Bible Verses About Religious Zeal

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.

The next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered together to hear the message about the Lord;

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.

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!

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.’ ”

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.

And the message about the Lord was carried throughout the whole region.

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.

However, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba shook off the dust of their feet against them and went on to Iconium;

and the talmidim were filled with joy and with the Ruach HaKodesh.

In Iconium the same thing happened — they went into the synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large number of both Jews and Greeks came to trust.

But the Jews who would not be persuaded stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Therefore, Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba remained for a long time, speaking boldly about the Lord, who bore witness to the message about his love and kindness by enabling them to perform signs and miracles.

However, the people of the city were divided — some sided with the unbelieving Jews, others with the emissaries.

Eventually the unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles, together with their leaders, made a move to mistreat the emissaries, even to stone them;

but they learned of it and escaped to Lystra and Derbe, towns in Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,

where they continued proclaiming the Good News.

There was a man living in Lystra who could not use his feet — crippled from birth, he had never walked.

This man listened to Sha’ul speaking. Sha’ul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

said with a loud voice, “Stand up on your feet!” He jumped up and began to walk.

When the crowds saw what Sha’ul had done, they began to shout in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”

They began calling Bar-Nabba “Zeus” and Sha’ul “Hermes,” since he did most of the talking;

and the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, intending to offer a sacrifice to them with the people.

When the emissaries Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul heard of it, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd, shouting,

“Men! Why are you doing this? We’re just men, human like you! We are announcing Good News to you — turn from these worthless things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them!