Acts 11:22-30

Living Bible

²² When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to help the new converts. ²³ When he arrived and saw the wonderful things God was doing, he was filled with excitement and joy, and encouraged the believers to stay close to the Lord, whatever the cost. ²⁴ Barnabas was a kindly person, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. As a result, large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to hunt for Paul. ²⁶ When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch; and both of them stayed there for a full year teaching the many new converts. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called “Christians.”)

²⁷ During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, ²⁸ and one of them, named Agabus, stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the land of Israel.^[a] (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹ So the believers decided to send relief to the Christians in Judea, each giving as much as he could. ³⁰ This they did, consigning their gifts to Barnabas and Paul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.