Peter explains his actions

11 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticised him ³ and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.’

⁴ Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: ⁵ ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. ⁶ I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

⁸ ‘I replied, “Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”

⁹ ‘The voice spoke from heaven a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

¹¹ ‘Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. ¹² The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, “Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. ¹⁴ He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.”

¹⁵ ‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord had said: “John baptised with^[a] water, but you will be baptised with^[b] the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?’

¹⁸ When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.’

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