Who were the Jewish believers who were scattered from Jerusalem?
They were believing Jews who had followed Christ during His earthly ministry or responded to Peter’s early Acts preaching. After Stephen’s martyrdom, about seven years after Pentecost, Saul’s persecution drove them from Jerusalem; they scattered as far as Phenis, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching to Jews only.
Les explains that these were Jewish believers who had followed Christ in His earthly ministry or had responded to Peter’s and the Levites’ preaching in the early chapters of Acts. Because of Saul’s persecution, which arose around Stephen’s martyrdom about seven years after Pentecost, they fled Jerusalem. They traveled as far as Phenis, Cyprus, and Antioch in Syria. Wherever they went, they preached the word—but to none but Jews. At that time there was no New Testament written; the word they had was the Old Testament, which was written to the Jew. So these scattered Jewish believers preached to Jews only. This is not a bigoted idea, but what the book says.