Hechos 14

VBL · Chapter 14/28

1En Iconio ocurrió lo mismo: Pablo y Bernabé fueron a la sinagoga judía y hablaron con tanta seguridad que muchos adoradores, tanto de habla griega como judíos, creyeron en Jesús.

2Pero los judíos que se negaron a creer en Jesús provocaron sentimientos negativos en los extranjeros, y difamaban de los creyentes delante de ellos.

3Pero Pablo y Bernabé permanecieron allí por mucho tiempo, hablando audazmente en el Señor, quien confirmaba su mensaje de gracia mediante señales milagrosas que ellos podían realizar.

4Los habitantes de la ciudad estaban divididos, pues algunos apoyaban a los judíos y otros a los apóstoles.

5Pero entonces los extranjeros y los judíos, junto a sus líderes, decidieron atacar con piedras a Pablo y a Bernabé.

6Sin embargo, ellos supieron sobre este plan y huyeron a la región de Licaonia, a las ciudades de Listra y Derbe,

7y allí siguieron compartiendo la buena noticia.

8En la ciudad de Listra había un hombre paralítico, que tenía lisiados los dos pies. Había nacido en esta condición y nunca había podido caminar.

9Entonces este hombre se sentó allí para escuchar a Pablo predicar. Y cuando Pablo lo miró directamente a él y se dio cuenta de que este hombre estaba creyendo en el Señor para ser sanado,

10dijo en voz alta: “¡Levántate y ponte de pie!” Y este hombre de un salto se puso en pie y comenzó a caminar.

11Y cuando la multitud vio lo que Pablo había hecho, gritaron en el idioma de Licaonia, “¡Los dioses han descendido hasta nosotros en forma de humanos!”

12Entonces identificaron a Bernabé como el dios griego Zeus a Pablo como el dios Hermes, porque él era el que predicaba la mayor parte del tiempo.

13Entonces los sacerdotes del templo de Zeus que está justo a las fueras de la ciudad, trajeron bueyes y guirnaldas a las puertas de la ciudad. Planeaban hacer un sacrificio frente a la multitud.

14Pero cuando los apóstoles Bernabé y Pablo se enteraron de lo que estaba sucediendo, rasgaron su ropa, y corrieron hasta la multitud, gritando:

15“Señores, ¿qué hacen? Nosotros somos seres humanos con la misma naturaleza de ustedes. Vinimos a traerles buenas noticias para que ustedes abandonen estas cosas inútiles y se vuelvan a un Dios que realmente está vivo. Él es quien hizo el cielo, la tierra, el mar y todo lo que hay en ellos.

16En tiempos pasados, él dejó que las naciones siguieran sus propios caminos.

17Pero aun así demostró quién era al hacer el bien, enviándoles lluvia del cielo y cosechas a su tiempo, dándoles todo lo que necesitaban, y llenando sus corazones de alegría”.

18Con estas palabras apenas lograron detener a las multitudes para que no les ofrecieran sacrificios.

19Pero entonces ciertos judíos de Antioquía e Iconio llegaron y se ganaron la simpatía de la multitud. Y apedrearon a Pablo, y lo arrastraron hasta las afueras de la ciudad, pensando que estaba muerto.

20Pero cuando los creyentes se reunieron a su alrededor, Pablo se levantó, y regresó a la ciudad. Al día siguiente, Pablo y Bernabé partieron a Derbe.

21Y después de predicar la buena noticia con las personas de esa ciudad, y después de que muchos se convirtieran en creyentes, regresaron a Listra, Iconio y Antioquía.

22Entonces animaron a los creyentes a mantenerse firmes y a seguir creyendo en Jesús. “Tenemos que pasar por muchas pruebas para entrar al reino de Dios”, decían.

23Después de haber escogido ancianos para cada iglesia, y de haber orado y ayunado con ellos, Pablo y Bernabé los encomendaron al Señor, Aquél en quien creían.

24Y pasaron por Pisidia, y llegaron a Panfilia.

25Predicaron la palabra de Dios en Perga, y siguieron hasta Atalía.

26De allí navegaron de regreso hasta Antioquía donde habían comenzado, pues ahí habían sido dedicados en la gracia de Dios para la obra que ahora habían logrado.

27Y cuando llegaron, reunieron a toda la iglesia y les informaron todo lo que el Señor había hecho por medio de ellos y cómo había abierto las puertas para que los extranjeros creyeran en él.

28Y se quedaron allí con los creyentes por mucho tiempo.

📖 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 14:24Continuing the return trip, the two travel through the region of Pisidia until reaching Pamphylia, retracing the route of their outward journey.
  25. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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. Hechos 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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