Acts 13

1 Now there^a were in the church that was at Antioch certain ^bprophets and teachers; as ^cBarnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger,¹ and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up² with ^dHerod³ the tetrarch, and Saul.

2 As they ^eministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,^{4 g}Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

3 And ^hwhen they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.⁵

4 So they, ⁱbeing sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia;⁶ and from thence they sailed to ^jCyprus.

5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God ^kin the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also ^lJohn⁷ to their minister.

6 ¶ And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos,⁸ they found a certain ⁿsorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus:

7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) ^owithstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,⁹) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,

10 And said, ^pO full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness,¹ wilt thou not cease ^qto pervert the right ways of the Lord?

11 And now, behold, ^rthe hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

12 Then the deputy,² when^s he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

13 ¶ Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia:³ and ^tJohn departing from them returned to Jerusalem.

14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch⁴ in Pisidia,⁵ and ^uwent into the synagogue on the sabbath-day, and sat down.

15 And after ^vthe reading of the law and the prophets, the ^xrulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ^yYe men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

16 Then Paul stood up, and ^zbeckoning with his hand, said, ^aMen of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.

17 The^b God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, ^cand with an high arm brought he them out of it.

18 And^d about the time of forty years ⁶suffered⁷ he their manners in the wilderness.

19 And ^ewhen he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.

20 And after that, ^ghe gave unto them judges, about the space of four hundred and fifty ⁸years, until Samuel the prophet.

21 And^h afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.⁹

22 Andⁱ when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.¹

23 Of^j this man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

24 When^k John had first preached, before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25 And as John ^lfulfilled his course, he said, Whomⁿ think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26 Men^o and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because ^pthey knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which ^qare read every sabbath-day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

28 And^r though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, ^sthey took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.Cited in HC 41

30 But^t God raised him from the dead:

31 And^u he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his ^vwitnesses unto the people.

32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the ^xpromise which was made unto the fathers,

33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, ^yThou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, ^zI will give you the sure mercies² of David.³

35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou^a shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

36 For David, after he had served^b his own generation by the will of God,⁴ fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:Cited in WCF 32.1

37 But he, whom ^cGod raised again, saw no corruption.Cited in WCF 8.4

38 Be^d it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:Cited in WCF 11.1

39 And by him ^eall that believe are justified from all things, from which ^gye could not be justified by the law of Moses.Cited in WCF 11.1, 19.6

40 Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the ^hprophets;

41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish:⁵ for I work a work⁶ in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

42 ¶ And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles⁷ besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.⁸Cited in WCF 21.6

43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them ⁱto continue in the grace of God.

44 ¶ And the next sabbath-day ^jcame almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.Cited in WLC 109

45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, ^kthey were filled with envy,⁹ and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.Cited in WLC 109, 113

46 Then Paul and Barnabas ^lwaxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should ⁿfirst have been spoken to you: but seeing ^oye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, ^pwe turn to the Gentiles.¹Cited in WLC 113

47 For ^qso hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.²

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they ^rwere glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: ^sand as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.Cited in WLC 68

49 And^t the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

50 ¶ But the Jews ^ustirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.Cited in WLC 113

51 But^v they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

52 And the ^xdisciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.