²⁰ And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, ^(A)exceedingly trouble our city;

²² But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that ^(A)it is spoken against everywhere.”

^4 [a]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that ^(A)friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(B)Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

² And ^(A)do not be conformed to this world, but ^(B)be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may ^(C)prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

³⁴ But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”

² And he found a certain Jew named ^(A)Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.

⁶ But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ^(A)“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. ⁷ Jason has ^[a]harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, ^(B)saying there is another king—Jesus.” ⁸ And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

The World’s Hatred

^18 (A)“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ^19 (B)If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet ^(C)because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ^(D)‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. ^(E)If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^(A)their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”