1Now in the church at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas; Simeon, called Niger; Lucius of Cyrene; and Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch); and Saul. 2And as they were worshipping 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 so, after they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.

4So Barnabas and Saul, being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5And when they arrived at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the Jewish synagogues; and John was also with them as their helper. 6And they traveled through the isle until they reached Paphos. There they came upon a certain Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet, who went by two names, Bar-jesus (Hebrew for son of Jesus or Joshua) and Elymas (sorcerer, an Aramaic word associated with Arabic Ulema (sage)); 7Who had associated himself with the Roman proconsul of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who sent for Barnabas and Saul, and wanted to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas, the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation), opposed Barnabas and Saul, trying to turn the proconsul Sergius Paulus away from the faith. 9Then Saul, also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes upon Elymas, 10And said, “O you child of the devil, full of all deceit and mischief, and enemy of all righteousness, will you never stop making the straight ways of the Lord crooked? 11And now, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the light of the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him; and he groped about, looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 12Then, when Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, saw what happened, he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord, and believed.

13Paul and his company then sailed from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia; where John left them, and returned to Jerusalem. 14And from Perga, they came to Pisidian Antioch; and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue, and sat down. 15And after the reading from the Law and the Prophets (Scripture), the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation (encouragement) for the people, please speak.” 16Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand, said, “Men of Israel, and you Gentiles that fear God, listen. 17The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors, and blessed the people when they dwelt as sojourners (strangers) in the land of Egypt, and with a mighty arm He brought them out of that country. 18And for about forty years He endured their conduct in the wilderness. 19And when He had driven out seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave their land to His people by lot. 20All this took about four hundred fifty years. After that He gave them judges, until the time of Samuel, the prophet. 21And then they demanded a king; and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled about forty years. 22And when He had removed Saul, He raised up for them David to be their king; to whom also He gave testimony, and said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who shall fulfill all My will’. 23From this man's descendants God, according to His promise, raised to Israel a Savior, Jesus, 24Before His coming, John preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25And as John finishing his ministry, he said, ‘Who do you suppose that I am? I am not the One you are looking for; but there is One coming after me, the shoes of Whose feet I am not worthy to loosen’.

26“Men and brethren, children of Abraham, and whoever among you fears God, to you is this message of salvation sent. 27For those that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not recognize Him, nor yet understood the words of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled those prophecies by condemning Him. 28And though they found no justification for putting Him to death, still they demanded of Pilate that He be slain. 29And when they had carried out all that the prophets had written of Him, they took Him down from the cross, and laid Him in a sepulcher (tomb). 30But God raised Him from the dead. 31And He was seen for many days by those (the apostles) who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people. 32And we declare to you the good news, how what God had promised our ancestors: 33That same promise God has fulfilled for us, their children, in that He has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm (Psalm 2:7): ‘You are My Son, this day have I begotten You.’ 34For God had promised that He would raise Christ up from the dead, never to be subject to decay. As God has said: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’ (Isaiah 55:3) 35He also said in another psalm (Psalm 16:10), ‘You shall not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’ 36For after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, David fell asleep (died), and was buried with his fathers, and (his body) did see corruption (decay); 37But Christ, Whom God raised from the dead, did not see decay. 38Therefore, my friends and brothers, I want you to know that through this Man, Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; 39And by Him all that believe are justified and made right in the eyes of God – set free from all sins - something the law of Moses could never do. 40Beware, therefore, that this that is spoken of in the prophets does not apply to you: 41‘Behold, you scoffers, wonder, and die; for I am doing work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.(Habakkuk 1:5)’ 42And as Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, many Jews and Gentiles invited them to speak more about these things on the next Sabbath. 43Now when the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44And on the next Sabbath day, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45But when the Jewish leaders saw the large crowds, they were filled with envy, and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, and blaspheming. 46Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold, and said, “It was necessary that we spoke the word of God to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47For this is what the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the farthest ends of the earth.’” 48And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to (destined for) eternal life, believed. 49And the word of the Lord was proclaimed and spread throughout all the region.

50But the Jewish leaders stirred up the influential religious women, and the men of standing in the city, and raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51So they shook the dust off their feet, as a protest and warning against them, and went to Iconium. 52And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.