Confession of Sins

¹⁵ “And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us, this day, public shame, on the people of Judah, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem,^{(A) 16} and on our kings, our rulers, our priests, our prophets, and our ancestors, ¹⁷ because we have sinned before the Lord. ¹⁸ We have disobeyed him and have not heeded the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord that he set before us.^{(B) 19} From the time when the Lord brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt until today, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent in not listening to his voice.^{(C) 20} So to this day there have clung to us the calamities and the curse that the Lord declared through his servant Moses at the time when he brought our ancestors out of the land of Egypt to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(D) 21} We did not listen to the voice of the Lord our God in all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us,^{(E) 22} but all of us followed the intent of our own wicked hearts by serving other gods and doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

2 “So the Lord carried out the threat^[a] he spoke against us: against our judges who ruled Israel and against our kings and our rulers and the people of Israel and Judah.^{(F) 2} Under the whole heaven there has not been done the like of what he has done in Jerusalem, in accordance with what is written in the law of Moses,^{(G) 3} that we would each eat the flesh of our sons and the flesh of our daughters.^{(H) 4} He made them subject to all the kingdoms around us, to be an object of scorn and a desolation among all the surrounding peoples, where the Lord has scattered them.^{(I) 5} They were brought down and not raised up, because we sinned against the Lord our God and did not listen to his voice.^(J)

⁶ “To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us, this day, open shame.^{(K) 7} All those calamities with which the Lord threatened us have come upon us.^{(L) 8} Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord by turning away, each of us, from the thoughts of our wicked hearts.^{(M) 9} And the Lord has kept the calamities ready, and the Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is just in all the works that he has commanded us to do.^{(N) 10} Yet we have not obeyed his voice, to walk in the statutes of the Lord that he set before us.^(O)

²³ And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air,^{(A) 24} the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with straps,^[a] Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman person who is uncondemned?”^{(B) 26} When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The tribune came and asked Paul,^[b] “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.” ²⁹ Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman and that he had bound him.

Paul before the Council

³⁰ Since he wanted to find out what Paul^[c] was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.^(C)

23 While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers,^[d] up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”^{(D) 2} Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.^{(E) 3} At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”^{(F) 4} Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’ ”^(G)

⁶ When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers,^[e] I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection^[f] of the dead.”^{(H) 7} When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection or angel or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)^{(I) 9} Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”^{(J) 10} When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.^(K)

¹¹ That night the Lord stood near him and said, “Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.”^(L)

Prayer for Deliverance

¹¹ “And now, O Lord God of Israel, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and with signs and wonders and with great power and outstretched arm and made yourself a name that continues to this day,^{(A) 12} we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all your ordinances.^{(B) 13} Let your anger turn away from us, for we are left few in number among the nations where you have scattered us.^{(C) 14} Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our entreaty, and for your own sake deliver us and grant us favor in the sight of those who have carried us into exile,^{(D) 15} so that all the earth may know that you are the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by your name.

¹⁶ “O Lord, look down from your holy dwelling and consider us. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear;^{(E) 17} open your eyes, O Lord, and see, for the dead who are in Hades, whose spirit has been taken from their bodies, will not ascribe glory or justice to the Lord,^{(F) 18} but the person who is deeply grieved, who walks bowed and feeble, with failing eyes and famished soul, will declare your glory and righteousness, O Lord.^(G)

¹⁹ “For it is not because of any righteous deeds of our ancestors or our kings that we bring before you our prayer for mercy, O Lord our God.^{(H) 20} For you have sent your anger and your wrath upon us, as you declared by your servants the prophets, saying: ²¹ ‘Thus says the Lord: Bend your shoulders and serve the king of Babylon, and you will remain in the land that I gave to your ancestors.^{(I) 22} But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon,^{(J) 23} I will silence from the towns of Judah and from the region around Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the whole land will be a desolation without inhabitants.’^(K)

²⁴ “But we did not obey your voice to serve the king of Babylon, and you have carried out your threats^[a] that you spoke by your servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our ancestors would be brought out of their resting place,^{(L) 25} and indeed they have been thrown out to the heat of day and the frost of night. They perished in great misery, by famine and sword and pestilence.^{(M) 26} And the house that is called by your name you have made as it is today because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.^(N)

God’s Promise Recalled

²⁷ “Yet you have dealt with us, O Lord our God, in all your kindness and in all your great compassion, ²⁸ as you spoke by your servant Moses on the day when you commanded him to write your law in the presence of the people of Israel, saying, ²⁹ ‘If you will not obey my voice, this very great multitude will surely turn into a small number among the nations, where I will scatter them.^{(O) 30} For I know that they will not obey me, for they are a stiff-necked people. But in the land of their exile they will have a change of heart^{(P) 31} and know that I am the Lord their God. I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear;^{(Q) 32} they will praise me in the land of their exile and will remember my name ³³ and turn from their stubbornness and their wicked deeds, for they will remember the ways of their ancestors, who sinned before the Lord. ³⁴ I will bring them again into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they will rule over it, and I will increase them, and they will not be diminished.^{(R) 35} I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their God, and they shall be my people, and I will never again remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them.’^(S)

The Plot to Kill Paul

¹² In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.^{(A) 13} There were more than forty who joined in this conspiracy. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Paul.^{(B) 15} Now then, you and the council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you, on the pretext that you want to make a more thorough examination of his case. And we are ready to do away with him before he arrives.”^(C)

¹⁶ Now the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush, so he went and gained entrance to the barracks and told Paul.^{(D) 17} Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to report to him.” ¹⁸ So he took him, brought him to the tribune, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you.”^{(E) 19} The tribune took him by the hand, drew him aside privately, and asked, “What is it that you have to report to me?” ²⁰ He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.^{(F) 21} But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him. They are ready now and are waiting for your consent.”^{(G) 22} So the tribune dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of this.”

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

²³ Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen.^{(H) 24} Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and take him safely to Felix the governor.”^{(I) 25} He wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶ “Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.^{(J) 27} This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman, I came with the guard and rescued him.^{(K) 28} Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council.^{(L) 29} I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.^{(M) 30} When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”^[a](N)

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris. ³² The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks.^{(O) 33} When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.^{(P) 34} On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia,^{(Q) 35} he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.^[b](R)