First ReadingActs 14:5-18
From the Acts of the Apostles
5When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews,with their rulers,made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,6they became aware of itand fled to the cities of Lycaonia,Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding region.7There they preached the Good News.
8At Lystra a certain man sat,impotent in his feet,a cripple from his mother’s womb,who never had walked.9He was listening to Paul speaking,who, fastening eyes on him and seeingthat he had faith to be made whole,10said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!”He leaped up and walked.11When the multitude saw what Paul had done,they lifted up their voice,saying in the language of Lycaonia,“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”12They called Barnabas “Jupiter”,and Paul “Mercury”,because he was the chief speaker.13The priest of Jupiter,whose temple was in front of their city,brought oxen and garlands to the gates,and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
14But when the apostles,Barnabas and Paul,heard of it, they tore their clothesand sprang into the multitude, crying out,15“Men, why are you doing these things?We also are men of the same nature as you,and bring you good news,that you should turn from these vain things to the living God,who made the sky, the earth,the sea, and all that is in them;16who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.17Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness,in that he did good and gave you rains from the skyand fruitful seasons,filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
18Even saying these things,they hardly stopped the multitudes from making a sacrifice to them.