Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch
1prophets and
2teachers,
3Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of
4Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting,
5the Holy Spirit said,
6"Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
7for the work to which I have called them."
3
Then after fasting and
8praying they laid their hands on them and
9sent them off.
Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus
4 So, being sent out
10by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
5
When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God
11in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had
12John to
13assist them.
6
When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain
14magician,
15a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
7
He was with
16the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
8
But Elymas the
17magician (for that is the meaning of his name)
18opposed them, seeking to turn
19the proconsul away from the faith.
9
But Saul, who was also called Paul,
20filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
10
and said, "You
21son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and
22villainy, will you not stop
23making crooked
24the straight paths of the Lord?
11
And now, behold,
25the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking
26people to lead him by the hand.
12
Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at
27the teaching of the Lord.