Paul and Barnabas at Iconium and Lystra

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together into the synagogue and spoke so that many Jews and Greeks believed. But some who did not believe stirred up the Gentiles against them. Even so, they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, and God confirmed the message of his grace by signs and wonders done through them.

The city became divided. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. When Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, prepared a violent attack to mistreat them and stone them, Paul and Barnabas learned of it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe, and to the surrounding region. There they kept preaching the good news.

At Lystra, a man who had never walked sat listening to Paul. Paul looked closely at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called for him to stand upright. The man leaped up and began to walk. The crowd cried out in their own Lycaonian language that gods had come down in human form. They called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury, and they prepared a sacrifice.

When Barnabas and Paul realised what was happening, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd. They urged the people not to do this, because they were only human too. They called them to turn from vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. He had shown kindness by giving rain, fruitful seasons, food, and gladness. Even then, they could hardly stop the sacrifice.

Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the crowd. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But when the disciples stood around him, he rose and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. After making many disciples there, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the believers, urging them to continue in the faith, and appointing elders with prayer and fasting.

After that, they passed through Pisidia to Pamphylia, spoke the word in Perga, went down to Attalia, and sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been entrusted to God's grace for this work. There they gathered the church and reported what God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the nations. Then they stayed there a long time with the disciples.