Acts 11

1The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

2But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision were disputing with him.

3saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

4But Peter began and explained it to them in order, saying,

5I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: something like a large sheet was coming down, being lowered from heaven by four corners, and it came to me.

6As I looked intently into it, I was considering it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

7And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, because nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call common.’

10This happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven.

11And behold, immediately three men arrived at the house where we were, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

12And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also came with me, and we entered the man's house.

13And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.’

14He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.

15And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as it had on us at the beginning.

16Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’

17If then God gave to them the same gift as also to us who believed in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, who was I that I could hinder God?

18When they heard these things, they became quiet and glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles the change of mind that leads to life.”

19So then, those who had been scattered because of the affliction that arose over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

20But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they came to Antioch, were also speaking to the Hellenists, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

21And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.

22The report about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch.

23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and kept urging them all to remain devoted to the Lord with purpose of heart,

24For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a considerable crowd was added to the Lord.

25Then he went out to Tarsus to look for Saul,

26And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year they met together with the church and taught a considerable crowd; and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.

27In those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28And one of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world—which happened in the time of Claudius.

29So the disciples determined, each according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

30And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.