Paul Speaks to King Agrippa

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.” Paul lifted his hand and started to talk, ² “King Agrippa, the Jews have said many things against me. I am happy to be able to tell you my side of the story. ³ You know all about the Jewish ways and problems. So I ask you to listen to me until I have finished.

⁴ “All the Jews know about my life from the time I was a boy until now. I lived among my own people in Jerusalem. ⁵ If they would tell what they know, they would say that I lived the life of a proud religious law-keeper. I was in the group of proud religious law-keepers who tried to obey every law.

⁶ “And now I am on trial here because I trust the promise God made to our fathers. ⁷ This promise is what our twelve family groups of the Jewish nation hope to see happen. They worship God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that they are saying things against me. ⁸ Why do you think it is hard to believe that God raises people from the dead?

⁹ “I used to think I should work hard against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ I did that in Jerusalem. I put many of the followers in prison. The head religious leaders gave me the right and the power to do it. Then when the followers were killed, I said it was all right. ¹¹ I beat them and tried to make them speak against God in all the Jewish places of worship. In my fight against them, I kept going after them even into cities in other countries.

¹² “When I was going to Damascus to do this, I had the right and the power from the head religious leaders to make it hard for the followers. ¹³ I was on the road at noon. King Agrippa, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun. It was shining around me and the men with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Jewish language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you working so hard against Me? You hurt yourself by trying to hurt Me.’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, the One you are working against. ¹⁶ Get up. Stand on your feet. I have chosen you to work for Me. You will tell what you have seen and you will say what I want you to say. This is the reason I have allowed you to see Me. ¹⁷ I will keep you safe from the Jews and from the people who are not Jews. I am sending you to these people. ¹⁸ You are to open their eyes. You are to turn them from darkness to light. You are to turn them from the power of Satan to the power of God. In this way, they may have their sins forgiven. They may have what is given to them, along with all those who are set apart for God by having faith in Me.’

¹⁹ “King Agrippa, I obeyed what I saw from heaven. ²⁰ First I told what I saw to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem. I told it through all the country of Judea. I even preached to the people who are not Jews that they should be sorry for their sins and turn from them to God. I told them they should do things to show they are sorry for their sins.

²¹ “That is why the Jews took hold of me in the house of God and tried to kill me. ²² God has helped me. To this day I have told these things to the people who are well-known and to those not known. I have told only what the early preachers and Moses said would happen. ²³ It was that Christ must suffer and be the first to rise from the dead. He would give light to the Jews and to the other nations.”

²⁴ As Paul was speaking for himself, Festus cried out in a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! All your learning keeps you from thinking right!” ²⁵ Paul said, “Most respected Festus, I am not crazy. I am speaking the truth! ²⁶ The king knows about all this. I am free to speak to him in plain words. Nothing I have said is new to him. These things happened where everyone saw them. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the writings of the early preachers? I know that you believe them.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In this short time you have almost proven to me that I should become a Christian!” ²⁹ Paul said, “My prayer to God is that you and all who hear me today would be a Christian as I am, only not have these chains!” ³⁰ King Agrippa and Festus and Bernice and those who sat with them got up. ³¹ As they left the courtroom, they said to each other, “This man has done nothing for which he should be kept in prison or be put to death.” ³² Agrippa told Festus, “This man could go free if he had not asked to be sent to Caesar.”

Paul Is Sent to Rome

27 It was decided that we should go to the country of Italy by ship. Then they put Paul and some other men in chains. Julius, a captain of Caesar’s army, was to watch them. ² We went on a ship that was from the city of Adramyttian. It was going to stop at the towns along the sea-shore of Asia. Aristarchus was with us. He was a man from the city of Thessalonica in the country of Macedonia. ³ The next day we stopped in the city of Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul. He let him visit friends who cared for him.

⁴ After leaving Sidon we were blown by the wind along the south side of the island of Cyprus. The wind was against us. ⁵ We crossed the sea along the countries of Cilicia and Pamphylia and got to the city of Myra in the country of Lycia. ⁶ The captain found a ship from the city of Alexandria that was going to the country of Italy. He put us on it. ⁷ For many days the ship did not move fast. It was hard to get to the city of Cnidus. The wind would not let us go on. So we went along the south shore of the island of Crete and passed the end of the island called Salome. ⁸ The wind was against us, and we did not sail very fast. Then we came to a place called Fair Havens. It was near the city of Lasea.

⁹ Much time had been lost. To keep going that late in the year would mean danger. Paul spoke with strong words, ¹⁰ “Sirs, it looks to me as if this ship and its freight will be lost. We are in danger of being lost also.”

¹¹ The captain of the soldiers listened to what the captain of the ship said and not to what Paul said. ¹² It was not a good place to spend the winter. Most of those on the ship wanted to go on and try to get to Phoenix. Crete was a good place to tie up the ship. They wanted to spend the winter there. ¹³ When a south wind started to blow, they thought their plan was right. They pulled up the anchor and went close to the shore of Crete.

¹⁴ Later a bad wind storm came down from the land. It was called a northeaster. ¹⁵ The ship was stopped by the wind. After awhile we gave up and let it go with the wind. ¹⁶ We went behind a small island called Claudia. It was hard work but we were able to make the ship’s boat safe. ¹⁷ They pulled it up and tied ropes around it and the ship. They were afraid of going on the Syrtis sands. So they took the sail down and let the ship go with the wind.

¹⁸ The storm was so bad the high waves were beating against the ship. The next day the men threw some of the freight over into the sea. ¹⁹ On the third day, with their own hands, they threw part of the sails and ropes into the sea. ²⁰ We did not see the sun or stars for many days. A very bad storm kept beating against us. We lost all hope of being saved.

Paul Shows His Faith

²¹ No one had eaten for a long time. Then Paul stood up and said to them, “Men, you should have listened to me and not left Crete. You would not have had this trouble and loss. ²² But now I want you to take hope. No one will lose his life. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ I belong to God and I work for Him. Last night an angel of God stood by me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand in front of Caesar. God has given you the lives of all the men on this ship.’ ²⁵ So take hope, men. I believe my God will do what He has told me. ²⁶ But the ship will be lost on some island.”

²⁷ It was now the fourteenth night. We were going with the wind on the Adriatic Sea. At midnight the sailors thought land was near. ²⁸ They let down the lead weight and found the water was not very deep. After they had gone a little farther, they found there was not as much water. ²⁹ They were afraid we might be thrown against the rocks on the shore. So they put out four anchors from the back of the ship. Then they waited for morning to come.

³⁰ The sailors were thinking of leaving the ship. They let down a boat as if they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul said to the captain and the soldiers, “These men must stay on the ship or you cannot be safe!” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes and let the boat fall into the sea.

³³ Just before the light of day came, Paul told all of them to eat. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day you have not eaten. ³⁴ You must eat. It will give you strength. Not one of you will lose a hair from your head.”

³⁵ After he said this, he took some bread. He gave thanks to God in front of them all. He broke it in pieces and started to eat. ³⁶ They all were comforted. Each one ate some food. ³⁷ All together there were 276 of us on the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten, they threw the wheat into the sea so the ship would not be as heavy.

³⁹ In the morning they could not see what land they were near. Later they could see a river. Near its mouth there was a shore of sand. They planned to run the ship onto the sand if they could. ⁴⁰ The anchors were cut loose and left in the sea. Then they took the ropes off that were holding the rudder. When they put up the sail, the wind took the ship toward shore. ⁴¹ But the ship hit a place where the water was low. It was made from where two seas meet. The front of the ship did not move but the back part broke in pieces by the high waves.

⁴² The soldiers planned to kill the men in chains. They were afraid they would swim to shore and get away, ⁴³ but the captain wanted to save Paul. He kept them from their plan. Calling out to those who could swim, he told them to jump into the sea and swim to shore. ⁴⁴ The others should use wood or anything from the ship. In this way, they all got to shore without getting hurt.

The Powerful Work of Paul

28 After we were safe on the island, we knew that it was Malta. ² The people on the island were very kind to us. It was raining and cold. They made a fire so we could get warm. ³ Paul had gathered some wood. As he laid it on the fire, a snake came out because of the heat. It held fast to Paul’s hand. ⁴ When the people of the island saw the snake holding to his hand, they said to each other, “This man is a killer. He was saved from the sea and yet it is not right for him to live.” ⁵ Paul shook off the snake into the fire. He was not hurt in any way. ⁶ The people waited. They thought his hand would get large and he would fall over dead. After watching for a long time, they saw nothing happen to him. Then they changed their minds and said that Paul was a god.

The Father of Publius Is Healed

⁷ Publius was the head man of the island. He owned land around there. For three days he took us in and gave us everything we needed. ⁸ The father of Publius was sick with a stomach sickness. Paul went to see him. He prayed and laid his hands on him and the man was healed. ⁹ Because of this, other people of the island who were sick came to Paul and were healed. ¹⁰ They had great respect for us. When we got into a ship to leave, they gave us everything we needed.

¹¹ We had stayed on the island three months. Then we left on a ship that had stayed there during the winter. It was from the city of Alexandria. This ship was called the Twin Brothers. ¹² We came to Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we went by ship around to the city of Rhegium. After a day a south wind started to blow. On the second day we came to the city of Puteoli. ¹⁴ We found some Christians there, and they asked us to stay with them. We were there seven days and then went on to the city of Rome.

¹⁵ When the Christians heard of our coming, they came to meet us. They came as far as the town of Appius and to a place to stay called the Three Stores. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

Paul Tells Why and How He Has Come

¹⁶ When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live where he wanted to. But a soldier was always by his side to watch him. ¹⁷ Three days later Paul asked the leaders of the Jews to come to him. When they had gathered together, he said, “Brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the way our early fathers lived. And yet, I was tied with chains in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ I was put on trial, but they found no reason to put me to death. They would have let me go free. ¹⁹ But the Jews did not like this. So I had to ask to be sent to Caesar. It was not because I had anything against my people. ²⁰ The reason I have asked you to come is to tell you this. It is because of the hope of the Jewish nation that I am tied in these chains.”

²¹ They said to Paul, “We have had no letters from Judea about you. No Jew who has come here has ever said anything bad about you. ²² We would like to hear from you what you believe. As for this new religion, all we know is that everyone is talking against it.”

²³ They planned to meet him on a certain day. Many people came to the place where he stayed. He preached to them about the holy nation of God. He tried to get them to put their trust in Jesus Christ by preaching from the Law of Moses and from the writings of the early preachers. From morning until night he spoke to them. ²⁴ Some of them believed his teaching. Others did not believe.

²⁵ As they left, they did not agree with each other. Then Paul said, “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your early fathers through the early preacher Isaiah. ²⁶ He said, ‘Go to these people and say, “You will hear and never understand, you will look and never see, ²⁷ because these people have hearts that have become fat. They do not hear well with their ears. They have closed their eyes so their eyes do not see and their ears do not hear and their minds do not understand and they do not turn to Me and let Me heal them.”’ ^(A)

²⁸ “I want you to know that the Good News of God of knowing how to be saved from the punishment of sin has been sent to the people who are not Jews. And they will listen to it!” ²⁹ *After he had said these things, the Jews went away and argued with each other.

³⁰ Paul paid money to live in a house by himself for two years. He was happy for all who came to see him. ³¹ He kept on preaching about the holy nation of God. He taught about the Lord Jesus Christ without fear. No one stopped him.