Book of Common Prayer

In Corinth Paul Teaches The Gentiles For 18 Months

18 After these things, having departed from Athens, he went to Corinth. ² And having found a certain Jew— Aquila by name, a Pontian by nationality, having recently come from Italy because Claudius^[a] had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome— and Priscilla his wife, he went to them. ³ And because of being the same-trade, he was staying with them and working— for they were tent-makers by trade. ⁴ And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuading Jews and Greeks. ⁵ But when both Silas and Timothy came^[b] down from Macedonia, Paul was occupying-himself with the word^[c], solemnly-testifying to the Jews that the Christ is Jesus. ⁶ But while they were opposing and blaspheming, he said to them, having shaken-out his garments, “Your blood be upon your head; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles”. ⁷ And having passed on from there, he entered into the house of a certain one worshiping God—Titius Justus by name— whose house was bordering^[d] on the synagogue. ⁸ And Crispus, the synagogue-official, believed in the Lord with his whole household. And many of the Corinthians hearing were believing and being baptized. ⁹ And the Lord said to Paul during the night through a vision, “Do not be afraid, but be speaking and do not be silent— ¹⁰ because I am with you, and no one will set-upon you to harm you; because there is a large people for Me in this city”. ¹¹ And he sat for a year and six months^[e], teaching the word of God among them.

1 In-as-much-as many undertook^[a] to compile a narrative about the things having been fulfilled^[b] among us, ² just as the eyewitnesses from the first^[c] and ones having become servants of the word handed-down to us, ³ it seemed good to me also, having closely-followed^[d] everything carefully from-the-beginning^[e], to write it for you in-order, most-excellent Theophilus, ⁴ in order that you may fully-know the certainty of the things about which you were instructed.

In The Fifteenth Year of Tiberius, John Is Sent Out By God

3 Now in the fifteenth^[a] year of the government of Tiberius^[b] Caesar— Pontius Pilate^[c] being-governor of Judea, and Herod^[d] being-tetrarch^[e] of Galilee, and Philip^[f] his brother being tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, ² in-the-time-of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas— the word of God came to^[g] John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

John Proclaims a Baptism of Repentance, In Fulfillment of Isaiah

³ And he went into all the surrounding-region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it has been written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet [in Isa 40:3-5], “A voice of one shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; be making His paths straight. ⁵ Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill will be made-low. And the crooked paths will become straight, and the rough will become smooth paths. ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God’”. ⁷ Therefore he was saying to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers— who showed^[h] you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say within^[i] yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’. For I say to you that God is able to raise-up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹ And indeed the axe is already lying^[j] at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.

The People Ask John What They Should Do To Produce Fruit Worthy of Repentance

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ And having responded, he was saying to them, “Let the one having two tunics^[k] give to the one not having, and let the one having food be doing likewise”. ¹² And tax collectors also came to be baptized. And they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ And the one said to them, “Be collecting nothing more than the amount having been commanded”. ¹⁴ And ones serving-as-soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “And us, what should we do?” And he said to them, “Do not violently-extort^[l] anyone, nor extort-with-false-charges. And be content with your wages^[m]”.