turned the world upside down have come here, too,

The crowd and the city officials were upset when they heard this,

but after they had gotten a bond from Jason and the others, they let them go.

That night the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

These people were more receptive than those in Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive the message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if those things were so.

But when the Jewish leaders in Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul also in Berea, they went there to upset and incite the crowds.

The men who escorted Paul took him all the way to Athens and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left.

Then they took him, brought him before the Areopagus, and asked, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

From one man he made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth, fixing the seasons of the year and the national boundaries within which they live,

so that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us.

When they heard about a resurrection of the dead, some began joking about it, while others said, "We will hear you again about this."

and because they had the same trade he stayed with them. They worked together because they were tentmakers by trade.

But when they began to oppose him and insult him, he shook out his clothes in protest and told them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the gentiles."

They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law."

When they arrived in Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila there. Then he went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

They asked him to stay longer, but he refused.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained God's way to him more accurately.

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "No, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

He then asked, "Then into what were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism."

Then Paul said, "John baptized when they repented, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in foreign languages and to prophesy.

Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, got the better of them, and so violently overpowered all of them that they fled out of the house naked and bruised.

When this became known to everyone living in Ephesus, Jews and Greeks alike, they all became terrified, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor.

Many who became believers kept coming to confess and talk about what they had been doing.

Moreover, many people who had practiced occult arts gathered their books and burned them in front of everybody. They estimated their value and found them to have been worth 50,000 silver coins.

When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing and some another, since the crowd was confused, and most of them didn't know why they were meeting.

But when they found out that he was a Jew, they all started to shout in unison for about two hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme our goddess.

So if Demetrius and his workers have a charge against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They should accuse one another there.

They took the young man away alive and were greatly relieved.

When they came to him, he told them, "You know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day I set foot in Asia.

All of them cried and cried as they put their arms around Paul and kissed him affectionately.

They were especially sorrowful because of what he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they took him to the ship.

So we located some disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem,

and said goodbye to each other. Then we reboarded the ship, and they went back home.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, "This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.'"

Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us. They took us to the home of Mnason to be his guests. He was from Cyprus and had been an early disciple.

When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law.

But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.

As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality."

When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the Temple, stirred up a large crowd. They grabbed Paul,

For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

Immediately the tribune took some soldiers and officers and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued:

"I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you.

Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"

While they were yelling, tossing their coats around, and throwing dirt into the air,