Barnabas and Saul Given a Special Work

13 In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers. They were Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with King Herod^[a]), and Saul. ² These men were all serving the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit said to them, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. They are the ones I have chosen to do it.”

³ So the church fasted and prayed. They laid their hands on 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. Then they sailed from there to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ When Barnabas and Saul came to the city of Salamis, they told the message of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

⁶ They went across the whole island to the city of Paphos. There they met a Jewish man named Barjesus who did magic. He was a false prophet. ⁷ He always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, who was the governor and a very smart man. He invited Barnabas and Saul to come visit him, because he wanted to hear the message of God. ⁸ But the magician Elymas (as Barjesus was called in Greek) spoke against them, trying to stop the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹ But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked hard at Elymas ¹⁰ and said, “You son of the devil, full of lies and all kinds of evil tricks! You are an enemy of everything that is right. Will you never stop 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 lost. He was 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 Go to Antioch in Pisidia

¹³ Paul and the people with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga, a city in Pamphylia. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city near Pisidia.

On the Sabbath day they went into the Jewish 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 something to say that will help the people here, please speak.”

¹⁶ Paul stood up, raised his hand to get their attention, and said, “People of Israel and all you others who worship the true God, please listen to me! ¹⁷ The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out of that country with great power. ¹⁸ And he was patient with them for 40 years in the desert. ¹⁹ God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave their land to his people. ²⁰ All this happened in about 450 years.

“After this, God gave our people judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. ²¹ Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. ²² After God took Saul away, God made David their king. This is what God said about David: ‘David, the son of Jesse, is the kind of person who does what pleases me. He will do everything I want him to do.’

²³ “As he promised, God has brought one of David’s descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. ²⁴ Before he came, John told all the people of Israel what they should do. He told them to be baptized to show they wanted to change their lives. ²⁵ When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Messiah.^[b] He is coming later, and I am not worthy to be the slave who unties his sandals.’