Atos 14

ARC · Chapter 14/28

1E aconteceu que em Iconio entraram juntos na synagoga dos judeos, e fallaram de tal modo, que creu uma grande multidão, não só de judeos mas de gregos.

2Porém os judeos incredulos incitaram e irritaram, contra os irmãos, os animos dos gentios.

3Detiveram-se pois muito tempo, fallando ousadamente no Senhor, o qual dava testemunho á palavra da sua graça, permittindo que por suas mãos se fizessem signaes e prodigios.

4E dividiu-se a multidão da cidade; e uns eram pelos judeos, e outros pelos apostolos.

5E, havendo um motim, tanto dos judeos como dos gentios, com os seus principaes, para os insultarem e apedrejarem,

6Entendendo-o elles, acolheram-se a Lystra e Derbe, cidades de Lycaonia, e á provincia circumvisinha;

7E ali prégavam o Evangelho.

8E estava assentado em Lystra um certo varão leso dos pés, côxo desde o ventre de sua mãe, o qual nunca tinha andado.

9Este ouviu fallar Paulo, que, fixando n'elle os olhos, e vendo que tinha fé para ser curado,

10Disse em voz alta: Levanta-te direito sobre teus pés. E elle saltou e andou.

11E as multidões, vendo o que Paulo fizera, levantaram a sua voz, dizendo em lingua lycaonica: Fizeram-se os deuses similhantes aos homens, e desceram até nós.

12E chamavam Jupiter a Barnabé, e Mercurio a Paulo; porque este era o que fallava.

13E o sacerdote de Jupiter, que estava em frente da cidade, trazendo para a entrada da porta toiros e grinaldas, queria com a multidão sacrificar-lhes.

14Ouvindo, porém, isto os apostolos Barnabé e Paulo, rasgaram os seus vestidos, e saltaram entre a multidão, clamando,

15E dizendo: Varões, porque fazeis essas coisas? Nós tambem somos homens como vós, sujeitos ás mesmas paixões, e vos annunciamos que vos convertaes d'essas vaidades ao Deus vivo, que fez o céu, e a terra, e o mar, e tudo quanto ha n'elles;

16O qual nos tempos passados deixou andar todas as gentes em seus caminhos.

17Ainda que, apezar d'isso, nunca se deixou a si mesmo sem testemunho, beneficiando lá do céu, dando-nos chuvas e tempos fructiferos, enchendo de mantimento e de alegria os nossos corações.

18E, dizendo isto, com difficuldade impediram que as multidões lhes sacrificassem.

19Sobrevieram, porém, alguns judeos de Antiochia e de Iconio, e, persuadindo a multidão, apedrejaram a Paulo, e o arrastaram para fóra da cidade, cuidando que estava morto.

20Mas, rodeando-o os discipulos, levantou-se, e entrou na cidade, e no dia seguinte saiu com Barnabé para Derbe.

21E, tendo annunciado o evangelho áquella cidade, e feito muitos discipulos, voltaram para Lystra, e Iconio, e Antiochia,

22Confirmando os animos dos discipulos, exhortando-os a permanecer na fé, e dizendo que por muitas tribulações nos importa entrar no reino de Deus.

23E, havendo-lhes, por commum consentimento, eleito anciãos em cada egreja, orando com jejuns, os encommendaram ao Senhor em quem haviam crido.

24Passando depois por Pisidia, dirigiram-se a Pamphylia.

25E, tendo annunciado a palavra em Perge, desceram a Attalia.

26E d'ali navegaram para Antiochia, d'onde tinham sido encommendados á graça de Deus para a obra que já haviam cumprido.

27E, quando chegaram e reuniram a egreja, relataram quão grandes coisas Deus fizera por elles, e como abrira aos gentios a porta da fé.

28E ficaram ali não pouco tempo com os discipulos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

In Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, Paul and Barnabas preach and heal a lame man, but are mistaken for Greek gods. Shortly after, Paul is stoned and left for dead, but recovers and continues the journey.

Explanation

The crowd's reaction in Lystra, calling Paul and Barnabas 'Mercury' and 'Jupiter,' reflects a local Greek legend about gods visiting that region in disguise — which helps explain why the crowd reacted so quickly. The apostles tear their clothes in horror, refusing worship that belongs to God alone. The reversal just a few verses later — from being nearly worshiped to being stoned — shows how unstable popular opinion can be, and how God's calling demands perseverance even in the face of violent rejection.

Fun facts

  • There is an ancient Greek legend (recorded by the Roman poet Ovid) about Zeus and Hermes visiting the region of Phrygia disguised as mortals, welcomed only by an elderly couple — which explains why the people of Lystra were so quick to identify the apostles as gods.
  • Timothy, who would become one of Paul's chief companions, was from Lystra — he probably witnessed this episode as a young man (Acts 16:1).

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Atos 14:1Arriving in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas repeat their usual pattern: they go first to the Jewish synagogue, where their preaching convinces a large number of both Jews and Greeks present there.
  2. Atos 14:2The unbelieving Jews react by trying to poison the opinion of the city’s Gentiles against the two missionaries, creating division instead of letting the matter die down.
  3. Atos 14:3Despite the opposition, Paul and Barnabas keep preaching boldly for quite a long time, backed by signs and wonders that confirmed the message.
  4. Atos 14:4The city ends up divided: part of the population supports the Jewish leaders, and part supports the apostles, showing the tense atmosphere the preaching created.
  5. Atos 14:5The tension escalates into a concrete plan of violence, uniting Jews and Gentiles opposed to the message in an attempt to insult and stone Paul and Barnabas.
  6. Atos 14:6Warned of the plan in time, the two flee before the violence happens, going to Lystra and Derbe, cities in the region of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor.
  7. Atos 14:7Even fleeing one city, they do not stop the mission: they carry on preaching the gospel as usual as soon as they reach the new destination.
  8. Atos 14:8Lystra was a small city in the region of Lycaonia, in Asia Minor, more rural and less Hellenized than other cities Paul visited. This explains why the crowd’s reaction to the miracle is so different from what was seen in larger cities.
  9. Atos 14:9In Lystra, Paul notices that a lame man listening to his preaching had enough faith to be healed, a detail he perceives even before acting.
  10. Atos 14:10Paul commands in a loud voice for the man to stand up, and the healing is instant: he leaps up and starts walking right away, with no gradual process of recovery.
  11. Atos 14:11The crowd reacts in the local language, Lycaonian, saying that gods had come down in human form — a reaction that shows how rural the region was and how unfamiliar it was with Jewish preachers.
  12. Atos 14:12The crowd responds to the miracle by concluding that the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes had come down in human form, calling Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius, the Roman names for those same gods. There was even a well-known regional legend about these two gods visiting that very area in disguise.
  13. Atos 14:13The local priest of the temple of Jupiter prepares an animal sacrifice in honor of Paul and Barnabas, thinking he was honoring gods. The two tear their own clothes, a Jewish gesture of shock and protest, to stop it.
  14. Atos 14:14On learning they were about to be worshipped as gods, Barnabas and Paul tear their own clothes, a Jewish gesture of shock and protest, and rush into the middle of the crowd to stop it.
  15. Atos 14:15The two insist that they are just ordinary men like anyone else there, and use the opportunity to proclaim the true God, creator of everything, instead of accepting the misguided worship.
  16. Atos 14:16Paul acknowledges that in the past God allowed the other nations to walk in their own ways without intervening directly, an argument to explain why the Gentiles did not yet know this God.
  17. Atos 14:17Even without direct intervention, God always left signs of Himself through nature: rain, good harvests, and plenty of food, as indirect proof of His existence and care.
  18. Atos 14:18Even with this speech, the apostles barely manage to convince the crowd to give up on making the sacrifice planned in their honor.
  19. Atos 14:19A harsh episode in which the very people who had wanted to worship Paul as a god, just days later, try to kill him by stoning, stirred up by opponents from other cities. It shows how quickly popular opinion could turn.
  20. Atos 14:20After being stoned and left for dead in the previous verse, Paul gets up surrounded by the disciples and goes back into the city, continuing on the next day to Derbe.
  21. Atos 14:21After preaching in Derbe and making new disciples there, Paul and Barnabas decide to go back through the same cities they had already visited, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia.
  22. Atos 14:22The purpose of this return trip is to strengthen the newly converted disciples, warning them that facing hardship was part of the way into the kingdom of God.
  23. Atos 14:23The “elders” were local leaders chosen to care for each newly formed community after Paul and Barnabas moved on. It was a model of shared leadership, not a single pastor.
  24. Atos 14:24Continuing the return trip, the two travel through the region of Pisidia until reaching Pamphylia, retracing the route of their outward journey.
  25. Atos 14:25After preaching in Perga, a city already visited at the start of the journey, they go down to the port of Attalia to catch a ship.
  26. Atos 14:26From Attalia they sail back to Antioch in Syria, the same place from which they had set out commissioned for this first missionary journey.
  27. Atos 14:27On arriving, they gather the local church and give a report of the journey, telling everything God had done and pointing out how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles as well.
  28. Atos 14:28Paul and Barnabas stay there in Antioch for quite a while before any new journey, resting together with the city’s disciples.

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