Those who had been scattered abroad after the persecution that c^e over the matter of Stephen traveled to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, announcing the word to no one except Jews. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, and these when they c^e to Anti- och spoke also to the Greeks, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. Word of them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God there, he was filled with joy, and he urged them all to remain true to the Lord in the devotion of their hearts; since he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And a considerable number was brought over to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. And it befell them that they met for a whole year in the church and taught a considerable number of people; and it was in Antioch that, for the first time, the disciples came to be called Christians.
In those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch; and one of them, by name Agabus, stood up and, through the Spirit, foretold that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the time of Claudius. And they ordained that each of the disciples, according to his means, should send something to take care of the brothers who lived in Judaea. This they did, sending it to the elders through the agency of Barnabas and Saul.
1! At that time Herod the King laid hands upon some members of the church to destroy them. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. And seeing that this was pleasing to the Jews, he added the arrest of Peter. It was during the days of Unleavened Bread. He seized Peter and put him in prison, and gave four squads of soldiers the duty of guarding him, meaning to bring him before the people after the Passover. So Peter was kept under guard in the prison, and there was continual prayer to God from the church for his sake.
When Herod was about to produce him, Peter was sleeping that night between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards were keeping watch before the door. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood there, and light flashed in the cell; and he struck Peter in the side and wakened him, saying: Rise up in speed. And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him: Dress and put on your shoes. And he did so. Then he said to him: Put on your mantle and follow me. And he followed him out, and he did not know that this was really being done by the angel, but thought he was seeing a vision. They passed through the first guard and the second and came to the iron gate which leads to the city, and this opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and walked to the next street, and suddenly the angel left him. And Peter came to himself and said: Now I know that the Lord really did send his angel and rescue me from the hand of Herod and all that the Jewish people had been hoping to do against me. And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where a number of people were gathered together and praying. When he knocked on the courtyard door a maid named Rhoda c^e to answer, and when she recognized the voice of Peter, in her joy instead of opening the door she ran inside and announced that Peter was standing before the courtyard. They said to her: You are mad; but she insisted that it was so. But they said:It is his angel. But Peter continued to knock, and when they opened they saw him and were astonished. But motioning with his hand for them to be quiet, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison, and said: Report this to James and the brothers. Then he went out and removed to another place.
When day came, there was no little consternation among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And Herod, having searched for him and not found him, interrogated the guards and ordered them to be taken away and executed, and then went down from Judaea to Cae- sarea and stayed there. He was furious with the Tyrians and Sidonians; but they came to him in a body, after persuading Blastus, the king's ch^berlain, and sued for peace, because their country was supported from the royal territory. And on an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes and sat on the platform and made a speech to them; and the people cried aloud: The voice of God, not of man. And suddenly an angel of the Lord struck him down because he had not given the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.
And the word of the Lord grew and increased.
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem after fulfilling their mission, taking along with them John, who was surnamed Mark.
1 At the church which was in Antioch, there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas and Simeon surnamed Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, a close friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. And while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them: Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do for me the work I have called them to. Then after fasting and prayer and laying their hands upon them they sent them on their way.
So these men, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, arrived at Seleucia, and from there sailed to Cyprus, and in Salamis preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John with them as a helper. And after traveling through the entire island as far as Paphos they found there a certain man, a magician and false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, who was in the company of the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man invited Barnabas and Saul in and desired to hear the word of God. But the magician Elymas, for this is how his name is translated, opposed them, trying to tum the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who is also Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit and stared at him and said: О full of every trick and every deception, son of the devil, enemy of everything righteous, will you not stop trying to twist the straight ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind and not see the sunlight for a while. And immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about looking for people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul, seeing what had happened and struck by the teaching of the Lord, believed.
Sailing from Paphos, Paul and his party c^e to Perge in Pamphylia, but John left them and returned to Jerusalem. And traveling from Perge, they arrived at the Pis- idian Antioch, and entered the synagogue on the day of the sabbath and sat do^. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the heads of the synagogue sent them a message saying: Men and brothers, if you have any word of exhortation before the people, speak. Then Paul stood up and gestured with his hand and said: Men of Israel, and all who fear God, listen. The God of this people, Israel, chose our fathers, and exalted their people in their stay in Egypt, and with his mighty ^m he brought them out of there; and when for a period of forty years he had nursed them in the desert, then by overcoming seven nations in the land of Canaan he made that land their heritage for some four hundred and fifty years. And after that he gave them judges, until Samuel the prophet; and after that they asked for a Kin& and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Then putting him aside he raised up David to be their Kin& to whom he bore witness and said: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.
It was from his seed, according to his promise, that he brought Israel its savior, Jesus, before the coming of whose presence John had preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John ran his course, he would say: What do you suppose I am? I am not he. But behold, there is one coming after me, and I am not fit to take his shoes off his feet.