Beginning

16 Sha’ul came down to Derbe and went on to Lystra, where there lived a talmid named Timothy. He was the son of a Jewish woman who had come to trust, and a Greek father. ² All the brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy. ³ Sha’ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a b’rit-milah, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all knew that his father had been a Greek.

⁴ As they went on through the towns, they delivered to the people the decisions reached by the emissaries and the elders in Yerushalayim for them to observe. ⁵ Accordingly, the congregations were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.

⁶ They traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Ruach HaKodesh from speaking the message in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they came to the frontier of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Yeshua would not let them. ⁸ So, after passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

⁹ There a vision appeared to Sha’ul at night. A man from Macedonia was standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ As soon as he had seen the vision, we lost no time getting ready to leave for Macedonia; for we concluded that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.

¹¹ Sailing from Troas, we made a straight run to Samothrace; the next day we went to Neapolis; ¹² and from there, we went on to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that part of Macedonia. We spent a few days in this city; ¹³ then on Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we understood a minyan met. We sat down and began speaking to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in fine purple cloth. She was already a “God-fearer,” and the Lord opened up her heart to respond to what Sha’ul was saying. ¹⁵ After she and the members of her household had been immersed, she gave us this invitation: “If you consider me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she insisted till we went.

¹⁶ Once, when we were going to the place where the minyan gathered, we were met by a slave girl who had in her a snake-spirit that enabled her to predict the future. She earned a lot of money for her owners by telling fortunes. ¹⁷ This girl followed behind Sha’ul and the rest of us and kept screaming, “These men are servants of God Ha‘Elyon! They’re telling you how to be saved!” ¹⁸ She kept this up day after day, until Sha’ul, greatly disturbed, turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, I order you to come out of her!” And the spirit did come out, at that very moment.

¹⁹ But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Sha’ul and Sila and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities. ²⁰ Bringing them to the judges, they said, “These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews. ²¹ What they are doing is advocating customs that are against the law for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.” ²² The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged. ²³ After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in prison, charging the jailer to guard them securely. ²⁴ Upon receiving such an order, he threw them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood.

²⁵ Around midnight, Sha’ul and Sila were praying and singing hymns to God, while the other prisoners listened attentively. ²⁶ Suddenly there was a violent earthquake which shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer awoke, and when he saw the doors open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, for he assumed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Sha’ul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!”

²⁹ Calling for lights, the jailer ran in, began to tremble and fell down in front of Sha’ul and Sila. ³⁰ Then, leading them outside, he said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ They said, “Trust in the Lord Yeshua, and you will be saved — you and your household!” ³² Whereupon they told him and everyone in his household the message about the Lord.

³³ Then, even at that late hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed off their wounds; and without delay, he and all his people were immersed. ³⁴ After that, he brought them up to his house and set food in front of them; and he and his entire household celebrated their having come to trust in God.

³⁵ The next morning, the judges sent police officers with the order, “Release those men.” ³⁶ The jailer told Sha’ul, “The judges have sent word to release both of you. So come out, and go on your way in peace.” ³⁷ But Sha’ul said to the officers, “After flogging us in public when we hadn’t been convicted of any crime and are Roman citizens, they threw us in prison. Now they want to get rid of us secretly? Oh, no! Let them come and escort us out themselves!”

³⁸ The officers reported these words to the judges, who became frightened when they heard that Sha’ul and Sila were Roman citizens. ³⁹ They came and apologized to them; then, after escorting them out, requested them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ From the prison they went to Lydia’s house, and after seeing and encouraging the brothers they departed.

17 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Sha’ul and Sila came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue. ² According to his usual practice, Sha’ul went in; and on three Shabbats he gave them drashes from the Tanakh, ³ explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that “this Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.” ⁴ Some of the Jews were persuaded and threw in their lot with Sha’ul and Sila, as did a great many of the Greek men who were “God-fearers,” and not a few of the leading women.

⁵ But the unbelieving Jews grew jealous; so they got together some vicious men from the riffraff hanging around in the market square, collected a crowd and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason’s house, hoping to bring Sha’ul and Sila out to the mob. ⁶ But when they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city authorities and shouted, “These men who have turned the whole world upside down have come here too! ⁷ And Jason has let them stay in his home! All of them are defying the decrees of the Emperor; because they assert that there is another king, Yeshua!” ⁸ Their words threw the crowd and the authorities into a turmoil, ⁹ so that only after Jason and the others had posted bond did they let them go. ¹⁰ But as soon as night fell, the brothers sent Sha’ul and Sila off to Berea.

As soon as they arrived, they went to the synagogue. ¹¹ Now the people here were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Tanakh every day to see if the things Sha’ul was saying were true. ¹² Many of them came to trust, as did a number of prominent Greek women and not a few Greek men.

¹³ But when the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Sha’ul in Berea as well, they went there too to make trouble and agitate the crowds. ¹⁴ The brothers sent Sha’ul away at once to go down to the seacoast, while Sila and Timothy stayed behind. ¹⁵ Sha’ul’s escort went with him as far as Athens, then left with instructions for Sila and Timothy to come as quickly as they could.

¹⁶ While Sha’ul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him was disturbed at the sight of the city full of idols. ¹⁷ So he began holding discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the “God-fearers,” and in the market square every day with the people who happened to be there.

¹⁸ Also a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers started meeting with him. Some asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others, because he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua and the resurrection, said, “He sounds like a propagandist for foreign gods.” ¹⁹ They took and brought him before the High Council, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ Some of the things we are hearing from you strike us as strange, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners living there used to spend their spare time talking or hearing about the latest intellectual fads.)

²² Sha’ul stood up in the Council meeting and said, “Men of Athens: I see how very religious you are in every way! ²³ For as I was walking around, looking at your shrines, I even found an altar which had been inscribed, ‘To An Unknown God.’ So, the one whom you are already worshipping in ignorance — this is the one I proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the universe and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in man-made temples; ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as if he lacked something; since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything to everyone.

²⁶ “From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish. ²⁷ God did this so that people would look for him and perhaps reach out and find him although in fact, he is not far from each one of us, ²⁸ ‘for in him we live and move and exist.’ Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, ‘We are actually his children.’ ²⁹ So, since we are children of God, we shouldn’t suppose that God’s essence resembles gold, silver or stone shaped by human technique and imagination.

³⁰ “In the past, God overlooked such ignorance; but now he is commanding all people everywhere to turn to him from their sins. ³¹ For he has set a Day when he will judge the inhabited world, and do it justly, by means of a man whom he has designated. And he has given public proof of it by resurrecting this man from the dead.”

³² At the mention of a resurrection of dead people, some began to scoff; while others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ So Sha’ul left the meeting. ³⁴ But some men stayed with him and came to trust, including the High Council member Dionysius; there was also a woman named Damaris; and others came to trust along with them.