Acts 10:4-15

4Cornelius was frightened and stared intently at him and said, “What is it, lord (sir)?” And the angel said to him, “Your prayers and gifts of charity have ascended as a memorial offering before God [an offering made in remembrance of His past blessings].

5Now send men to Joppa and have them call for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter [and invite him here];

6he is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

7When the angel who was speaking to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his own personal attendants;

8and after explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

9The next day, as they were on their way and were approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof of the house about the sixth hour (noon) to pray,

10but he became hungry and wanted something to eat. While the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance;

11and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet descending, lowered by its four corners to the earth,

12and it contained all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air.

13A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

14But Peter said, “Not at all, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common (unholy) and [ceremonially] unclean.”

15And the voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed and pronounced clean, no longer consider common (unholy).”