Acts 13:1-8 ▼

1 Now Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen, who grew up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul were prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch.

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, |Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them.|

3 Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go.

4 After they had been sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus.

5 Arriving in Salamis, they began to preach God's word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John to help them.

6 They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish occult practitioner and false prophet named Bar-jesus.

7 He was associated with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. He sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

8 But Elymas the occult practitioner (that is the meaning of his name) continued to oppose them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.