Confession of Sins

¹⁵ “And you shall say: ‘Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion of face, as at this day, to us, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ¹⁶ and to our kings and our princes and our priests and our prophets and our fathers, ¹⁷ because we have sinned before the Lord, ¹⁸ and have disobeyed him, and have not heeded the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us. ¹⁹ From the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent, in not heeding his voice. ²⁰ So to this day there have clung to us the calamities and the curse which the Lord declared through Moses his servant at the time when he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey. ²¹ We did not heed the voice of the Lord our God in all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us, but we each followed the intent of his own wicked heart by serving other gods and doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

2 “‘So the Lord confirmed his word, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings and against our princes and against the men of Israel and Judah. 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, ³ that we should eat, one the flesh of his son and another the flesh of his daughter. ⁴ And he gave them into subjection to all the kingdoms around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the surrounding peoples, where the Lord has scattered them. ⁵ They were brought low and not raised up, because we sinned against the Lord our God, in not heeding his voice.

⁶ “‘Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but confusion of face to us and our fathers, as at this day. ⁷ All those calamities with which the Lord threatened us have come upon us. ⁸ Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord by turning away, each of us, from the thoughts of his wicked heart. ⁹ And the Lord has kept the calamities ready, and the Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he has commanded us to do. ¹⁰ Yet we have not obeyed his voice, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us.

²³ And as they cried out and waved their garments and threw dust into the air, ²⁴ the tribune commanded him to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by scourging, to find out why they shouted thus against him. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen, and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷ So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.” ²⁹ So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him instantly; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

Paul before the Council

³⁰ But on the morrow, desiring to know the real reason why the Jews accused him, he unbound him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

23 And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, “Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience up to this day.” ² And the high priest Anani′as commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” ⁴ Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But when Paul perceived that one part were Sad′ducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead I am on trial.” ⁷ And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sad′ducees; and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For the Sad′ducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ Then a great clamor arose; and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” ¹⁰ And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹ The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome.”

Prayer for Deliverance

¹¹ “‘And now, O Lord God of Israel, who didst bring thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and with signs and wonders and with great power and outstretched arm, and hast made thee a name, as at this day, ¹² we have sinned, we have been ungodly, we have done wrong, O Lord our God, against all thy ordinances. ¹³ Let thy anger turn away from us, for we are left, few in number, among the nations where thou hast scattered us. ¹⁴ Hear, O Lord, our prayer and our supplication, and for thy own sake deliver us, and grant us favor in the sight of those who have carried us into exile; ¹⁵ that all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, for Israel and his descendants are called by thy name. ¹⁶ O Lord, look down from thy holy habitation, and consider us. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear; ¹⁷ open thy 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, ¹⁸ but the person that is greatly distressed,^[a] that goes about bent over and feeble, and the eyes that are failing, and the person that hungers, will ascribe to thee glory and righteousness, O Lord. ¹⁹ For it is not because of any righteous deeds of our fathers or our kings that we bring before thee our prayer for mercy, O Lord our God. ²⁰ For thou hast sent thy anger and thy wrath upon us, as thou didst declare by thy 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 which I gave to your fathers. ²² But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and will not serve the king of Babylon, ²³ I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the region about Jerusalem the voice of mirth 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.”

²⁴ “‘But we did not obey thy voice, to serve the king of Babylon; and thou hast confirmed thy words, which thou didst speak by thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings and the bones of our fathers would be brought out of their graves;^{[b] 25} and behold, they have been cast out to the heat of day and the frost of night. They perished in great misery, by famine and sword and pestilence. ²⁶ And the house which is called by thy name thou hast made as it is today, because of the wickedness of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

God’s Promise Recalled

²⁷ “‘Yet thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, in all thy kindness and in all thy great compassion, ²⁸ as thou didst speak by thy servant Moses on the day when thou didst command him to write thy 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. 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 come to themselves, ³¹ and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I will give them a heart that obeys and ears that hear; ³² and they will praise me in the land of their exile, and will remember my name, ³³ and will turn from their stubbornness and their wicked deeds; for they will remember the ways of their fathers, who sinned before the Lord. ³⁴ I will bring them again into the land which I swore to give to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, and they will rule over it; and I will increase them, and they will not be diminished. 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 which I have given them.”

The Plot to Kill Paul

¹² When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. ¹⁴ And they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ You therefore, along with the council, give notice now to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

¹⁶ Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush; so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ And Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune; for he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” ¹⁹ The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” ²⁰ And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. ²¹ But do not yield to them; for more than forty of their men lie in ambush for him, having bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.” ²² So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of this.”

Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “At the third hour of the night get ready two hundred soldiers with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesare′a. ²⁴ Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵ And he wrote a letter to this effect:

²⁶ “Claudius Lys′ias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greeting. ²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them, when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸ And desiring to know the charge on which they accused him, I brought him down to their council. ²⁹ I found that he was accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. ³⁰ And when it was disclosed to me 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.”

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antip′atris. ³² And on the morrow they returned to the barracks, leaving the horsemen to go on with him. ³³ When they came to Caesare′a and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. ³⁴ On reading the letter, he asked to what province he belonged. When he learned that he was from Cili′cia ³⁵ he said, “I will hear you when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s praetorium.