Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Paul Urged to Make Peace

And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.

And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

Addressing the Jerusalem Mob

Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek?

Paul’s Defense at Jerusalem

“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.”

as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance

and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’

The Jerusalem Jews Plot to Kill Paul

Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”

The Plot Against Paul

But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

Paul Appeals to Caesar

Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem—while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him.

When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove,

But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?”

about whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.

And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.

And Festus said: “King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.

“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know.

This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

Paul’s Ministry at Rome

And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,

From Jerusalem to Illyricum

Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.