11:1 Now the Ambassadors and other believers who were in Judea heard that the non-Judeans also received the Word of God.

11:2 But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the Judeans confronted him

11:3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

11:4 So Peter gave them the order of events:

11:5 “I was praying in the city of Joppa, when I fell into a trance. I saw a vision of a container made of a large sheet held by its four corners coming down to me from heaven.

11:6 I examined it closely and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.

11:7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter! Slaughter and eat!’

11:8 “But I objected, ‘Absolutely not, Master! Nothing contaminated or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

11:9 Yet the voice from heaven responded a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, do not call contaminated!’

11:10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven.

11:11 “Suddenly there were three men waiting at the house where we were, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

11:12 Then the Spirit told me to go along with them without prejudice. These six fellow believers also came with me, and we entered the man’s house.

11:13 He reported to us how he saw the Messenger standing in his house and saying, ‘Send people to Joppa to ask for Simon who is also called Peter.

11:14 He will proclaim to you how you can be saved— you and your entire household.’

11:15 “But as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as it did on us at the beginning.

11:16 And then I remembered what the Master declared when he said, ‘John did indeed immerse you in water, but you will be immersed in the Holy Spirit’.

11:17 So since God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we put our trust in Master Jesus the Anointed, who was I to get in God’s way?”

11:18 Upon hearing all this, they calmed down and praised God: “So it is, that God has also granted the non-Judeans the option to change their minds toward life!”

11:19 Now it happened that those who had been scattered, due to the persecution that began over Stephen, went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. But they had only spoken the Word to Judeans.

11:20 However, some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who went into Antioch and spoke to the Greeks as well, telling them the Gospel about Master Jesus.

11:21 The power of the Master was with them, and as a result a great number who believed turned toward the Master.

11:22 This report reached the Congregation in Jerusalem, so they dispatched Barnabas to Antioch.

11:23 Arriving there, he saw the favor of God and was very happy, and he passionately urged everyone to remain with the Master.

11:24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a sizable crowd was added to the Master.

11:25 Then he went away to Tarsus to look for Saul.

11:26 When he found him, he took him to Antioch. It turned out that they stayed a whole year with that Congregation, teaching a large crowd. And it was at Antioch that the disciples were first labeled Christians.

11:27 Now in those days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.

11:28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated through the Spirit that a great famine was about to come upon the whole inhabited world; this occurred during the rule of Claudius.

11:29 So the disciples, in proportion to how each had prospered, set funds aside to be distributed to the sisters and brothers living in Judea.

11:30 They chose to send it to the elders via Barnabas and Saul.