Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ The police returned to the city officers. They told them what Paul had said. The officers now understood that Paul and Silas were citizens of Rome. This made them very afraid. ³⁹ So they went to see Paul and Silas in the prison. They told Paul and Silas that they were very sorry. Then they led Paul and Silas out of the prison. They asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After Paul and Silas left the prison, they went to Lydia's house. There they met the other believers. They spoke to the believers to make them strong. Then Paul and Silas left Philippi.^[a]

What happened in Thessalonica

17 Paul and his friends continued their journey. They went through the two towns called Amphipolis and Apollonia.^[b] Then they arrived in the city of Thessalonica. There was a Jewish meeting place there. ² Paul went to the meeting place, as he usually did on a Jewish day of rest. On three rest days, he spoke God's message to the people there. He read from the Bible and he explained what it meant. ³ He told the people what was true about God's Messiah. He used the Bible to show them clearly that the Messiah had to suffer and die. He also showed them that the Messiah had to become alive again. Paul said to them, ‘I have been telling you about Jesus. He is the Messiah that God has sent to us.’

⁴ Some of the Jews believed Paul's message. They joined the group with Paul and Silas. A large number of Greek people who now worshipped God also joined this group.^[c] Many important women in the city also believed and they joined the group.

⁵ Some other Jews in the city were jealous of Paul and Silas, because people believed their message. So they went to the city's market place and they found some bad men there. These men often caused trouble in the city. Now the Jews brought these men to come together with them in an angry crowd. This crowd made a lot of noise and trouble in the streets of the city. They went to Jason's house and they broke down his door. They wanted to find Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them out of the house to the crowd. ⁶ But they did not find Paul and Silas there. So they took hold of Jason and some other believers. They pulled them out of the house. They made them go and stand in front of the important officers of the city. They shouted, ‘These men have caused much trouble everywhere. Now they have come to our city. ⁷ Jason has let them stay in his house. They speak against the laws that Caesar has given to us. They say that there is another king. This other king is called Jesus.’

⁸ The whole crowd of people and the important officers heard this report about Paul and Silas. They became very angry and upset. ⁹ The officers decided how much money Jason and the other believers should pay to go free. When they received it, they allowed them to go.

Many people in Berea believe Paul's message

¹⁰ As soon as it became dark, the believers in Thessalonica sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived in that town, they went to the Jewish meeting place. ¹¹ The Jewish people in Berea were better than the people in Thessalonica. They were happy to listen carefully to Paul. Every day they also studied the Bible. They wanted to know if Paul's message was true. ¹² Many of the Jewish people in Berea believed the good news about Jesus. Many Greek men and some important Greek women also believed in Jesus.

¹³ But the Jews in Thessalonica heard news about what Paul was doing in Berea. They heard that he was telling people God's message about Jesus. So some of them went to Berea. They said bad things against Paul to the people there. As a result, a large crowd became angry with Paul. ¹⁴ Immediately, the believers in Berea sent Paul away to go to the coast. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. ¹⁵ When Paul left Berea, some men went with him. They went with him as far as the city of Athens.^[d] Before these men returned to Berea, Paul gave them a message for Silas and Timothy. He said, ‘Please come quickly and meet me here in Athens.’

Paul visits Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he walked around. He saw that the people in the city had many idols. When Paul saw this, he became very upset. ¹⁷ So he went to the Jewish meeting place and he talked with the Jews. He also talked there with those Gentiles who now worshipped God. Every day he also went to the market place in the city and he talked with the people there. ¹⁸ There were some teachers there who liked to talk about the things that people should believe. Some of them were called Epicureans and some were called Stoics.^[e] After they talked to Paul, some of them said to each other, ‘Who is this silly man? He knows nothing and he talks too much!’ But some of these teachers said, ‘We think that he is talking about strange gods.’ They said this because Paul was telling people the good news about Jesus. He was also talking about the time when God will cause dead people to live again.

¹⁹ So these men asked Paul to go with them to Areopagus hill. They wanted him to speak to the city's important officers who met there.^{[f] 20} The officers said, ‘These strange ideas that you are teaching surprise us. Please explain to us what these ideas mean.’ ²¹ (The people of Athens liked to talk about new ideas. So did the foreign people who lived there. They all wanted to hear new things and to talk about them. They seemed to do this all the time.)

²² So Paul stood up in front of the important officers of the city. He said to them, ‘People of Athens. I see that you have many gods. ²³ I have walked in the streets of your city. I see that you have built many special places where you worship your gods. I saw one altar with a notice on it. The notice said, “To the god that we do not know.” This shows that you want to worship a god that you do not know. Now I will tell you clearly about who this God is.

²⁴ The true God made the earth and everything that is in it. He rules everything in the earth and in heaven. He does not live in any buildings that people have made for him. ²⁵ People make things to give to God. But God does not need anything like that. It is God himself who causes everyone to live. He gives them everything that they need. ²⁶ God first made one man. From that one man he made all the different groups of people. He caused them to live in different places all over the world. He decided where each group of people should live. He also decided how long they should live in each place. ²⁷ God did all this so that people would want to know him. They would look carefully for him and perhaps they would find him. Really, God is near to each of us. ²⁸ Someone said this: “Because God gives us life, we are alive. Because of him, we can move about. Because of him we can be who we are.” One of your writers has also said, “We too are God's children.”

²⁹ So, because we are God's children, we should not think that he is a thing like an idol. Clever people use gold or silver or stone to make images of gods. But God is not like these things that people choose to make for themselves. ³⁰ In past times people did not know the true things about God. Because of this, God did not punish them. But now God tells people everywhere, “Stop doing bad things and turn to me!” ³¹ God has already chosen one special day. On that day he will judge everyone in the world in a completely right way. He has chosen a man who will do this for him. He has shown clearly to everyone who that man is. He showed it like this: People killed that man. But God caused him to live again.’

³² Paul had said, ‘God caused that man to live again.’ When the people heard this, some of them laughed at him. But other people said to Paul, ‘We want you to tell us more about this on another day.’ ³³ So then Paul left the meeting of the important officers of the city. ³⁴ Some of the people who had heard Paul's message joined his group. They believed the good news about Jesus. One of these believers was a man called Dionysius. He belonged to the group of important officers. A woman called Damaris also became a believer. Several other people also believed Paul's message about Jesus.

Paul visits Corinth

18 After Paul had spoken to the important officers of Athens, he left the city. He went from there to the city of Corinth.^[g]

² In Corinth, he met a man called Aquila. Aquila was a Jew. He had been born in the region of Pontus. At that time, Caesar Claudius had said that all Jews must leave Rome. So Aquila had left Italy and he had just arrived in Corinth with his wife Priscilla. Paul went to visit them. ³ They knew how to make tents which they could sell to people. Paul also made tents, so he stayed with them and he worked with them.

⁴ Every Jewish day of rest, Paul taught both Jews and Greek people in the Jewish meeting place. He wanted them all to believe the good news about Jesus.

⁵ Then Silas and Timothy arrived there from the country called Macedonia. After that, the only work that Paul did was to teach people God's message. He told the Jews clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah. ⁶ The Jews did not agree with Paul and they insulted him. So he shook the dirt off his clothes at them.^[h] He said to them, ‘If God punishes you, then you have caused it to happen. It will not be because of me. Now I will go to the Gentiles and I will teach them God's message.’

⁷ So Paul did not speak in the Jewish meeting place any more.^[i] Instead, he went to the house of Titius Justus, which was next to the meeting place. Justus was a Gentile who now worshipped God. ⁸ A man called Crispus was the leader of the Jewish meeting place there. He, and everyone else who lived in his house, believed in the Lord Jesus. Many other people in Corinth heard Paul's message and they believed in Jesus. When they became believers, someone baptized them.

⁹ But one night, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision. He said, ‘Do not be afraid of those people who are against you. Continue to speak my message to the people here. Do not stop speaking to them. ¹⁰ I am here with you. Nobody will hurt you. There are many people in this city who will believe in me.’

¹¹ So Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months and he taught the people God's message about Jesus.

¹² Gallio then became the Roman ruler of the region called Achaia.^[j] At this time the Jewish leaders in Corinth decided together to speak against Paul. So they took hold of him and they brought him to Gallio. They wanted Gallio to judge Paul.

¹³ The Jewish leaders said to Gallio, ‘This man is teaching people to worship God in a wrong way. The things that he teaches are against our Jewish law.’

¹⁴ Paul was ready to speak, but Gallio spoke first to the Jews. He said, ‘If this man had done a very bad thing, then I would judge him. It would be right for me to listen to you. ¹⁵ But you are arguing about words and names and your own Jewish law. So you yourselves must decide what to do about it. I will not be a judge to decide about these things.’ ¹⁶ Then Gallio told his soldiers to take the Jewish leaders away. ¹⁷ Then the whole crowd of people took hold of a man called Sosthenes. He was the leader of the Jewish meeting place there. The crowd hit him with sticks in front of Gallio. But Gallio did nothing to stop them. He did not think it was important.

Paul travels from Corinth to Antioch

¹⁸ Paul remained in Corinth with the believers for many days. Then he left them. Priscilla and Aquila also went with him. They went to the port called Cenchrea. They got on a ship there to sail to Syria. Before they left, someone cut off all the hair on Paul's head. This showed that he had made a promise to God.^[k]

¹⁹ They all arrived in the city of Ephesus. Paul left Priscilla and Aquila, and he went into the Jewish meeting room. There he talked about God's message with the Jews. ²⁰ Some of them asked Paul to remain in Ephesus with them for a longer time. But he did not agree to stay. ²¹ Before he left, he said to them, ‘If God wants me to come back, I will return to you.’ Then Paul got in a ship and he sailed from Ephesus to Caesarea. ²² After Paul arrived in Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem. He said, ‘hello’ to the group of believers there. Then he travelled to Antioch in Syria.

²³ He stayed in Antioch for some time. Then he left there and he travelled through the regions called Galatia and Phrygia. He spoke to all the believers in these places. He helped them to trust God and to be strong.

These are some of the things that Apollos did

²⁴ A certain Jewish man called Apollos arrived in Ephesus. He had been born in Alexandria, and he could teach people very well.^[l] He knew a lot about God's message in the Bible. ²⁵ Someone had taught him the good news about the Lord Jesus. He liked to speak a lot to people about Jesus. The things that he taught were true. But he only knew part of God's message. He only knew the things that John taught about baptism. ²⁶ Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place and he taught the people there. He was not afraid to speak God's message to them. Priscilla and Aquila heard what Apollos was teaching the people. So they said to him, ‘Please come with us to our home.’ Then they explained to Apollos the whole of God's message about Jesus. Then he could understand better.

²⁷ Later, Apollos decided to go to the region called Achaia. The believers in Ephesus agreed that he should do that. They wrote a letter for him to give to the believers in Achaia. They wrote, ‘When Apollos arrives, please accept him.’ God had been very kind to the believers in Achaia, so that they believed in Jesus. When Apollos came to them, he helped them very much. ²⁸ Some of the Jews there spoke against Apollos's message. But he argued strongly against them so that everyone could hear. He explained to them what God had said in the Bible. He showed them clearly that Jesus is God's Messiah.

Paul speaks in Ephesus about Jesus

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the region of Asia. He arrived in Ephesus and he found some believers there. ² Paul asked them, ‘When you believed the message about Jesus, did you receive God's Holy Spirit?’

The believers answered, ‘We did not even know that there is a Holy Spirit.’

³ So Paul asked them, ‘When someone baptized you, what kind of baptism was that?’

‘We received the baptism that John spoke about,’ they answered.

⁴ Then Paul said, ‘John baptized people who knew that they had done wrong things. They wanted to stop doing these things. But John also said to the people, “You must believe in the man who will come soon.” This person is Jesus.’ ⁵ When the believers in Ephesus understood this, Paul baptized them. This showed that they now believed in the Lord Jesus. ⁶ Then Paul put his hands on each believer's head. When he did this, the Holy Spirit came down on them. They spoke in different languages and they spoke messages from God. ⁷ There were about 12 men there.

⁸ For three months, Paul went to the Jewish meeting place in Ephesus on their day of rest. He was not afraid to speak to the people there. He talked strongly with them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But some of them did not accept what Paul said. They refused to believe the message about Jesus. Some of them said bad things against the Way of the Lord Jesus and many people in the group heard this. So Paul stopped speaking to people in that meeting place. He left there and he took with him the other believers. Every day he talked with people in another place. It was a large room, where a man called Tyrannus usually taught people. ¹⁰ Paul taught the people there for two years. During that time, all the people who lived in Asia region heard the message about the Lord Jesus. This included Jews and Gentiles.

The sons of Sceva tell bad spirits to leave people

¹¹ God was helping Paul to do special miracles. ¹² Because of this, people were taking pieces of cloth and clothes that Paul gave to them. Paul had used these things, and people took them to those who were ill. After they touched these cloths, the sick people would become well again. Bad spirits also left them.

¹³ There were some Jewish men who travelled about to different places. They caused bad spirits to leave people. Some of them wanted to use the name of the Lord Jesus when they did this. These Jews said to the bad spirits, ‘We tell you to come out of these people. We say this with the authority of Jesus, the man that Paul teaches people about.’

¹⁴ Sceva was a leader of the Jewish priests in that place. He had seven sons who were telling bad spirits to come out of people. They used the name of Jesus when they did this. ¹⁵ But one day the bad spirit in a man said to them, ‘I know who Jesus is. I also know about Paul. But I do not know who you are.’ ¹⁶ The man who had the bad spirit in him then jumped up. He fought with the seven sons and he was too strong for them. He hurt them badly and he tore their clothes off. So the sons ran away from the man's house. Their bodies were bleeding and they wore no clothes.

¹⁷ All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this. They became very afraid. Now they respected the name of the Lord Jesus very much. They knew that he was very powerful. ¹⁸ Many of the believers agreed that they had done wicked things. They told other believers about this. ¹⁹ Some of them had used magic to do powerful things. These people brought all their special books and they burned them in a fire. Everybody saw what they did. The books had cost a lot of money. The value of all the books was 50,000 silver coins. ²⁰ As a result of this, more and more people heard the good news about the Lord Jesus. The message was powerful and people's lives changed.

Bad troubles happen in Ephesus

²¹ After these things happened, Paul decided that he should go to Jerusalem. But first he wanted to visit the believers in Macedonia and Greece. He said, ‘After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also go to Rome.’ ²² At that time, Timothy and Erastus were helping Paul with his work. Paul sent them to Macedonia while he stayed longer in Asia region.

²³ Soon after that, there was bad trouble in Ephesus. Some people began to speak strongly against the Way of the Lord Jesus. ²⁴ In Ephesus there was a man called Demetrius. He used silver to make beautiful things. He made models that looked like the temple of Artemis.^[m] He paid a lot of money to people who did this work for him. ²⁵ So he told all his workers to meet with him. He also asked other workers to come, who did the same kind of work. He said to all these men, ‘Men, you know that our work has caused us to become rich. ²⁶ Also, you can see what this man Paul is doing. You have heard his message. Many people here in Ephesus, and in nearly all the places in Asia region, believe what he says. Paul teaches people this: “Anything that men have made is not really a god.” ²⁷ If people continue to believe Paul's message, it will be very bad for us. People will say bad things against our work. The house of our god Artemis will not be important any more. People will even think that Artemis herself is not a great god. As it is now, people in all of Asia region and everywhere else worship her. We do not want that to change.’

²⁸ When the workers heard Demetrius, they became very angry. They all shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’ ²⁹ More and more people in the whole city began to shout. There was trouble everywhere. Gaius and Aristarchus had been travelling with Paul. They had come with him from Macedonia. Some people from the crowd took hold of Gaius and Aristarchus. They pulled them quickly to the big public meeting place in the middle of the city.^[n]

³⁰ Paul himself wanted to go there. He wanted to speak to the crowd. But the other believers would not let him do that. ³¹ Some Roman officers in that region were Paul's friends. They also sent a message to him. They said to him, ‘Please, do not go to the meeting place.’

³² The crowd of people in the meeting place continued to shout loudly. Some people were shouting one thing and other people were shouting something different. Not many of the people even knew why they had all met together. ³³ There was a Jewish man called Alexander in the crowd. The Jews pushed him to the front of the crowd. He raised his hands towards the people, so that they would be quiet. He wanted to explain to them that he and his Jewish friends had not caused the trouble. ³⁴ But the crowd knew that Alexander was a Jew. So they continued to shout the same words for about two hours. All together they shouted, ‘Our god Artemis of Ephesus is very great!’

³⁵ After two hours, an important officer of the city caused the crowd to be quiet. He said, ‘People of Ephesus! Everybody knows about our god Artemis who has her temple here in Ephesus. People come here to worship her. Her special stone that fell from the sky is also here in Ephesus. We take care of all her things. Everybody knows that! ³⁶ Nobody can say that this is not true. So be careful! Do not quickly do anything that is silly. ³⁷ You have brought Gaius and Aristarchus here to the city officers' meeting place. But what bad thing have they done? They have not robbed the house of Artemis. They have not said bad things against her. ³⁸ Perhaps Demetrius and his workers think that someone has done a bad thing to them. If they think that, they should let a judge decide. There are officers for the government who will do this. If someone has done a wrong thing, people should tell a judge.

³⁹ So, if you want to argue about these problems any more, do it properly. Go to the place where the judges meet. ⁴⁰ Today, there is a crowd of people who are shouting and fighting. The Roman rulers may hear about what has happened. They will say that we have done bad things. We could not explain to them the reason why there is all this trouble.’ ⁴¹ When the officer had said all this, he said to the crowd, ‘All of you should go home now.’

Paul visits Macedonia and Greece again

20 After that, the trouble in Ephesus finished. Then Paul asked the believers to meet together with him. He spoke to them to help them. He told them to be strong and to trust God. Then he said ‘goodbye’ to them. After that he left them and he travelled on to Macedonia. ² He visited many places in that region. He spoke to the believers in each place. He helped them to be strong. After that, he arrived in Greece.^[o]

³ Paul stayed in Greece for three months. One day, he was preparing to travel to Syria by ship. But then he heard news that some Jews wanted to kill him on the journey. So he decided to travel through Macedonia and return to Jerusalem.^[p]

⁴ These are the men who went with Paul: Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia region. ⁵ These men had all left by ship before we did. When they arrived in Troas, they waited for us there.^[q]

⁶ As for us, we sailed by ship from Philippi, after the festival when the Jews eat flat bread.^[r]

After five days we arrived in Troas. We met the other men there and we all stayed there for seven days.

Paul visits the believers in Troas for the last time

⁷ On the Sunday evening, we met together with the believers. We broke bread into pieces and we shared it with each other. Paul spoke to the believers for a long time, until midnight. This was because he wanted to leave Troas the next day.

⁸ Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room where we met together. ⁹ A young man called Eutychus was at the meeting. He was sitting on the edge of a window. When Paul had talked for a long time, Eutychus started to sleep. When he was really sleeping, he fell out of the window. He dropped down a long way to the ground. Some of the believers lifted him up, but he was dead. ¹⁰ So Paul went down the stairs to them all. He lay on top of the young man and held him with his arms. Then Paul said to them all, ‘Do not be afraid. He is still alive.’ ¹¹ Paul went back upstairs. He shared bread with the believers and he ate more food. Paul talked to them for a long time, until the sun rose in the morning. Then he left Troas.

¹² The other believers took Eutychus to his home. They were very happy because he was alive.

Paul travels from Troas to Miletus

¹³ Paul decided to travel to Assos across the land. But we got on a ship and we sailed to Assos. We agreed with Paul that we would wait for him there. ¹⁴ When he met us at Assos, he came on the ship with us. Then we all sailed to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from there and we arrived the next day at the coast near Chios. The day after that, we came to Samos. The next day, we arrived at Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided to leave quickly from there. He did not want to visit Ephesus, because he did not want to remain in Asia for a long time. Instead, he wanted to travel to Jerusalem quickly. He wanted to arrive there before the day of the Pentecost festival.

Paul meets with the leaders of the believers

¹⁷ When we were in Miletus, Paul sent someone to Ephesus with a message. This message was for the leaders of the believers in Ephesus. Paul asked them to come to Miletus to meet him there. ¹⁸ When they arrived, Paul said to them, ‘You yourselves know about everything that I did here in Asia. You saw how I lived from the first day that I arrived in this region. I was with you for the whole time. ¹⁹ I did not say that I was an important man. Instead, I worked as a servant of the Lord Jesus. I often was sad because of trouble that came to me. Some Jewish people spoke against my message. They wanted to hurt me. ²⁰ But I have not been afraid to teach God's message. I have taught you everything that would help you. I have done this outside for everyone to hear. I have also taught you in your own homes. ²¹ I have taught the same things both to Jewish people and to Gentiles. I have said clearly to them all, “You must stop doing wrong things. Change the way that you live and turn to God. Believe in our Lord Jesus.”

²² Now I am going to Jerusalem. God's Holy Spirit has shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me there. ²³ But I do know that much trouble will come to me. The Holy Spirit has told me about that. He said to me, “People will put you in prison and they will hurt you.” ²⁴ But even if people kill me, this is not important to me. The Lord Jesus gave me some work to do. It is important that I finish his work. I must tell people the good news about how kind and good God is.

²⁵ I have lived among you and I have taught you all about the kingdom of God. But now I know that none of you will see me again. ²⁶ So I want to say this clearly to you today. If any of you have not believed in Jesus, it is not because of me. ²⁷ I have told you everything that God wants you to know. ²⁸ You who are leaders should be careful about how you live. Also take care of the group of people that the Holy Spirit has chosen you to lead. Keep them safe like shepherds who take care of their sheep. All the believers belong to God because his Son, Jesus, died for them. He bought them with his blood which poured out on the cross.

²⁹ I know that trouble will come to you after I leave. Bad people will come to teach you. They will cause trouble for the believers, like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep. ³⁰ Even men from your own group of believers will teach things that are not true. They want to deceive other believers, so that they leave you and join with them. ³¹ So be very careful! For three years I taught you, in the day and in the night. I warned you to be careful, so that I even cried about it.

³² Now I ask God to keep you safe. I brought God's message to you, which tells us how kind he is. That message will cause you to be strong. As a result, God will give to you all the good things that he has for his own special people. ³³ When I stayed among you, I did not ask you to give me money or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that I worked with my hands. I did that to get money. Then my friends and I could have the things that we needed. ³⁵ In this way I have shown you how you should live. You should work well so that you may help sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’

³⁶ Then Paul finished speaking. He went down on his knees together with the leaders of the believers. He prayed with them all. ³⁷ They all cried a lot, because Paul wanted to leave them. They hugged him and they kissed him to say ‘goodbye’. ³⁸ They were very sad because Paul had said, ‘I will never see you again.’

After that, they walked with Paul to the ship.

Paul goes to Jerusalem

21 We said ‘goodbye’ to the leaders of the believers from Ephesus. Then we went on a ship straight across the sea, and we arrived at Cos. The next day, we continued on our journey to Rhodes. From there we went to the town of Patara.^[s]

² At Patara, we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia. So we got onto the ship and we sailed across the sea.

³ After travelling for some time, we could see the island called Cyprus. We went south of Cyprus, and we continued as far as Syria. We arrived on the coast at the city of Tyre and we got off the ship. The ship would remain in Tyre for some days, because people had to remove the things off the ship. ⁴ We found some believers in the city. So we stayed with them for a week. The Holy Spirit showed these believers that trouble would come to Paul in Jerusalem. So they said to him, ‘Paul, you should not to go to Jerusalem.’

⁵ After a week with the believers in Tyre, it was time for us to leave them. All the believers, together with their wives and their children, went with us out of the city. At the beach, we all went down on our knees and we prayed together. ⁶ Then we said ‘goodbye’ to each other and the believers returned to their homes in the city. We went and we got on the ship again, together with Paul.

⁷ We continued our journey across the sea. We sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais. There, we met some believers and we stayed with them for one day. ⁸ The next day, we left Ptolemais and we sailed to Caesarea. We stayed there with Philip. He was someone who taught people the good news about Jesus. He was one of the seven men that the believers had chosen in Jerusalem.^{[t] 9} He had four daughters who were not married. They spoke messages from God.

¹⁰ We stayed with Philip in Caesarea for a few days. Then a man called Agabus arrived in the city from Judea. He was a prophet and he spoke messages from God. ¹¹ Agabus came to where we were. He took Paul's belt and he tied it around his own feet and hands. He said, ‘Listen to this message from the Holy Spirit. “The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will take hold of the man who has this belt. They will tie his hands and his feet. Then they will give him to the Gentiles to be their prisoner.” ’

¹² When we heard Agabus's message, we all said many times to Paul, ‘Please do not go to Jerusalem.’ ¹³ But Paul answered, ‘Stop crying like this! You are making me very sad! I am ready for men in Jerusalem to take hold of me. They may tie me up, and I may even die there. I am ready for all this because I believe in the Lord Jesus.’

¹⁴ We could not cause Paul to think in a different way. So we stopped saying to him, ‘You should not go to Jerusalem.’ Instead we said to him, ‘We want the Lord God to do what he wants.’

¹⁵ We stayed in Caesarea for a few days. Then we prepared ourselves to travel across land. We left there to go to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. They took us to the house of a man called Mnason. We had decided to stay with him. His home town was on the island called Cyprus. He had been a believer for a long time.

Paul visits James in Jerusalem

¹⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers there were very happy to welcome us. ¹⁸ The next day, we went with Paul to see James. The leaders of the believers were also there. ¹⁹ Paul said, ‘hello’ to them and then he told them everything about his work. God had helped him to do many good things for the Gentiles.

²⁰ After the leaders had listened to Paul, they praised God. Then they said, ‘Brother Paul, you can see the problem. There are now many thousands of Jews who have believed in Jesus. But they also really want to obey the Law of Moses.^{[u] 21} These Jews here have heard about what you teach Jewish people in other countries. They think that you say to them, “You do not need to obey the Law of Moses any longer. You do not need to circumcise your children. You do not need to live in the way that Jewish people usually live.”

²² We need to do something about this problem. These Jewish believers will certainly hear that you are in Jerusalem. ²³ We will tell you what you must do. There are four Jewish men in our group who have made a promise to God. ²⁴ You must go with these men to the temple. There, they will wash to make themselves clean in front of God. Join with them when they do that. Then pay the priest the money for their sacrifices. After that, the men can cut the hair off their heads. When you do that, everyone will understand about you. They will see what you have done. They will know that you yourself obey the Law of Moses. They will know that what they have heard about you is not true. ²⁵ But it is different for the Gentiles who believe in Jesus. We have already sent a letter to them. We wrote, “Do not eat any food that people have given to their idols. Do not eat anything that still has blood in it. If people have strangled an animal to kill it, do not eat its meat. Do not have sex with anyone that you are not married to.” ’

²⁶ So the next day, Paul went with the four men. He joined with them when they washed to make themselves clean in front of God. Then he went into the yard of the temple. He told the priest there when the four men would finish their promise to God. This would be after seven days. After that, each man would give an animal as a sacrifice to God.^[v]

²⁷ At the end of those seven days, some Jews from Asia region saw Paul in the temple. They said some bad things against Paul to the crowd. So the people became angry and they took hold of Paul. ²⁸ The Jews from Asia shouted, ‘People of Israel, come and help us! This is the man who goes everywhere and he teaches everyone bad things. He speaks against us, the people of Israel. He also speaks against the Law of Moses and against this temple. Now he has even brought some Gentiles into this temple. So now this special place is not clean in front of God any longer.’

²⁹ (These men had earlier seen Paul in the city with a man called Trophimus. Trophimus was a Gentile who came from Ephesus. They thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the temple. That is why they shouted bad things against Paul.)^[w]

³⁰ Many other people in the city heard about the trouble and they also became angry. They all ran from their homes to the temple and they took hold of Paul. Then they pulled him out of the temple and they closed the doors immediately.^[x]

³¹ The angry crowd was trying to kill Paul. But someone sent a message to the leader of the Roman soldiers. The message was, ‘People are fighting everywhere in the city.’

³² So the soldiers' leader quickly took some other officers and a large group of soldiers and they ran down to the crowd. The angry crowd of people saw the leader with his soldiers. So then they stopped hitting Paul.

³³ The Roman soldiers' leader went to Paul and he took hold of him. He said to his men, ‘Tie two chains round the arms of this man.’ Then he asked the people in the crowd, ‘Who is this man and what has he done?’

³⁴ Some people in the crowd shouted one thing and other people shouted something different. There was so much noise that the leader of the soldiers was not sure about the true facts. He did not know what had really happened. So he said to his soldiers, ‘Take this man up into our strong building!’ ³⁵ The soldiers then led Paul as far as the steps of their building. Then they had to carry him because the crowd was so angry. ³⁶ The crowd followed behind Paul and the soldiers. They were shouting, ‘Kill him!’

³⁷ While the soldiers were leading Paul into their building, he asked their leader, ‘Please may I say something to you?’

The soldiers' leader replied, ‘Oh! Do you speak the Greek language? ³⁸ I thought that you must be that bad man who came from Egypt. He was the one who fought against our Roman government. Some time ago, he led 4,000 of his own men out into the wilderness, with their weapons.’

³⁹ Paul answered, ‘I am a Jew and I was born in Tarsus in the region called Cilicia. So you see, I am a man from an important city. Please, let me speak to this crowd.’

⁴⁰ The leader of the soldiers said to Paul, ‘Yes, you may speak to the people.’ So Paul stood still on the steps of the soldiers' building. He raised his hands towards them so that the people became quiet. Then he spoke to them in Aramaic, the Jewish people's own language.

Paul speaks to the crowd in Jerusalem

22 Paul said to the crowd, ‘Please, listen to me, you Jewish leaders and all you other people who are Jews like me. I want to explain to you what has happened here.’

² The crowd heard Paul speaking to them in their own Hebrew language. So they became really quiet.

Paul continued to speak. He said, ³ ‘I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus in the region of Cilicia. I lived here in Jerusalem when I was a boy. I studied God's Law for many years and Gamaliel was my teacher.^[y] I learned very well how to obey the laws of our ancestors. I tried to obey God as carefully as all of you do today.

⁴ I caused great trouble to the disciples of Jesus. I even wanted to kill them. I took hold of them and I put them in prison. I did that to both men and women. ⁵ The most important priest and all the group of Jewish leaders can tell you that this is true. They gave me letters for the Jewish leaders in Damascus. So I travelled to Damascus to take hold of the believers in that city. I wanted to tie them up and bring them back to Jerusalem. Then the leaders here could punish them.’

Paul tells the crowd how he began to believe in Jesus

⁶ Paul continued to say, ‘As I was travelling, I came near to Damascus. About midday, a bright light from the sky suddenly shone round me. ⁷ I fell down to the ground. Then I heard a voice that said to me, “Saul, Saul, why do you fight against me?”

⁸ “Lord, who are you?” I asked.

He said to me, “I am Jesus from Nazareth. And you are fighting against me.” ⁹ The men who travelled with me saw the light. But they did not understand the voice that spoke to me.

¹⁰ I asked, “Lord, what must I do?” He said to me, “Get up now and go into Damascus. When you arrive in the city, someone will come to you. He will tell you what God wants you to do.” ¹¹ The bright light hurt my eyes so that I could not see. So the men who were with me held my hand. They led me into Damascus.

¹² In Damascus, there was a man called Ananias. He worshipped God and he obeyed our Law. All the Jews in Damascus said good things about him. ¹³ Ananias came to see me. He stood near to me and he said, “Brother Saul, see again!” Then immediately I could see again. I could look at him.

¹⁴ Then Ananias said to me, “The God that we worship and our ancestors worshipped has chosen you. He will tell you what he wants you to do. God has let you see his special servant, who is completely good. You have heard this servant's message to you. ¹⁵ You will tell people everywhere about the things that you have seen and heard. That is what God wants you to do. ¹⁶ So now you do not need to wait any longer. Stand up and I will baptize you. Believe in the Lord Jesus so that God will forgive you for your sins.”

¹⁷ So then I returned to Jerusalem. I went into the temple and I was praying there. I had a vision. ¹⁸ In the vision, I saw the Lord and he spoke to me. He said, “Hurry. Leave Jerusalem quickly. The people here will not believe what you say to them about me.”

¹⁹ I replied, “Lord, the people here know what I have been doing. They know that I wanted to take hold of all the people who believed in you. I went to all our Jewish meeting places to look for the believers. When I found them, I put them in prison and I hit them with sticks. ²⁰ I myself was there when the people killed Stephen. He was your servant who told people your message. But I agreed that it was right to kill him. I even held the coats of the people while they killed him.”

²¹ But the Lord said to me, “Go! I will now send you a long way away. You must go to the Gentiles and tell them my message.” ’

The people in the crowd become very angry with Paul

²² The people listened carefully to Paul until he spoke about the Gentiles. Then they began to shout loudly, ‘Take him away! Kill him! It is not right that he should live any longer!’

²³ While they were shouting this, they were taking off their coats. They also threw dirt from the ground up into the air.^[z]

²⁴ The leader of the soldiers said to his men, ‘Take this man into our building. Then hit him with whips. We must find out what he has done. He must tell us why the Jews are shouting so loudly against him.’^[aa]

²⁵ So the soldiers tied Paul's arms and they were ready to hit him. But Paul spoke to the soldiers' officer who stood near to him. He said, ‘I am a citizen of Rome. So it is not right for you to hit me like that. No judge has agreed that I have done anything wrong.’

²⁶ The officer heard what Paul said. So he went to the leader of the soldiers and he said, ‘That man is a citizen of Rome! Be careful what you do to him!’

²⁷ So the soldiers' leader went to speak to Paul. He asked him, ‘Tell me. Are you really a citizen of Rome?’

Paul answered, ‘Yes, I am.’

²⁸ The soldiers' leader said, ‘I paid a lot of money to the government so that I could become a citizen of Rome.’

Paul replied, ‘But I was already a citizen of Rome when I was born.’

²⁹ Immediately, the men who wanted to hit Paul with whips moved away from him. The leader of the soldiers was also very afraid. He had tied chains around Paul's arms and legs. He knew that he should not have done that to a citizen of Rome.^[ab]

³⁰ The soldiers' leader wanted to find the reason why the Jews had said bad things against Paul. He wanted to know what was really true. So the next day, he told his soldiers to remove the chains from Paul. He sent a message to the most important priest and to all the group of Jewish leaders. He told them to meet together with him. Then he took Paul to their meeting. He made Paul stand in front of them.

Paul speaks to the meeting of Jewish leaders

23 Paul looked at the group of Jewish leaders and he said to them, ‘My Jewish friends, God knows that I have nothing to be ashamed about today. I have always respected God's Laws.’ ² The most important priest, who was called Ananias, heard Paul's words. He said to the men who were near Paul, ‘Hit that man on his mouth!’ ³ Paul said to him, ‘God will certainly hit you! You are a hypocrite!^[ac] You are sitting there and you are judging me. You are asking if I obey the Law of God. But you yourself do not obey the Law! You should not have said, “Hit that man!” ’

⁴ The men who were standing near Paul said to him, ‘You must not say bad things against our most important priest!’

⁵ Paul replied, ‘My brothers, I did not know that this man is the most important priest.^[ad] Our Jewish law says, “Do not say bad things against the man who rules your people.” So I should not have said anything bad against him.’

⁶ Then Paul saw that there were some Sadducees and also some Pharisees in the meeting. So he shouted out to the whole group of Jewish leaders, ‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee! My father was also a Pharisee. I believe that dead people will certainly rise and they will live again. That is the reason why you are judging me today.’

⁷ As soon as Paul said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees began to argue with each other. People in the group thought different things about Paul. ⁸ (The Sadducees do not believe that dead people will live again. They do not believe that there are angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in all these things.)

⁹ The Sadducees and the Pharisees began to shout louder and louder against each other. There were some teachers of God's Law who were in the group of Pharisees. They stood up in the meeting and they said, ‘We do not believe that this man has done anything wrong. What he says may be true. A spirit or an angel may have spoken to him.’

¹⁰ The two groups argued more and more strongly. The leader of the soldiers thought that the people there might hurt Paul badly. So he said to his soldiers, ‘Go down into the group and take Paul away from them. Take him back with you into our strong building.’

¹¹ The next night, the Lord Jesus came and he stood near Paul. He said to Paul, ‘Do not be afraid! You have told people here in Jerusalem about me. You must also do the same thing in Rome.’

The Jews in Jerusalem decide to kill Paul

¹² The next morning, a group of Jews talked together about how they might kill Paul. They agreed to make a promise to God. They would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. ¹³ More than 40 men were in the group that decided this. ¹⁴ They went to the leaders of the priests and the important Jews. They said to them, ‘We have agreed together to make a serious promise to God. We will not eat anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ So now we want you and the group of Jewish leaders to send a message to the leader of the Roman soldiers. Ask him, “Please bring Paul to the meeting of the Jewish leaders. We want to know more about the wrong things that he has done.” That will be the message. But, we will wait for Paul and we will be ready to kill him. We will do this before he arrives here at the meeting.’

¹⁶ But the son of Paul's sister heard what the Jews had decided to do. He went into the soldiers' building and he told Paul about it.

¹⁷ So Paul asked one of the soldiers' officers to come to him. He said, ‘Please take this young man to your leader. He has something important to tell him.’ ¹⁸ Then the officer led the young man to the soldiers' leader. He said to him, ‘Paul, who is here in the prison, spoke to me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.’

¹⁹ The leader of the soldiers held the young man's hand and he led him to another place. When they were alone, he asked the young man, ‘What do you want to tell me?’

²⁰ The young man said, ‘Some Jewish men have agreed together to send a message to you. They will ask you to take Paul down to the meeting of the Jewish leaders tomorrow. They will say that they want to ask him more questions. But that is not true. ²¹ Do not agree to do what they want. There are more than 40 men who will be hiding somewhere. They are waiting for Paul. They have made a serious promise to God. They will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are now ready to do this. They will be waiting to hear your answer.’

²² The leader of the soldiers said to him, ‘Do not tell anyone that you told me about this.’ Then he sent the young man away.

The soldiers' leader sends Paul to Felix

²³ Then the soldiers' leader told two of his officers to come to him. He said to them, ‘Tell 200 of our soldiers to prepare themselves. They must go to Caesarea at nine o'clock tonight. 70 soldiers who ride on horses must also go. There must also be another 200 soldiers with their weapons. ²⁴ Take some horses for Paul to ride on. Take him to Felix the Roman ruler, and keep him safe on the journey.’

²⁵ Then the soldiers' leader wrote a letter to Felix. He sent this message:

²⁶ ‘I, Claudius Lysias, write this letter. I say “hello” to you, Felix, our great ruler.

²⁷ I am sending this man to you. The Jews took hold of him and they wanted to kill him. I found out that he is a citizen of Rome. Because of that, I took my soldiers and I saved him from them. ²⁸ The Jews said that he had done some wrong things. I wanted to know what was really true, so I took him to a meeting of their leaders. ²⁹ The Jewish leaders said that he had not obeyed their own laws. But that was all. We could not put him in prison or kill him because of these things. That would not be right. ³⁰ But a group of Jews decided to kill him. Someone told me about this, so I decided to send him to you immediately. I have told the Jewish leaders also to come to you in Caesarea. They can then tell you why they say that this man has done bad things.’

³¹ The soldiers did what their leader had told them to do. They took Paul out from the prison in their building. That night, they took him as far as Antipatris. ³² The next day, the soldiers who had walked returned to their building in Jerusalem. But the soldiers who rode horses continued to travel with Paul.^[ae]

³³ When they arrived in Caesarea, they gave the letter to Felix, the ruler. They also brought Paul to him. ³⁴ Felix read the letter and he asked Paul, ‘Which Roman region are you from?’ Paul answered, ‘I am from Cilicia.’ ³⁵ Felix said, ‘When the Jews arrive, they will tell me about you. I will also listen to you. I will decide what is right.’

Felix then said to his soldiers, ‘Put this man in the prison in Herod's house. Guard him carefully!’

The Jews say bad things about Paul

24 Five days after that, Ananias, the leader of the priests, went to Caesarea. Some important Jews went with him. A man called Tertullus also went with them. He was a lawyer. All these people went to meet with Felix, the ruler. They told Felix what Paul had done. Felix would judge who was right. ² Felix told a soldier to bring Paul to the meeting. Then Tertullus began to speak against Paul. He said, ‘Sir, you have ruled us well for many years. Because of you, our country has had no wars for a long time. You have made new laws that are good for our country. You have thought well about how you should lead us. ³ Everywhere, the people are happy about what you have done. So we want to thank you very much for all these good things. ⁴ I do not want you to sit here for a long time. So I will speak for a short time about our problem. Please be kind to us and listen to me.

⁵ We know that this man brings trouble everywhere. Anywhere in the world that Jewish people live, he makes them angry. Then they all fight each other. He is the leader of a group called the Nazarenes.’^[af]

⁶ ‘He also did bad things in the temple that are against our laws. So we took hold of him.^[ag] [We wanted to judge him by what our own law says. ⁷ But Lysias, the leader of the soldiers, came to us. He attacked us and he took Paul away from us. ⁸ Then he told us to come and to speak to you about it.] You should ask this man some questions about what he has done. You will find out that what we say against him is true.’

⁹ The other Jews that were there also spoke against Paul. They said, ‘All these things that Tertullus has said are true.’

Paul tells Felix his own story

¹⁰ Then Felix raised his hand towards Paul to show that he should speak. So Paul said to Felix, ‘I know that you have judged the people in this region for many years. So now I am happy to tell you everything. ¹¹ I went to Jerusalem less than 12 days ago. You can check that that is true. I went there to worship God. ¹² When the Jews saw me in the temple, I was not arguing with anyone. I was not causing trouble among Jewish people in their meeting places. Nor did I cause problems in any other places in Jerusalem. ¹³ They have said bad things against me. But they cannot show you that these things are true. ¹⁴ What I do agree is this: I worship the same God that our Jewish ancestors worshipped. But I do this in the Way that Jesus has taught us. These men say that this is not the right way. But I believe in all God's Law that Moses wrote for us. I also believe in the messages that God's prophets have written in the Bible. ¹⁵ I also trust God like these men do. Like them, I believe that people will become alive again after death. God will do this for all people, both good people and bad people. ¹⁶ Because of that, I always try to do what is right. I do not want to do anything bad against God or against other people.

¹⁷ I had not been to Jerusalem for several years. Now I returned there with a gift of some money. I brought it to give to poor people who are Jews, like me. I also wanted to offer sacrifices to God. ¹⁸ I was doing this in the yard of the temple when these men found me. I had obeyed all the rules to make myself clean in front of God. There was no crowd with me. Nobody was arguing or fighting because of me. ¹⁹ But there were some Jews there who had come from Asia. They are the people who caused the trouble. Maybe they have something bad to say against me. They themselves should come here to speak to you about it. ²⁰ Or these men here should tell you what wrong thing I have done. I stood in front of the meeting of the Jewish leaders and they asked me questions. ²¹ When I stood there, I shouted, “I believe that dead people will rise and they will live again. That is the reason why you are judging me today.” They may think that is a wrong thing that I did.’

²² Felix knew much about the Way of the Lord Jesus. He now said that the meeting had finished. He said to Paul, ‘Soon Lysias, the leader of the soldiers, will arrive here. Then I will decide what to do with you.’ ²³ He said to the officer who was holding Paul, ‘Continue to guard this man carefully. But his friends can come and see him. They can help him and they can bring things for him.’

Felix and Drusilla listen to Paul

²⁴ After some days, Felix came with Drusilla, his Jewish wife. He told his soldiers to bring Paul to them. Paul talked to them, and they listened to everything that he said. Paul spoke about how people believed in Jesus, the Messiah. ²⁵ Paul continued to speak for some time. He said, ‘People need to do what is right. They need to stop themselves doing wrong things. One day, God will judge people for how they have lived.’

While Paul talked about these things, Felix became afraid. He said to Paul, ‘You can leave us now. At some time I may want to listen to you again. Then I will ask you to come to me again.’ ²⁶ But Felix also hoped that Paul would give him some money.^[ah] For that reason he often met with Paul and they talked together.

²⁷ This happened for two years. Felix left Paul in the prison, because he wanted to make the Jewish leaders happy. Then Porcius Festus became the ruler instead of Felix.

Festus travels to Jerusalem to speak to the leaders of the Jews

25 Three days after Festus began to rule in Caesarea, he travelled from there to Jerusalem. ² When he arrived there, the leaders of the priests and the Jewish leaders told him about Paul. They spoke bad things against Paul. ³ They said to Festus, ‘Please listen to us. We really want you to bring Paul here to Jerusalem. You can judge him here. Then we would be very happy.’ They wanted to kill Paul while he was travelling to Jerusalem.

⁴ But Festus answered them, ‘Paul will remain in prison in Caesarea. I myself will return there soon. ⁵ So your leaders should go to Caesarea with me. If this man has done anything wrong, they can speak against him there. I will listen and I will judge.’

⁶ Festus stayed for another eight or ten days in Jerusalem. Then he returned to Caesarea. On the next day, he sat down on his special seat as judge. He said to his soldiers, ‘Bring Paul here!’ ⁷ Some of the Jewish leaders had also come from Jerusalem. When Paul came into the room, they all stood round him. They began to speak to Festus against Paul. They said that he had done very many bad things. But they could not show Festus that these things were really true.

⁸ Then Paul spoke to show what was true. He said, ‘I have not done anything wrong against our Jewish laws or against the temple in Jerusalem. Also, I have not done anything wrong against your Roman ruler, Caesar.’

⁹ Festus wanted to make the Jewish leaders happy. So he asked Paul, ‘I would like to judge this problem in Jerusalem. Would you be happy to go there? Then I can decide if what these men are saying against you is true.’

¹⁰ Paul answered him, ‘I am already in the place where Caesar's officers judge people. This is the right place for you to judge me. I have never done anything wrong against the Jews. You yourself know very well that it is true. ¹¹ Have I done something bad that you should kill me for it? If that is true, then I will agree to it. It is right that I should die. But these Jews are not speaking true words against me. Nobody should let them take hold of me. So now I ask you to send me to Caesar himself. I want him to be the judge.’

¹² Festus talked to his officers about what Paul had said. Then he said to Paul, ‘You have asked to go to Caesar, for him to be your judge. So prepare yourself to go to Caesar!’

King Agrippa and Bernice visit Festus

¹³ Several days after this, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea. They wanted to say ‘welcome’ to Festus as the new ruler.^[ai]

¹⁴ They stayed in Caesarea for many days. While they were there, Festus explained to King Agrippa the problem about Paul. He said, ‘There is a man here that Felix left in prison. ¹⁵ When I went to Jerusalem, the important Jews and the leaders of their priests spoke to me about him. They said, “Paul has done some very bad things. You should judge him and he should die.”

¹⁶ I answered them, “You are saying that this man has done wrong things. He must first stand in front of you who are speaking against him. Then he can answer you, and I can judge who is right. That is what our Roman law says must happen.”

¹⁷ So when I came back here, the Jewish leaders and the leaders of their priests came with me. I did not wait for long. On the next day I sat down on my special seat as judge. I told my soldiers to bring this man to me. ¹⁸ The men who had spoken against him stood up. I thought they would say that Paul had done some very bad thing. But they did not say that. ¹⁹ Instead, they were arguing with Paul about what the Jews teach about God. They were arguing about a man who is called Jesus. Jesus had died. But Paul was saying that he is alive. ²⁰ I did not know how I could judge all these problems. So I told Paul, “I want to take you to Jerusalem. Would you be happy to go there? Then I will listen to what these men are saying against you. I will judge there who is right.” ²¹ But Paul did not want to go to Jerusalem. He said to me, “Please keep me safe here in prison. Then send me to Caesar. He himself should decide what to do with me.” So I said to my soldiers, “Guard Paul here until I send him to Caesar.” ’

²² Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I would like to hear this man myself.’

Festus replied, ‘You will hear him tomorrow.’

²³ The next day, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea's public meeting room. They wore beautiful clothes to show that they were great people. Some Roman soldiers' officers and important men in the city also arrived there. Festus said to his soldiers, ‘Bring Paul here to us!’ So they brought Paul into the room. ²⁴ Festus said, ‘King Agrippa, and everyone here today, listen to me! You see this man who is standing in front of you. Many Jews in Jerusalem, and also Jews here in Caesarea, have spoken to me about him. They say very loudly, “This man has done very bad things. He should not continue to live!” ²⁵ But I could not find any reason to kill him. He has not done anything against our law. But he has asked for Caesar himself to judge him. So I have decided to send him to Rome. ²⁶ But I do not know what to write about him to our ruler, Caesar. So I have brought him here to stand in front of all of you. I ask you, King Agrippa, to listen carefully to what Paul says. Then we can talk about the problem together. As a result, I will know what to write about him to Caesar. ²⁷ I need to tell Caesar what wrong things this man has done. If I cannot do that, it would not be right to send him to Rome.’

Paul speaks to Agrippa

26 King Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You may now say what you think about this problem.’

Paul raised his hand so that people would listen to him. ² He said, ‘King Agrippa, I am happy that you are here. I ask you to listen to me today. These Jews say that I have done some bad things. I will explain to you what is really true about all these things. ³ You yourself know all about the Jews. You know about how we live. You also know the things that we argue about with each other. So please be patient and listen to me.

⁴ The Jewish people have known me since I was born. They all know how I have lived among them. They knew me in the region where I was born. When I came to Jerusalem, they also know how I lived there. ⁵ So they have known me for a long time. They could tell you that I always obeyed our Jewish laws. They know that I was a Pharisee. I carefully obeyed God's Law, as a Pharisee does. But maybe they do not want to tell you all that. ⁶ So what is the reason that I stand here today for you to judge me? It is because I believe in God's promise to our ancestors. ⁷ He promised a great thing to our 12 Israelite families. We all expect to receive what God has promised to us. That is why we Jews always worship God, in the day and in the night. Like these Jews here, I believe in God's great promise. But that is the reason that they speak against me. ⁸ Is it impossible for God to cause dead people to become alive again? You should surely believe me when I say that.

⁹ I myself wanted to work against Jesus, the man from Nazareth, and against his message. ¹⁰ That is what I was doing in Jerusalem. The leaders of the priests gave me authority to put many of the believers in prison. I agreed with our leaders when they said, “These people must die.”

¹¹ I went to our Jewish meeting places to take hold of believers. I told my men to punish them. I tried to make the believers say bad things against God. I was very angry with them. So I even travelled to cities in other countries to punish them.

¹² For that reason, one day I was travelling to Damascus. The leaders of the priests in Jerusalem had sent me there. They had given me authority to take hold of the believers there. ¹³ Listen to this, King Agrippa! I was travelling along the road at midday. Suddenly I saw a very bright light in the sky. It was much brighter than the sun. It shone all round me and also round the men who were with me. ¹⁴ All of us fell down to the ground. I heard a voice that spoke to me in my own language, Hebrew.^[aj] He said “Saul, Saul, why do you fight against me? You are like an ox that kicks against its master's stick. So you are hurting yourself.”^[ak]

¹⁵ “Lord, who are you?” I asked.

He replied, “I am Jesus. And you are fighting against me. ¹⁶ Now you must get up. Stand on your feet. I have chosen you to be my servant. That is why I have appeared to you today. You must tell other people about what you have seen. After that, I will show you other things that you must tell people. ¹⁷ I will send you to speak about me to Jews and to Gentiles. Some of them will want to hurt you. But I will keep you safe. ¹⁸ You will help them to understand what is really true. They are like people who live in the dark. Teach them what is true about me. Then they will be like people who live in the light. Now Satan has power over them. Lead them from there into God's kingdom. Then God will forgive them for the wrong things that they have done. Because they believe in me, God will accept them as his own people.” ’

Paul tells Agrippa and Bernice about his work for God

¹⁹ ‘So you should know this, King Agrippa. I obeyed the things that I heard from heaven that day. ²⁰ First, I taught God's message to the Jews in Damascus. Then I also taught God's message to the Jews in Jerusalem and in all of Judea region. Later I also spoke to the Gentiles. I said to all of them, “You must stop doing wrong things. You must turn to God. You must do good things. That will show that you have really changed how you live.” ²¹ That is the reason that the Jews took hold of me in the yard of the temple. That is also the reason why they wanted to kill me. ²² But God has helped me every day, even until today. So now I stand here and I can tell you what is true. I say the same thing to people who are very important and to people who are not important. I am telling you the same things that Moses and God's other prophets wrote about. They also said that these things would happen. ²³ They said that God's special Messiah would have much pain and he would die. But God would raise him up to be alive again. He would be the first dead person to become alive and not die again. In that way, he would show God's message and bring light to people. He would save both Jewish people and Gentiles. That is what the prophets and Moses wrote. And I say the same thing.’

²⁴ While Paul was still speaking to Agrippa, Festus shouted at him, ‘Paul, your mind is confused! You have learned many things. But all these things are making you crazy.’

²⁵ Paul said, ‘Festus, sir, I am not crazy. Everything that I have said is true. It is not difficult to understand. ²⁶ King Agrippa knows about these things. He understands what I am talking about. None of these things happened in secret places. So I am sure that he has heard news about all this. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe what God's prophets taught? I know that you do believe them.’

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Can you change what I believe in this short time? Should I become a Christian already? Is that what you think?’

²⁹ Paul answered him, ‘It is not important if it takes a long time or a short time. I pray to God for you and for everyone who is listening to me today. I pray that you may all become like me. But I would not want you to become a prisoner like me!’

³⁰ Then King Agrippa, the ruler Festus, and Bernice all got ready to leave. Everyone else there also stood up. ³¹ After they left the meeting room, they said to each other, ‘This man has not done anything bad. We should not kill him, or even hold him in prison.’

³² King Agrippa said to Festus, ‘We could have let this man go free from the prison. But he has asked that Caesar should judge him. So we cannot let him go free.’

Soldiers take Paul to Rome

27 Some time after that, Festus decided that we should sail to Italy. So he commanded a soldier called Julius to guard Paul and some other prisoners. Julius was an officer in the Roman army. He had authority over 100 soldiers in a group called ‘The Emperor Augustus Group’.^[al]

² We went onto a ship that had come from Adramyttium. This ship was ready to leave. It would sail to the towns on the coast of Asia region. A man called Aristarchus also sailed with us. He came from a city in Macedonia called Thessalonica.

³ The next day after we left Caesarea, we arrived at Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul. He said, ‘Paul, you can go and visit your friends here. They can give you anything that you need.’ ⁴ Then we sailed out across the sea again. But the wind was blowing against our ship. So we sailed round the island called Cyprus. We sailed on the side of the island where the wind was not strong. ⁵ When we were near to Cilicia and Pamphylia, we sailed straight across the sea. Then we arrived at Myra, in the region called Lycia. ⁶ The Roman officer found another ship there. It had sailed from Alexandria and it would sail to Italy. So the officer put us on this ship. ⁷ We sailed slowly for several days. It was difficult to sail, but after some time we arrived near the town of Cnidus. Because of the strong wind, we could not continue to sail in that direction. So we sailed along the side of the island called Crete, where the wind was not strong. We sailed past the point of land called Salmone. ⁸ It was still difficult to sail, so we sailed near to the coast. Then we arrived at a place called ‘Safe Port’. This port was near to the town of Lasea.

⁹ We remained there for many days. By then it had become dangerous to continue the journey. It was already after the Day of Atonement.^[am]

So Paul spoke to the army officer and to the sailors. ¹⁰ He said, ‘Friends, I understand that now our journey will be dangerous. The ship may break in pieces. You may lose the things that the ship is carrying. All of us may even die.’ ¹¹ But the army officer did not believe what Paul said. Instead, he decided to do what the owner of the ship and the captain said.^[an]

¹² This port was not a good place for a ship to remain during the winter. Most of the men on the ship wanted to continue the journey. They wanted to sail as far as Phoenix, if they could get there. They could stay there for the winter. Phoenix was a port on the island called Crete. It was open to the sea both to the south-west and to the north-west.^[ao]

The ship is in a storm

¹³ The wind began to blow from the south, but it was not strong. So the sailors thought, ‘Now we can do what we wanted to do. We can sail to Phoenix.’ So they pulled up the ship's anchor and left the port. Then we sailed as near as we could to the coast of Crete.

¹⁴ But soon a very strong wind began to blow. This wind blew from the north-east and it blew strongly across the island. ¹⁵ The storm hit the ship very powerfully. It was not possible for the sailors to sail the ship straight into the wind. So they did not try to do that any more. Instead, they let the wind blow the ship along. ¹⁶ After that, we passed the south end of a small island called Cauda. Here we found a place where the wind did not blow so strongly. The sailors lifted the ship's small boat out of the water to make it safe. ¹⁷ They tied it on the ship with ropes. Then they tied some more ropes under the ship so that it would not break in pieces. The men were afraid of what might happen. There were some places along the coast of Libya where the water was not very deep. The ship might hit one of these places and then it might break. So they took the ship's largest sail down. Then they let the wind blow the ship along. ¹⁸ The strong storm continued to blow against the ship. The ship was carrying many things. So the next day, the sailors threw some of these things into the sea. ¹⁹ The day after that, they took hold of the sails and ropes and they threw them into the sea. ²⁰ For many days, we did not see the sun or any stars.^[ap] The storm continued to blow strongly. So then we thought, ‘It is not possible for us to remain alive.’

²¹ The men on the ship had not eaten any food for a long time. So Paul stood in front of them and he said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me! We should not have sailed away from Crete. If we had not left there, the ship and everything on it would still be safe. ²² Now I ask you, please be brave. The storm will completely destroy the ship, but not one of you will die. ²³ Last night one of God's angels spoke to me. I am a servant of God and I belong to him. He sent his angel to come to me. ²⁴ The angel said, “Paul, do not be afraid. You must go to Rome and Caesar will judge you there. Because of you, God will be kind to all the people on the ship with you. None of them will die.” ²⁵ Because of the angel's message, I say to you, “Be brave, my friends!” I trust God. I know that everything will happen in the way that the angel told me. ²⁶ But the wind will blow the ship so that we hit an island.’

²⁷ The storm had continued for 14 days and nights. The strong wind was blowing the ship across the Mediterranean Sea. About midnight, the sailors thought that we were near to the land. ²⁸ So they used a rope to measure how deep the water was. They saw that the water was nearly 40 metres deep. A short time later they did this again. This time the water was only 30 metres deep. ²⁹ The sailors were afraid that the ship would hit some rocks. So they dropped four anchors on ropes from the back of the ship into the sea.

After that, they prayed that dawn would come soon. ³⁰ Some of the sailors tried to leave the ship. They put the small boat into the sea. They tried to go away secretly. They said, ‘We are going to the front of the ship to put some more anchors down into the sea.’ But that was not true. ³¹ Paul said to the army officer and to the soldiers, ‘These sailors must stay on the ship. If they do not stay, you will not be safe. You will die.’ ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the small boat to the ship. The small boat fell into the water and the wind blew it away.

³³ Now it was almost dawn. Paul said to everyone, ‘Please eat some food. You have now waited for 14 days for the storm to stop. You did not know what would happen. You have not eaten anything during all that time. ³⁴ You must eat some food now. Then you will be strong enough to stay alive. None of you will die. You will not even lose one hair from your head.’

³⁵ After Paul said this, he took some bread in his hands. He stood in front of them all and he thanked God for the bread. Then he broke the bread into pieces and he began to eat it. ³⁶ Everyone became less afraid and we all ate some food. ³⁷ There were 276 people on the ship. ³⁸ After everyone had eaten enough, the sailors threw bags of wheat off the ship into the sea. Then the ship was not so heavy.^[aq]

The sea completely destroys the ship

³⁹ In the morning, the ship was near to some land, but the sailors did not recognize the place. They saw a place on the shore where there was a lot of sand. They wanted to drive the ship onto the sand. ⁴⁰ So the sailors cut the ropes which had the anchors on them. They left the anchors there in the sea. They also removed the ropes which had tied the rudders. Then they raised the sail at the front of the ship. Now the wind could blow the ship straight towards the shore. ⁴¹ But there was a place in the sea where the water was not deep. The ship sailed onto the sand in this place and it stayed there. The front of the ship pushed into the sand and it could not move. The sea was very strong and it hit against the back of the ship. As a result, the back of the ship broke into pieces.

⁴² The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners that they were guarding. They did not want these men to swim to the land and escape. ⁴³ But the army officer wanted to save Paul. So he commanded the soldiers not to kill the men. Instead he said, ‘Everyone who can swim, jump into the water first. Then swim to the shore. ⁴⁴ You other people must follow them. Hold on to pieces of wood, or pieces of the ship.’

In this way all of us got safely out of the sea and we arrived on the land.

Paul on the island of Malta

28 So then we were on the shore and we were all safe. We discovered that the island was called Malta. ² The people who lived on the island were very kind to us. Rain was falling and the weather was cold. So the people lit a fire and they helped all of us. ³ Paul picked up some small branches to put on the fire. When he did this, a dangerous snake came out from among the sticks. It had felt the heat from the fire. The snake bit Paul's hand and it held on to it. ⁴ The people who lived on the island saw the snake. They saw that it was hanging from Paul's hand. So they said to each other, ‘We know now that this man murdered someone. He did not die in the sea but now the snake will kill him. The god who punishes people for the bad things that they do will not let him live.’ ⁵ Then Paul waved his hand about so that the snake fell off into the fire. The snake had not hurt Paul in any way. ⁶ So the people watched Paul carefully. They thought that his body would become very sick. They thought that he might die suddenly. They waited for a long time. But they did not see anything bad happen to Paul. So then they thought something different about Paul. They said, ‘This man is certainly a god!’

⁷ There was an important officer who ruled the island. He was called Publius. He had some fields near to the shore where we had made the fire. He was very kind to us. He asked us to stay in his house. We stayed there for three days. ⁸ Publius's father was lying in bed because he was ill. His body was hot and he was very sick. Paul went into his room to see him. Paul prayed for him and he put his hands on the man's head. As a result, the man became well again. ⁹ After Paul did this, the other sick people on the island came to him. He caused them also to become well again. ¹⁰ The people gave us many gifts. Later, we got ready to leave the island on another ship. They gave us the things that we needed for the journey.

¹¹ When we left Malta, we had been there for three months. We got on a ship that was called ‘The Twin Gods’.^[ar] It had come from Alexandria and it had stayed in Malta during the winter.

¹² We sailed across the sea and we arrived at the city of Syracuse. We stayed there for three days.^[as]

¹³ We left Syracuse and we sailed to the city of Rhegium. The next day, the wind began to blow from the south, so we sailed more quickly. The day after that, we arrived at the town of Puteoli.^[at]

¹⁴ We found some believers there. They asked us to stay with them for one week. After this we travelled to Rome. ¹⁵ The believers in Rome had heard about us. So they came out of the city to meet us at ‘The Market of Appius’ and ‘The Three Hotels’.^[au] When Paul saw the believers, he thanked God for them. He was very happy that they had come to meet him.

¹⁶ When we arrived in Rome, the Roman officer said to Paul, ‘You may live in a house by yourself, but a soldier will guard you there.’