Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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II.—The Church and the Gentiles.
Doings of the Apostle Paul.
note
note
1 Among the members of the Church at Antioch
there were several Prophets and Teachers—
Barnabas, Simeon who was known by the name
of ‘Black’, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, foster-brother
of Prince Herod, and Saul. ⪆⪆
2 While
-- --
they were engaged in the worship of the Lord and were
fasting, the Holy Spirit said:
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to
which I have called them.”
3 Accordingly, after fasting and prayer, they placed their hands
on them and dismissed them.
note
4 Barnabas and Saul, sent on this mission, as
they were, by the Holy Spirit, went down to
Seleucia, and from there sailed to Cyprus.
5 On
reaching Salamis, they began to tell the Message of God in
the Jewish Synagogues; and they had John with them as
an assistant.
6 After passing through the whole island, they reached Paphos,
where they found an astrologer who pretended to be a Prophet
—a Jew by birth, whose name was Barjoshua.
7 He was at
the court of the Governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence,
who sent for Barnabas and Saul and asked to be told
God's Message.
8 But Elymas, the astrologer (for that is the
meaning of the word), opposed them, eager to divert the
Governor's attention from the Faith.
9 However, Saul (who is
the same as Paul), full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on
him and said:
10
“You incarnation of deceit and all fraud! You son of the
Devil! You opponent of all that is good! Will you never
cease to divert ‘the straight paths of the Lord’? Listen! note
11 The hand of the Lord is upon you even now, and you will be
blind for a time and unable to see the sun.”
Immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went
feeling about for some one to guide him.
12 When the Governor
saw what had happened, he became a believer in Christ, being
greatly impressed by the teaching about the Lord.
note
13 After this, Paul and his companions set sail
from Paphos and went to Perga in Pamphylia,
where John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
⪆⪆
14 The others went on from Perga and
arrived at Antioch in Pisidia. There they went into the Synagogue
on the Sabbath and took their seats.
15 After the reading
of the Law and the Prophets, the Presidents of the Synagogue
sent them this message—“Brothers, if you have any helpful
words to address to the people, now is the time to speak.”
16 So Paul rose and, motioning with his hand, spoke as follows:
“Men of Israel and all here who reverence God, hear what
I have to say. ⪆⪆
17 The God of this people Israel chose
our ancestors, and during their stay in Egypt increased the
prosperity of the people, and then ‘with uplifted arm brought
them out from that land.’ note
18 For about forty years ‘he bore with
-- --
them in the Desert’; note
19 then, after destroying seven heathen
nations in Canaan, he allotted their land to this people—for
about four hundred and fifty years. note
20 In later times he gave
them Judges, of whom the Prophet Samuel was the last.
21 And,
when they demanded a king, God gave them Saul the son of
Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty
years.
22 After removing him, he raised David to the throne,
and bore this testimony to him—‘In David, the son of Jesse,
I have found a man after my own heart, who will carry
out all my purposes.’ note
23 It was from this man's descendants
that God, in accordance with his promise, gave Israel a
Saviour—Jesus;
24 John having first proclaimed, before the
appearance of Jesus, a baptism upon repentance for all the
people of Israel.
25 As John was drawing towards the end of
his career, he said ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am
not the Christ. But there is “One Coming” after me, whose
very sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ note ⪆⪆
26 Brothers,
descendants of Abraham, and all those among you who reverence
God, it was to us that the Message of this Salvation
was sent.
27 The people of Jerusalem and their leading men,
failing to recognize Jesus, and not understanding the utterances
of the Prophets that are read every Sabbath, fulfilled
them by condemning him.
28 They found no ground at all
for putting him to death, and yet demanded his execution
from Pilate;
29 and, after carrying out everything written
about him, they took Jesus down from the cross, and laid
him in a tomb.
30
31 But God raised him from the dead; and
he appeared for many days to those who had gone up with
him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and who are now witnesses
for him to the people.
32 We also have good news to tell you,
33 about the promise made to our ancestors—that our children
have had this promise completely fulfilled to them by God,
by his raising Jesus. That is just what is said in the second
Psalm—
‘Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father.’ note
34 As to his raising Jesus from the dead, never again to return
to corruption, this is what is said—
‘I will give to you the sacred promises made to David;’ note
35 and, therefore, in another Psalm it is said—
‘Thou wilt not give up thy Holy One to undergo corruption.’ note
36 David, after obediently doing God's will in his own time, ‘fell
asleep and was laid by the side of his ancestors’, and did
undergo corruption; note
37 but Jesus, whom God raised from the
dead, did not undergo corruption. ⪆⪆
38 I would, therefore,
-- --
have you know, Brothers, that through Jesus forgiveness of
sins is being proclaimed to you,
39 and that, in union with him,
every one who believes in him is absolved from every sin from
which under the Law of Moses you could not be absolved.
40 Beware, therefore, that what is said in the Prophets does not
come true of you—
41
‘Look, you despisers, and wonder, and perish;
For I am doing a deed in your days—
A deed which, though told you in full, you will never believe’.” note
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the Synagogue, the
people begged for a repetition of this teaching on the next
Sabbath.
43 After the congregation had dispersed, many of the
Jews, and of the converts who joined in their worship, followed
Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to
continue to rely upon the loving-kindness of God.
44 On the following Sabbath, almost all the city gathered to
hear God's Message.
45 But the sight of the crowds of people
filled the minds of the Jews with jealousy, and they kept contradicting
Paul's statements in violent language.
46 Then Paul
and Barnabas spoke out fearlessly, and said:
“It was necessary that the Message of God should be told
to you first; but, since you reject it and reckon yourselves not
worthy of the Immortal Life—we turn to the Gentiles!
47 For
this is the Lord's command to us—
‘I have destined thee for a Light to the Gentiles,
A means of Salvation to the ends of the earth’.” note
48 On hearing this, the Gentiles were glad and extolled God's
Message; and all those who had been enrolled for Immortal
Life became believers in Christ;
49 and the Lord's Message was
carried throughout that district.
50 But the Jews incited the
women of position who worshipped with them, and the
leading men of the town, and started a persecution against
Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their neighbourhood.
51 They, however, shook the dust off their feet in protest,
and went to Iconium,
52 leaving the disciples full of joy and of
the Holy Spirit.
Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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