Acts 14:11-28
14:11 So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted
in the Lycaonian language,
“The gods have come down to us in human form!”
14:12 They began to call
Barnabas Zeus
and Paul Hermes,
because he was the chief speaker.
14:13 The priest of the temple
of Zeus,
located just outside the city, brought bulls
and garlands
to the city gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14:14 But when the apostles
Barnabas and Paul heard about
it, they tore
their clothes and rushed out
into the crowd, shouting,
14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with human natures
just like you! We are proclaiming the good news to you, so that you should turn
from these worthless
things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth,
the sea, and everything that is in them.
14:16 In
past
generations he allowed all the nations
to go their own ways,
14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good,
by giving you rain from heaven
and fruitful seasons, satisfying you
with food and your hearts with joy.”
14:18 Even by saying
these things, they scarcely persuaded
the crowds not to offer sacrifice to them.
14:19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning the crowds over, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, presuming him to be dead.
14:20 But after the disciples had surrounded him, he got up and went back into the city. On the next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria
14:21 After they had proclaimed the good news in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch.
14:22 They strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many persecutions.”
14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in the various churches, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the protection of the Lord in whom they had believed.
14:24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came into Pamphylia,
14:25 and when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
14:26 From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
14:27 When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported all the things God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.
14:28 So they spent considerable time with the disciples.