Bible Reading Plan – Day 304

₁About this time King Herod began to persecute some members of the church. ₂He had James, the brother of John, put to death by the sword. ₃When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he went on to arrest Peter. (This happened during the time of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.) ₄After his arrest Peter was put in jail, where he was handed over to be guarded by four groups of four soldiers each. Herod planned to put him on trial in public after Passover. ₅So Peter was kept in jail, but the people of the church were praying earnestly to God for him.

₆The night before Herod was going to bring him out to the people, Peter was sleeping between two guards. He was tied with two chains, and there were guards on duty at the prison gate. ₇Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shone in the cell. The angel shook Peter by the shoulder, woke him up, and said, “Hurry! Get up!” At once the chains fell off Peter's hands. ₈Then the angel said, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” Peter did so, and the angel said, “Put your cloak round you and come with me.” ₉Peter followed him out of the prison, not knowing, however, if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ₁₀They passed by the first guard post and then the second, and came at last to the iron gate leading into the city. The gate opened for them by itself, and they went out. They walked down a street, and suddenly the angel left Peter.

₁₁Then Peter realized what had happened to him, and said, “Now I know that it is really true! The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power and from everything the Jewish people expected to happen.”

₁₂Aware of his situation, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ₁₃Peter knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer it. ₁₄She recognized Peter's voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Peter was standing outside. ₁₅“You are mad!” they told her. But she insisted that it was true. So they answered, “It is his angel.”

₁₆Meanwhile Peter kept on knocking. At last they opened the door, and when they saw him, they were amazed. ₁₇He motioned with his hand for them to be quiet, and he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell this to James and the rest of the believers,” he said; then he left and went somewhere else.

₁₈When morning came, there was a tremendous confusion among the guards — what had happened to Peter? ₁₉Herod gave orders to search for him, but they could not find him. So he had the guards questioned and ordered them to be put to death.

After this, Herod left Judea and spent some time in Caesarea.

₂₀Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, so they went in a group to see him. First they convinced Blastus, the man in charge of the palace, that he should help them. Then they went to Herod and asked him for peace, because their country got its food supplies from the king's country.

₂₁On a chosen day Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to the people. ₂₂“It isn't a man speaking, but a god!” they shouted. ₂₃At once the angel of the Lord struck Herod down, because he did not give honour to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

₂₄Meanwhile the word of God continued to spread and grow.

₂₅Barnabas and Saul finished their mission and returned from Jerusalem, taking John Mark with them.

₁In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the governor), and Saul. ₂While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them.”

₃They fasted and prayed, placed their hands on them, and sent them off.

₄Having been sent by the Holy Spirit, Barnabas and Saul went to Seleucia and sailed from there to the island of Cyprus. ₅When they arrived at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues. They had John Mark with them to help in the work.

₆They went all the way across the island to Paphos, where they met a certain magician named Bar-Jesus, a Jew who claimed to be a prophet. ₇He was a friend of the governor of the island, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor called Barnabas and Saul before him because he wanted to hear the word of God. ₈But they were opposed by the magician Elymas (that is his name in Greek), who tried to turn the governor away from the faith. ₉Then Saul — also known as Paul — was filled with the Holy Spirit; he looked straight at the magician ₁₀and said, “You son of the Devil! You are the enemy of everything that is good. You are full of all kinds of evil tricks, and you always keep trying to turn the Lord's truths into lies! ₁₁The Lord's hand will come down on you now; you will be blind and will not see the light of day for a time.”

At once Elymas felt a dark mist cover his eyes, and he walked about trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ₁₂When the governor saw what had happened, he believed; for he was greatly amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

₁₃Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia, where John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem. ₁₄They went on from Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia, and on the Sabbath they went into the synagogue and sat down. ₁₅After the reading from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message: “Brothers and sisters, we want you to speak to the people if you have a message of encouragement for them.” ₁₆Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak:

“Fellow-Israelites and all Gentiles here who worship God: hear me! ₁₇The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors and made the people a great nation during the time they lived as foreigners in Egypt. God brought them out of Egypt by his great power, ₁₈and for forty years he endured them in the desert. ₁₉He destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and made his people the owners of the land. ₂₀All this took about 450 years.

“After this he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. ₂₁And when they asked for a king, God gave them Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, to be their king for forty years. ₂₂After removing him, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found that David son of Jesse is the kind of man I like, a man who will do all I want him to do.’ ₂₃It was Jesus, a descendant of David, whom God made the Saviour of the people of Israel, as he had promised. ₂₄Before Jesus began his work, John preached to all the people of Israel that they should turn from their sins and be baptized. ₂₅And as John was about to finish his mission, he said to the people, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one you are waiting for. But listen! He is coming after me, and I am not good enough to take his sandals off his feet.’

₂₆“My fellow-Israelites, descendants of Abraham, and all Gentiles here who worship God: it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent! ₂₇For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not know that he is the Saviour, nor did they understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Yet they made the prophets' words come true by condemning Jesus. ₂₈And even though they could find no reason to pass the death sentence on him, they asked Pilate to have him put to death. ₂₉And after they had done everything that the Scriptures say about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. ₃₀But God raised him from death, ₃₁and for many days he appeared to those who had travelled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now witnesses for him to the people of Israel. _32-33And we are here to bring the Good News to you: what God promised our ancestors he would do, he has now done for us, who are their descendants, by raising Jesus to life. As it is written in the second Psalm:

₄₂As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to come back the next Sabbath and tell them more about these things. ₄₃After the people had left the meeting, Paul and Barnabas were followed by many Jews and by many Gentiles who had been converted to Judaism. The apostles spoke to them and encouraged them to keep on living in the grace of God.

₄₄The next Sabbath nearly everyone in the town came to hear the word of the Lord. ₄₅When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; they disputed what Paul was saying and insulted him. ₄₆But Paul and Barnabas spoke out even more boldly: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we will leave you and go to the Gentiles. ₄₇For this is the commandment that the Lord has given us:

₄₈When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the Lord's message; and those who had been chosen for eternal life became believers.

₄₉The word of the Lord spread everywhere in that region. ₅₀But the Jews stirred up the leading men of the city and the Gentile women of high social standing who worshipped God. They started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of their region. ₅₁The apostles shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went on to Iconium. ₅₂The believers in Antioch were full of joy and the Holy Spirit.