Acts 13 - International Children’s Bible (ICB)

Barnabas and Saul Are Chosen

13 In the church at Antioch there were these prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with Herod, the ruler) and Saul. ² They were all worshiping the Lord and giving up eating.^[a] The Holy Spirit said to them, “Give Barnabas and Saul to me to do a special work. I have chosen them for it.”

³ So they gave up eating and prayed. They laid their hands on^[b] Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.

Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus

⁴ Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went to the city of Seleucia. From there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ When they came to Salamis, they preached the Good News of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

⁶ They went across the whole island to Paphos. In Paphos they met a Jew who was a magician. His name was Bar-Jesus. He was a false prophet, ⁷ who always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, the governor. Sergius Paulus was a smart man. He asked Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear the message of God. ⁸ But Elymas, the magician (that is what his name means), was against them. He tried to stop the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹ But Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit. (Saul’s other name was Paul.) He looked straight at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil! You are an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of evil tricks and lies. You are always trying to change the Lord’s truths into lies! ¹¹ Now 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 Elymas. He walked around, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand. ¹² When the governor saw this, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Leave Cyprus

¹³ Paul and those with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, in Pamphylia. But John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ The law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: “Brothers, if you have any message that will encourage the people, please speak!”

¹⁶ Paul stood up. He raised his hand and said, “Men of Israel and you other people who worship God, please listen! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors. He made the people great during the time they lived in Egypt. He brought them out of that country with great power. ¹⁸ And he was patient with them^[c] for 40 years in the desert. ¹⁹ God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people. ²⁰ All this happened in about 450 years.

“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. ²² After God took him away, God made David their king. This is what God said about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse. He is the kind of man I want. He will do all that I want him to do.’ ²³ So God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. And God promised to do this. ²⁴ Before Jesus came, John^[d] preached to all the people of Israel. He told them about a baptism of changed hearts and lives. ²⁵ When he was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later. I am not worthy to untie his sandals.’

²⁶ “Brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you non-Jews who worship God, listen! The news 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. They did not understand the words that the prophets wrote, which are read every Sabbath day. But they made them come true when they said Jesus was guilty. ²⁸ They could not find any real reason for Jesus to die, but they asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹ They did to him all that the Scriptures had said. Then they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him up from death! ³¹ After this, for many days, the people who had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors. ³³ We are their children, and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We read about this also in Psalm 2:

‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.’ Psalm 2:7

³⁴ God raised Jesus from death. He will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said:

‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings
that I promised to David.’ Isaiah 55:3

³⁵ But in another place God says:

‘You will not let your Holy One
rot in the grave.’ Psalm 16:10

³⁶ David did God’s will during his lifetime. Then he died and was buried with his fathers. And his body did rot in the grave! ³⁷ But the One God raised from death did not rot in the grave. ^38-39 Brothers, you must understand what we are telling you: You can have forgiveness of your sins through Jesus. The law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But everyone who believes is free from all sins through him. ⁴⁰ Be careful! Don’t let what the prophets said happen to you:

⁴¹ ‘Listen, you people who doubt!
You can wonder, and then die.
I will do something in your lifetime that will amaze you.
You won’t believe it even when you are told about it!’” Habakkuk 1:5

⁴² While Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to tell them more about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ After the meeting, many Jews followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. With the Jews there were many who had changed to the Jewish religion and worshiped God. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God’s kindness.

⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath day, almost all the people in the city came to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵ Seeing the crowd, the Jews became very jealous. They said insulting things and argued against what Paul said. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, “We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations! ⁴⁷ This is what the Lord told us to do. The Lord said:

‘I have made you a light for the non-Jewish nations.
You will show people all over the world the way to be saved.’” Isaiah 49:6

⁴⁸ When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message of the Lord. And many of the people believed the message. They were the ones chosen to have life forever.

⁴⁹ And so the message of the Lord was spreading through the whole country. ⁵⁰ But the Jews stirred up some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city against Paul and Barnabas. They started trouble against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their area. ⁵¹ So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet^[e] and went to Iconium. ⁵² But the followers were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Footnotes

1. 13:2 giving up eating This is called “fasting.” The people would give up eating for a special time of prayer and worship to God. It was also done to show sadness.
2. 13:3 laid their hands on Here, this was a sign to show that these men were given a special work of God.
3. 13:18 And . . . them Some Greek copies read “And he cared for them.”
4. 13:24 John John the Baptist, who preached to people about Christ’s coming (Matthew 3; Luke 3).
5. 13:51 shook . . . feet A warning. It showed that they were finished talking to these people.