Act 10:9-16 | EE | STEP | The next day, at about noon, Cornelius’s men were coming near to Joppa. At this time, Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray to God.

Acts 10:9-16

9 The next day, at about noon, Cornelius’s men were coming near to Joppa. At this time, Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray to God. ^{▼▼10:9 In those days, in Israel, all the houses had flat roofs. People sat up there after they had finished working. It was quiet there.} 10 He became hungry, and he wanted to eat some food. While someone was preparing a meal for him, Peter had a special dream. 11 He saw heaven open above him. Then he saw something like a large piece of cloth. Somebody held it at each of its 4 corners and let it come down to the ground. 12 Inside the cloth there were many different animals with 4 legs. There were also wild birds and snakes there inside the cloth. 13 Then Peter heard a voice that said to him, ‘Peter, stand up and kill some of these animals. Then you can cook them and eat the meat.’

14 Peter answered, ‘No, Lord, I would certainly not do that. I have never eaten an animal that our Law says is dirty.’ ^{▼▼10:14 We can read about these laws in Leviticus chapter 11. The animals on the cloth were only ones that the Law would not let a Jew eat.}

15 Then, for the second time, the voice said to Peter, ‘God has made these animals good for people to eat. So, you must not say that it is not right to eat them.’

16 All this happened three times. After that, the cloth immediately went back up into heaven.