Acts 11

1Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had received the word of God.

2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,

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

4Peter began to explain it to them step by step:

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

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

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

8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

10This happened three times, and then it was all pulled back up into heaven.

11At that very moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

12The Spirit told me to go with them without making any distinction. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.

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

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

15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as he came on 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 when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

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

19Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except 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 of the Lord Jesus.

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

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

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

24for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large 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 to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a large number of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

27During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated through the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over the whole world. This took place during the reign of Claudius.

29So the disciples decided that each of them, according to his means, would send help to the brothers and sisters living in Judea.

30They did this, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.