Acts 11-12

Complete Jewish Bible

11 The emissaries and the brothers throughout Y’hudah heard that the Goyim had received the word of God; ² but when Kefa went up to Yerushalayim, the members of the Circumcision faction criticized him, ³ saying, “You went into the homes of uncircumcised men and even ate with them!”

⁴ In reply, Kefa began explaining in detail what had actually happened: ⁵ “I was in the city of Yafo, praying; and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came down to me. ⁶ I looked inside and saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, crawling creatures and wild birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!’ ⁸ I said, ‘No, sir! Absolutely not! Nothing unclean or treif has ever entered my mouth!’ ⁹ But the voice spoke again from heaven: ‘Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then everything was pulled back up into heaven.

¹¹ “At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying; ¹² and the Spirit told me to have no misgivings about going back with them. These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Yafo and bring back Shim‘on, known as Kefa. ¹⁴ He has a message for you which will enable you and your whole household to be saved.’

¹⁵ “But I had hardly begun speaking when the Ruach HaKodesh fell on them, just as on us at the beginning! ¹⁶ And I remembered that the Lord had said, ‘Yochanan used to immerse people in water, but you will be immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, if God gave them the same gift as he gave us after we had come to put our trust in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

¹⁸ On hearing these things, they stopped objecting and began to praise God, saying, “This means that God has enabled the Goyim as well to do t’shuvah and have life!”

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution which had arisen over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch; they spoke God’s word, but only to Jews. ²⁰ However, some of these, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, when they arrived at Antioch, began speaking to the Greeks too, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Yeshua. ²¹ The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people trusted and turned to the Lord.

²² News of this reached the ears of the Messianic community in Yerushalayim, and they sent Bar-Nabba to Antioch. ²³ On arriving and seeing for himself the grace of God at work, he was glad; and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with their whole hearts; ²⁴ for he was a good man, full of the Ruach HaKodesh and trust.

²⁵ Then Bar-Nabba went off to Tarsus to look for Sha’ul; ²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They met with the congregation there for a whole year and taught a sizeable crowd. Also it was in Antioch that the talmidim for the first time were called “Messianic.”

²⁷ During this time, some prophets came down from Yerushalayim to Antioch; ²⁸ and one of them named Agav stood up and through the Spirit predicted that there was going to be a severe famine throughout the Roman Empire. (It took place while Claudius was Emperor.) ²⁹ So the talmidim decided to provide relief to the brothers living in Y’hudah, each according to his means; ³⁰ and they did it, sending their contribution to the elders in the care of Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul.

12 It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community; ² and he had Ya‘akov, Yochanan’s brother, put to death by the sword. ³ When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of Matzah, ⁴ so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after Pesach. ⁵ So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.

⁶ The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of Adonai stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa’s side and woke him. “Hurry! Get up!” he said; and the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals,” and he did. “Throw on your robe,” he said, “and follow me!” ⁹ Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real — he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him. ¹¹ Then Kefa came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod’s power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for.”

¹² Realizing what had happened, he went to the house of Miryam the mother of Yochanan (surnamed Mark), where many people had gathered to pray. ¹³ He knocked at the outside door, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ She recognized Kefa’s voice and was so happy that she ran back in without opening the door, and announced that Kefa was standing outside. ¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind!” they said to her. But she insisted it was true. So they said, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ Meanwhile, Kefa kept knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. ¹⁷ Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison and said, “Tell all this to Ya‘akov and the brothers.” Then he left and went elsewhere.

¹⁸ When daylight came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Kefa. ¹⁹ Herod had a thorough search made for him, but they failed to find him, so he cross-examined the guards and ordered them put to death. Then Herod went down from Y’hudah to Caesarea and spent some time there.

²⁰ Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tzor and Tzidon, so they joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, the king’s chief personal servant, they asked for peace; because they depended on the king’s lands for their food supply. ²¹ A day was set, and Herod in his royal robes sat on the throne and made a speech to them. ²² The mob cried out, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!” ²³ At once, because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of Adonai struck him down. He was eaten away by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of the Lord went on growing and being multiplied.

²⁵ Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul, having completed their errand, returned from Yerushalayim, bringing with them Yochanan, surnamed Mark.