Day 77 – The First Missionary Journey

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.

₁The same thing happened in Iconium: Paul and Barnabas went to the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of Jews and Gentiles became believers. ₂But the Jews who would not believe stirred up the Gentiles and turned them against the believers. ₃The apostles stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who proved that their message about his grace was true by giving them the power to perform miracles and wonders. ₄The people of the city were divided: some were for the Jews, others for the apostles.

₅Then some Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, decided to ill-treat the apostles and stone them. ₆When the apostles learnt about it, they fled to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in Lycaonia and to the surrounding territory. ₇There they preached the Good News.

₈In Lystra there was a man who had been lame from birth and had never been able to walk. ₉He sat there and listened to Paul's words. Paul saw that he believed and could be healed, so he looked straight at him ₁₀and said in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” The man jumped up and started walking around. ₁₁When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they started shouting in their own Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” ₁₂They gave Barnabas the name Zeus, and Paul the name Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ₁₃The priest of the god Zeus, whose temple stood just outside the town, brought bulls and flowers to the gate, for he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice to the apostles.

₁₄When Barnabas and Paul heard what they were about to do, they tore their clothes and ran into the middle of the crowd, shouting, ₁₅“Why are you doing this? We ourselves are only human beings like you! We are here to announce the Good News, to turn you away from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven, earth, sea, and all that is in them. ₁₆In the past he allowed all people to go their own way. ₁₇But he has always given evidence of his existence by the good things he does: he gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times; he gives you food and fills your hearts with happiness.” ₁₈Even with these words the apostles could hardly keep the crowd from offering a sacrifice to them.

₁₉Some Jews came from Antioch in Pisidia and from Iconium; they won the crowd over to their side, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. ₂₀But when the believers gathered round him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe.

₂₁Paul and Barnabas preached the Good News in Derbe and won many disciples. Then they went back to Lystra, to Iconium, and on to Antioch in Pisidia. ₂₂They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. “We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God,” they taught. ₂₃In each church they appointed elders, and with prayers and fasting they commended them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

₂₄After going through the territory of Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ₂₅There they preached the message in Perga and then went to Attalia, ₂₆and from there they sailed back to Antioch, the place where they had been commended to the care of God's grace for the work they had now completed.

₂₇When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the people of the church together and told them about all that God had done with them and how he had opened the way for the Gentiles to believe. ₂₈And they stayed a long time there with the believers.