Acts 14:1-17

1When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Iconium, they did the same as they had done before. They went to the Jewish meeting place and they spoke God's message there. They spoke very clearly, so that many Jews and Gentiles believed in Jesus.

2But some of the Jews refused to believe God's message. They told the Gentiles that they too should not believe it. The Jews put bad thoughts into the minds of the Gentiles so that they became angry against the believers.

3So Paul and Barnabas stayed in Iconium for a long time. They were not afraid to tell people the message about the Lord Jesus. The Lord gave them power to do miracles. These showed the people that God was with Paul and Barnabas and that their message was true. They taught that God saves people because he is very kind.

4The people in the city did not agree with each other. Some of them believed the message from the apostles, Paul and Barnabas. But some people agreed with the Jews who did not believe their message.

5Some of the Jews and the Gentiles met with their leaders. They decided to do bad things to Paul and Barnabas. They wanted to throw stones at them and kill them.

6Paul and Barnabas heard that these people wanted to hurt them. So they left Iconium quickly and they went to Lystra and Derbe, and other places near there. These cities were in the region called Lycaonia.

7In all these places, they continued to tell people the good news about Jesus.

8There was a man who lived in Lystra. His feet had been weak since he was born. So he had never been able to walk.

9While Paul was speaking God's message, this man listened to him. Paul looked at him carefully. He could see that the man believed in Jesus. The man believed that God could make him well.

10So Paul said to him loudly, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ Immediately the man jumped up and he began to walk about.

11The crowd saw what Paul had done. They began to shout in their own language that the people of Lycaonia spoke. ‘The gods have become like men and they have come down from the sky to us,’ they said.

12They called Barnabas ‘Zeus’. They called Paul ‘Hermes’, because he was the one who spoke the message to the people.

13The temple of Zeus was very near to the town. The priest who worked there brought bulls and flowers to the town gate. Many people had come together in that place. The priest and the crowd wanted to kill the animals as sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.

14Paul and Barnabas heard what the people wanted to do. So they tore their own clothes to show that they were very upset. They ran into the middle of the crowd,

15and they shouted, ‘Stop! You people should not do this. We are only men like you. We are not gods. We came here to tell you some good news about the great God. You must stop worshipping these gods who are really nothing. Instead worship the God who lives. He made the sky, the earth and the sea. He also made everything that is in them.

16In past times, God let people everywhere do what they wanted to do.

17But God has showed everybody very clearly what he is like. He has showed you that he is kind. He causes the rain to fall from the sky. He causes the plants to give you food at the right time each year. He gives you plenty of food to eat. In these ways he makes you very happy.’