5 Then some of those people that didn’t believe in Jesus, and their leaders, they made a plan to hurt Paul and Barnabas, and to kill them with stones. Some of that mob were Jews, and some of them were not Jews. 6 But somebody told Paul and Barnabas that those people wanted to kill them, so Paul and Barnabas ran away to the country called Lyconia. They went to the towns called Listra and Derbi, and to the country around those towns, 7 and they told people there the good news about Jesus.
11 A big mob of people saw Paul do that, and they yelled out in their own Lyconian language, “The gods turned themselves into men, and they came here to us.” 12 And those people reckoned Barnabas was their boss god called Zeus, and they reckoned Paul was their messenger god called Hermes, because Paul did all the talking. 13 There was a house for Zeus just outside the town, and there was a man there that looked after the ceremonies for Zeus. That man and all the people got some bulls and some flowers, and they took them to the gates of the town. They wanted to show respect to Paul and Barnabas, just like they always showed respect to their gods. They were going to kill those bulls for them, and they were going to give them the flowers too.
14 But somebody told Paul and Barnabas what those people wanted to do, and then Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes to show them they were upset, and they ran into the crowd of people, and they shouted, 15 “What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Don’t do it. We are just men, like you. We are telling you good news, and we are saying that you have to stop showing respect to things that are not the true God. You have to turn around and follow the God that is alive. He made the sky, and the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.[a] 16 He let the people in every country go their own way, up until now, 17 but he still shows them that he is the only real God. He always did good things for them, and he does good things for you too. He gives you rain, and he makes your food grow, so that you can be happy.” 18 Paul and Barnabas kept on talking to the people like that. The people still wanted to kill the bulls for them, but in the end, they listened to Paul and Barnabas, and they didn’t kill those bulls.
23 Then, in each town, Paul and Barnabas picked leaders for the Christians in the church there. After that, they stopped eating for a while, and they prayed for those leaders. They prayed, “Jesus, our leader, these men believe in you now, so we ask you to look after them all the time.”
24 Then Paul and Barnabas left that place, and they went through Pisidia country, and they came to the country called Pamfilia. 25 In a town called Perga, they talked to the people about Jesus. Then they went to the town called Attalia, near the sea.
27 Paul and Barnabas got all the Christians in Antioch to come together, and they told them all about the things God helped them do. They said, “We told the people that are not Jews about Jesus, and God let them believe in him.” 28 And Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time, with the Christians at Antioch.
<- Acts 13Acts 15 ->- a Exodus 20:11; Psalm 146:6