¹⁸ Then after three years,^(A) I went up to Jerusalem^(B) to get acquainted with Cephas^[a] and stayed with him fifteen days.

²² Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.^(A)

²³ After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him,^(B)

¹⁷ “When I returned to Jerusalem^(A) and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance^{(B) 18} and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

²⁶ When he came to Jerusalem,^(A) he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas^(B) took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him,^(C) and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.^{(D) 28} So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. ²⁹ He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,^[a](E) but they tried to kill him.^(F)