3. One afternoon about three o’clock, Cornelius had a vision. He clearly saw an angel from God coming to him and saying, “Cornelius!”
4. Staring at the angel and feeling afraid, Cornelius said, “What do you want, sir?” The angel said to him, “God has heard your prayers and has seen your gifts to the poor. He remembers you and all you have done.
5. Send some men now to the city of Joppa to get a man named Simon, who is also called Peter.
6. He is staying with someone also named Simon, a leatherworker who has a house beside the sea.”
7. The angel who spoke to Cornelius left. Then Cornelius called two of his servants and a soldier. The soldier was a religious man, one of his close helpers.
8. Cornelius explained everything to these three men and sent them to Joppa.
9. The next day they were coming near Joppa about noon, when Peter was going up to the roof to pray.
10. He was hungry and wanted to eat. But while they were preparing the food for Peter to eat, he had a vision.
11. He saw something coming down through the open sky. It looked like a big sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners.
12. In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds.
13. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill anything here and eat it.”
14. But Peter said, “I can’t do that, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is not pure or fit to be used for food.”
15. But the voice said to him again, “God has made these things pure. Don’t say they are unfit to eat.”
16. This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back up into heaven.
17. Peter wondered what this vision meant. The men Cornelius sent had found Simon’s house. They were standing at the door.