Acts 10:1-16

1There was a man who lived in Caesarea and his name was Cornelius. He was an officer in the Roman army. His group of soldiers was called ‘The Group from Italy’.

2Cornelius was a good man. He and all his family served God faithfully. Cornelius prayed to God every day. He also gave money to help poor Jewish people.

3One afternoon, at about three o'clock, Cornelius had a vision. He clearly saw one of God's angels. The angel came in and said to him, ‘Cornelius!’

4Cornelius looked at the angel and he was afraid. He asked, ‘Master, why have you come to me?’ The angel answered, ‘God has heard your prayers. He knows about all the money that you give to poor people. This has pleased him. Now God is answering your prayers.

5You must send some men to Joppa. They will find a man who is staying there. He is called Simon Peter. Your men must tell him to come here to Caesarea.

6He is staying at the house of Simon the tanner. His house is near the sea.’

7Then the angel who spoke to Cornelius went away. Cornelius told two of his servants and a soldier of his group to come to him. The soldier was one of those who served Cornelius. He was a good man who obeyed God.

8Cornelius explained to these three men what the angel had said to him. Then he sent them to Joppa.

9The next day, at about noon, Cornelius's men were coming near to Joppa. At this time, Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray to God.

10He became hungry and he wanted to eat some food. While someone was preparing a meal for him, Peter had a special dream.

11In a vision, he saw heaven open above him. Then he saw something like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its four corners and let it come down to the ground.

12Inside the cloth there were many different kinds of animals with four legs. There were also wild birds and snakes.

13Then Peter heard a voice that said to him, ‘Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.’

14Peter answered, ‘No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is unclean.’

15Then, for the second time, the voice said to Peter, ‘God has made these animals good for people to eat. So you must not say that it is not right to eat them.’

16All this happened three times. After that, the cloth immediately went back up into heaven.