Acts of the Apostles 14

¹ At Iconium they went to the Jewish synagogue, as they had at Antioch, and they spoke so effectively that a great many Jews and Greeks became believers.

² Some of the Jews, however, refused to believe, and they poisoned the minds of the pagans against the brothers.[*a]

³ Accordingly Paul and Barnabas stayed on for some time, preaching fearlessly for the Lord; and the Lord supported all they said about his gift of grace, allowing signs and wonders to be performed by them.

⁴ The people in the city were divided, some supported the Jews, others the apostles,

⁵ but eventually with the connivance of the authorities a move was made by pagans as well as Jews to make attacks on them and to stone them.

⁶ When the apostles came to hear of this, they went off for safety to Lycaonia where, in the towns of Lystra and Derbe and in the surrounding country,

⁷ they preached the Good News.

⁸ A man sat there[*b] who had never walked in his life, because his feet were crippled from birth;

⁹ and as he listened to Paul preaching, he managed to catch his eye. Seeing that the man had the faith to be cured,

¹⁰ Paul said in a loud voice, ‘Get to your feet – stand up’, and the cripple jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹ When the crowd saw what Paul had done they shouted in the language of Lycaonia, ‘These people are gods who have come down to us disguised as men’.

¹² They addressed Barnabas as Zeus, and since Paul was the principal speaker they called him Hermes.[*c]

¹³ The priests of Zeus-outside-the-Gate, proposing that all the people should offer sacrifice with them, brought garlanded oxen to the gates.

¹⁴ When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening they tore their clothes,[*d] and rushed into the crowd, shouting,

¹⁵ ‘Friends, what do you think you are doing? We are only human beings like you. We have come with good news to make you turn from these empty idols to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that these hold.

¹⁶ In the past he allowed each nation to go its own way;

¹⁷ but even then he did not leave you without evidence of himself in the good things he does for you: he sends you rain from heaven, he makes your crops grow when they should, he gives you food and makes you happy.’

¹⁸ Even this speech, however, was scarcely enough to stop the crowd offering them sacrifice.

¹⁹ Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, and turned the people against the apostles. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the town, thinking he was dead.

²⁰ The disciples came crowding round him but, as they did so, he stood up and went back to the town. The next day he and Barnabas went off to Derbe.

²¹ Having preached the Good News in that town and made a considerable number of disciples, they went back through Lystra and Iconium to Antioch.

²² They put fresh heart into the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in the faith. ‘We all have to experience many hardships’ they said ‘before we enter the kingdom of God.’

²³ In each of these churches they appointed elders, and with prayer and fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

²⁴ They passed through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.

²⁵ Then after proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia

²⁶ and from there sailed for Antioch, where they had originally been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.

²⁷ On their arrival they assembled the church and gave an account of all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the pagans.

²⁸ They stayed there with the disciples for some time.