Bible in 90 Days

³⁸ The police told the Roman officers what Paul said. When the officers heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. ³⁹ So they came and told Paul and Silas they were sorry and took them out of jail and asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ So when they came out of the jail, they went to Lydia’s house where they saw some of the believers and encouraged them. Then they left.

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

17 Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue. ² Paul went into the synagogue as he always did, and on each Sabbath day for three weeks, he talked with his fellow Jews about the Scriptures. ³ He explained and proved that the Christ must die and then rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I am telling you about is the Christ.” ⁴ Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas, along with many of the Greeks who worshiped God and many of the important women.

⁵ But some others became jealous. So they got some evil men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot. They ran to Jason’s house, looking for Paul and Silas, wanting to bring them out to the people. ⁶ But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers to the leaders of the city. The people were yelling, “These people have made trouble everywhere in the world, and now they have come here too! ⁷ Jason is keeping them in his house. All of them do things against the laws of Caesar, saying there is another king, called Jesus.”

⁸ When the people and the leaders of the city heard these things, they became very upset. ⁹ They made Jason and the others put up a sum of money. Then they let the believers go free.

Paul and Silas Go to Berea

¹⁰ That same night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea where they went to the synagogue. ¹¹ These people were more willing to listen than the people in Thessalonica. The Bereans were eager to hear what Paul and Silas said and studied the Scriptures every day to find out if these things were true. ¹² So, many of them believed, as well as many important Greek women and men. ¹³ But the people in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, too. So they came there, upsetting the people and making trouble. ¹⁴ The believers quickly sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. ¹⁵ The people leading Paul went with him to Athens. Then they carried a message from Paul back to Silas and Timothy for them to come to him as soon as they could.

Paul Preaches in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, he was troubled because he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ In the synagogue, he talked with the Jews and the Greeks who worshiped God. He also talked every day with people in the marketplace.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers^[a] argued with him, saying, “This man doesn’t know what he is talking about. What is he trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be telling us about some other gods,” because Paul was telling them about Jesus and his rising from the dead. ¹⁹ They got Paul and took him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^[b] where they said, “Please explain to us this new idea you have been teaching. ²⁰ The things you are saying are new to us, and we want to know what this teaching means.” ²¹ (All the people of Athens and those from other countries who lived there always used their time to talk about the newest ideas.)

²² Then Paul stood before the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens, I can see you are very religious in all things. ²³ As I was going through your city, I saw the objects you worship. I found an altar that had these words written on it: to a god who is not known. You worship a god that you don’t know, and this is the God I am telling you about! ²⁴ The God who made the whole world and everything in it is the Lord of the land and the sky. He does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs. ²⁶ God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. ²⁷ God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us: ²⁸ ‘By his power we live and move and exist.’ Some of your own poets have said: ‘For we are his children.’ ²⁹ Since we are God’s children, you must not think that God is like something that people imagine or make from gold, silver, or rock. ³⁰ In the past, people did not understand God, and he ignored this. But now, God tells all people in the world to change their hearts and lives. ³¹ God has set a day that he will judge all the world with fairness, by the man he chose long ago. And God has proved this to everyone by raising that man from the dead!”

³² When the people heard about Jesus being raised from the dead, some of them laughed. But others said, “We will hear more about this from you later.” ³³ So Paul went away from them. ³⁴ But some of the people believed Paul and joined him. Among those who believed was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and some others.

Paul in Corinth

18 Later Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² Here he met a Jew named Aquila who had been born in the country of Pontus. But Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, had recently moved to Corinth from Italy, because Claudius^[c] commanded that all Jews must leave Rome. Paul went to visit Aquila and Priscilla. ³ Because they were tentmakers, just as he was, he stayed with them and worked with them. ⁴ Every Sabbath day he talked with the Jews and Greeks in the synagogue, trying to persuade them to believe in Jesus.

⁵ Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia and joined Paul in Corinth. After this, Paul spent all his time telling people the Good News, showing them that Jesus is the Christ. ⁶ But they would not accept Paul’s teaching and said some evil things. So he shook off the dust from his clothes^[d] and said to them, “If you are not saved, it will be your own fault! I have done all I can do! After this, I will go to other nations.” ⁷ Paul left the synagogue and moved into the home of Titius Justus, next to the synagogue. This man worshiped God. ⁸ Crispus was the leader of that synagogue, and he and all the people living in his house believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also listened to Paul and believed and were baptized.

⁹ During the night, the Lord told Paul in a vision: “Don’t be afraid. Continue talking to people and don’t be quiet. ¹⁰ I am with you, and no one will hurt you because many of my people are in this city.” ¹¹ Paul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching God’s word to the people.

Paul Is Brought Before Gallio

¹² When Gallio was the governor of the country of Southern Greece, some people came together against Paul and took him to the court. ¹³ They said, “This man is teaching people to worship God in a way that is against our law.”

¹⁴ Paul was about to say something, but Gallio spoke, saying, “I would listen to you if you were complaining about a crime or some wrong. ¹⁵ But the things you are saying are only questions about words and names—arguments about your own law. So you must solve this problem yourselves. I don’t want to be a judge of these things.” ¹⁶ And Gallio made them leave the court.

¹⁷ Then they all grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him there before the court. But this did not bother Gallio.

Paul Returns to Antioch

¹⁸ Paul stayed with the believers for many more days. Then he left and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea Paul cut off his hair,^[e] because he had made a promise to God. ¹⁹ Then they went to Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. While Paul was there, he went into the synagogue and talked with the people. ²⁰ When they asked him to stay with them longer, he refused. ²¹ But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you again if God wants me to.” And so he sailed away from Ephesus.

²² When Paul landed at Caesarea, he went and gave greetings to the church in Jerusalem. After that, Paul went to Antioch. ²³ He stayed there for a while and then left and went through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia. He traveled from town to town in these regions, giving strength to all the followers.

Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth

²⁴ A Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was born in the city of Alexandria and was a good speaker who knew the Scriptures well. ²⁵ He had been taught about the way of the Lord and was always very excited when he spoke and taught the truth about Jesus. But the only baptism Apollos knew about was the baptism that John^[f] taught. ²⁶ Apollos began to speak very boldly in the synagogue, and when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him to their home and helped him better understand the way of God. ²⁷ Now Apollos wanted to go to the country of Southern Greece. So the believers helped him and wrote a letter to the followers there, asking them to accept him. These followers had believed in Jesus because of God’s grace, and when Apollos arrived, he helped them very much. ²⁸ He argued very strongly with the Jews before all the people, clearly proving with the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Paul in Ephesus

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul was visiting some places on the way to Ephesus. There he found some followers ² and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They said, “We have never even heard of a Holy Spirit.”

³ So he asked, “What kind of baptism did you have?”

They said, “It was the baptism that John taught.”

⁴ Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of changed hearts and lives. He told people to believe in the one who would come after him, and that one is Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ Then Paul laid his hands on them,^[g] and the Holy Spirit came upon them. They began speaking different languages^[h] and prophesying. ⁷ There were about twelve people in this group.

⁸ Paul went into the synagogue and spoke out boldly for three months. He talked with the people and persuaded them to accept the things he said about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But some of them became stubborn. They refused to believe and said evil things about the Way of Jesus before all the people. So Paul left them, and taking the followers with him, he went to the school of a man named Tyrannus. There Paul talked with people every day ¹⁰ for two years. Because of his work, every Jew and Greek in Asia heard the word of the Lord.

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹ God used Paul to do some very special miracles. ¹² Some people took handkerchiefs and clothes that Paul had used and put them on the sick. When they did this, the sick were healed and evil spirits left them.

¹³ But some people also were traveling around and making evil spirits go out of people. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to force the evil spirits out. They would say, “By the same Jesus that Paul talks about, I order you to come out!” ¹⁴ Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.

¹⁵ But one time an evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

¹⁶ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them. Because he was so much stronger than all of them, they ran away from the house naked and hurt. ¹⁷ All the people in Ephesus—Jews and Greeks—learned about this and were filled with fear and gave great honor to the Lord Jesus. ¹⁸ Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done. ¹⁹ Some of them who had used magic brought their magic books and burned them before everyone. Those books were worth about fifty thousand silver coins.^[i]

²⁰ So in a powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing.

²¹ After these things, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, planning to go through the countries of Macedonia and Southern Greece and then on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also visit Rome.” ²² Paul sent Timothy and Erastus, two of his helpers, ahead to Macedonia, but he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

Trouble in Ephesus

²³ And during that time, there was some serious trouble in Ephesus about the Way of Jesus. ²⁴ A man named Demetrius, who worked with silver, made little silver models that looked like the temple of the goddess Artemis.^[j] Those who did this work made much money. ²⁵ Demetrius had a meeting with them and some others who did the same kind of work. He told them, “Men, you know that we make a lot of money from our business. ²⁶ But look at what this man Paul is doing. He has convinced and turned away many people in Ephesus and in almost all of Asia! He says the gods made by human hands are not real. ²⁷ There is a danger that our business will lose its good name, but there is also another danger: People will begin to think that the temple of the great goddess Artemis is not important. Her greatness will be destroyed, and Artemis is the goddess that everyone in Asia and the whole world worships.”

²⁸ When the others heard this, they became very angry and shouted, “Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus, is great!” ²⁹ The whole city became confused. The people grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, who were from Macedonia and were traveling with Paul, and ran to the theater. ³⁰ Paul wanted to go in and talk to the crowd, but the followers did not let him. ³¹ Also, some leaders of Asia who were friends of Paul sent him a message, begging him not to go into the theater. ³² Some people were shouting one thing, and some were shouting another. The meeting was completely confused; most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ They put a man named Alexander in front of the people, and some of them told him what to do. Alexander waved his hand so he could explain things to the people. ³⁴ But when they saw that Alexander was a Jew, they all shouted the same thing for two hours: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”

³⁵ Then the city clerk made the crowd be quiet. He said, “People of Ephesus, everyone knows that Ephesus is the city that keeps the temple of the great goddess Artemis and her holy stone^[k] that fell from heaven. ³⁶ Since no one can say this is not true, you should be quiet. Stop and think before you do anything. ³⁷ You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess or stolen anything from her temple. ³⁸ If Demetrius and those who work with him have a charge against anyone they should go to the courts and judges where they can argue with each other. ³⁹ If there is something else you want to talk about, it can be decided at the regular town meeting of the people. ⁴⁰ I say this because some people might see this trouble today and say that we are rioting. We could not explain this, because there is no real reason for this meeting.” ⁴¹ After the city clerk said these things, he told the people to go home.

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

20 When the trouble stopped, Paul sent for the followers to come to him. After he encouraged them and then told them good-bye, he left and went to the country of Macedonia. ² He said many things to strengthen the followers in the different places on his way through Macedonia. Then he went to Greece, ³ where he stayed for three months. He was ready to sail for Syria, but some evil people were planning something against him. So Paul decided to go back through Macedonia to Syria. ⁴ The men who went with him were Sopater son of Pyrrhus, from the city of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus, two men from Asia. ⁵ These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. ⁶ We sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Five days later we met them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Paul’s Last Visit to Troas

⁷ On the first day of the week,^[l] we all met together to break bread,^[m] and Paul spoke to the group. Because he was planning to leave the next day, he kept on talking until midnight. ⁸ We were all together in a room upstairs, and there were many lamps in the room. ⁹ A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window. As Paul continued talking, Eutychus was falling into a deep sleep. Finally, he went sound asleep and fell to the ground from the third floor. When they picked him up, he was dead. ¹⁰ Paul went down to Eutychus, knelt down, and put his arms around him. He said, “Don’t worry. He is alive now.” ¹¹ Then Paul went upstairs again, broke bread, and ate. He spoke to them a long time, until it was early morning, and then he left. ¹² They took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

The Trip from Troas to Miletus

¹³ We went on ahead of Paul and sailed for the city of Assos, where he wanted to join us on the ship. Paul planned it this way because he wanted to go to Assos by land. ¹⁴ When he met us there, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ We sailed from Mitylene and the next day came to a place near Kios. The following day we sailed to Samos, and the next day we reached Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had already decided not to stop at Ephesus, because he did not want to stay too long in Asia. He was hurrying to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, if that were possible.

The Elders from Ephesus

¹⁷ Now from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. ¹⁸ When they came to him, he said, “You know about my life from the first day I came to Asia. You know the way I lived all the time I was with you. ¹⁹ The evil people made plans against me, which troubled me very much. But you know I always served the Lord unselfishly, and I often cried. ²⁰ You know I preached to you and did not hold back anything that would help you. You know that I taught you in public and in your homes. ²¹ I warned both Jews and Greeks to change their lives and turn to God and believe in our Lord Jesus. ²² But now I must obey the Holy Spirit and go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what will happen to me there. ²³ I know only that in every city the Holy Spirit tells me that troubles and even jail wait for me. ²⁴ I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me—to tell people the Good News about God’s grace.

²⁵ “And now, I know that none of you among whom I was preaching the kingdom of God will ever see me again. ²⁶ So today I tell you that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible, ²⁷ because I have told you everything God wants you to know. ²⁸ Be careful for yourselves and for all the people the Holy Spirit has given to you to oversee. You must be like shepherds to the church of God,^[n] which he bought with the death of his own son. ²⁹ I know that after I leave, some people will come like wild wolves and try to destroy the flock. ³⁰ Also, some from your own group will rise up and twist the truth and will lead away followers after them. ³¹ So be careful! Always remember that for three years, day and night, I never stopped warning each of you, and I often cried over you.

³² “Now I am putting you in the care of God and the message about his grace. It is able to give you strength, and it will give you the blessings God has for all his holy people. ³³ When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. ³⁴ You know I always worked to take care of my own needs and the needs of those who were with me. ³⁵ I showed you in all things that you should work as I did and help the weak. I taught you to remember the words Jesus said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

³⁶ When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ^37-38 And they all cried because Paul had said they would never see him again. They put their arms around him and kissed him. Then they went with him to the ship.

Paul Goes to Jerusalem

21 After we all said good-bye to them, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes, and from there we went to Patara. ² There we found a ship going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away. ³ We sailed near the island of Cyprus, seeing it to the north, but we sailed on to Syria. We stopped at Tyre because the ship needed to unload its cargo there. ⁴ We found some followers in Tyre and stayed with them for seven days. Through the Holy Spirit they warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ⁵ When we finished our visit, we left and continued our trip. All the followers, even the women and children, came outside the city with us. After we all knelt on the beach and prayed, ⁶ we said good-bye and got on the ship, and the followers went back home.

⁷ We continued our trip from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day. ⁸ The next day we left Ptolemais and went to the city of Caesarea. There we went into the home of Philip the preacher, one of the seven helpers,^[o] and stayed with him. ⁹ He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophesying. ¹⁰ After we had been there for some time, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea. ¹¹ He came to us and borrowed Paul’s belt and used it to tie his own hands and feet. He said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how evil people in Jerusalem will tie up the man who wears this belt. Then they will give him to the older leaders.’”

¹² When we all heard this, we and the people there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ¹³ But he said, “Why are you crying and making me so sad? I am not only ready to be tied up in Jerusalem, I am ready to die for the Lord Jesus!”

¹⁴ We could not persuade him to stay away from Jerusalem. So we stopped begging him and said, “We pray that what the Lord wants will be done.”

¹⁵ After this, we got ready and started on our way to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Some of the followers from Caesarea went with us and took us to the home of Mnason, where we would stay. He was from Cyprus and was one of the first followers.

Paul Visits James

¹⁷ In Jerusalem the believers were glad to see us. ¹⁸ The next day Paul went with us to visit James, and all the elders were there. ¹⁹ Paul greeted them and told them everything God had done among the other nations through him. ²⁰ When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul, “Brother, you can see that many thousands of our people have become believers. And they think it is very important to obey the law of Moses. ²¹ They have heard about your teaching, that you tell our people who live among the nations to leave the law of Moses. They have heard that you tell them not to circumcise their children and not to obey customs. ²² What should we do? They will learn that you have come. ²³ So we will tell you what to do: Four of our men have made a promise to God. ²⁴ Take these men with you and share in their cleansing ceremony.^[p] Pay their expenses so they can shave their heads.^[q] Then it will prove to everyone that what they have heard about you is not true and that you follow the law of Moses in your own life. ²⁵ We have already sent a letter to the non-Jewish believers. The letter said: ‘Do not eat food that has been offered to idols, or blood, or animals that have been strangled. Do not take part in sexual sin.’”

²⁶ The next day Paul took the four men and shared in the cleansing ceremony with them. Then he went to the Temple and announced the time when the days of the cleansing ceremony would be finished. On the last day an offering would be given for each of the men.

²⁷ When the seven days were almost over, some of his people from Asia saw Paul at the Temple. They caused all the people to be upset and grabbed Paul. ²⁸ They shouted, “People of Israel, help us! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching against the law of Moses, against our people, and against this Temple. Now he has brought some Greeks into the Temple and has made this holy place unclean!” ²⁹ (They said this because they had seen Trophimus, a man from Ephesus, with Paul in Jerusalem. They thought that Paul had brought him into the Temple.)

³⁰ All the people in Jerusalem became upset. Together they ran, took Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple. The Temple doors were closed immediately. ³¹ While they were trying to kill Paul, the commander of the Roman army in Jerusalem learned that there was trouble in the whole city. ³² Immediately he took some officers and soldiers and ran to the place where the crowd was gathered. When the people saw them, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ The commander went to Paul and arrested him. He told his soldiers to tie Paul with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done wrong. ³⁴ Some in the crowd were yelling one thing, and some were yelling another. Because of all this confusion and shouting, the commander could not learn what had happened. So he ordered the soldiers to take Paul to the army building. ³⁵ When Paul came to the steps, the soldiers had to carry him because the people were ready to hurt him. ³⁶ The whole mob was following them, shouting, “Kill him!”

³⁷ As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the army building, he spoke to the commander, “May I say something to you?”

The commander said, “Do you speak Greek? ³⁸ I thought you were the Egyptian who started some trouble against the government not long ago and led four thousand killers out to the desert.”

³⁹ Paul said, “No, I am a Jew from Tarsus in the country of Cilicia. I am a citizen of that important city. Please, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ The commander gave permission, so Paul stood on the steps and waved his hand to quiet the people. When there was silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language.

Paul Speaks to the People

22 Paul said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense to you.” ² When they heard him speaking the Hebrew language,^[r] they became very quiet. Paul said, ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in the country of Cilicia, but I grew up in this city. I was a student of Gamaliel,^[s] who carefully taught me everything about the law of our ancestors. I was very serious about serving God, just as are all of you here today. ⁴ I persecuted the people who followed the Way of Jesus, and some of them were even killed. I arrested men and women and put them in jail. ⁵ The high priest and the whole council of elders can tell you this is true. They gave me letters to the brothers in Damascus. So I was going there to arrest these people and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “About noon when I came near Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸ I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The voice said, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ Those who were with me did not understand the voice, but they saw the light. ¹⁰ I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told about all the things I have planned for you to do.’ ¹¹ I could not see, because the bright light had made me blind. So my companions led me into Damascus.

¹² “There a man named Ananias came to me. He was a religious man; he obeyed the law of Moses, and all the Jews who lived there respected him. ¹³ He stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ Immediately I was able to see him. ¹⁴ He said, ‘The God of our ancestors chose you long ago to know his plan, to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from him. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people, telling them about what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now, why wait any longer? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, trusting in him to save you.’

¹⁷ “Later, when I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple, and I saw a vision. ¹⁸ I saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem now! The people here will not accept the truth about me.’ ¹⁹ But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I put the believers in jail and beat them. ²⁰ They also know I was there when Stephen, your witness, was killed. I stood there agreeing and holding the coats of those who were killing him!’ ²¹ But the Lord said to me, ‘Leave now. I will send you far away to the other nations.’ ”

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they began shouting, “Get rid of him! He doesn’t deserve to live!” ²³ They shouted, threw off their coats,^[t] and threw dust into the air.^[u]

²⁴ Then the commander ordered the soldiers to take Paul into the army building and beat him. He wanted to make Paul tell why the people were shouting against him like this. ²⁵ But as the soldiers were tying him up, preparing to beat him, Paul said to an officer nearby, “Do you have the right to beat a Roman citizen^[v] who has not been proven guilty?”

²⁶ When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. The officer said, “Do you know what you are doing? This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ The commander came to Paul and said, “Tell me, are you really a Roman citizen?”

He answered, “Yes.”

²⁸ The commander said, “I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.”

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

²⁹ The men who were preparing to question Paul moved away from him immediately. The commander was frightened because he had already tied Paul, and Paul was a Roman citizen.

Paul Speaks to Leaders

³⁰ The next day the commander decided to learn why the Jews were accusing Paul. So he ordered the leading priests and the council to meet. The commander took Paul’s chains off. Then he brought Paul out and stood him before their meeting.

23 Paul looked at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life without guilt feelings before God up to this day.” ² Ananias,^[w] the high priest, heard this and told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. ³ Paul said to Ananias, “God will hit you, too! You are like a wall that has been painted white. You sit there and judge me, using the law of Moses, but you are telling them to hit me, and that is against the law.”

⁴ The men standing near Paul said to him, “You cannot insult God’s high priest like that!”

⁵ Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must not curse a leader of your people.’”^[x]

⁶ Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. Knowing this, Paul shouted to them, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, and my father was a Pharisee. I am on trial here because I believe that people will rise from the dead.”

⁷ When Paul said this, there was an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the group was divided. ⁸ (The Sadducees do not believe in angels or spirits or that people will rise from the dead. But the Pharisees believe in them all.) ⁹ So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, stood up and argued, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe an angel or a spirit did speak to him.”

¹⁰ The argument was beginning to turn into such a fight that the commander was afraid some evil people would tear Paul to pieces. So he told the soldiers to go down and take Paul away and put him in the army building.

¹¹ The next night the Lord came and stood by Paul. He said, “Be brave! You have told people in Jerusalem about me. You must do the same in Rome.”

¹² In the morning some evil people made a plan to kill Paul, and they took an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed him. ¹³ There were more than forty men who made this plan. ¹⁴ They went to the leading priests and the elders and said, “We have taken an oath not to eat or drink until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ So this is what we want you to do: Send a message to the commander to bring Paul out to you as though you want to ask him more questions. We will be waiting to kill him while he is on the way here.”

¹⁶ But Paul’s nephew heard about this plan and went to the army building and told Paul. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the officers and said, “Take this young man to the commander. He has a message for him.”

¹⁸ So the officer brought Paul’s nephew to the commander and said, “The prisoner, Paul, asked me to bring this young man to you. He wants to tell you something.”

¹⁹ The commander took the young man’s hand and led him to a place where they could be alone. He asked, “What do you want to tell me?”

²⁰ The young man said, “The Jews have decided to ask you to bring Paul down to their council meeting tomorrow. They want you to think they are going to ask him more questions. ²¹ But don’t believe them! More than forty men are hiding and waiting to kill Paul. They have all taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Now they are waiting for you to agree.”

²² The commander sent the young man away, ordering him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have told me about their plan.”

Paul Is Sent to Caesarea

²³ Then the commander called two officers and said, “I need some men to go to Caesarea. Get two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred men with spears ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight. ²⁴ Get some horses for Paul to ride so he can be taken to Governor Felix safely.” ²⁵ And he wrote a letter that said:

³¹ So the soldiers did what they were told and took Paul and brought him to the city of Antipatris that night. ³² The next day the horsemen went with Paul to Caesarea, but the other soldiers went back to the army building in Jerusalem. ³³ When the horsemen came to Caesarea and gave the letter to the governor, they turned Paul over to him. ³⁴ The governor read the letter and asked Paul, “What area are you from?” When he learned that Paul was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will hear your case when those who are against you come here, too.” Then the governor gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

Paul Is Accused

24 Five days later Ananias, the high priest, went to the city of Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. They had come to make charges against Paul before the governor. ² Paul was called into the meeting, and Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Most Excellent Felix! Our people enjoy much peace because of you, and many wrong things in our country are being made right through your wise help. ³ We accept these things always and in every place, and we are thankful for them. ⁴ But not wanting to take any more of your time, I beg you to be kind and listen to our few words. ⁵ We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up his people everywhere in the world. He is a leader of the Nazarene group. ⁶ Also, he was trying to make the Temple unclean, but we stopped him. [And we wanted to judge him by our own law. ⁷ But the officer Lysias came and used much force to take him from us. ⁸ And Lysias commanded those who wanted to accuse Paul to come to you.]^[y] By asking him questions yourself, you can decide if all these things are true.” ⁹ The others agreed and said that all of this was true.

¹⁰ When the governor made a sign for Paul to speak, Paul said, “Governor Felix, I know you have been a judge over this nation for a long time. So I am happy to defend myself before you. ¹¹ You can learn for yourself that I went to worship in Jerusalem only twelve days ago. ¹² Those who are accusing me did not find me arguing with anyone in the Temple or stirring up the people in the synagogues or in the city. ¹³ They cannot prove the things they are saying against me now. ¹⁴ But I will tell you this: I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way of Jesus. The others say that the Way of Jesus is not the right way. But I believe everything that is taught in the law of Moses and that is written in the books of the Prophets. ¹⁵ I have the same hope in God that they have—the hope that all people, good and bad, will surely be raised from the dead. ¹⁶ This is why I always try to do what I believe is right before God and people.

¹⁷ “After being away from Jerusalem for several years, I went back to bring money to my people and to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸ I was doing this when they found me in the Temple. I had finished the cleansing ceremony and had not made any trouble; no people were gathering around me. ¹⁹ But there were some people from Asia who should be here, standing before you. If I have really done anything wrong, they are the ones who should accuse me. ²⁰ Or ask these people here if they found any wrong in me when I stood before the council in Jerusalem. ²¹ But I did shout one thing when I stood before them: ‘You are judging me today because I believe that people will rise from the dead!’”

²² Felix already understood much about the Way of Jesus. He stopped the trial and said, “When commander Lysias comes here, I will decide your case.” ²³ Felix told the officer to keep Paul guarded but to give him some freedom and to let his friends bring what he needed.

Paul Speaks to Felix and His Wife

²⁴ After some days Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, and asked for Paul to be brought to him. He listened to Paul talk about believing in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ But Felix became afraid when Paul spoke about living right, self-control, and the time when God will judge the world. He said, “Go away now. When I have more time, I will call for you.” ²⁶ At the same time Felix hoped that Paul would give him some money, so he often sent for Paul and talked with him.

²⁷ But after two years, Felix was replaced by Porcius Festus as governor. But Felix had left Paul in prison to please the Jews.

Paul Asks to See Caesar

25 Three days after Festus became governor, he went from Caesarea to Jerusalem. ² There the leading priests and the important leaders made charges against Paul before Festus. ³ They asked Festus to do them a favor. They wanted him to send Paul back to Jerusalem, because they had a plan to kill him on the way. ⁴ But Festus answered that Paul would be kept in Caesarea and that he himself was returning there soon. ⁵ He said, “Some of your leaders should go with me. They can accuse the man there in Caesarea, if he has really done something wrong.”

⁶ Festus stayed in Jerusalem another eight or ten days and then went back to Caesarea. The next day he told the soldiers to bring Paul before him. Festus was seated on the judge’s seat ⁷ when Paul came into the room. The people who had come from Jerusalem stood around him, making serious charges against him, which they could not prove. ⁸ This is what Paul said to defend himself: “I have done nothing wrong against the law, against the Temple, or against Caesar.”

⁹ But Festus wanted to please the people. So he asked Paul, “Do you want to go to Jerusalem for me to judge you there on these charges?”

¹⁰ Paul said, “I am standing at Caesar’s judgment seat now, where I should be judged. I have done nothing wrong to them; you know this is true. ¹¹ If I have done something wrong and the law says I must die, I do not ask to be saved from death. But if these charges are not true, then no one can give me to them. I want Caesar to hear my case!”

¹² Festus talked about this with his advisers. Then he said, “You have asked to see Caesar, so you will go to Caesar!”

Paul Before King Agrippa

¹³ A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to visit Festus. ¹⁴ They stayed there for some time, and Festus told the king about Paul’s case. Festus said, “There is a man that Felix left in prison. ¹⁵ When I went to Jerusalem, the leading priests and the elders there made charges against him, asking me to sentence him to death. ¹⁶ But I answered, ‘When a man is accused of a crime, Romans do not hand him over until he has been allowed to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges.’ ¹⁷ So when these people came here to Caesarea for the trial, I did not waste time. The next day I sat on the judge’s seat and commanded that the man be brought in. ¹⁸ They stood up and accused him, but not of any serious crime as I thought they would. ¹⁹ The things they said were about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who died. But Paul said that he is still alive. ²⁰ Not knowing how to find out about these questions, I asked Paul, ‘Do you want to go to Jerusalem and be judged there?’ ²¹ But he asked to be kept in Caesarea. He wants a decision from the emperor.^[z] So I ordered that he be held until I could send him to Caesar.”

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

Festus said, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”

²³ The next day Agrippa and Bernice appeared with great show, acting like very important people. They went into the judgment room with the army leaders and the important men of Caesarea. Then Festus ordered the soldiers to bring Paul in. ²⁴ Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are gathered here with us, you see this man. All the people, here and in Jerusalem, have complained to me about him, shouting that he should not live any longer. ²⁵ When I judged him, I found no reason to order his death. But since he asked to be judged by Caesar, I decided to send him. ²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write the emperor about him. So I have brought him before all of you—especially you, King Agrippa. I hope you can question him and give me something to write. ²⁷ I think it is foolish to send a prisoner to Caesar without telling what charges are against him.”

Paul Defends Himself

26 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak to defend yourself.”

Then Paul raised his hand and began to speak. ² He said, “King Agrippa, I am very blessed to stand before you and will answer all the charges the evil people make against me. ³ You know so much about all the customs and the things they argue about, so please listen to me patiently.

⁴ “All my people know about my whole life, how I lived from the beginning in my own country and later in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known me for a long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I was a good Pharisee. And the Pharisees obey the laws of my tradition more carefully than any other group. ⁶ Now I am on trial because I hope for the promise that God made to our ancestors. ⁷ This is the promise that the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive as they serve God day and night. My king, they have accused me because I hope for this same promise! ⁸ Why do any of you people think it is impossible for God to raise people from the dead?

⁹ “I, too, thought I ought to do many things against Jesus from Nazareth. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. The leading priests gave me the power to put many of God’s people in jail, and when they were being killed, I agreed it was a good thing. ¹¹ In every synagogue, I often punished them and tried to make them speak against Jesus. I was so angry against them I even went to other cities to find them and punish them.

¹² “One time the leading priests gave me permission and the power to go to Damascus. ¹³ On the way there, at noon, I saw a light from heaven. It was brighter than the sun and flashed all around me and those who were traveling with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language,^[aa] saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting me.’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. ¹⁶ Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant and my witness—you will tell people the things that you have seen and the things that I will show you. This is why I have come to you today. ¹⁷ I will keep you safe from your own people and also from the others. I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn away from darkness to the light, away from the power of Satan and to God. Then their sins can be forgiven, and they can have a place with those people who have been made holy by believing in me.’

¹⁹ “King Agrippa, after I had this vision from heaven, I obeyed it. ²⁰ I began telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God and do things to show they really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and in every part of Judea, and also to the other people. ²¹ This is why the Jews took me and were trying to kill me in the Temple. ²² But God has helped me, and so I stand here today, telling all people, small and great, what I have seen. But I am saying only what Moses and the prophets said would happen— ²³ that the Christ would die, and as the first to rise from the dead, he would bring light to all people.”

Paul Tries to Persuade Agrippa

²⁴ While Paul was saying these things to defend himself, Festus said loudly, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Too much study has driven you crazy!”

²⁵ Paul said, “Most excellent Festus, I am not crazy. My words are true and sensible. ²⁶ King Agrippa knows about these things, and I can speak freely to him. I know he has heard about all of these things, because they did not happen off in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets wrote? I know you believe.”

²⁸ King Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian in such a short time?”

²⁹ Paul said, “Whether it is a short or a long time, I pray to God that not only you but every person listening to me today would be saved and be like me—except for these chains I have.”

³⁰ Then King Agrippa, Governor Festus, Bernice, and all the people sitting with them stood up ³¹ and left the room. Talking to each other, they said, “There is no reason why this man should die or be put in jail.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “We could let this man go free, but he has asked Caesar to hear his case.”

Paul Sails for Rome

27 It was decided that we would sail for Italy. An officer named Julius, who served in the emperor’s^[ab] army, guarded Paul and some other prisoners. ² We got on a ship that was from the city of Adramyttium and was about to sail to different ports in Asia. Aristarchus, a man from the city of Thessalonica in Macedonia, went with us. ³ The next day we came to Sidon. Julius was very good to Paul and gave him freedom to go visit his friends, who took care of his needs. ⁴ We left Sidon and sailed close to the island of Cyprus, because the wind was blowing against us. ⁵ We went across the sea by Cilicia and Pamphylia and landed at the city of Myra, in Lycia. ⁶ There the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was going to Italy, so he put us on it.

⁷ We sailed slowly for many days. We had a hard time reaching Cnidus because the wind was blowing against us, and we could not go any farther. So we sailed by the south side of the island of Crete near Salmone. ⁸ Sailing past it was hard. Then we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹ We had lost much time, and it was now dangerous to sail, because it was already after the Day of Cleansing.^[ac] So Paul warned them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see there will be a lot of trouble on this trip. The ship, the cargo, and even our lives may be lost.” ¹¹ But the captain and the owner of the ship did not agree with Paul, and the officer believed what the captain and owner of the ship said. ¹² Since that harbor was not a good place for the ship to stay for the winter, most of the men decided that the ship should leave. They hoped we could go to Phoenix and stay there for the winter. Phoenix, a city on the island of Crete, had a harbor which faced southwest and northwest.

The Storm

¹³ When a good wind began to blow from the south, the men on the ship thought, “This is the wind we wanted, and now we have it.” So they pulled up the anchor, and we sailed very close to the island of Crete. ¹⁴ But then a very strong wind named the “northeaster” came from the island. ¹⁵ The ship was caught in it and could not sail against it. So we stopped trying and let the wind carry us. ¹⁶ When we went below a small island named Cauda, we were barely able to bring in the lifeboat. ¹⁷ After the men took the lifeboat in, they tied ropes around the ship to hold it together. The men were afraid that the ship would hit the sandbanks of Syrtis,^[ad] so they lowered the sail and let the wind carry the ship. ¹⁸ The next day the storm was blowing us so hard that the men threw out some of the cargo. ¹⁹ A day later with their own hands they threw out the ship’s equipment. ²⁰ When we could not see the sun or the stars for many days, and the storm was very bad, we lost all hope of being saved.

²¹ After the men had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me. You should not have sailed from Crete. Then you would not have all this trouble and loss. ²² But now I tell you to cheer up because none of you will die. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ Last night an angel came to me from the God I belong to and worship. ²⁴ The angel said, ‘Paul, do not be afraid. You must stand before Caesar. And God has promised you that he will save the lives of everyone sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So men, have courage. I trust in God that everything will happen as his angel told me. ²⁶ But we will crash on an island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night we were still being carried around in the Adriatic Sea.^[ae] About midnight the sailors thought we were close to land, ²⁸ so they lowered a rope with a weight on the end of it into the water. They found that the water was one hundred twenty feet deep. They went a little farther and lowered the rope again. It was ninety feet deep. ²⁹ The sailors were afraid that we would hit the rocks, so they threw four anchors into the water and prayed for daylight to come. ³⁰ Some of the sailors wanted to leave the ship, and they lowered the lifeboat, pretending they were throwing more anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul told the officer and the other soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, your lives cannot be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.

³³ Just before dawn Paul began persuading all the people to eat something. He said, “For the past fourteen days you have been waiting and watching and not eating. ³⁴ Now I beg you to eat something. You need it to stay alive. None of you will lose even one hair off your heads.” ³⁵ After he said this, Paul took some bread and thanked God for it before all of them. He broke off a piece and began eating. ³⁶ They all felt better and started eating, too. ³⁷ There were two hundred seventy-six people on the ship. ³⁸ When they had eaten all they wanted, they began making the ship lighter by throwing the grain into the sea.

The Ship Is Destroyed

³⁹ When daylight came, the sailors saw land. They did not know what land it was, but they saw a bay with a beach and wanted to sail the ship to the beach if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut the ropes to the anchors and left the anchors in the sea. At the same time, they untied the ropes that were holding the rudders. Then they raised the front sail into the wind and sailed toward the beach. ⁴¹ But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move, but the back of the ship began to break up from the big waves.

⁴² The soldiers decided to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim away and escape. ⁴³ But Julius, the officer, wanted to let Paul live and did not allow the soldiers to kill the prisoners. Instead he ordered everyone who could swim to jump into the water first and swim to land. ⁴⁴ The rest were to follow using wooden boards or pieces of the ship. And this is how all the people made it safely to land.

Paul on the Island of Malta

28 When we were safe on land, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² The people who lived there were very good to us. Because it was raining and very cold, they made a fire and welcomed all of us. ³ Paul gathered a pile of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a poisonous snake came out because of the heat and bit him on the hand. ⁴ The people living on the island saw the snake hanging from Paul’s hand and said to each other, “This man must be a murderer! He did not die in the sea, but Justice^[af] does not want him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and was not hurt. ⁶ The people thought that Paul would swell up or fall down dead. They waited and watched him for a long time, but nothing bad happened to him. So they changed their minds and said, “He is a god!”

⁷ There were some fields around there owned by Publius, an important man on the island. He welcomed us into his home and was very good to us for three days. ⁸ Publius’ father was sick with a fever and dysentery.^[ag] Paul went to him, prayed, and put his hands on the man and healed him. ⁹ After this, all the other sick people on the island came to Paul, and he healed them, too. ^10-11 The people on the island gave us many honors. When we were ready to leave, three months later, they gave us the things we needed.

Paul Goes to Rome

We got on a ship from Alexandria that had stayed on the island during the winter. On the front of the ship was the sign of the twin gods.^{[ah] 12} We stopped at Syracuse for three days. ¹³ From there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day a wind began to blow from the south, and a day later we came to Puteoli. ¹⁴ We found some believers there who asked us to stay with them for a week. Finally, we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The believers in Rome heard that we were there and came out as far as the Market of Appius^[ai] and the Three Inns^[aj] to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.

Paul in Rome

¹⁶ When we arrived at Rome, Paul was allowed to live alone, with the soldier who guarded him.