Acts 10:24-48

24The next day, Peter arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was ready to meet Peter and the other men. He told his family and his special friends to come to his house. They were all waiting to meet Peter.

25When Peter arrived at the house, Cornelius went out to meet him. He went down on his knees in front of Peter to worship him.

26But Peter lifted Cornelius up from the ground and he said to him, ‘Stand up. I am only a man, like you are.’

27Peter continued to talk to Cornelius and they went into the house. Peter saw that many people had come together there in the house.

28He said to them, ‘You all know that we Jews do not become friends with Gentiles. Our Jewish laws do not let us visit the homes of Gentiles. But God has now shown me something different. I should not say about anyone that God will not accept them.

29So when you asked me to come here, I was happy to come. I knew that it was right. So tell me now. Why did you ask me to come?’

30Then Cornelius said, ‘Three days ago, I was in my house at this time of the day. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and I was praying to God. Suddenly, a man appeared and he stood in front of me. He was wearing bright clothes that shone.

31The man said to me, “Cornelius, you have prayed to God and you have often given money to poor people. Now God wants to answer you.

32So send some men to Joppa to fetch a man who is called Simon Peter. He is staying there at the house of Simon the tanner. His house is near the sea.”

33So I sent some men immediately to bring you here. Thank you that you agreed to come. Now we are all here together, and God is with us. We are ready to listen to your message. Please tell us everything that the Lord God has told you to say.’

34Then Peter said to them, ‘Now I understand that God accepts all people in the same way. God has shown me that this is true.

35God accepts all people who worship him and who do the right things. It is not important to God which nation a person belongs to.

36This is the message that God has sent to the people of Israel. He told us the good news about Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of all people. Because of Jesus, we can now come near to God again.

37You know about the important things that have happened everywhere in Judea. These things began in Galilee after John spoke God's message to the people. He baptized those people who believed in God.

38You know that God chose Jesus to do special work for him. He gave Jesus his Holy Spirit and helped him to do powerful things. Jesus came from the town of Nazareth. He travelled to many places and he did good things. The Devil had power over some people. But Jesus caused all those people to become well again. He could do those powerful things because God was with him.

39We saw everything that Jesus did in Jerusalem and in all Judea. The leaders in Jerusalem fixed Jesus to a cross and they killed him.

40But then, three days after that, God caused Jesus to become alive again. God caused him to appear to us.

41Not all the people saw him. God chose us to be Jesus' apostles and we saw him. Now we are telling people about all these things. We ate and we drank with Jesus after he became alive again.

42At that time, Jesus said to us, “Go and tell people the message about me. Tell them that God has given me authority to judge all people. I will judge those who are now alive. And I will judge those who have died.” ’

43Then Peter said, ‘All of God's prophets spoke about Jesus as God's Messiah. They said that God would forgive everyone who believes in him. He would forgive them for their sins because of what Jesus, the Messiah, would do.’

44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all the people who were listening to his message.

45The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were very surprised. They saw that God had now freely given his Holy Spirit to Gentiles.

46They heard the new believers speaking in strange languages. They were also praising God. Then Peter said,

47‘God has clearly given his Holy Spirit to these people, in the same way that he gave him to us. So we should now baptize them with water. You surely agree that this is the right thing to do.’

48So Peter told the Jewish believers to baptize the new believers. They spoke the name of Jesus Christ when they baptized them. After that, Cornelius asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.