But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! I’ve chosen this man to do a special work for me. He will announce my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.
I was appointed to be a messenger and an apostle to preach the good news. (I’m telling the truth; I’m not lying.) God appointed me to be a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
You know that I’ve been treated badly and suffered greatly. You know what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—how badly I was treated there. But the Lord saved me from all my troubles.
James, Peter, and John, who are respected as pillars in the church, recognized that God had given me this privilege. So they shook hands with Barnabas and me to welcome us as partners. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles while they went to the Jews.
to serve Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I’m like a priest of the good news, and I want the Gentiles to be an offering that pleases God because it has been made holy by the Holy Spirit.
They tried very hard to get Festus to bring Paul to Jerusalem as a favor to them. They asked for this because they were planning to hide and try to kill Paul along the way.
But the Jewish leaders stirred up some important Gentile women who attended the synagogue. They also stirred up some men who were leaders in the city. They got all these people to oppose and attack Paul and Barnabas, and they threw the two men out of that area. But