Acts 15:39

Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree with each other about John Mark, and they had a big argument. They got very upset with each other, so they each went a different way. Barnabas and John Mark got on a ship and went to the island called Cyprus.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;

In Context

38But Paul didn’t think that was a good idea. He said, “John Mark went with us before, but he didn’t stay with us. In Pamfilia country he left us and went home.”

40Paul picked Silas to go with him. The Antioch Christians asked God to look after Paul and Silas, then those 2 men left there and went through Syria and Cilicia countries. Paul talked to the Christians in every place, and he helped them be strong for Jesus.

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Cross References

Acts 4:36One of the Christians that sold their land was Joseph. Jesus’s special workers called him Barnabas. That name means helper. He was from the island called Cyprus, and he belonged to the Levi tribe.

Acts 11:20But some of them, men that belonged to Cyprus and men that belonged to the town called Cyrene, they went to Antioch too, and they didn’t just talk to Jews, they talked to people that are not Jews too. They told them the good news about our leader Jesus.

Acts 15:2Paul and Barnabas heard those men saying that, and they didn’t agree with them. They argued with them and told them they were wrong. The Christians at Antioch thought about that problem, then they told Paul and Barnabas to go with some other men to Jerusalem, to talk about it with Jesus’s special workers and the other church leaders there.

Romans 7:18We know that we can’t do anything good by ourselves. We want to do the right thing, but we can’t.

Matthew Henry on Acts 15:37-41

Disagreement between Paul and Barnabas. 36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. 37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. 38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. 39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so… Read the whole commentary →

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