Peter travels to Lydda and Joppa
32 Peter often travelled to many different places. One day he travelled to Lydda, and he went to see the believers there. 33 In Lydda, he met a man called Aeneas. Aeneas could not move his arms or his legs. He lay on his mat all the time. He had been on his mat for eight years.
34 Peter said to Aeneas, ‘Jesus Christ now makes you well again! So stand up and put away your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas stood up. 35 Many people who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas. They saw that he was now well and they believed in the Lord Jesus.
36 There was a woman called Tabitha who lived in Joppa. She was a believer. In the Greek language, her name was Dorcas, which means ‘deer’. She was always doing good things to help people. She gave poor people the things that they needed.
9:36Joppa was a town 45 kilometres from Jerusalem. At that time, it was an important sea port in Judea. Joppa was about 20 kilometres from Lydda.
9:36Tabitha was her name in the Aramaic language. Most Jews spoke the Aramaic language. They might also speak the Hebrew language. Greek is the language that people spoke in Greece, but a lot of people in other countries also spoke it.
37 Dorcas became very ill and then she died. Women washed her body and they put it in a room upstairs. 38 Joppa was not very far from Lydda. The believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda. So they sent two men to go and to tell him, ‘Please hurry and come to Joppa.’
39 Peter then returned to Joppa with the two men. When he arrived at Dorcas's house, some women took him upstairs. Many widows were there and they were crying. They all stood there, near to Peter. They showed him the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 Peter sent all these women out of the room. He went down on his knees and he prayed to God. Then he turned his head towards the dead woman and he said, ‘Tabitha, stand up!’ She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 Peter held her hand and he helped her to stand up. Then he told the widows and all the believers to come into the room. He showed them that Dorcas was alive again.
42 People everywhere in Joppa heard what had happened. As a result, many more people believed in the Lord Jesus. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for many days. He stayed with a man called Simon, who was a tanner.
9:43A ‘tanner’ is someone who works with animal skins to make leather.
