Book of Common Prayer
17 “After I came back to Jerusalem, and was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance, 18 and I saw him speaking to me. ‘Hurry up!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem as quickly as possible! They won’t accept your testimony about me.’ 19 ‘But, Lord,’ I replied, ‘they themselves know that in all the synagogues I used to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20 And when they shed the blood of Stephen, your witness, I was myself standing there and giving my approval. I was looking after the cloaks of those who were killing him.’
21 “ ‘No,’ he said to me. ‘Go away from here! I’m sending you far away—to the Gentiles!’ ”
22 Up to this point the crowd listened to Paul. But now they began to shout.
“Away with him from the face of the earth!” they yelled. “Someone like that has no right to live!”
Roman citizenship comes in useful
23 The crowd was shouting, tearing their clothes, and throwing dust in the air. 24 The tribune gave orders for Paul to be brought into the barracks, and he told the guards to examine him by flogging, so that he could find out the reason for all the uproar against him.
25 As they were tying Paul up ready for the whips, Paul spoke to the centurion who was standing beside him.
“Is it lawful,” he said, “to flog a Roman citizen without first finding him guilty?”
26 When the centurion heard that, he went off to the tribune and spoke to him.
“What d’you think you’re doing?” he said. “This fellow’s a Roman citizen!”
27 The tribune came and spoke to Paul.
“Tell me,” he said. “Are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes,” replied Paul.
28 “It cost me a lot of money to buy this citizenship,” said the tribune.
“Ah,” said Paul, “but it came to me by birth.”
29 The people who were about to torture Paul stepped back quickly from him. As for the tribune, he was afraid, discovering that he was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.
Loving your enemies
27 “But this is my word,” Jesus continued, “for those of you who are listening: love your enemies! Do good to people who hate you! 28 Bless people who curse you! Pray for people who treat you badly!
29 “If someone hits you on the cheek—offer him the other one! If someone takes away your coat—don’t stop him taking your shirt! 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask for things back when people have taken them.
31 “Whatever you want people to do to you, do that to them. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Think about it: even sinners love people who love them. 33 Or again, if you do good only to people who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Sinners do that too. 34 If you lend only to people you expect to get things back from, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to get paid back. 35 No: love your enemies, do good and lend without expecting any return. Your reward will be great! You will be children of the Highest! He is generous, you see, to the stingy and wicked. 36 You must be merciful, just as your father is merciful.
37 “Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you’ll be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: a good helping, squashed down, shaken in, and overflowing—that’s what will land in your lap. Yes: the ration you give to others is the ration you’ll get back for yourself.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.