Acts 14:3-28
14:3 So they stayed there
for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified
to the message
of his grace, granting miraculous signs
and wonders to be performed through their hands.
14:4 But the population
of the city was divided; some
sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
14:5 When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made
an attempt to mistreat
them and stone them,
14:6 Paul and Barnabas
learned about it
and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra
and Derbe
and the surrounding region.
14:7 There
they continued to proclaim
the good news.
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra
14:8 In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.
14:9 This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul stared intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed,
14:10 he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man leaped up and began walking.
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.