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።
Paul and Barnabas Preach in Iconium
1At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue as usual. They spoke there with great power. Large numbers of Jews and Greeks became believers. 2But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up some of the Gentiles who were there. They turned them against the two men and the new believers. 3So Paul and Barnabas spent a lot of time there. They spoke boldly for the Lord. He gave them the ability to do signs and wonders. In this way the Lord showed that they were telling the truth about his grace. 4The people of the city did not agree with one another. Some were on the side of the Jews. Others were on the side of the apostles. 5Jews and Gentiles alike planned to treat Paul and Barnabas badly. Their leaders agreed. They planned to kill them by throwing stones at them. 6But Paul and Barnabas found out about the plan. They escaped to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding area. 7There they continued to preach the good news.
Paul Preaches in Lystra
8In Lystra there sat a man who couldn’t walk. He hadn’t been able to use his feet since the day he was born. 9He listened as Paul spoke. Paul looked right at him. He saw that the man had faith to be healed. 10So he called out, “Stand up on your feet!” Then the man jumped up and began to walk.
11The crowd saw what Paul had done. They shouted in the Lycaonian language. “The gods have come down to us in human form!” they exclaimed. 12They called Barnabas Zeus. Paul was the main speaker. So they called him Hermes. 13Just outside the city was the temple of the god Zeus. The priest of Zeus brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates. He and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.
14But the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about this. So they tore their clothes. They rushed out into the crowd. They shouted, 15“Friends, why are you doing this? We are only human, just like you. We are bringing you good news. Turn away from these worthless things. Turn to the living God. He is the one who made the heavens and the earth and the sea. He made everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17But he has given proof of what he is like. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven. He gives you crops in their seasons. He provides you with plenty of food. He fills your hearts with joy.” 18Paul and Barnabas told them all these things. But they had trouble keeping the crowd from offering sacrifices to them.
19Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They won the crowd over to their side. They threw stones at Paul. They thought he was dead, so they dragged him out of the city. 20The believers gathered around Paul. Then he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch
21Paul and Barnabas preached the good news in the city of Derbe. They won large numbers of followers. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. 22There they helped the believers gain strength. They told them to remain faithful to what they had been taught. “We must go through many hard times to enter God’s kingdom,” they said. 23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church. The elders had trusted in the Lord. Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted. They placed the elders in the Lord’s care. 24After going through Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas came into Pamphylia. 25They preached the good news in Perga. Then they went down to Attalia.
26From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch. In Antioch they had been put in God’s care to preach the good news. They had now completed the work God had given them to do. 27When they arrived at Antioch, they gathered the church together. They reported all that God had done through them. They told how he had opened a way for the Gentiles to believe. 28And they stayed there a long time with the believers.
