Acts 11 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Peter Explains His Actions

Act 11:1Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers[fn] in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

Act 11:2

Act 11:2But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers[fn] criticized him.

Act 11:3

Act 11:3“You entered the home of Gentiles[fn] and even ate with them!” they said.

Act 11:4

Act 11:4Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.

Act 11:5

Act 11:5“I was in the town of Joppa,” he said, “and while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me.

Act 11:6

Act 11:6When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild animals, reptiles, and birds.

Act 11:7

Act 11:7And I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.’

Act 11:8

Act 11:8“‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.[fn]’

Act 11:9

Act 11:9“But the voice from heaven spoke again: ‘Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.’

Act 11:10

Act 11:10This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven.

Act 11:11

Act 11:11“Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying.

Act 11:12

Act 11:12The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon entered the home of the man who had sent for us.

Act 11:13

Act 11:13He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, ‘Send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

Act 11:14

Act 11:14He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’

Act 11:15

Act 11:15“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.

Act 11:16

Act 11:16Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with[fn] water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

Act 11:17

Act 11:17And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

Act 11:18

Act 11:18When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

The Church in Antioch of Syria

Act 11:19

Act 11:19Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.

Act 11:20

Act 11:20However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles[fn] about the Lord Jesus.

Act 11:21

Act 11:21The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord.

Act 11:22

Act 11:22When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

Act 11:23

Act 11:23When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

Act 11:24

Act 11:24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

Act 11:25

Act 11:25Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul.

Act 11:26

Act 11:26When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers[fn] were first called Christians.)

Act 11:27

Act 11:27During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.

Act 11:28

Act 11:28One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)

Act 11:29

Act 11:29So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters[fn] in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

Act 11:30

Act 11:30This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.