Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua got up early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from ^(A)Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed. ² Then ^(B)at the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ^(C)ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ⁴ However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about ^[a]two thousand cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ Then Joshua said to the people, “^(D)Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do miracles among you.” ⁶ And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

⁷ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(E)exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ⁸ So you shall command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹ Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you will know that ^(F)the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly ^(G)drive out from you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(H)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. ¹² Now then, ^(I)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. ¹³ And it will come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, that is, the waters which are ^[b]flowing down from above; and they will ^(J)stand in one heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying ^(K)the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and when those who were carrying the ark came up to the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark ^[c]stepped down into the edge of the water (for the ^(L)Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), ¹⁶ then ^(M)the waters which were ^[d]flowing down from above stood and rose up in ^(N)one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were ^[e]flowing down toward the sea of the ^(O)Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm ^(P)on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into ^(A)the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not ^(B)the Egyptian who some ^[a]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^(C)into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “^(D)I am a Jew of Tarsus in ^(E)Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^(F)the stairs, ^(G)motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[b]was a great silence, he spoke to them in the ^[c](H)Hebrew dialect, saying,

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^(I)[d]Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^[e](J)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³ “^(K)I am ^(L)a Jew, born in ^(M)Tarsus of ^(N)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[f]under ^(O)Gamaliel, ^[g](P)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(Q)you all are today. ^4 (R)I persecuted this ^(S)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also ^(T)the high priest and all ^(U)the Council of the elders ^[h]can testify. From them I also ^(V)received letters to ^(W)the brothers, and started off for ^(X)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[i]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “^(Y)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^(Z)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(AA)saw the light, but ^(AB)did not ^[j]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(AC)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(AD)could not see because of the ^[k]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹² “Now a certain ^(AE)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(AF)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘^(AG)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[l](AH)at that very moment I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(AI)The God of our fathers has ^(AJ)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AK)see the ^(AL)Righteous One and to hear a ^[m]message from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(AM)a witness for Him to all people of ^(AN)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(AO)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AP)wash away your sins by ^(AQ)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “It happened when I ^(AR)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(AS)fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(AT)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(AU)I used to imprison and ^(AV)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰ And ^(AW)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(AX)to the Gentiles.’”

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(AY)Away with such a man from the earth, for ^(AZ)he should not be allowed to live!”

Memorial Stones from the Jordan

4 Now when the entire nation had finished crossing the ^(A)Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “^(B)Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firmly, and carry them over with you and lay them down in ^(C)the encampment where you will spend the night.’” ⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them, “^[a]Cross again to the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

²³ And as they were shouting and ^(A)throwing off their cloaks and ^(B)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that he be brought into ^(C)the barracks, saying that he was to be ^(D)interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^[a]with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[b]lawful for you to flog ^(E)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The commander came and said to ^[c]Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” ²⁹ Therefore, those who were about to ^(F)interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also ^(G)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[d](H)put him in chains.

³⁰ Now on the next day, ^(I)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(J)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(K)the ^[e]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.

Paul before the Council

23 Now looking intently at ^(L)the ^[f]Council, Paul said, “^[g](M)Brothers, ^(N)I have ^[h]lived my life with an entirely good conscience before God up to this day.” ² But the high priest ^(O)Ananias commanded those standing beside him ^(P)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^(Q)you whitewashed wall! Do you ^(R)sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law, order me to be struck?” ⁴ But those present said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: ‘^(S)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But Paul, perceiving that one group were ^(T)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in ^(U)the ^[i]Council, “^[j](V)Brothers, ^(W)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^(X)the hope and resurrection of the dead!” ⁷ When he said this, a dissension occurred between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For ^(Y)the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ And a great uproar occurred; and some of ^(Z)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and started arguing heatedly, saying, “^(AA)We find nothing wrong with this man; ^(AB)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And when a great dissension occurred, the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, and he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^(AC)the barracks.

¹¹ But on ^(AD)the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, “^(AE)Be courageous! For ^(AF)as you have ^(AG)testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also.”