Bible Strands
Acts 14:21
They preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul and Barnabas arrive in Derbe after surviving a stoning in Lystra, and they immediately begin their ministry there before preparing to retrace their route.
The words — εὐαγγελισάμενοι (euangelisamenoi) denotes having preached the gospel, and μαθητεύσαντες (mathēteusantes) denotes having made disciples.
The thread — This sequence follows their earlier work in Iconium and Antioch (Acts 13:51; 14:1) and directly precedes their return journey to strengthen those same believers (Acts 14:22).
Why it lands — The text records a completed evangelistic act followed by a deliberate return to reinforce new believers who must endure hardship to enter God’s kingdom.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
Cross-references
- Acts 13:51 So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
- Acts 14:1 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
- Acts 14:19 Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.
- Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Acts 13:14 And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.
- Acts 14:6 they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding region,
- Acts 14:8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
- Acts 15:36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
- Acts 16:2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
- 2 Timothy 3:11 my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.