Peter meets Cornelius
Early Church · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 5365196838dbe415 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. AD 35–40
In Caesarea, Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman centurion, is told in a vision to send for Peter. At Joppa, Peter sees a vision of unclean animals and hears that he must not call unclean what God has made clean; he then goes with the messengers to Cornelius’s house.
Primary Scripture
10:1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
10:2 He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.
10:3 One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
10:4 Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.
10:5 Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.
10:6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
10:7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.
10:8 He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.
10:9 The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10:10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
10:11 He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
10:12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.
10:13 Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”
10:14 “No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
10:15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
10:16 This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.
10:17 While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.
10:18 They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there.
10:19 As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
10:20 So get up! Go downstairs and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.”
10:21 So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”
10:22 “Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”
10:23 So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
10:24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
10:25 As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him.
10:26 But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
10:27 As Peter talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered together.
10:28 He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
10:29 So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”
10:30 Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me
10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.
10:32 Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’
10:33 So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”
Location evidence
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [34.75043, 32.05352]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Caesarea: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [34.89218, 32.49954]. Classification source: rule.
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
Joppa: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [34.75043, 32.05352]. Classification source: rule.
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: theographic (329)
Record source: editorial
Events and places adapted from Theographic Bible Metadata (github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. This adapted data is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm