The Early Church

And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.

He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.

When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”

“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.

Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.

At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.

After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.

Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.

On the appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and addressed the people.

And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.

When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, bringing with them John, also called Mark.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

So Barnabas and Saul, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. And John was with them as their helper.

They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,

an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked directly at Elymas

and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?

Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.