Book of Common Prayer
Paul claims that God sent him to the Gentiles
17-21 “Then it happened that after my return to Jerusalem, while I was at prayer in the Temple, unconscious of everything else, I saw him, and he said to me, ‘Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, for they will not accept your testimony about me.’ And I said, ‘But, Lord, they know how I have been through all the synagogues imprisoning and beating all those who believe in you. They know also that when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed I stood by, giving my approval—why, I was even holding in my arms, the outer garments of those who killed him.’ But he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles’.”
The consequence of Paul’s speech
22 They had listened to him until he said this, but now they raised a great shout, “Kill him, and rid the earth of such a man! He is not fit to live!”
23-25 As they were yelling and ripping their clothes and hurling dust into the air, the colonel gave orders to bring Paul into the barracks and directed that he should be examined by scourging, so that he might discover the reason for such an uproar against him. But when they had strapped him up, Paul spoke to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen, and untried at that?”
26 On hearing this the centurion went in to the colonel and reported to him, saying, “Do you realise what you were about to do? This man is a Roman citizen!”
27 Then the colonel himself came up to Paul, and said, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”
28 Whereupon the colonel replied, “It cost me a good deal to get my citizenship.” “Ah,” replied Paul, “but I was born a citizen.”
29 Then those who had been about to examine him left hurriedly, while even the colonel himself was alarmed at discovering that Paul was a Roman and that he had had him bound.
Jesus arranges for his entry into the city
11 1-3 When they were approaching Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage and Bethany on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, he sent off two of his disciples with these instructions, “Go into the village just ahead of you and as soon as you enter it you will find a tethered colt on which no one has yet ridden. Untie it, and bring it here. If anybody asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’, just say, ‘The Lord needs it, and will send it back immediately.’”
4-7 So they went off and found the colt tethered by a doorway outside in the open street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders did say, “What are you doing, untying this colt?”, but they made the reply Jesus told them to make, and the men raised no objection. So they brought the colt to Jesus, threw their coats on its back, and he took his seat upon it.
8-10 Many of the people spread out their coats in his path as he rode along, and others put down straw which they had cut from the fields. The whole crowd, both those who were in front and those who were behind Jesus, shouted, “God save him!—’Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ God bless the coming kingdom of our father David! God save him from on high!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple and looked round on all that was going on. And then, since it was already late in the day, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.