The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 In the Antioch congregation were prophets and teachers - Bar-Nabba, Shim'on (known as "the Black"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Menachem (who had been brought up with Herod the governor) and Sha'ul.
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Now there were at Antioch, in the church there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon who was named Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, a relation of Herod the king, and Saul.
2 One time when they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Ruach HaKodesh said to them, "Set aside for me Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul for the work to which I have called them."
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And while they were doing the Lord's work, and going without food, the Holy Spirit said, Let Barnabas and Saul be given to me for the special work for which they have been marked out by me.
3 After fasting and praying, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
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Then, after prayer and going without food they put their hands on them, and sent them away.
4 So these two, after they had been sent out by the Ruach HaKodesh, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.
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So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they went by ship to Cyprus.
5 After landing in Salamis, they began proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues, with Yochanan (Mark) as an assistant;
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And at Salamis they were preaching the word of God in the Synagogues of the Jews: and John was with them, helping them.
6 and thus they made their way throughout the whole island. They ended up in Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and pseudo-prophet named Bar-Yeshua.
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And when they had gone through all the island to Paphos, they came across a certain wonder-worker and false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus;
7 He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. Now the governor had called for Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul and was anxious to hear the message about God;
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Who was with the ruler, Sergius Paulus, an able man. This man sent for Barnabas and Saul, desiring to have knowledge of the word of God.
8 but the sorcerer Elymas (for that is how his name is translated) opposed them, doing his best to turn the governor away from the faith.
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But Elymas, the wonder-worker (for that is the sense of his name), put himself against them, with the purpose of turning the ruler from the faith.
9 Then Sha'ul, also known as Paul, filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, stared straight at him and said,
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But Saul, whose other name is Paul, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking hard at him, said,
10 "You son of Satan, full of fraud and evil! You enemy of everything good! Won't you ever stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?k
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O you, who are full of false tricks and evil ways, a son of the Evil One, hating all righteousness, will you for ever be turning people from the right ways of the Lord?
11 So now, look! The hand of the Lord is upon you; and for a while you will be blind, unable to see the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over Elymas; and he groped about, trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.
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And now, see, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind and not able to see the sun for a time. And straight away a dark mist came down on him; and he went about looking for a guide.
12 Then, on seeing what had happened, the governor trusted, astounded by the teaching about the Lord.
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Then the ruler, when he saw what was done, had faith, being full of wonder at the teaching of the Lord.
13 Having set sail from Paphos, Sha'ul and his companions arrived at Perga in Pamphylia. There Yochanan left them and returned to Yerushalayim,
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Then Paul and those who were with him went by ship from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia: and there John went away from them and came back to Jerusalem.
14 but the others went on from Perga to Pisidian Antioch, and on Shabbat they went into the synagogue and sat down.
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But they, going through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia; and they went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and were seated.
15 After the reading from the Torah and from the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent them a message, "Brothers, if any of you has a word of exhortation for the people, speak!"
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And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the Synagogue sent to them, saying, Brothers, if you have a word of comfort for the people, say on.
16 So Sha'ul stood, motioned with his hand, and said: "Men of Isra'el and God-fearers, listen!
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And Paul, getting up and making a sign with his hand, said, Men of Israel, and you who have the fear of God, give ear.
17 The God of this people Isra'el chose our fathers. He made the people great during the time when they were living as aliens in Egypt and with a stretched-out arm he led them out of that land.
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The God of this people Israel made selection of our fathers, lifting the people up from their low condition when they were living in the land of Egypt, and with a strong arm took them out of it.
18 For some forty yearsm he took care of them in the desert,
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And for about forty years he put up with their ways in the waste land.
19 and after he had destroyed seven nationsn in the land of Kena'an he gave their land to his people as an inheritance.
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And having put to destruction seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them the land for their heritage for about four hundred and fifty years.
20 All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges, o down to the prophet Sh'mu'el.
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And after these things he gave them judges, till the time of Samuel the prophet.
21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha'ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years,
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Then at their request for a king, God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the family of Benjamin, who was their king for forty years.
22 God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, 'I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.'
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And having put him on one side, he made David their king, to whom he gave witness, saying, I have taken David, the son of Jesse, a man dear to my heart, who will do all my pleasure.
23 "In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra'el from this man's descendants a deliverer, Yeshua.
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From this man's seed has God given to Israel a Saviour, even Jesus, as he gave his word;
24 Now before the coming of Yeshua, Yochanan proclaimed to all the people of Isra'el an immersion in connection with turning to God from sin.
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For whose coming John made ready the way by preaching to all the people of Israel the baptism which goes with a change of heart.
25 But as Yochanan was ending his work, he said, 'Who do you suppose I am? Well - I'm not! But after me is coming someone, the sandals of whose feet I am unworthy to untie.'
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And when John was completing his work, he said, What do I seem to you to be? I am not he; but one is coming after me, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.
26 "Brothers! - sons of Avraham and those among you who are 'God-fearers'! It is to us that the message of this deliverance has been sent!
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My brothers, children of the family of Abraham, and those among you who have the fear of God, to us the word of this salvation is sent.
27 For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every Shabbat, so they fulfilled that message by condemning him.
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For the men of Jerusalem and their rulers, having no knowledge of him, or of the sayings of the prophets which come to their ears every Sabbath day, gave effect to them by judging him.
28 They could not find any legitimate ground for a death sentence; nevertheless they asked Pilate to have him executed;
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And though no cause of death was seen in him, they made a request to Pilate that he might be put to death.
29 and when they had carried out all the things written about him, he was taken down from the stakeq and placed in a tomb.
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And when they had done all the things said in the Writings about him, they took him down from the tree, and put him in the place of the dead.
30 "But God raised him from the dead!
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But God gave him back from the dead:
31 He appeared for many days to those who had come up with him from the Galil to Yerushalayim; and they are now his witnesses to the people.
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And for a number of days he was seen by those who came with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses before the people.
32 "As for us, we are bringing you the Good News that what God promised to the fathers,
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And we are giving you the good news of the undertaking made to the fathers,
33 he has fulfilled for us the children in raising up Yeshua, as indeed it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'
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Which God has now put into effect for our children, by sending Jesus; as it says in the second Psalm, You are my Son; this day I have given you being.
34 And as for his raising him up from the dead, to return to decay no more, he said, 'I will give the holy and trustworthy things of David to you.'
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And about his coming back from the dead, never again to go to destruction, he has said these words, I will give you the holy and certain mercies of David.
35 This is explained elsewhere: 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.'
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Because he says in another Psalm, You will not let your Holy One see destruction.
36 For David did indeed serve God's purposes in his own generation; but after that, he died, was buried with his fathers and did see decay.
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Now David, having done God's work for his generation, went to sleep, and was put with his fathers, and his body came to destruction:
37 However, the one God raised up did not see decay.
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But he, who was lifted up by God, did not see destruction.
38 "Therefore, brothers, let it be known to you that through this man is proclaimed forgiveness of sins!
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And so, let it be clear to you, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is offered to you:
39 That is, God clears everyone who puts his trust in this man, even in regard to all the things concerning which you could not be cleared by the Torah of Moshe.
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And through him everyone who has faith is made free from all those things, from which the law of Moses was not able to make you free.
40 "Watch out, then, so that this word found in the Prophets may not happen to you:
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So take care that these words of the prophets do not come true for you;
41 'You mockers! Look, and marvel, and die! For in your own time, I am doing a work that you simply will not believe, even if someone explains it to you!' "
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See, you doubters, have wonder and come to your end; for I will do a thing in your days to which you will not give belief, even if it is made clear to you.
42 As they left, the people invited Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba to tell them more about these matters the following Shabbat.
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And when they went out, they made a request that these words might be said to them again on the Sabbath after.
43 When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the born Jews and devout proselytes followed Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba, who spoke with them and urged them to keep holding fast to the love and kindness of God.
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Now when the meeting was ended, a number of the Jews and of the God-fearing Gentiles who had become Jews, went after Paul and Barnabas: who put before them how important it was to keep on in the grace of God.
44 The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord;
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And on the Sabbath after, almost all the town came together to give hearing to the word of God.
45 but when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Sha'ul was saying and insulted him.
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But when the Jews saw such a great number of people, they were full of envy and said evil words against Paul's preaching.
46 However, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba answered boldly: "It was necessary that God's word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life - why, we're turning to the Goyim!
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Then Paul and Barnabas without fear said, It was necessary for the word of God to be given to you first; but because you will have nothing to do with it, and have no desire for eternal life, it will now be offered to the Gentiles.
47 For that is what ADONAI has ordered us to do: 'I have set you as a light for the Goyim, to be for deliverance to the ends of the earth.' "
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For so the Lord has given us orders, saying, I have given you for a light to the Gentiles so that you may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.
48 The Gentiles were very happy to hear this. They honored the message about the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life came to trust.
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And the Gentiles, hearing this, were glad and gave glory to the word of God: and those marked out by God for eternal life had faith.
49 And the message about the Lord was carried throughout the whole region.
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And the word of the Lord went through all the country.
50 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the women 'God-fearers' of high social standing and the leading men of the city, and they organized persecution against Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba and expelled them from their district.
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But the Jews, working up the feelings of the God-fearing women of high position and of the chief men of the town, got an attack started against Paul and Barnabas, driving them out of those parts.
51 However, Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba shook off the dust of their feet against them and went on to Iconium;
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But they, shaking off the dust of that place from their feet, came to Iconium.
52 and the talmidim were filled with joy and with the Ruach HaKodesh.
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And the disciples were full of joy and of the Holy Spirit.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.