Acts 11

1 And the apostles and the brothers who are in Judea heard that the nations also received the word of God,

2 and when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of circumcision were contending with him,

3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!”

4 And Peter having begun, set [it] forth to them in order, saying,

5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and I saw in a trance a vision, a certain vessel coming down, as a great sheet by four corners being let down out of Heaven, and it came to me;

6 at which having looked steadfastly, I was considering, and I saw the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the birds of the sky;

7 and I heard a voice saying to me, Having risen, Peter, slay and eat;

8 and I said, Not so, Lord, because anything common or unclean has at no time entered into my mouth;

9 and a voice answered me a second time out of Heaven, What God cleansed, you do not declare common.

10 And this happened three times, and again was all drawn up to Heaven,

11 and behold, immediately, three men stood at the house in which I was, having been sent from Caesarea to me,

12 and the Spirit said to me to go with them, doubting nothing, and these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the house of the man,

13 he also declared to us how he saw the messenger standing in his house, and saying to him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is surnamed Peter,

14 who will speak sayings by which you will be saved, you and all your house.

15 And in my beginning to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as also on us in the beginning,

16 and I remembered the saying of the LORD, how He said, John indeed immersed in water, but you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit;

17 if then God gave to them the equal gift as also to us, having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I—how was I able to withstand God?”

18 And they, having heard these things, were silent, and were glorifying God, saying, “Then, indeed, God also gave conversion to life to the nations.”

19 Those, indeed, therefore, having been scattered abroad, from the tribulation that came after Stephen, went through to Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none except to Jews only;

20 and there were certain of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who having entered into Antioch, were speaking to the Hellenists, proclaiming good news—the Lord Jesus,

21 and the hand of the LORD was with them, a great number also, having believed, turned to the LORD.

22 And the account was heard in the ears of the assembly that [is] in Jerusalem concerning them, and they sent forth Barnabas to go through to Antioch,

23 who, having come, and having seen the grace of God, was glad, and was exhorting all with purpose of heart to cleave to the LORD,

24 because he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit, and of faith, and a great multitude was added to the LORD.

25 And Barnabas went forth to Tarsus, to seek for Saul,

26 and having found him, he brought him to Antioch, and it came to pass that they assembled together a whole year in the assembly, and taught a great multitude, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

27 And in those days there came from Jerusalem prophets to Antioch,

28 and one of them, by name Agabus, having stood up, signified through the Spirit a great scarcity is about to be throughout all the world—which also came to pass in the time of Claudius Caesar—

29 and the disciples, according as anyone was prospering, determined each of them to send for ministry to the brothers dwelling in Judea,

30 which also they did, having sent to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.