Isaiah 19:1-15

New International Version

A Prophecy Against Egypt

19 A prophecy^(A) against Egypt:^(B)

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud^(C)
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt^(D) with fear.

²“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
    brother will fight against brother,^(E)
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    kingdom against kingdom.^(F)
³The Egyptians will lose heart,^(G)
    and I will bring their plans^(H) to nothing;^(I)
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
    the mediums and the spiritists.^(J)
⁴I will hand the Egyptians over
    to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king^(K) will rule over them,”
    declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

⁵The waters of the river will dry up,^(L)
    and the riverbed will be parched and dry.^(M)
⁶The canals will stink;^(N)
    the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.^(O)
The reeds^(P) and rushes will wither,^(Q)
⁷    also the plants^(R) along the Nile,
    at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field^(S) along the Nile
    will become parched, will blow away and be no more.^(T)
⁸The fishermen^(U) will groan and lament,
    all who cast hooks^(V) into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
    will pine away.
⁹Those who work with combed flax^(W) will despair,
    the weavers of fine linen^(X) will lose hope.
¹⁰The workers in cloth will be dejected,
    and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

¹¹The officials of Zoan^(Y) are nothing but fools;
    the wise counselors^(Z) of Pharaoh give senseless advice.^(AA)
How can you say to Pharaoh,
    “I am one of the wise men,^(AB)
    a disciple of the ancient kings”?

¹²Where are your wise men^(AC) now?
    Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
    has planned^(AD) against Egypt.
¹³The officials of Zoan^(AE) have become fools,
    the leaders of Memphis^(AF) are deceived;
the cornerstones^(AG) of her peoples
    have led Egypt astray.
¹⁴The Lord has poured into them
    a spirit of dizziness;^(AH)
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
    as a drunkard staggers^(AI) around in his vomit.
¹⁵There is nothing Egypt can do—
    head or tail, palm branch or reed.^(AJ)

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Acts 22:17-30

New International Version

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

¹⁹“‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison^(C) and beat^(D) those who believe in you. ²⁰And when the blood of your martyr^[a] Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’^(E)

²¹“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”^(F)

Paul the Roman Citizen

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!^(G) He’s not fit to live!”^(H)

²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks^(I) and flinging dust into the air,^(J) ²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.^(K) He directed^(L) that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”^(M)

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹Those who were about to interrogate him^(N) withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen,^(O) in chains.^(P)

Paul Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.^(Q) So the next day he released him^(R) and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin^(S) to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

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