Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
Parallel translations
- WEB “He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”
- KJV And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
- NKJV Then He said to me, ‘Depart,for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”
- NASB And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
- NLT “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Christ tells Paul to depart, for he will send him far away to the Gentiles. This is the climactic word that reveals Paul's calling to the nations.
Overview
The commission to the Gentiles is the turning point of Paul's defense and the flashpoint for the crowd's fury. It fulfills the promise that Christ would be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6; Acts 13:47). God's saving purpose reaches beyond Israel to embrace all peoples in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 9:15“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
- 1 Tim 2:7For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.
- Eph 3:6–8This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
- Rom 15:16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
- Gal 2:7–8On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
- Acts 13:46–47Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
- Rom 11:13I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
- 2 Tim 1:11to which I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher.
- Gal 1:15–16But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased
- Acts 26:17–18I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
- Rom 16:26but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith—
- Acts 18:6But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
- Rom 1:5Through Him and on behalf of His name, we received grace and apostleship to call all those among the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
- Acts 13:2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 22:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.