¹⁹ Then he ate and was strengthened.

He stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days ²⁰ and went at once to the synagogue to tell everyone there the Good News about Jesus—that he is indeed the Son of God!

²¹ All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who persecuted Jesus’ followers so bitterly in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And we understand that he came here to arrest them all and take them in chains to the chief priests.”

²² Paul became more and more fervent in his preaching, and the Damascus Jews couldn’t withstand his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Christ.

²³ After a while the Jewish leaders determined to kill him. ²⁴ But Paul was told about their plans, that they were watching the gates of the city day and night prepared to murder him. ²⁵ So during the night some of his converts let him down in a basket through an opening in the city wall!

²⁶ Upon arrival in Jerusalem he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They thought he was faking! ²⁷ Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Paul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus, what the Lord had said to him, and all about his powerful preaching in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ Then they accepted him, and after that he was constantly with the believers ²⁹ and preached boldly in the name of the Lord. But then some Greek-speaking Jews with whom he had argued plotted to murder him. ³⁰ However, when the other believers heard about his danger, they took him to Caesarea and then sent him to his home in Tarsus.

³¹ Meanwhile, the church had peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and grew in strength and numbers. The believers learned how to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.