The Healing at the Pool

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate^(A) a pool, which in Aramaic^(B) is called Bethesda^[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ^{[4] [b] 5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”^{(C) 9} At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,^{(D) 10} and so the Jewish leaders^(E) said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”^(F)

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning^(G) or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders^(H) that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia

⁶ Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia^(A) and Galatia,^(B) having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.^{(C) 7} When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus^(D) would not allow them to. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.^{(E) 9} During the night Paul had a vision^(F) of a man of Macedonia^(G) standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we^(H) got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel^(I) to them.

Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi

¹¹ From Troas^(J) we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi,^(K) a Roman colony and the leading city of that district^[a] of Macedonia.^(L) And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath^(M) we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira^(N) named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart^(O) to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household^(P) were baptized,^(Q) she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.