The First Missionary Journey

¹Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. ²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. ⁴So Barnabas and Saul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. ⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. And John was with them as their helper. ⁶They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, ⁷an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. ⁹Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas ¹⁰and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. ¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord. ¹³After setting sail from Paphos, Paul and his companions came to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. ¹⁵After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.” ¹⁶Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me! ¹⁷The God of the people of Israel chose our fathers. He made them into a great people during their stay in Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out of that land. ¹⁸He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness. ¹⁹And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance. ²⁰All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. ²²After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’ ²³From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised. ²⁴Before the arrival of Jesus, John preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But there is One coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ ²⁶Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. ²⁷The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. ²⁹When they had carried out all that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised Him from the dead,