Acts 10–12

1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.

2He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.

3One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

4Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.

5Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.

6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.

8He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

9The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

11He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.

12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.

13Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

14“No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

16This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.

17While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.

18They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there.

19As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.

20So get up! Go downstairs and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.”

21So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”

22“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”

23So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

24The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

25As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him.

26But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

27As Peter talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered together.

28He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

29So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”

30Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me

31and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.

32Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’

33So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”

34Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

35but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

36He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

37You yourselves know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee with the baptism that John proclaimed:

38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.

39We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,

40God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be seen—

41not by all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

42And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.

43All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”

44While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.

45All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

46For they heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then Peter said,

47“Can anyone withhold the water to baptize these people? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have!”

48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

1The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him

3and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

4But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events:

5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me.

6I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.

7Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

8‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

10This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.

11Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.

12The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s home.

13He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

14He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’

15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.

16Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

17So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”

18When they heard this, they had no further objections, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

19Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

20But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

21The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

22When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

26and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

27In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)

29So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

30This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.

1About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

3And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

4He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.

6On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.

7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

8“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

9So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.

10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.

11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

12And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.

13He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.

14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”

15“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.

17Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.

18At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

19After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.

20Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.

21On the appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and addressed the people.

22And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.

25When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, bringing with them John, also called Mark.