Acts 13 - Expanded Bible (EXB)

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen

13 In the church at Antioch there were these prophets and teachers: Barnabas [4:36], Simeon (also called Niger [^Cmeaning “Black”; Luke 23:26]), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene [^Ca city in North Africa]), Manaen (who ·had grown up with Herod [or was a close friend of Herod; or was a member of Herod’s court], the ·ruler [^Ltetrarch; ^Ca Roman political title; see Luke 3:1]), and Saul. ² They were all ·worshiping [or serving] the Lord and fasting [^Cgiving up eating for spiritual purposes]. During this time the Holy Spirit said to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul to do ·a special [^Lthe] work for which I have ·chosen [called] them.”

³ So after they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on [^Ca ritual of blessing and/or conferring of authority] Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴ Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went to the city of Seleucia [^Ca Syrian city 15 miles from Antioch]. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus [^Can island off the coast of Syria, and Barnabas’ homeland; 4:36]. ⁵ When they came to Salamis [^Cthe main city of Cyprus], they preached the ·Good News [Gospel; ^Lword] of God in the synagogues [^Lof the Jews]. John Mark was ·with them to help [their assistant].

⁶ They went across the whole island to Paphos [^Cthe capital city of Cyprus, on the southwest coast] where they met a ·magician [sorcerer] named Bar-Jesus [^Cmeaning “son of Jesus/Joshua”]. He was a Jewish false prophet ⁷ who ·always stayed close to [^Lwas with; ^Cperhaps an assistant or advisor] Sergius Paulus, the ·governor [proconsul] and a ·smart [intelligent; discerning] man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear the ·message [^Lword] of God. ⁸ But Elymas, the magician (that is what his name means), was against them [^CElymas probably comes either from an Arabic word meaning “wise man” or an Aramaic word meaning “interpreter of dreams”—hence a “magician”]. He tried to ·stop [turn away] the ·governor [proconsul] from ·believing in Jesus [^Lthe faith]. ⁹ But Saul, who was also called Paul [^CSaul was his Jewish name; Paul his Roman name (both probably given at birth)], was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked ·straight [intently] at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of ·everything that is right [all righteousness]! You are full of ·lies [deceit] and ·evil tricks [fraud; evil schemes], ·always trying to change the Lord’s truths into lies [^Lwill you never stop making crooked/perverting the straight paths of the Lord?]. ¹¹ Now [^Llook; ^Tbehold] the [^Lhand of 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 [^Lmist and darkness fell upon] Elymas, and he walked around, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the ·governor [proconsul] saw this, he believed because he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus

¹³ Paul and ·those with him [his companions] sailed from Paphos [v. 6] and came to Perga, in Pamphylia [^Ca Roman province in southern Turkey; Perga was a major city]. There John Mark left them to return to Jerusalem [15:38]. ¹⁴ They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia [^Ca Roman province in southcentral Turkey; this Antioch should not be confused with Antioch in Syria (11:19–20)]. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read [^Cpart of the traditional synagogue service], the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any ·message that will encourage the people [^Lword of encouragement/exhortation; ^Cthey are invited to give the homily, or sermon], please speak.”

¹⁶ Paul stood up, ·raised [or motioned with] his hand, and said, “·You Israelites [Men, Israelites] and you who ·worship [^Lfear] God [^CGentiles who worshiped the God of Israel; 10:2], please listen! ¹⁷ The God of the Israelites chose our ·ancestors [^Lfathers; ^CAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Gen. 12—36]. He made the people great during the time they lived [as foreigners/aliens] in Egypt, and he brought them out of that country with ·great power [^La raised/uplifted arm]. ¹⁸ And he ·was patient with [put up with] them^[a] for forty years in the ·desert [wilderness; Ex. 16—Deut. 34]. ¹⁹ God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people [^Las an inheritance]. ²⁰ All this happened in about four hundred fifty years [^Ca round number of the time Israel was in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, and conquering the land].

“After this, God gave them judges [Judg. 1—21] until the time of Samuel the prophet [1 Sam. 1:1—25:1; 28]. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king, so God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin and was king for forty years [1 Sam. 8—2 Sam. 1]. ²² After God ·took him away [removed/deposed him], God ·made David [^Lraised up David as] their king [2 Sam. 2—7]. God ·said [witnessed; testified] about him: ‘I have found in David son of Jesse ·the kind of man I want [a man whose heart is like mine; ^Ta man after my own heart; 1 Sam. 13:14; Ps. 89:20]. He will ·do [or accomplish] all ·I want him to do [^Lmy will].’ ²³ So God has brought Jesus, one of David’s ·descendants [^Lseed], to Israel to be its Savior, as he promised [2 Sam. 7:12–16; Is. 11:1–16]. ²⁴ Before Jesus came, John [^Cthe Baptist] preached to all the people of Israel about a baptism of ·changed hearts and lives [^Lrepentance; Matt. 3; Mark 1:2–8; Luke 3]. ²⁵ When he was finishing his ·work [race; course; mission], he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not ·the Christ [the Messiah; ^Lhe; ^Cthe anointed king from David’s line]. He is coming later, and I am not worthy to untie his sandals [^Ca gesture of subservience fit for a slave].’

²⁶ “·Brothers, [^LMen, brothers] ·sons [or descendants] of the family of Abraham, and others who ·worship [fear; 13:16] God, listen! The ·news [word; message] 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 [^Lwere ignorant of this; or did not recognize him]. They did not understand the ·words that the prophets wrote [^Lvoices of the prophets], which are read every Sabbath day. But they ·made them come true [^Lfulfilled them] when they ·said Jesus was guilty [^Lcondemned him]. ²⁸ They could not find any real ·reason [cause; basis] for Jesus to be put to death, but they asked Pilate to have him ·killed [executed]. ²⁹ When they had done to him all that ·the Scriptures had said [^Lwas written about him], they took him down from the ·cross [^Ltree; 5:30; 10:39; Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13] and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him up from the dead! ³¹ After this, for many days, ·those who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him [or he appeared to those…Jerusalem]. They are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We tell you the ·Good News [Gospel] about the promise God made to our ·ancestors [forefathers; fathers; Gen. 12:1–3; 2 Sam. 7:12–16]. ³³ ·God has made this promise come true [He has fulfilled this promise] for us, their ·children [descendants], by raising Jesus from the dead. We read about this also in the second psalm:

‘You are my Son.
Today I have ·become your Father [fathered you; ^Tbegotten you; Ps. 2:7].’

³⁴ God raised Jesus from the dead, and he will never go back to ·the grave and become dust [^Lcorruption; decay]. So God said:

‘I will give you the holy and ·sure blessings [^Lfaithful things]
that I promised to David [Is. 55:3].’

³⁵ But in another place God says:

‘You will not let your Holy One ·experience [^Lsee] ·decay [corruption; Ps. 16:10].’

³⁶ [^LFor; Now] David ·did God’s will [served God’s purpose] during his ·lifetime [^Lgeneration]. Then he ·died [^Lslept; ^Ca euphemism for death] and was ·buried [^Lplaced] beside his ·ancestors [^Lfathers], and his body ·experienced [^Lsaw] ·decay [corruption] in the grave. ³⁷ But the One God raised from the dead did not ·experience [^Lsee] ·decay [corruption]. ³⁸ [^LTherefore] ·Brothers [^LMen, brothers], ·understand what we are telling you [know this]: ·You can have forgiveness of your sins [^LForgiveness of sins is announced to you] through ·Jesus [^Lthis man]. ³⁹ The law of Moses could not ·free you from your sins [justify you; make you righteous]. But through Jesus everyone who believes is ·free from all sins [justified; made/declared righteous]. ⁴⁰ [^LSo; Therefore] ·Be careful [Watch out]! Don’t let what the prophets said happen to you:

⁴¹ ‘·Listen [^LLook; ^TBehold], you ·people who doubt [scoffers; mockers]!
·You can wonder [Be amazed], and then ·die [^Lperish; vanish].
I ·will do something [^Lam working a work] in your ·lifetime [^Ldays]
that you won’t believe even when you are told about it [Hab. 1:5]!’”

⁴² While ·Paul and Barnabas [^Lthey] were leaving the synagogue, the people ·asked [urged; encouraged] them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ When the meeting was over, many of the Jews and devout ·converts to Judaism [^Lproselytes] followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God’s grace.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath day, almost everyone in the city ·came [gathered] to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ Seeing the crowd, the Jewish people became very jealous and said ·insulting [blasphemous] things and ·argued against [contradicted] what Paul said. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke very ·boldly [fearlessly; courageously], saying, “·We must [It was necessary for us to] speak the ·message [word] of God to you first. But [^Lsince] you ·refuse to listen [or reject it]. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now ·go [^Lturn] to the ·people of other nations [Gentiles]. ⁴⁷ [^LFor] This is what the Lord ·told us to do [commanded us], saying:

‘I have ·made [appointed] you a light for the ·nations [Gentiles];
·you will show people all over the world the way to be saved [^Lto bring salvation to the ends of the earth; Is. 42:6; 49:6; Acts 1:8].’”

⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard Paul say this, they ·were happy [rejoiced] and ·gave honor to [praised] the ·message [word] of the Lord. And the people who were ·chosen [destined; appointed] to have life forever ·believed the message [^Lbelieved].

⁴⁹ So the ·message [word] of the Lord was spreading through the whole ·country [area; region]. ⁵⁰ But the Jewish people ·stirred up [incited] some of the ·important religious women [devout/God-fearing women of high social status] and the ·leaders [or prominent men] of the city. They ·started trouble [stirred up persecution] against Paul and Barnabas and forced them out of their ·area [region]. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet [^Ca sign of rejection and protest] and went to Iconium [^Ca city in the interior of south central Asia Minor, present-day Turkey]. ⁵² But the ·followers [disciples] were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Footnotes

1. Acts 13:18 And … them Some Greek copies read “And he cared for them.”