In Iconium
1At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. 2But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. 4The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them. 6But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, 7where they continued to preach the gospel.
In Lystra and Derbe
8In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15‘Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: he has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.’ 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20But after the disciples had gathered round him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
The return to Antioch in Syria
21They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. ‘We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,’ they said. 23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders14:23 Or Barnabas ordained elders; or Barnabas had elders elected for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. 28And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.
ጳውሎስና በርናባስ በኢቆንዮን
1በኢቆንዮንም ጳውሎስና በርናባስ አብረው ወደ አይሁድ ምኵራብ ገቡ፤ በዚያም በሚገባ ስላስተማሩ፣ ከአይሁድም ከግሪክም እጅግ ብዙ ሰዎች አመኑ። 2ያላመኑት አይሁድ ግን፣ አሕዛብን አነሣሥተው ወንድሞችን እንዲጠሉ አደረጓቸው። 3ጳውሎስና በርናባስም ስለ ጌታ በድፍረት እየተናገሩ ብዙ ጊዜ እዚያው ቈዩ፤ ጌታም የሚናገሩትን የጸጋውን ቃል በታምራዊ ምልክትና በድንቅ ሥራ እየደገፈ ያረጋግጥላቸው ነበር። 4የከተማውም ሕዝብ ተከፋፈለ፤ ገሚሱ ከአይሁድ ጋር፣ ገሚሱም ከሐዋርያት ጋር ሆነ። 5በዚህ ጊዜ አሕዛብና አይሁድ ከመሪዎቻቸው ጋር ተባብረው ሊያንገላቷቸውና በድንጋይ ሊያስወግሯቸው ሞከሩ። 6እነርሱ ግን ይህን እንዳወቁ ልስጥራንና ደርቤን ወደተባሉት ወደ ሊቃኦንያ ከተሞችና በዙሪያቸው ወዳለው አገር ሸሹ፤ 7በዚያም ወንጌልን መስበክ ቀጠሉ።
ጳውሎስና በርናባስ በልስጥራና በደርቤን
8በልስጥራንም፣ እግሩ ዐንካሳ የሆነና ከተወለደ ጀምሮ ፈጽሞ በእግሩ ሄዶ የማያውቅ ሽባ ሰው ተቀምጦ ነበር። 9ይህም ሰው ጳውሎስ ሲናገር ያደምጥ ነበር። ጳውሎስም ወደ እርሱ ትኵር ብሎ ተመለከተና ለመዳን እምነት እንዳለው ባየ ጊዜ 10በታላቅ ድምፅ፣ “ቀጥ ብለህ በእግርህ ቁም!” አለው፤ በዚህ ጊዜ ዘልሎ ተነሣና መራመድ ጀመረ።
11ሕዝቡም ጳውሎስ ያደረገውን ባዩ ጊዜ፣ በሊቃኦንያ ቋንቋ፣ “አማልክት በሰው ተመስለው ወደ እኛ ወርደዋል!” ብለው ጮኹ፤ 12በርናባስን “ድያ” አሉት፤ ጳውሎስም ዋና ተናጋሪ ስለ ነበር “ሄርሜን” አሉት። 13ከከተማው ወጣ ብሎ የነበረው የድያ ቤተ መቅደስ ካህንም፣ ኰርማዎችንና የአበባ ጕንጕኖችን ወደ ከተማው መግቢያ አምጥቶ፣ ከሕዝቡ ጋር ሆኖ ሊሠዋላቸው ፈለገ።
14ሐዋርያቱ በርናባስና ጳውሎስ ይህን በሰሙ ጊዜ ልብሳቸውን ቀድደው ወደ ሕዝቡ መካከል ሮጡ፤ ድምፃቸውንም ከፍ አድርገው እንዲህ አሉ፤ 15“እናንት ሰዎች፤ ለምን ይህን ታደርጋላችሁ? እኛም እኮ እንደ እናንተው ሰዎች ነን። እናንተም ደግሞ ከዚህ ከንቱ ነገር ርቃችሁ ሰማይንና ምድርን፣ ባሕርንም በውስጣቸውም የሚኖሩትን ሁሉ ወደ ፈጠረ ወደ ሕያው እግዚአብሔር እንድትመለሱ ወንጌልን እንሰብክላችኋለን። 16እርሱ ባለፉት ትውልዶች፣ ሕዝቦች ሁሉ በገዛ መንገዳቸው እንዲሄዱ ተዋቸው፤ 17ይሁን እንጂ ዝናብን ከሰማይ እንዲሁም ፍሬያማ ወቅቶችን በመስጠቱ፣ ደግሞም ልባችሁን በመብልና በደስታ በማርካቱ መልካምን በማድረግ ራሱን ያለ ምስክር አልተወም።” 18ይህን ሁሉ ተናግረው እንኳ፣ ሕዝቡ እንዳይሠዋላቸው ያስተዉት በብዙ ችግር ነበር።
19አይሁድ ግን ከአንጾኪያና ከኢቆንዮን መጥተው፣ ሕዝቡን አግባቡ፤ ጳውሎስንም በድንጋይ ከወገሩት በኋላ፣ የሞተ መስሏቸው ጐትተው ከከተማው ወደ ውጭ አወጡት። 20ሆኖም ደቀ መዛሙርት ከብበውት እንዳሉ ተነሣ፤ ወደ ከተማም ገባ። በማግስቱም ከበርናባስ ጋር ወደ ደርቤን ሄዱ።
ጳውሎስና በርናባስ በሶርያ ወዳለችው አንጾኪያ ተመለሱ
21ጳውሎስና በርናባስ በደርቤን የምሥራቹን ቃል ሰብከው፣ ብዙ ደቀ መዛሙርትም ካፈሩ በኋላ፣ ወደ ልስጥራን፣ ወደ ኢቆንዮንና ወደ አንጾኪያ ተመለሱ። 22የደቀ መዛሙርቱንም ልብ በማበረታታትና በእምነታቸው ጸንተው እንዲኖሩ በመምከር፣ “ወደ እግዚአብሔር መንግሥት ለመግባት በብዙ መከራ ማለፍ አለብን” አሏቸው። 23ከዚያም በየአብያተ ክርስቲያናቱ ሽማግሌዎችን ከሾሙላቸው በኋላ፣ በጾምና በጸሎት ላመኑበት ጌታ ዐደራ ሰጧቸው። 24በጲስድያም ዐልፈው ወደ ጵንፍልያ መጡ፤ 25በጴርጌንም ቃሉን ከሰበኩ በኋላ፣ ወደ አጣልያ ወረዱ።
26ከአጣልያም፣ እስካሁን ላከናወኑት ሥራ፣ ለእግዚአብሔር ጸጋ በዐደራ ወደ ተሰጡባት ከተማ ወደ አንጾኪያ በመርከብ ተመለሱ። 27እዚያም በደረሱ ጊዜ፣ ቤተ ክርስቲያንን በአንድነት ሰብስበው፣ እግዚአብሔር በእነርሱ አማካይነት ያደረገውን ሁሉ፣ ደግሞም ለአሕዛብ እንዴት የእምነትን በር እንደ ከፈተላቸው ተናገሩ። 28በዚያም ከደቀ መዛሙርት ጋር ብዙ ጊዜ ተቀመጡ።
