rsv Acts:12-13 SEEK
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About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church .
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He killed James the brother of John with the sword ;
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and when he saw that it pleased the Jews ,
he proceeded to arrest Peter also .
This was during the days of Unleavened Bread .
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And when he had seized him ,
he put him in prison ,
and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him ,
intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people .
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So Peter was kept in prison ;
but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church .
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The very night when Herod was about to bring him out ,
Peter was sleeping between two soldiers ,
bound with two chains ,
and sentries before the door were guarding the prison ;
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and behold ,
an angel of the Lord appeared ,
and a light shone in the cell ;
and he struck Peter on the side and woke him ,
saying , "
Get up quickly ."
And the chains fell off his hands .
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And the angel said to him , "
Dress yourself and put on your sandals ."
And he did so .
And he said to him , "
Wrap your mantle around you and follow me ."
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And he went out and followed him ;
he did not know that what was done by the angel was real ,
but thought he was seeing a vision .
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When they had passed the first and the second guard ,
they came to the iron gate leading into the city .
It opened to them of its own accord ,
and they went out and passed on through one street ;
and immediately the angel left him .
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And Peter came to himself ,
and said , "
Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting ."
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When he realized this ,
he went to the house of Mary ,
the mother of John whose other name was Mark ,
where many were gathered together and were praying .
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And when he knocked at the door of the gateway ,
a maid named Rhoda came to answer .
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Recognizing Peter '
s voice ,
in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and told that Peter was standing at the gate .
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They said to her , "
You are mad ."
But she insisted that it was so .
They said , "
It is his angel !"
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But Peter continued knocking ;
and when they opened ,
they saw him and were amazed .
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But motioning to them with his hand to be silent ,
he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison .
And he said , "
Tell this to James and to the brethren ."
Then he departed and went to another place .
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Now when day came ,
there was no small stir among the soldiers over what had become of Peter .
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And when Herod had sought for him and could not find him ,
he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death .
Then he went down from Judea to Caesare '
a ,
and remained there .
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Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon ;
and they came to him in a body ,
and having persuaded Blastus ,
the king '
s chamberlain ,
they asked for peace ,
because their country depended on the king '
s country for food .
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On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes ,
took his seat upon the throne ,
and made an oration to them .
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And the people shouted , "
The voice of a god ,
and not of man !"
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Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him ,
because he did not give God the glory ;
and he was eaten by worms and died .
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But the word of God grew and multiplied .
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And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission ,
bringing with them John whose other name was Mark .
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Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers ,
Barnabas ,
Simeon who was called Niger ,
Lucius of Cyre '
ne ,
Man '
a-en a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch ,
and Saul .
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While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting ,
the Holy Spirit said , "
Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them ."
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Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off .
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So ,
being sent out by the Holy Spirit ,
they went down to Seleu '
cia ;
and from there they sailed to Cyprus .
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When they arrived at Sal '
amis ,
they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews .
And they had John to assist them .
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When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos ,
they came upon a certain magician ,
a Jewish false prophet ,
named Bar-Jesus .
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He was with the proconsul ,
Sergius Paulus ,
a man of intelligence ,
who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God .
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But El '
ymas the magician (
for that is the meaning of his name )
withstood them ,
seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith .
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But Saul ,
who is also called Paul ,
filled with the Holy Spirit ,
looked intently at him
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and said , "
You son of the devil ,
you enemy of all righteousness ,
full of all deceit and villainy ,
will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord ?
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And now ,
behold ,
the hand of the Lord is upon you ,
and you shall be blind and unable to see the sun for a time ."
Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand .
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Then the proconsul believed ,
when he saw what had occurred ,
for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord .
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Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos ,
and came to Perga in Pamphyl '
ia .
And John left them and returned to Jerusalem ;
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but they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisid '
ia .
And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down .
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After the reading of the law and the prophets ,
the rulers of the synagogue sent to them ,
saying , "
Brethren ,
if you have any word of exhortation for the people ,
say it ."
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So Paul stood up ,
and motioning with his hand said : "
Men of Israel ,
and you that fear God ,
listen .
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The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt ,
and with uplifted arm he led them out of it .
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And for about forty years he bore with them in the wilderness .
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And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan ,
he gave them their land as an inheritance ,
for about four hundred and fifty years .
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And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet .
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Then they asked for a king ;
and God gave them Saul the son of Kish ,
a man of the tribe of Benjamin ,
for forty years .
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And when he had removed him ,
he raised up David to be their king ;
of whom he testified and said , `
I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart ,
who will do all my will .'
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Of this man '
s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior ,
Jesus ,
as he promised .
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Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel .
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And as John was finishing his course ,
he said , `
What do you suppose that I am ?
I am not he .
No ,
but after me one is coming ,
the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie .'
* "
Brethren ,
sons of the family of Abraham ,
and those among you that fear God ,
to us has been sent the message of this salvation .
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For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers ,
because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath ,
fulfilled these by condemning him .
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Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death ,
yet they asked Pilate to have him killed .
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And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him ,
they took him down from the tree ,
and laid him in a tomb .
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But God raised him from the dead ;
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and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem ,
who are now his witnesses to the people .
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And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers ,
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this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus ;
as also it is written in the second psalm , `
Thou art my Son ,
today I have begotten thee .'
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And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead ,
no more to return to corruption ,
he spoke in this way , `
I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David .'
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Therefore he says also in another psalm , `
Thou wilt not let thy Holy One see corruption .'
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For David ,
after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation ,
fell asleep ,
and was laid with his fathers ,
and saw corruption ;
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but he whom God raised up saw no corruption .
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Let it be known to you therefore ,
brethren ,
that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you ,
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and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses .
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Beware ,
therefore ,
lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets :
* `
Behold ,
you scoffers ,
and wonder ,
and perish ;
for I do a deed in your days ,
a deed you will never believe ,
if one declares it to you .'"
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As they went out ,
the people begged that these things might be told them the next sabbath .
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And when the meeting of the synagogue broke up ,
many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas ,
who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God .
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The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God .
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But when the Jews saw the multitudes ,
they were filled with jealousy ,
and contradicted what was spoken by Paul ,
and reviled him .
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And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly ,
saying , "
It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you .
Since you thrust it from you ,
and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life ,
behold ,
we turn to the Gentiles .
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For so the Lord has commanded us ,
saying , `
I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles ,
that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth .'"
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And when the Gentiles heard this ,
they were glad and glorified the word of God ;
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed .
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And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region .
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But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city ,
and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas ,
and drove them out of their district .
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But they shook off the dust from their feet against them ,
and went to Ico '
nium .
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And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit .
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Now at Ico '
nium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue ,
and so spoke that a great company believed ,
both of Jews and of Greeks .