41. ‘Look, you scoffers, be amazed and vanish away. For I am doing a work in your days— a work you will never believe, even if someone tells it to you in detail.’”
42. As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them the next Shabbat.
43. When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.
44. The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord.
45. When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him.
46. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unfit for eternal life—behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed you as a light to the nations, so that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’”
48. When the Gentiles heard this, they were thrilled and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as had been inscribed for eternal life believed.
49. Now the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region.
50. But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district.