Paul in Corinth

18 After this Paul^[a] left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul^[b] went to see them, ³ and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers. ⁴ Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word,^[c] testifying to the Jews that the Messiah^[d] was Jesus. ⁶ When they opposed and reviled him, in protest he shook the dust from his clothes^[e] and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’ ⁷ Then he left the synagogue^[f] and went to the house of a man named Titius^[g] Justus, a worshipper of God; his house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the official of the synagogue, became a believer in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul became believers and were baptized.

Sorrow Will Turn into Joy

¹⁶ ‘A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.’ ¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying to us, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”; and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ ¹⁸ They said, ‘What does he mean by this “a little while”? We do not know what he is talking about.’ ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, ‘Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, “A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”? ²⁰ Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.