Acts 13-14

International Children’s Bible

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen

13 In the church at Antioch there were these prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with Herod, the ruler) and Saul. ² They were all worshiping the Lord and giving up eating.^[a] The Holy Spirit said to them, “Give Barnabas and Saul to me to do a special work. I have chosen them for it.”

³ So they gave up eating and prayed. They laid their hands on^[b] Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴ Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went to the city of Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ When they came to Salamis, they preached the Good News of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

⁶ They went across the whole island to Paphos. In Paphos they met a Jew who was a magician. His name was Bar-Jesus. He was a false prophet, ⁷ who always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, the governor. Sergius Paulus was a smart man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear the message of God. ⁸ But Elymas, the magician (that is what his name means), was against them. He tried to stop the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹ But Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Saul’s other name was Paul.) He looked straight at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of evil tricks and lies. You are always trying to change the Lord’s truths into lies! ¹¹ Now the Lord will touch you, and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun.”

Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the governor saw this, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus

¹³ Paul and those with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, in Pamphylia. But John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any message that will encourage the people, please speak!”

¹⁶ Paul stood up. He raised his hand and said, “Men of Israel and you other people who worship God, please listen! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt. He brought them out of that country with great power. ¹⁸ And he was patient with them^[c] for 40 years in the desert. ¹⁹ God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. ²⁰ All this happened in about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. ²² After God took him away, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse. He is the kind of man I want. He will do all that I want him to do.’ ²³ So God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. And God promised to do this. ²⁴ Before Jesus came, John^[d] preached to all the people of Israel. He told them about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. ²⁵ When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later. I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you non-Jews who worship God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us. ²⁷ Those who live in Jerusalem and their leaders did not realize that Jesus was the Savior. They did not understand the words that the prophets wrote, which are read every Sabbath day. But they made them come true when they said Jesus was guilty. ²⁸ They could not find any real reason for Jesus to die, but they asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹ They did to him all that the Scriptures had said. Then they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him up from death! ³¹ After this, for many days, the people who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors. ³³ We are their children, and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We read about this also in Psalm 2:

³⁴ God raised Jesus from death. He will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said:

³⁵ But in another place God says:

³⁶ David did God’s will during his lifetime. Then he died and was buried with his fathers. And his body did rot in the grave! ³⁷ But the One God raised from death did not rot in the grave. ^38-39 Brothers, you must understand what we are telling you: You can have forgiveness of your sins through Jesus. The law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But everyone who believes is free from all sins through him. ⁴⁰ Be careful! Don’t let what the prophets said happen to you:

⁴² While Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ After the meeting, many Jews followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. With the Jews there were many who had changed to the Jewish religion and worshiped God. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God’s kindness.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath day, almost all the people in the city came to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ Seeing the crowd, the Jews became very jealous. They said insulting things and argued against what Paul said. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, “We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations! ⁴⁷ This is what the Lord told us to do. The Lord said:

⁴⁸ When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message of the Lord. And many of the people believed the message. They were the ones chosen to have life forever.

⁴⁹ And so the message of the Lord was spreading through the whole country. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city against Paul and Barnabas. They started trouble against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their area. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet^[e] and went to Iconium. ⁵² But the followers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium

14 In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual to the Jewish synagogue. They spoke so well that a great many Jews and Greeks believed. ² But some of the Jews who did not believe excited the non-Jewish people and turned them against the believers. ³ But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium a long time and spoke bravely for the Lord. The Lord showed that their message about his grace was true by giving them the power to work miracles and signs. ⁴ But some of the people in the city agreed with the Jews. Others believed the apostles. So the city was divided.

⁵ Some non-Jewish people, some Jews, and some of their rulers wanted to harm Paul and Barnabas by killing them with stones. ⁶ When Paul and Barnabas learned about this, they went to Lystra and Derbe, cities in Lycaonia, and to the areas around those cities. ⁷ They announced the Good News there, too.

Paul in Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who had been born crippled; he had never walked. ⁹ This man was listening to Paul speak. Paul looked straight at him and saw that the man believed God could heal him. ¹⁰ So he cried out, “Stand up on your feet!” The man jumped up and began walking around. ¹¹ When the crowds saw what Paul did, they shouted in their own Lycaonian language. They said, “The gods have become like men! They have come down to us!” ¹² And the people began to call Barnabas “Zeus.”^[f] They called Paul “Hermes,”^[g] because he was the main speaker. ¹³ The temple of Zeus was near the city. The priest of this temple brought some bulls and flowers to the city gates. The priest and the people wanted to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. ¹⁴ But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, understood what they were about to do, they tore their clothes in anger. Then they ran in among the people and shouted, ¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing these things? We are only men, human beings like you! We are bringing you the Good News. We are telling you to turn away from these worthless things and turn to the true living God. He is the One who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them. ¹⁶ In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted. ¹⁷ Yet he did things to prove he is real: He shows kindness to you. He gives you rain from heaven and crops at the right times. He gives you food and fills your hearts with joy.” ¹⁸ Even with these words, they were barely able to keep the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.

¹⁹ Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They persuaded the people to turn against Paul. And so they threw stones at Paul and dragged him out of town. They thought that they had killed him. ²⁰ But the followers gathered around him, and he got up and went back into the town. The next day, he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹ Paul and Barnabas told the Good News in Derbe and many became followers. Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. ²² In those cities they made the followers of Jesus stronger. They helped them to stay in the faith. They said, “We must suffer many things to enter God’s kingdom.” ²³ They chose elders for each church, by praying and giving up eating.^[h] These elders were men who had trusted the Lord. So Paul and Barnabas put them in the Lord’s care.

²⁴ Then they went through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ They preached the message in Perga, and then they went down to Attalia. ²⁶ And from there they sailed away to Antioch. This is where the believers had put them into God’s care and had sent them out to do this work. And now they had finished the work.

²⁷ When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the church together. Paul and Barnabas told them all about what God had done with them. They told how God had made it possible for the non-Jews to believe! ²⁸ And they stayed there a long time with the followers.