Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ The officers reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. ³⁹ So they came and apologized to them. As they escorted them out, they requested that they leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house. They saw the brothers, encouraged them, and then left.

In Thessalonica

17 When Paul and Silas had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As was his custom, Paul went to the Jews, and on three Sabbath days he led them in a discussion from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. He also said, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” ⁴ Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great number of God-fearing Greeks and more than a few of the prominent women.

⁵ But the Jews^[a] became jealous and gathered from the marketplace some wicked men, who formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house and searched for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the mob. ⁶ When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men, who have stirred up trouble all over the world, have come here too, ⁷ and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, Jesus!” ⁸ The crowd and the city officials were stirred up when they heard these things. ⁹ They took a security bond from Jason and the others and then let them go.

In Berea

¹⁰ That same night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. They received the word very eagerly and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these things were so.

¹² Many of them believed, along with more than a few prominent Greek women and men.

¹³ But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was being proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they also went there to agitate and stir up the crowds. ¹⁴ Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to the seacoast, but Silas and Timothy stayed there. ¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him all the way to Athens. When they left, they received instructions for Silas and Timothy to join Paul as soon as possible.

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was very distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he led a discussion in the synagogue with the Jews and those who feared God, as well as with those who happened to be in the marketplace every day.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this seed picker^[b] trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be someone who is proclaiming foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ They took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are talking about? ²⁰ You seem to be bringing in some ideas that are strange to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there enjoyed doing nothing more than telling or listening to something new.)

²² Then Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. ²³ For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. ²⁶ From one man,^[c] he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. ²⁷ He did this so they would seek God^[d] and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[e] As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’^[f]

²⁹ “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. ³⁰ Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

³² When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some of them started to scoff. But others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ So Paul left the council. ³⁴ However, some men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them were Dionysius (a member of the council of the Areopagus) and a woman named Damaris, as well as others with them.

In Corinth

18 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them. ³ Because he had the same occupation, he stayed and worked with them, for they were tentmakers by trade. ⁴ Every Sabbath he led a discussion in the synagogue, trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was entirely devoted to preaching the word,^[g] testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶ But when they opposed Paul and slandered him, he shook out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”

⁷ He left that place and went to the house of a man named Titius^[h] Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹ One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid, but keep on speaking, and do not be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ He stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹² But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the judicial bench. ¹³ They said, “This man is persuading the people to worship God in a way that is against the law.”

¹⁴ But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If this were some kind of misdemeanor or vicious crime, I would formally accept the complaint of you Jews. ¹⁵ But since these are disputes about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not intend to be a judge of these things.” ¹⁶ So he drove them away from the judicial bench. ¹⁷ Then all the Greeks^[i] seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the judicial bench. But none of these things concerned Gallio.

Return to Antioch in Syria

¹⁸ After Paul stayed many more days, he said good-bye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea Paul had his head shaved, because he was keeping a vow.

¹⁹ Next they arrived at Ephesus, where he left Priscilla and Aquila. Paul himself went into the synagogue and led a discussion with the Jews. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined. ²¹ But as he said good-bye, he told them,^[j] “I will come back to you again if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²² When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church. Then he went down to Antioch. ²³ After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Apollos

²⁴ A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man and well versed in the Scriptures. ²⁵ He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. He spoke with burning zeal and taught the facts about Jesus^[k] accurately, although he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

²⁷ When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he provided much help to those who had become believers by grace, ²⁸ because he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Paul Goes to Ephesus

19 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior districts and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples ² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

“No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that the Holy Spirit was given.”

³ Paul asked, “What were you baptized into then?”

They replied, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴ Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.^{[l] 5} When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”^[m]

⁶ When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in other languages and to prophesy. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, leading discussions and trying to persuade them about^[n] the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some became hardened and refused to believe, even slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he left them. He took the disciples with him and led discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This went on for two years, with the result that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

¹¹ God was doing extraordinary miracles through Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick; their illnesses left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

The Seven Sons of Sceva

¹³ Then some Jewish exorcists who went from place to place tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. They said, “I command you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches to come out!” ¹⁴ It was the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I am acquainted with Paul, but who are you?” ¹⁶ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them, and exercised such complete domination over all of them that they fled from that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. They were all overcome with fear, and they held the name of the Lord Jesus in high honor. ¹⁸ Also many of those who had become believers came forward, confessing and admitting their actions. ¹⁹ And a large number of those who had practiced magic arts^[o] collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. They added up the cost of the books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.^{[p] 20} In this way the word of the Lord was growing and gaining strength.

²¹ After all this had happened, Paul resolved in his spirit^[q] to go to Jerusalem by traveling through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must also see Rome.” ²² After sending two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, he stayed in the province of Asia for a while.

The Riot in Ephesus

²³ During that time there was more than a minor disturbance about the Way. ²⁴ A certain silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little income for the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called them together, along with the workers in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this income. ²⁶ You also see and hear that not merely in Ephesus but throughout almost the entire province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large number of people. He says that gods made by hands are not gods at all! ²⁷ Not only is there danger that our trade may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be considered worthless. Then she will suffer the loss of her magnificence, although she is worshipped by the whole province of Asia and the world.”

²⁸ When they heard this, they were filled with rage and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ The city was filled with confusion, and with one goal in mind they rushed to the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. ³⁰ Paul wanted to enter the public assembly, but the disciples would not let him. ³¹ Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

³² Some were shouting one thing, others another, because the assembly was in confusion. Most of them did not even know why they had come together. ³³ They made Alexander come out of the crowd.^[r] It was the Jews who pushed him forward. Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the assembly. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry rose from all of them. For about two hours, they kept shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ After the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven? ³⁶ Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you need to be quiet and not do anything rash. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our^[s] goddess. ³⁸ If Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them press charges against one another. ³⁹ If you want to pursue something about other matters,^[t] it should be settled in the legal assembly. ⁴⁰ For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, because we will not be able to give any reason for this disorderly mob.” ⁴¹ After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

To Macedonia and Greece

20 After the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. After saying good-bye, he left to go to Macedonia. ² After he had gone through those areas and had spoken many words of encouragement to the people, he came to Greece ³ and stayed there three months.

Because a plot was made against him by the Jews just as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴ He was accompanied^[u] by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, along with Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ These men went on ahead and waited for us^[v] at Troas. ⁶ We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and within five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Eutychus Raised From the Dead

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul spoke to the people. Since he intended to leave the next day, he continued talking until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered. ⁹ Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus. He was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking for a long time. When he was sound asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ Paul went down, bent over him, threw his arms around him, and said, “Do not be alarmed, because he is alive!” ¹¹ Then he went upstairs, broke bread, and ate. After talking for a considerable time until dawn, he left. ¹² They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

On to Miletus

¹³ We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had arranged it this way, since he was intending to travel there by land. ¹⁴ When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ From there we set sail. We arrived off Chios the next day. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and^[w] on the following day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to be in Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

Paul Says Farewell to the Elders of Ephesus

¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. ¹⁸ When they came to him, he said to them, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia. ¹⁹ I served the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with the trials that came to me due to the plots of the Jews. ²⁰ You know how I did not hesitate to proclaim to you anything that would be beneficial for you or to teach you publicly and from house to house. ²¹ I have solemnly testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^[x]

²² “And you see, now I am going to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that the Holy Spirit keeps warning me in town after town that chains and afflictions are waiting for me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life as of no great value to me, so that I may finish my race and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus—to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵ “Now take note of this too. I know that none of you among whom I went around preaching the kingdom of God will ever see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore I solemnly declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, ²⁷ for I did not hesitate to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God.

²⁸ “Always keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God,^[y] which he purchased with his own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure savage wolves, who will not spare the flock, will come in among you. ³⁰ Even from your own group men will rise up, twisting the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be always on the alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³² “And now I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which has power to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I did not covet anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my needs and for those who were with me. ³⁵ In every way I gave you an example that, by working hard like this, we need to help the weak and to remember the words that the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ After Paul said these things, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ³⁷ They all wept very much, as they threw their arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him. ³⁸ They were most distressed over the statement he made, that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

To Tyre

21 After we^[z] tore ourselves away from them and set sail, we headed straight to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ² When we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. ³ After sighting Cyprus and passing by on its south side, we sailed to Syria and put in to port at Tyre, because there the ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴ We located the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ⁵ When our time there came to an end, we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. We knelt down on the beach and prayed. ⁶ After saying good-bye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

To Caesarea

⁷ When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers^[aa] and stayed with them for one day. ⁸ The next day, we left and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him. ⁹ He had four virgin daughters, who prophesied. ¹⁰ After we had stayed there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ When he came to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands with it, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘This is the way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

¹² When we heard this, both we and the local residents urged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³ Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴ Since he could not be persuaded, we said nothing more except, “May the Lord’s will be done.”

In Jerusalem

¹⁵ After those days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason, with whom we were to stay. He was from Cyprus and was one of the first disciples.

¹⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers gave us a warm welcome. ¹⁸ The next day, Paul went with us to see James, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, he reported in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. ²⁰ When they heard this, they praised God.^[ab]

Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and all of them are zealous observers of the law. ²¹ They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, since you are telling them not to circumcise their children or follow our customs. ²² So what is to be done?^[ac] They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ So do what we are going to tell you.

“We have four men who have taken a vow. ²⁴ Take them with you, go through the ceremony of purification with them, and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to the reports that have been made about you, but that you yourself are carefully following the law. ²⁵ As for the Gentiles who believe, we have sent them a letter about the resolution^[ad] that they should avoid food sacrificed to idols, blood, the meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality.”

²⁶ The next day, Paul took the men and went through the ceremony of purification with them. He entered the temple to announce the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

Paul Is Arrested

²⁷ When the seven days were almost over, Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, ²⁸ shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law, and against this place. And now he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

³⁰ The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together as a mob. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. ³¹ While they were looking for a way to kill him, a report went up to the commander of the cohort^[ae] that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³² He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ Then the commander approached Paul, arrested him, and gave an order that he should be bound with two chains. He asked who Paul was and what he had done. ³⁴ Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since the commander could not find out the truth because of the uproar, he ordered his men to take Paul away to the barracks. ³⁵ When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. ³⁶ The large number of people that was following kept shouting, “Away with him!”

Paul Makes His Defense

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”

He replied, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Are you not the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins^[af] into the wilderness?”

³⁹ Paul said, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ When the commander had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they were all silent, Paul addressed them in the Hebrew dialect.^[ag]

22 “Gentlemen, brothers, and fathers, listen to my defense, which I am now going to make to you.”

² When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect,^[ah] they became even more quiet.

Then he said, ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict ways of the law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way to the death, tying up and throwing both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I even received letters from them to the brothers, and I was going to Damascus to bring back those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem so that they could be punished.

⁶ “While I was on the way and approaching Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸ “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹ “Those who were with me saw the light,^[ai] but they did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰ “I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’

“The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told about everything you have been assigned to do.’ ¹¹ Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.

¹² “A man named Ananias lived there. He was a devout observer of the law and highly recommended by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He came to me, and as he stood beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ At that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ “Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear the sound of his voice. ¹⁵ For you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷ “When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance. ¹⁸ I saw the Lord telling me: ‘Hurry, get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹ “I said, ‘Lord, these people know that I went from one synagogue to another imprisoning and beating those who believed in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I stood by, giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were putting him to death.’

²¹ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

²² They were listening to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he is not fit to live!”

²³ When they started shouting and throwing off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be interrogated by whipping, in order to learn why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him for the whipping, Paul asked the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and who has not been found guilty by a proper trial?”

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and said, “What are you about to do?^[aj] This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷ The commander came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

He answered, “Yes.”

²⁸ Then the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.”

Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”

²⁹ Immediately, those who were about to interrogate him moved away from him. The commander was also alarmed when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen, because he had tied him up.

Paul on Trial Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰ The next day, since the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he untied him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Gentlemen,^[ak] brothers, I have lived my life before God with a completely clear conscience to this very day.”

² But the high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there judging me according to the law, and then you order them to strike me contrary to the law!”

⁴ Those who were standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵ Paul replied, “I did not know, brothers, that he is the high priest. Indeed, it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’”^[al]

⁶ When Paul realized that some of them were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he shouted out in the Sanhedrin, “Gentlemen, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope for the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷ When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in them all.) ⁹ Then there was a great uproar, and some of the experts in the law who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly: “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”^[am]

¹⁰ The uproar became so great that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He commanded the soldiers to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹ The following night the Lord stood next to Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have solemnly testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

The Plot to Kill Paul

¹² When day came, the Jews^[an] formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath, saying that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who took part in this plot.

¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath not to taste anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now then, you and the Sanhedrin file charges with the commander so that he will bring him down to you^[ao] as if you were going to make a more thorough examination of his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets close to this place.”

¹⁶ But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush, he went into the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸ So he brought him to the commander and said, “The prisoner Paul called for me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹ The commander took him by the hand, led him aside, and asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰ He said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as if they want to gain more accurate information about him. ²¹ Don’t let them persuade you, because more than forty of their men are waiting in ambush for him. They have bound themselves under a solemn oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready right now, waiting for your consent.”

²² So the commander dismissed the young man with this order: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported these things to me.”

²³ Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready, along with seventy cavalry and two hundred spearmen, to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.^{[ap] 24} Also provide mounts so that they can put Paul on one and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵ He wrote a letter as follows:

³¹ So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and brought him to Antipatris during the night. ³² The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. ³³ When the cavalry came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor, and they handed Paul over to him.

³⁴ After the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul should be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

Paul on Trial Before Felix

24 Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. They brought formal charges against Paul to the governor.

² When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “We are enjoying a long period of peace because of you, most excellent Felix, and reforms are coming to this nation because of your foresight. ³ In every way and in every place, we acknowledge this with all gratitude. ⁴ But in order not to detain you any longer, I beg you in your kindness to give us a brief hearing. ⁵ For we have found this man to be a public menace, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the Nazarene sect. ⁶ He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we arrested him.^{[ar] 8} By examining him yourself, you will be able to learn from him about all these accusations we are bringing against him.”

⁹ The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰ When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense. ¹¹ You can verify for yourself that it was no more than twelve days ago when I went up to worship at Jerusalem. ¹² They did not find me arguing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the accusations they are now making against me.

¹⁴ “But I do confess to you that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything written throughout the Law and in the Prophets; ¹⁵ and I have the same hope in God that these men have, that there is going to be a resurrection^[as] of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶ This is the reason I continue to do my best to have a clear conscience toward both God and people.

¹⁷ “After several years, I came to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings. ¹⁸ While I was doing these things, they found me ceremonially purified in the temple, without a crowd or disturbance. ¹⁹ But there are some Jews from the province of Asia who ought to be here before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Or let these men here state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, ²¹ unless this is about the one thing I shouted while standing in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

²² Then Felix,^[at] because he was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the proceedings. He said, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³ He ordered the centurion to guard Paul, but to let him have some freedom and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.

²⁴ Several days later, Felix appeared in public with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ While Paul instructed him about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and replied, “Leave me for now, but when it is convenient, I will send for you.” ²⁶ At the same time, he was also hoping that Paul would give him money,^[au] and for this reason he sent for him as often as possible and talked with him.

²⁷ After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus. But because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.

Paul on Trial Before Festus

25 Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² Then the high priests and the leaders of the Jews brought formal charges against Paul ³ and asked Festus for the favor of transferring Paul’s case to Jerusalem. Their plan was to ambush and kill Paul along the way.

⁴ However, Festus replied that Paul was being held in custody at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there soon. ⁵ “Therefore,” he said, “let some of your leaders go down with me and press charges against him, if there is anything evil about the man.”

⁶ After spending no more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, he sat on the judicial bench and ordered Paul to be brought in.

⁷ When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they could not prove. ⁸ Paul said in his defense, “I have not committed any offense against the Jewish law, against the temple, or against Caesar.”

⁹ But since Festus wanted to do the Jews a favor, he said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?”

¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judicial bench, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as also you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If I am guilty and have done something worthy of death, I am not trying to escape death. But if there is nothing to the charges they are making against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹² After Festus conferred with his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

Paul’s Hearing Before Agrippa

¹³ Some days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were going to stay there a number of days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king. He said, “There is a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix. ¹⁵ When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked for a sentence of condemnation against him.

¹⁶ “I answered them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over any man^[av] before the accused has met the accusers face to face and has had an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation.

¹⁷ “Therefore, after they came back here with me, I did not delay. On the next day I took my place on the judicial bench and ordered the man to be brought in. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they charged him with none of the crimes I was expecting. ¹⁹ Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, but who Paul claimed is alive. ²⁰ Since I was at a loss how to investigate these issues, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there concerning these charges. ²¹ But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody until his majesty the emperor would decide his case, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

²² Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.”

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”

²³ So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the courtroom together with the commanders and the most prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in.

²⁴ Festus said, “King Agrippa and all the men who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish crowd petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that he has done nothing that deserves death. Yet, since he appealed to his majesty the emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this preliminary hearing I may have something to write. ²⁷ Indeed, it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without clearly indicating what the charges are against him.”

26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. ² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am going to make my defense before you today concerning all the things about which I am being accused by the Jews, ³ especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “All the Jews know the way I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion.

⁶ “And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷ the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. I am being accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O King. ⁸ Why does it seem unbelievable to any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I too was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ I often tried to make them blaspheme by punishing them throughout all the synagogues. Because I was so insanely angry with them, I even pursued them to foreign cities.

¹² “That is how I came to be traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ At noon along the road, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect,^[aw] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’^[ax]

¹⁵ “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen^[ay] and to the things I will reveal to you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. ¹⁸ You are to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ Rather, I first told those in Damascus and Jerusalem about it, and then throughout the entire country of Judea and also the Gentiles. I told them that they should repent and turn to God, while also doing works that are consistent with repentance. ²¹ These are the reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²² “But I have had help from God right up to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would happen, ²³ that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ While Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵ But Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am clearly speaking words that are true and sensible. ²⁶ Certainly the king to whom I am freely speaking knows about these things. Indeed, I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, because this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you going to persuade me to become^[az] a Christian?”

²⁹ Paul replied, “I pray God, that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you, but also all those who are listening to me today would become what I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰ After he had said these things,^[ba] the king stood up, along with the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. ³¹ After they had left, they said to one another in private, “This man is doing nothing worthy of death or chains.”

³² Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Paul Sails for Rome

27 When it was decided that we^[bb] would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment. ² After boarding a ship from Adramyttium, which was going to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

³ The next day, we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care. ⁴ From there we put out to sea and sailed on the sheltered side of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ We crossed the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia and landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. ⁷ We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Since the wind did not permit us to go further, we sailed on the sheltered side of Crete, off Salmone. ⁸ With difficulty we sailed along its coast and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹ Since so much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the Fast^[bc] was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, it looks to me as if the voyage is going to end with disaster and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and the owner of the ship than to what Paul was saying. ¹² Since that harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix and winter there. (Phoenix is a harbor on Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.) ¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they could carry out their plan. They raised the anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.

The Storm

¹⁴ But before long, a hurricane-like wind, called the “northeaster,” rushed down from the island. ¹⁵ Since the ship was caught in it and could not head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ As we sailed on the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to secure the skiff.^{[bd] 17} After hoisting it on board, the men tied ropes around the ship to reinforce it. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and in this way were driven along. ¹⁸ Because we were tossed around so violently by the storm, the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the violent storm kept pressing down on us, finally all hope that we would be saved was disappearing.

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and not set sail from Crete and avoided this damage and loss. ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because there will be no loss of life among you. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ In fact, last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And surely God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, because I believe God that it will be exactly the way I have been told. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on some island.”

The Shipwreck

²⁷ When the fourteenth night came, while we were being driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea,^[be] about midnight the sailors suspected that they were approaching some land. ²⁸ They took soundings and found it to be one hundred twenty feet deep.^[bf] After sailing a little farther, they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep.^{[bg] 29} Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

³⁰ The sailors tried to escape from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it fall away.

³³ Just before daybreak, Paul urged them all to eat some food. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you have waited in suspense and have gone without food. You have eaten nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food because this is important for your rescue. In fact, not a hair from any of your heads will be lost.” ³⁵ After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ They were all encouraged and took some food themselves. ³⁷ In all there were 276 of us on the ship. ³⁸ When they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.

³⁹ At daybreak, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they planned to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ They cut off the anchors, leaving them in the sea, and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then, after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed for the beach. ⁴¹ But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, while the stern began to break up from the pounding of the waves.

⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one would swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion wanted to save Paul and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make their way to land. ⁴⁴ The rest were to follow, some on planks, and some on other pieces from the ship. In this way, all of them were brought safely onto land.

Safe on Malta

28 Once we were safely on shore, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² The natives showed us extraordinary kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all, because it had started to rain and was cold.

³ As Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and laid it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he escaped from the sea, Justice^[bh] has not allowed him to live.”

⁵ However, Paul shook the snake off into the fire and was not harmed. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited for a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷ In the nearby vicinity was an estate that belonged to a man named Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as his guests for three days. ⁸ The father of Publius happened to be sick in bed, suffering from a fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, prayed, laid his hands on him, and healed him.

⁹ After that happened, others on the island who were sick also came and were healed. ¹⁰ They honored us in many ways, and when we were going to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

On to Rome

¹¹ After three months, we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island. Its figurehead was the Twin Brothers.^{[bi] 12} We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we sailed up the coast and arrived at Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some brothers^[bj] and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers there heard the news about us and came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and was encouraged.

God’s Witness Reaches Rome

¹⁶ When we entered Rome,^[bk] Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier who guarded him.