2 These men were all serving the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit said to them, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. They are the ones I have chosen to do it.”
3 So the church fasted and prayed. They laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul and sent them out.
4 Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went to the city of Seleucia. Then they sailed from there to the island of Cyprus.
5 When Barnabas and Saul came to the city of Salamis, they told the message of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.
6 They went across the whole island to the city of Paphos. There they met a Jewish man named Barjesus who did magic. He was a false prophet.
7 He always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, who was the governor and a very smart man. He invited Barnabas and Saul to come visit him, because he wanted to hear the message of God.
8 But the magician Elymas (as Barjesus was called in Greek) spoke against them, trying to stop the governor from believing in Jesus.