Atos 14

BLIVRE · Chapter 14/28

1E aconteceu em Icônio, que entraram juntos na sinagoga dos judeus, e falaram de tal maneira que creu uma grande multidão, tanto de judeus como de gregos.

2Mas os judeus incrédulos incitaram e irritaram os ânimos dos gentios contra os irmãos.

3Então eles ficaram [ali] por muito tempo, falando ousadamente no Senhor, o qual dava testemunho à palavra de sua graça, concedendo [que] sinais e milagres fossem feitos pelas mãos deles.

4E a multidão da cidade se dividiu; e uns eram a favor dos judeus, e outros a favor dos apóstolos.

5E fazendo-se uma rebelião, tanto de judeus como de gentios, juntos com seus líderes, para falarem mal deles, e os apedrejarem.

6E eles, sabendo [disto] ,fugiram para as cidades da Licaônia, [chamadas] Listra e Derbe; e à região ao redor.

7E ali eles anunciavam ao Evangelho.

8E um certo homem em Listra estava sentado, tendo incapacidade nos pés, aleijado desde o ventre de sua mãe, que nunca tinha andado.

9Este ouviu Paulo falando; o qual, olhando com atenção, e vendo que ele tinha fé para ser curado,

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

11E as multidões, vendo o que Paulo tinha feito, levantaram suas vozes, dizendo em [língua] licaônica: Os deuses se fizeram semelhantes a homens, e desceram até nós.

12E chamaram a Barnabé de Júpiter; e a Paulo, de Mercúrio; porque este era o líder ao falar.

13E o sacerdote de Júpiter, que estava diante da cidade deles, trazendo touros e grinaldas à entrada da porta, ele, junto com as companhias, queria oferecer sacrifício [a eles] .

14Mas os apóstolos Barnabé e Paulo, ao ouvirem [isto] ,rasgaram suas roupas, e saltaram entre a multidão, clamando,

15E dizendo: Homens, por que fazeis estais coisas? Também nós somos homens como vós, sujeitos às mesmas emoções; e vos anunciamos o Evangelho para que vos convertais destas vaidades para o Deus vivo, que fez o céu, a terra, o mar, e tudo quanto neles há.

16O qual nas gerações passadas deixou os os gentios andarem seus [próprios] caminhos.

17Ainda que, contudo, não tenha deixado a si mesmo sem testemunho, fazendo o bem desde o céu, dando-nos chuvas, e tempos frutíferos, [e] enchendo nossos corações de alimento e alegria.

18E tendo disto isto, apenas detiveram as multidões de que não fizessem sacrifícios a eles.

19Mas vieram [alguns] judeus de Antioquia, e de Icônio, e persuadiram a multidão; e apedrejando a Paulo, arrastaram [-no] para fora da cidade, pensando que ele estivesse morto.

20Mas, tendo os discípulos ficado ao seu redor, ele se levantou, e entrou na cidade; e no dia seguinte saiu com Barnabé para Derbe.

21E tendo anunciado o Evangelho àquela cidade, e feito muitos discípulos, eles voltaram a Listra, e a Icônio, e a Antioquia,

22Confirmando os ânimos dos discípulos, e exortando-os para que permanecessem na fé, e que nos é necessário entrar no Reino de Deus por meio de muitas aflições.

23E tendo escolhido por votação anciãos para cada igreja, orando com jejuns, eles foram enviados ao Senhor, no qual tinham crido.

24E tendo passado por Pisídia, vieram à Panfília.

25E tendo falado a palavra em Perges, desceram a Atália.

26E dali navegaram para Antioquia, onde tinham sido encomendados à graça de Deus para a obra que eles [já] tinham cumprido.

27E ao chegarem, e reunirem a igreja, relataram quão grandes coisas Deus tinha feito com eles; e como ele tinha aberto a porta da fé aos gentios.

28E eles ficaram ali não pouco tempo com os discípulos.

📖 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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