Acts 11-12

Acts 11

¹And the apostles and the brethren who were in Judaea heard that the nations also had received the word of God;

²and when Peter went up to Jerusalem, they of the circumcision contended with him,

³saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and hast eaten with them.

⁴But Peter began and set forth the matter to them in order, saying,

⁵I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in an ecstasy I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending like a great sheet, let down by four corners out of heaven, and it came even to me:

⁶on which having fixed mine eyes, I considered, and saw the quadrupeds of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the heaven.

⁷And I heard also a voice saying to me, Rise up, Peter, slay and eat.

⁸And I said, In no wise, Lord, for common or unclean has never entered into my mouth.

⁹And a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God has cleansed, do not *thou* make common.

¹⁰And this took place thrice, and again all was drawn up into heaven;

¹¹and lo, immediately three men were at the house in which I was, sent to me from Caesarea.

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

¹³and he related to us how he had seen the angel in his house, standing and saying to him, Send men to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter,

¹⁴who shall speak words to thee whereby *thou* shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.

¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them even as upon us also at the beginning.

¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptised with water, but *ye* shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷If then God has given them the same gift as also to us when we had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was *I* to be able to forbid God?

¹⁸And when they heard these things they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then indeed God has to the nations also granted repentance to life.

¹⁹They then who had been scattered abroad through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen, passed through the country to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one but to Jews alone.

²⁰But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians, who entering into Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.

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

²²And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch:

²³who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord;

²⁴for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and a large crowd of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul.

²⁶And having found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd: and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷Now in these days prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch;

²⁸and one from among them, by name Agabus, rose up and signified by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine over all the inhabited earth, which also came to pass under Claudius.

²⁹And they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off, each of them to send to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea, to minister to them;

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

Acts 12

¹At that time Herod the king laid his hands on some of those of the assembly to do them hurt,

²and slew James, the brother of John, with the sword.

³And seeing that it was pleasing to the Jews, he went on to take Peter also: (and they were the days of unleavened bread:)

⁴whom having seized he put in prison, having delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep, purposing after the passover to bring him out to the people.

⁵Peter therefore was kept in the prison; but unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him.

⁶And when Herod was going to bring him forth, that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door kept the prison.

⁷And lo, an angel of the Lord came there, and a light shone in the prison: and having smitten the side of Peter, he roused him up, saying, Rise up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands.

⁸And the angel said to him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And he did so. And he says to him, Cast thine upper garment about thee and follow me.

⁹And going forth he followed him and did not know that what was happening by means of the angel was real, but supposed he saw a vision.

¹⁰And having passed through a first and second guard, they came to the iron gate which leads into the city, which opened to them of itself; and going forth they went down one street, and immediately the angel left him.

¹¹And Peter, being come to himself, said, Now I know certainly that the Lord has sent forth his angel and has taken me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

¹²And having become clearly conscious in himself, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark, where were many gathered together and praying.

¹³And when he had knocked at the door of the entry, a maid came to listen, by name Rhoda;

¹⁴and having recognised the voice of Peter, through joy did not open the entry, but running in, reported that Peter was standing before the entry.

¹⁵And they said to her, Thou art mad. But she maintained that it was so. And they said, It is his angel.

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking: and having opened, they saw him and were astonished.

¹⁷And having made a sign to them with his hand to be silent, he related to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison; and he said, Report these things to James and to the brethren. And he went out and went to another place.

¹⁸And when it was day there was no small disturbance among the soldiers, what then was become of Peter.

¹⁹And Herod having sought him and not found him, having examined the guards, commanded them to be executed. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰And he was in bitter hostility with the Tyrians and Sidonians; but they came to him with one accord, and, having gained Blastus the king's chamberlain, sought peace, because their country was nourished by the king's.

²¹And on a set day, clothed in royal apparel and sitting on the elevated seat of honour, Herod made a public oration to them.

²²And the people cried out, A god's voice and not a man's.

²³And immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give the glory to God, and he expired, eaten of worms.

²⁴But the word of God grew and spread itself.

²⁵And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled the service entrusted to them, taking also with them John, surnamed Mark.