¹I made my previous account, O Theophilus, about all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, ²up until the day he was taken up, after he had given orders through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen; ³to whom also he showed himself to be alive, following his suffering, by many convincing proofs (being seen by them over a period of forty days) and telling them things about the kingdom of God.

⁴And convening them around himself, he ordered them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard about from me. ⁵For John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.”

⁶When therefore they were gathered together, they queried him, saying, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷And he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father has placed within his own authority; ⁸but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and out to the farthest part of the earth.” ⁹And after he had said these things, he was lifted up away while they were watching. And a cloud removed him from their view. ¹⁰And as he was going, they were concentrating intently into the sky, and behold! Two men dressed in white clothing had been standing beside them.

¹¹And they said: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing looking intently into the sky? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same manner in which you saw him go into heaven.”

¹²At that time they went back into Jerusalem, from the hill called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s walk away. ¹³And when they got back inside the city, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Halphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴These all with one mind were devoting themselves persistently to prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus and his brothers.

¹⁵And during those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, (altogether the company of persons was about 120). He said, ¹⁶“Brethren, it was necessary for that scripture to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus, ¹⁷because he was numbered among us and obtained one share of this ministry.” ¹⁸(This man therefore had bought himself a field out of the payment from unrighteousness, and after falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹And it became known to everyone living in Jerusalem, so that the field is called in their language, “Hakeldama.” This means “Field of Blood.”) ²⁰“For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘Let his settlement be desolate, and be in it no inhabitant,’ and, ‘Let his position be taken by someone else.’ ²¹So then, it must be out of the men who have been with us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from the baptism of John all the way until the day he was taken up from us; one of those who were witnesses of his resurrection with us.”

²³And they nominated two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus; and Matthias.

²⁴And getting down in prayer, they said, “You, Lord, are knower of all hearts. Reveal which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to receive this place of ministry and apostleship, from which Judas turned aside to go to his own proper place.”

²⁶And they cast lots over them, and the lot fell to Matthias. And he was added in with the eleven apostles.

Chapter 2

¹And when it was time for the Day of Pentecost, they were all together in one place, ²and suddenly there came the sound of words from heaven as if being carried by a swirling wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³And there appeared to them tongues of flame, dividing apart, just as if a fire, and it came to rest on each one of them, ⁴and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

⁵Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem who were devout men from all the nations under heaven. ⁶And as the sound of this was produced, a crowd gathered on, and they were captivated, because each one was hearing them speaking in his own particular language. ⁷And they were astonished, and marveling, saying, “Behold, these people who are speaking, are they not all Galileans? ⁸So how are we each hearing them in our own particular language in which we were born? ⁹Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia; Jews also from Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia; ¹⁰both Phrygia and Pamphylia; Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; and Romans who are visiting, ¹¹both Jews and proselytes; Cretans and Arabs; we hear them telling the mighty deeds of God in our own languages!” ¹²And they were all stunned and struggling. Some were saying to each other, “What does this mean?”

¹³But others were saying with scorn, “They are full of new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter stood forward, along with the Eleven, and he lifted up his voice, and spoke out boldly to them: “Fellow Jews, and all of you staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and take heed to my words. ¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you are thinking, since it is the third hour of the day. ¹⁶But rather this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ ‘And it will be, in the last days,’ God says,

‘I will pour out of my spirit onto all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

and your young will see visions,

and your older will dream dreams;

¹⁸and onto both my male servants and my female servants

I will pour out from my Spirit in those days,

and they will prophesy.

¹⁹And I will provide wonders in the heaven above,

and signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and a smoky mist;

²⁰the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood

before that great and terrible Day of the Lord is come.

²¹And it will be, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

²²”Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man commended to you from God by powerful deeds and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, ²³this man, who was handed over according to the established plan and foreknowledge of God, you lifted up, to be nailed by the hand of Torah-less men, ²⁴him God has raised again, breaking the bonds of death, since it was never possible for him to be held by it.

²⁵For David says regarding him,

‘I have foreseen the Lord going before me through it all.

Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶For this reason my heart was cheered,

and my tongue did rejoice,

and my flesh also will now dwell in hope,

²⁷because you will not abandon my soul in Hades,

nor will you assign your holy one to see decay.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life.

You will fill me with joy with your company.’

²⁹Brothers, I venture to say with certainty to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb remains among us to this day. ³⁰But because of being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath that fruit of his loins would sit on his throne, ³¹it was in reference to the resurrection of the Messiah he spoke, with foresight, that He was not abandoned in Hades, nor did His flesh see decay. ³²This man Jesus, God raised to life, to which we all are witnesses. ³³Having been exalted then to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you are seeing and hearing. ³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, yet he says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, ³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ ³⁶Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a certainty, that the one whom you crucified, God has made that same Jesus both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷And when they heard this, they were shocked. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive for yourselves the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is to you, and to your children, and also to everyone far off, however many the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰With many other words also, he was solemnly testifying, and urging them, saying, “You must be saved from this perverse generation.” ⁴¹The ones therefore who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added during that day.

⁴²And they were devoting themselves continually to the teaching of the apostles, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. ⁴³And an awe came into every soul, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all the believers were together, and possessing everything in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their property and possessions, and distributing the proceeds to everyone, according to whomever had the need. ⁴⁶And every day they were as one mind, devoting themselves constantly in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, sharing food with gladness and simplicity of heart, ⁴⁷praising God, and having favor in the eyes of all the people. And the Lord was adding to the assembly daily those who were being saved.

Chapter 3

¹Now Peter and John went up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, ²and a man lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they would place daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so he could ask for charity from those going into the temple; ³who when he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked to receive charity. ⁴And Peter, after studying him together with John, said, “Look at us.”

⁵So he was holding his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶And Peter said, “Silver and gold, I have none. But what I do have, this I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” ⁷And he gripped him by the right hand and lifted him. And his feet and ankles were instantly strengthened, ⁸and springing up, he stood, and started walking around. And he went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰and they recognized him, that this was the man usually sitting at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to ask for charity, and they were filled with amazement and wonder over what had happened to him. ¹¹And as he kept holding on to Peter and John, all the people ran together toward them in admiration, at the gate called Solomon’s Gate.

¹²But when Peter saw this, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why are you marveling over this, and why are you looking upon us as if our own power or godliness caused him to walk again? ¹³The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over to and disowned before the face of Pilate. He had made the judgement to release him, ¹⁴but you rejected the holy and righteous one, and asked that a murderer be released on pardon to you, ¹⁵and you killed the architect of life, whom God has raised from the dead, to which we all are witnesses. ¹⁶And it is on the basis of faith in his name, Jesus’ name, that this man whom you see and know has been made firm, and this faith, which is through that Jesus, has given this man complete healing in front of you all.

¹⁷So now, brothers, I realize it was because you were unaware, that you acted so, and likewise your leaders. ¹⁸But in this way were fulfilled the things God had foretold through the mouths of all the prophets: that his Anointed had to suffer. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn yourselves around, so that your sins be wiped away, ²⁰so that times of refreshing may come from having access to the Lord, and he send the pre-appointed Messiah to you, Jesus, ²¹whom heaven must take in until the time of the restoration of all things, about which God has spoken through the mouths of his holy prophets since long ago.

²²For indeed Moses said to our fathers, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. To him you must take heed, in accordance with everything he says to you, ²³and it will be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly cut off from among the people.' ²⁴And in fact all the prophets from Samuel and those in succession, as many as have spoken, have also predicted these days. ²⁵You are the heirs of the prophets, and of the covenant which God set in place with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And through your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.' ²⁶God, having now raised up his servant, has sent him to you, blessing you first, in order to turn each of you from your wicked ways.”

Chapter 4

¹And as they were talking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees pressed upon them, ²all worked up because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead, ³and they put their hands on them and placed them under guard until morning (for by then it was evening). ⁴But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men was about 5,000.

⁵And the next morning an assembly of the leaders and elders and Torah scholars was convened in Jerusalem, ⁶including Hananiah the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all the ones who were relatives of the high priest. ⁷And after they had stood them in their midst, they were inquiring, “By what power or what name did you do this?”

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Leaders of the people, and elders of Israel, ⁹If we are on trial for a good deed done to a lame man, as to by what means he was healed, ¹⁰be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in this name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, in that name this man is presented before you healthy. ¹¹This Jesus is ‘the stone that you builders rejected; he has become the cornerstone.’ ¹²And salvation is not in anyone else, for there is not even another name under heaven given among man by which we must be saved.”

¹³Now when they observed the confident speech of Peter and John, and considered the fact that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed. And they recognized them, that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴And as they saw that the man who was with them was standing, the one who had been healed, they had nothing to say in rebuttal. ¹⁵And after ordering them to go outside the Sanhedrin, they were conferring with one another, ¹⁶saying, “What shall we do with these men? For to be sure, a notable sign has happened through them, well known to everyone living in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But, so it does not spread to the people any further, let us warn them with a threat, not to speak any more in this name to anyone.” ¹⁸And after summoning them, they gave them orders not to utter at all, nor to teach in, the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But in response Peter and John said to them, “Whether it is right in God’s eyes to obey you rather than obey God, you decide. ²⁰Because for us, it impossible not to tell the things we have seen and heard.”

²¹But they threatened them further, and then released them, having found no way to punish them, because of the people. For they were all praising God over what had happened. ²²For the man on whom this sign of healing had happened was over forty years old. ²³So being released they went to their own people and reported what things the chief priests and elders had said to them.

²⁴And who when they heard, they with one mind lifted up their voice to God, and said, "Master, you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things that are in them, ²⁵you said by the mouth of our father David your servant, through the Holy Spirit, 'Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain things? ²⁶The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers assemble together against the Lord and against his Anointed.' ²⁷They have in fact assembled in this city against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the nations and the assemblies of Israel, ²⁸to do those things which your hand and your design have fore-ordained to happen. ²⁹And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and give to all your servants the ability to speak your word with boldness, ³⁰by stretching forth your hand so that curing and signs and wonders will happen through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹And as they were making this request, the place in which they were assembled was shaken, and they all were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. ³²Now the hearts and souls of the multitude of those who had believed were one, and no one said any of his possessions were his own, but instead were held in common for every one of them. ³³And with great power the apostles gave the testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. ³⁴For not even one among them was needy. Because whoever of them were owners of lands or houses, they were selling, and they would bring the proceeds of the things that were sold, ³⁵and donate it at the feet of the apostles. Then it was distributed to each person, according as anyone had the need.

³⁶Thus it was that Joseph, who was nicknamed Barnabas by the apostles (which when translated is Son of Encouragement), a Levite, Cypriot by birth, ³⁷who was the owner of a field, he sold it and brought the proceeds and donated it at the feet of the apostles.

Chapter 5

¹Then a man named Hananiah, together with his wife Saphira, sold some property, ²and part of the proceeds he secretly set aside for himself (his wife also aware) and part of it he brought to the feet of the apostles and donated.

³And Peter said, “Hananiah, why has Satan emboldened your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly set aside for yourself part of the proceeds from the field? ⁴Was not the field yours, and after it was sold, the proceeds still within your rights to keep? What happened, that put this issue in your heart? It was not to people that you lied, but to God.”

⁵And after Hananaiah heard these words, he fell down dead. And great fear gripped all those who were listening. ⁶And the young men got up, and when they had wrapped him, they carried him out and buried him. ⁷And there was an interval of about three hours, and then his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸And Peter responded to her, “Tell me, was this how much you sold the land for?”

And she said, “Yes, this much.”

⁹And Peter said to her, “What happened, that you two were united to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door. They will also carry you out.” ¹⁰And she immediately dropped near his feet and died. And when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her next to her husband. ¹¹And great fear came over the whole assembly, and over all those who heard these things.

¹²And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were happening among the people, and they were regularly at the Portico of Solomon with one accord. ¹³But none of the rest dared to be seen with them. (Though the people thought highly of them.)

¹⁴Even so, more believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women; ¹⁵with the result that they also brought out their sick into the streets and placed them on pallets and mats, in case if Peter came by even his shadow might pass over one of them. ¹⁶And the multitude from the cities surrounding Jerusalem also collected there, carrying the sick and those being tormented by unclean spirits, who were healed, all of them.

¹⁷But the high priest rose up, and all those with him, which was the sect of the Sadducees. They were filled with jealousy, ¹⁸and they put their hands on the apostles and placed them in custody publicly. ¹⁹But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and led them out, and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple, and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

²¹They took heed, and at about dawn they went into the temple, and were teaching. And when the high priest and those with him had opened for business, they called together the Sanhedrin and all the senate of the sons of Israel, and sent men to the jail to have them brought. ²²But when the attendants got there, they found they were not in the prison, and went back and reported, ²³saying, “We found the jail locked up securely and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened it, we found no one inside.”

²⁴And as the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were completely at a loss as to what might become of it all. ²⁵Then someone came and reported to them, “Behold, the men you had put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” ²⁶At that time the captain went out, along with the attendants, and brought them, not with force, because they were afraid of the people, not wanting to be stoned.

²⁷And they brought them and stood them in the Sanhedrin. And the high priest interrogated them, ²⁸saying, “We very strictly charged you not to teach in this name, and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. And you intend to bring on us this man’s blood.”

²⁹And in answer Peter and the apostles said, “We ought to obey God rather than people. ³⁰The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him to a tree. ³¹This man God has exalted to his right hand as Ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³²And we are witnesses of these matters, as is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³And those hearing this were enraged, and began planning to kill him. ³⁴But a certain man in the council stood up, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the law respected by all the people. And he ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. ³⁵And he said to them, “Men, Israelites, take heed to yourselves over these men, what you intend to do. ³⁶For prior to these days, Theudas had risen up, declaring himself to be someone, to whom a number of men attached themselves, about four hundred. He was killed, and all who obeyed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷After that, during the days of the registration, Judas the Galilean rose up and drew away people after him. That man also perished, and all who obeyed him were scattered. ³⁸And the ones now, I am telling you, stand back from these men, and leave them alone. Because if this argument is of man, or this effort, it will come to an end. ³⁹On the other hand, if it is of God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be found acting as opponents of God.”

With that they obeyed him. ⁴⁰And they called for the apostles, and beat them, and ordered them not to speak on the name of Jesus, and released them. ⁴¹They as a result were proceeding from the presence of the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they were considered worthy to be despised for the sake of that name. ⁴²And every day, in the temple, and from house to house, they never ceased teaching and preaching the Messiah Jesus.

Chapter 6

¹Now during those days, with the number of disciples having multiplied greatly, there arose some grumbling from the Greek speakers toward the Hebrew speakers, that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ²Then the Twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them, and said, “It is not fitting that we abandon the word of God to wait on tables. ³So, brothers, search out seven men of you who are witnessed to be full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint over this office; ⁴whereas we will be devoted to prayer and service of the word.”

⁵And this word was pleasing before all the multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch. ⁶Whom they set before the apostles. And they prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷And the word of God grew, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly. A large crowd of the priests also was coming to obey the faith. ⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great signs and wonders among the people.

⁹But some men stood up, debating with Stephen, men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, ¹⁰and they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous things against Moses and against God.” ¹²And that stirred up the people, and the elders, and the Torah scholars. And having stood ready nearby, they seized him and took him to the Sanhedrin. ¹³They also had arranged false witnesses, who were now saying, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law. ¹⁴For we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵And everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin who watched him saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Chapter 7

¹Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?”

²And he said, “Brothers and fathers, listen: The glorious God appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³and He said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to whatever country I will show you.’

⁴At that time he left Chaldea, and lived in Haran. And then, after his father died, God removed him to this country in which you now live. ⁵Yet he did not give him tenure in this country, not even a foothold, yet promised to give it for a possession to his seed after him, this while he had no child. ⁶But God spoke this: ‘Your seed will be aliens in the country of others, who will enslave them and treat them badly for 400 years. ⁷And whatever nation enslaves them, I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after those things they will come out, and will worship me in this place.’

⁸And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and thus Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. ⁹And the patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph off to Egypt. Yet God was with him. ¹⁰And He rescued him from all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the eyes of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt, and over his entire household.

¹¹But a famine came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our fathers were not finding food. ¹²So when Jacob heard there was bread in Egypt, he sent our fathers out the first time. ¹³And during the second time, Joseph allowed himself to be recognized by his brothers, and his race became evident to Pharaoh.

¹⁴So Joseph sent word inviting his father to come, Jacob and the whole clan, 75 souls in all, ¹⁵and Jacob went down to Egypt. And he and our fathers died, ¹⁶and were transferred to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought with a payment in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷Now just as the time was drawing near for the promise which God had declared to Abraham, the people grew in strength and were multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸until such time another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹This man dealt shrewdly with our race. He mistreated our fathers, causing their newborn babies to be thrown out, so they would not survive.

²⁰At which time Moses was born, and he was very good looking. For three months he was nurtured in the house of his father. ²¹Then when he was put out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and raised him as her own son. ²²And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his words and his deeds.

²³But when he reached 40 years old, it came upon his heart to go check on his brothers the sons of Israel. ²⁴And when he saw one being injured he defended him, and he got vengeance for the one getting the worse, by striking the Egyptian. ²⁵Now he thought his brothers would understand that God would give salvation to them through his hand. But they did not understand. ²⁶And on the following day he appeared to some of them, who were fighting, and he attempted to reconcile them in peace saying, “Men, you are brothers. Why are you injuring each other?”

²⁷But the one injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, “Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸Do you intend to kill me the same way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”

²⁹And with this said, Moses fled. And he became an alien camping out in Midian, where he begat two sons. ³⁰And when he was forty years old, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

³¹And Moses saw it and was marvelling at the vision. As he approached it therefore to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ But Moses started to tremble and dared not look.

³³And the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet; because the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have looked, I have seen the ill treatment of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them. And now, you come; I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵This Moses, the one they had denied saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge;’ this man God sent as ruler and redeemer by means of the angel appearing to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them forth, performing wonders and signs, in Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the desert for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you like me out of your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was present in the congregation in the desert, who was with the angel speaking to him in Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers. He who received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹To whom our fathers refused to be obedient, but pushed him away, and turned their hearts toward Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us that will go before us. Because this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we do not know what happened to him.’ ⁴¹And they molded a calf in those days, and led a sacrifice up to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

⁴²And God turned away, and gave them up to worship the heavenly bodies, just as it is written in the scroll of the prophets: ‘Have you presented Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? ⁴³Yet you carried around the booth of Moloch, and the star of your god Saturn. The images which you made, you worshiped them. I therefore will deport you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴The tent of testimony was there for our fathers in the desert, just as the one speaking had directed Moses to make it according to the model which he had seen. ⁴⁵Which then our fathers had passed on to them, and they with Joshua, took it into the land possessed by the nations whom God drove away from the face of our fathers until the days of David. ⁴⁶Who found favor before God and asked to find a tent for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸But the Most High does not dwell in hand-made things. As the prophet says, ⁴⁹’Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-stool. What kind of house will you build for me?’ says the Lord, ‘or what place for my rest? ⁵Has not my hand created all these things?’

⁵¹O you stiff-necked people, and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Just as your fathers were, so are you. ⁵²Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you now are become the betrayers and murderers. ⁵³Who have received the law by the direction of angels, and not kept it.”

⁵⁴Now those hearing these things had been seething inside, and were grinding their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed intently into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶And he said, “Look! I can see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷But they howled loudly while plugging their ears, and with one accord charged upon him, ⁵⁸and when they had cast him outside the city, they proceeded to stone him. And the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹And as they stoned Stephen, he was calling out, and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰Then he dropped to his knees, and cried out with a loud voice: “Lord, do not hold these sins against them.” And after he said these things, he died.

Chapter 8

¹And Saul was in agreement with his killing. Then there occurred at that time a great persecution against the congregation at Jerusalem, and they all became scattered over the territories of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. ²But some devout men recovered the body of Stephen, and made a great lamentation over him.

³Meanwhile Saul was ravaging the church, entering house to house, dragging off both men and women and handing them over to prison. ⁴But those who were scattered consequently passed through preaching the word. ⁵Thus Philip, having gone down to a city of Samaria, preached Christ to those people.

⁶And those crowds, when they heard, and saw the signs he was performing, with one mind took heed to the things that were spoken by Philip. ⁷For many had unclean spirits, which were coming out with loud shrieks, and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. ⁸And so there was great joy in that city.

⁹Now there was a man in that city named Simon who had been practicing sorcery and astonishing the nation of Samaria, declaring himself to be someone great. ¹⁰To whom all would pay attention, from the small to the great, saying, “This is what you call the great power of God.” ¹¹And they were paying attention to him because it was for quite a while he had been astonishing them with his sorceries. ¹²But when they believed what Philip had preached about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were getting baptized, both men and women. ¹³And Simon himself also believed, and after he was baptized, he was staying close to Philip, and when he saw the great signs and miracles that were happening, he was astonished.

¹⁴And when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, ¹⁵who went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶For He had not yet fallen upon even one of them. They were baptized ones, but baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷Then at that time, they laid their hands on them, and they did receive the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me this authority also, so that whoever I lay my hands on receives the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you presumed to buy the gift of God with money! ²¹There is no part or place for you in this preaching, because your heart is not pure before God. ²²Repent therefore of this evil of yours, and petition of the Lord if the intent of your heart will be forgiven. ²³For I see you being with a root of bitterness and the bondage of unrighteousness.”

²⁴And in response Simon said, “Pray to the Lord on my behalf so that none of what you said will befall me.”

²⁵When therefore they had given solemn testimony, they also returned to Jerusalem speaking the word of the Lord, evangelizing even more Samaritan villages.

²⁶Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying: “Get you up, and go down southward on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is desert.)

²⁷And he got up and went, and behold, an Ethiopian man, who was an official eunuch of the Kentake (the queen of the Ethiopians), in charge of all her finance. He had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸and was going back home. And was sitting on his chariot, and reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and meet this chariot.”

³⁰So Philip ran up to him. And he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said to him, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹And he said, “How would I truly be able to, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip up, to sit with him.

³²And the passage of scripture he was reading was,

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

³³In his meekness his right was taken away.

Who will describe his generation?

For his life is being removed from the earth.”

³⁴So in response the eunuch said to Philip, “I ask you please, about whom is the prophet saying this? About himself? Or about someone else?”

³⁵Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with that very scripture, told him all the good news about Jesus. ³⁶And as they were proceeding along the road, they came upon some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, water. Is there anything forbidding me to be baptized?”

³⁸And he ordered the chariot to stop, and the two went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹And when they had come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip up, and the eunuch saw him no more. He sure was rejoicing as he went on his way.

⁴⁰Then Philip was found in Azotus, and he preached the gospel to all the towns as he passed through, until he arrived at Caesarea.

Chapter 9

¹Now Saul was still breathing threats of murder against the disciples of the Lord. And he approached the high priest, ²and obtained letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, to the effect that anyone he found belonging to The Way, both men and women, he could bind them and bring them to Jerusalem. ³When therefore he was on his way, it came about, that as he was getting close to Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven shone all around him, ⁴and he fell to the ground. He heard a voice. It was saying to him, “Shaul, Shaul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”

And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

⁶Then, trembling and awe-struck, he said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

And the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and it will be told you what you are to do.”

⁷Now the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but not seeing anyone. ⁸Then Saul got up off the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So leading him by the hand, they took him into Damascus. ⁹And he went three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Hananiah, and the Lord spoke to him in a dream, “Hananiah.”

And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Get up, go to the street called Straight Street, and inquire in the house of Judas for a man named Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying, ¹²and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananiah come in and lay hands on him so that he would see again.”

¹³But Hananiah answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, what bad things he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and he has authority here from the high priest to bind all those who are called by your name.”

¹⁵And the Lord said to him, “Go. For this man is to me a choice vessel to bear my name before the Gentiles, and even before kings, and before the sons of Israel as well. ¹⁶Indeed I will show him what things he himself is destined to suffer for the sake of my name.”

¹⁷So Hananiah went, and came into the house. And he placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you in the road on which you came—so that you may see again, and so you may be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell off his eyes, and he saw again, and he rose up and was baptized. ¹⁹And after receiving food, he gained strength. And he was with the disciples in Damascus a few days, ²⁰and then immediately began preaching Jesus in the synagogues, saying “This is the Son of God.”

²¹And those hearing were amazed, and saying, “Is this not the man who ravaged those in Jerusalem connected to this name? Was this not also the reason he had come here, to take them chained up before the chief priests?”

²²And Saul was getting stronger and stronger, and confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus, proving that this man was the Messiah. ²³And after many days of this had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him. ²⁴But their plan was made known to Saul. Now they were also keeping a close watch on the gates, both by day and by night, so as to kill him. ²⁵So the disciples took him away at night by way of the wall instead. They lowered him down in a basket.

²⁶And when he arrived in Jerusalem, he kept trying to join with the disciples, and everyone was afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple. ²⁷But Barnabas came beside him, and led him to the apostles, and recounted to them how the Lord had appeared to Saul on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how in Damascus Saul had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸So he was with them at Jerusalem going in and out, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord, ²⁹both speaking to and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews. They however were taking steps to kill him. ³⁰And when the brethren found out, they took him to Caesarea, and assigned him out to Tarsus.

³¹Then the church throughout all of Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace, and it was strengthened. And proceeding in the fear of the Lord and the assurance of the Holy Spirit, it was growing in numbers.

³²Now it came about that as Peter was going through all those areas, he went to be with the saints that were living in Lydda. ³³And he found there a man by the name of Aeneas, who was paralyzed, lying in bed for eight years. ³⁴And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ is healing you. Get up and make your bed.” And he got up immediately. ³⁵And everyone living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶And in Joppa there was a disciple by the name of Tabitha, which when translated means Dorkas. This woman was wholly occupied with the good works and charitable giving that she was doing. ³⁷And it came about that during those days she became ill, and died. And after they washed her, they placed her in the upper room. ³⁸And since Lydda was close to Joppa, and the disciples heard that Peter was in that town, they sent two men to him, begging him, “Please come to our town without delay.”

³⁹So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him up into the upper room. And all the widows came forward, weeping, showing him the coats and garments that Dorkas had made when she was with them. ⁴⁰But Peter put everyone outside, and he got down on his knees, and prayed. Then he turned toward the body, and said, “Tabitha, get up.” And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹And lending her a hand, he lifted her up, and called the saints and widows, and presented her to them alive. ⁴²And this became known throughout all of Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. ⁴³And it came about that Peter stayed on for a considerable number of days in Joppa, with a tanner, Simon.

Chapter 10

¹Now a man in Caesarea by the name of Cornelius, the centurion of the cohort called The Italian Cohort, ²a devout and God-fearing man along with his whole household, who was doing many charitable deeds for the Jewish people, and praying to God continually, ³saw distinctly at about the ninth hour of the day in a vision, that an angel of God had come in to him, and who said to him, “Cornelius.”

⁴And Cornelius looked upon him, and became very afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?”

And he said to him, “Your prayers and your deeds of charity have gone up as a memorial before God. ⁵And now, send men to Joppa, and invite a Simon to come to you who is nicknamed Peter. ⁶This man is staying as a guest with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”

⁷So when the angel speaking to him had left, he called two of his house servants from among those who attended him, plus a devout soldier, ⁸and after recounting it to each one of them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹The next day, as those men were walking the road and getting close to the city, Peter went up onto the roof to pray, around the sixth hour. ¹⁰Then he became very hungry, and wanted to eat. And while they were preparing it, a trance came over him, ¹¹and he sees heaven being opened, and then a container coming down, something like a giant bedsheet tied at the four corners, being lowered to the earth. ¹²In it were all the four-footed animals, and all the things that creep on the ground, and all the birds of the sky.

¹³And there came a voice to him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord. Because never have I ever eaten anything common or unclean.”

¹⁵And the voice spoke again to him, a second time: “What God has made clean you must not call unclean.”

¹⁶Now this happened three times; and then the container was immediately taken up into heaven. ¹⁷Then, as Peter was puzzling inside himself as to what might be the meaning of the vision he had seen, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius had asked directions to the house of Simon, and they stood at the gate. ¹⁸And they called out, asking if Simon who was nicknamed Peter was staying as a guest there. ¹⁹And as Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men who are looking for you. ²⁰Get up instead, and go downstairs, and leave with them, not questioning anything, since I have sent them.”

²¹So Peter went down and said to the men, “Here I am, the one you are looking for. What is the reason you are here?”

²²And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a righteous man and fearing God, and vouched for by the whole Jewish nation, he has been directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear some words from you.”

²³He invited them inside therefore as his guests. And the next morning he got up and left with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴And the following day he came into Caesarea. And since Cornelius was expecting him, he had called together his relatives and his close friends. ²⁵And it came about that as Peter was entering, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshipped him.

²⁶But Peter lifted him up saying, “Stand up. I myself am also a human being.”

²⁷And as he was talking with him he went inside, and finds many people gathered. ²⁸And he said to them, “You know full well how it is unlawful for a Jewish man to join with or visit someone of another race. Yet God has shown me to call no human being common or unclean. ²⁹This then is the reason I came without objection to the summons. I ask therefore, what is the reason you have summoned me?”

³⁰And Cornelius said, “Four days ago to this hour, I was in my house praying, at the ninth hour, and behold, a man in radiant clothing stood before me. ³¹And he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been answered, and your deeds of charity have gone up as a memorial before God. ³²Send therefore to Joppa and call for Simon who is knick-named Peter. This man is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’ ³³Right away then I sent men to you, and you on your part did well getting here. Now therefore, we all are present before God, to hear all the things told to you by the Lord.”

³⁴Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, “I truly understand now, that God is not a discriminator of faces, ³⁵but that a person of any nation who fears him and works at righteousness is acceptable to Him. ³⁶This is the word which He sent to the sons of Israel, that announces peace through Jesus Christ: This man is the Lord of everyone.

³⁷You know the thing that happened throughout the whole land of the Jews, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, ³⁸the man from Nazareth, Jesus, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power, who traveled around doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil, because God was with him. ³⁹And we are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and Jerusalem; whom then they killed by hanging him to a tree. ⁴⁰This man God raised up on the third day, and granted him to be visible; ⁴¹not to all the people but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God; to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²And he commanded us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that this man is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify: that all who believe on him are to receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon everyone who was listening to the word. ⁴⁵And those believers who were of the Circumcision, who had come with Peter, were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Gentiles also. ⁴⁶For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded: ⁴⁷”Can anyone forbid water baptism to these people, who received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” ⁴⁸And so he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for several days.

Chapter 11

¹Now those apostles and brothers who were living throughout Judea, they heard that Gentiles had also received the word of God. ²And when Peter went up to Jerusalem, they began to argue against him, those who were of the Circumcision.

³They were saying, “You have gone indoors with uncircumcised men, and you ate with them!”

⁴So Peter began explaining to them step by step, saying, ⁵”I was in the city of Joppa, praying, and in a trance, I saw a vision: a container, something like a giant bedsheet, being let down out of heaven by its four corners, and it came close to me. ⁶When I looked inside, I recognized and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeeping things, and the birds of the sky. ⁷And then I heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

⁸But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord. Because never has anything common or unclean ever gone into my mouth.’

⁹The voice came back a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean you must not call unclean.’

¹⁰And this happened three times, then it was all pulled back into heaven. ¹¹And behold, right then three men stood at the house in which I was staying, sent from Caesarea to me. ¹²And the Spirit said to me, ‘Go with them, not questioning anything. And these six brothers went with me also, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³Then he related to us how he saw an angel who had stood in his house and had said, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon who is knick-named Peter, ¹⁴who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ ¹⁵And so, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶Then I remembered the statement of the Lord. As he said, ‘John baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷If therefore God has given them the same gift as to us when we also believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to have been able to hold back God?”

¹⁸And after they heard these things they calmed down, and they glorified God, saying, “So, even to Gentiles, God has granted repentance unto life.”

¹⁹Those then who had been scattered as a result of the persecution in connection to Stephen, they had gone as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, generally speaking the word to no one except Jews only. ²⁰But there were a few of them, Cypriot and Cyrenian men, who had gone into Antioch speaking to Greeks as well, preaching the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹And the hand of the Lord was with them, and the number of those who believed and turned to the Lord was large.

²²And the report about them was heard as far as the ears of the congregation that was in Jerusalem, and they assigned Barnabas out to Antioch. ²³Who, when he arrived and saw the blessedness that is from God, was glad, and exhorted them all to continue in the Lord with determination in their hearts. ²⁴For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And a great number of people were brought to the Lord. ²⁵Then he went away to Tarsus, to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. And so it came about that, for a whole year they joined forces to work with that congregation, and to teach a considerable throng of people. It was also in Antioch the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷And during those same days some prophets came down to Antioch from Jerusalem. ²⁸And one of them by the name of Agabus indicated through the Spirit that a great famine was going to take place over the whole inhabited earth. Which did take place during the reign of Claudius Caesar. ²⁹Then the disciples determined, according to the extent each of them was prospering, to send money in support to the brethren living in Judea. ³⁰And this they did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Chapter 12

¹Now around that time, King Herod arrested some from the church, and mistreated them. ²And James the brother of John he put to death by the sword. ³And when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews, he went on to hunt down Peter also (and it was during the days of Unleavened Bread), ⁴whom he then arrested and put in prison, delivering him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, intending after Passover to bring him out before the people.

⁵While Peter was being kept in prison, prayer was earnestly being made by the church on his behalf to God. ⁶And when Herod was just about to bring him up, that very night before, Peter was sleeping chained between two soldiers by two chains, with guards also in front of the door watching the prison. ⁷And behold, an angel of the Lord stood over him, and light shone in the room. And he tapped on the side of Peter’s body and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

⁸Then the angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And Peter did so. And the angel says to him, “Throw your cloak on and follow me.”

⁹And Peter was following him outside, not realizing, that what was happening through the angel was real. He thought he was seing a dream. ¹⁰So after passing by the first guards, then the second, they were at the iron gate that leads out to the city. Which opened for them by itself. And they got outside, and when they had gone one block, the angel pulled away from him.

¹¹And Peter came to himself, and said, “Now I truly know, that the Lord has sent out his angel, and plucked me out of Herod’s hand and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” ¹²And once he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of the John whose other name was Mark, which was where a lot of those convened and praying were. ¹³And he knocked on the door of the courtyard, and a maidservant by the name of Rhoda came out to answer, ¹⁴and when she recognized Peter’s voice, from her joy she did not open the gate but ran inside and reported Peter to be standing at the gate.

¹⁵And they said to her, “You’re crazy.” But she kept insisting it was true. So then they were saying, “It’s his angel.”

¹⁶But Peter kept knocking. And when they opened the gate they saw him, and were astounded. ¹⁷And he waved his hand downward for silence, and recounted to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Then he said, “Report these things to James and the brothers.” And he left and went to another location.

¹⁸Now when morning came, there was no small anxiety among the soldiers as to what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹And Herod conducted a search for him, and when he did not find him he interrogated the guards, then ordered them off to be executed, and went down to Caesarea, spending some time away from Judea.

²⁰Now Herod had become angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they made a joint appearance before him, and after they had first won Blastus over to their cause, the man in charge of the king’s bedroom, they sued for peace. This was because their region was dependent upon the food crops from the royal farms. ²¹And on the day appointed, Herod dressed in the royal robes and sat at the tribunal, and delivered a speech before them. ²²And the crowd began raising a cheer: “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” ²³But an angel of the Lord struck him on the spot, because he did not give the glory to God. And he was eaten by worms, and died.

²⁴Now the word of God was spreading, and winning over more and more people. ²⁵And Barnabas and Saul returned, having fulfilled their mission at Jerusalem, and they brought with them John whose other name was Mark.

Chapter 13

¹Now among that congregation in Antioch there were prophets and teachers: both Barnabas and Simeon ―the one called black Simeon― and also Lucius the Cyrenian; Manaen the foster brother of Herod the Tetrarch; and Saul. ²And while they were devoting themselves to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Now set apart Barnabas and Saul to me, for the work to which I have called them.”

³Then, after fasting and praying and laying their hands on them, they sent them off. ⁴Those two therefore, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus, ⁵and once they were in Salamis, were proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. Now they also had John along as an assistant.

⁶And they traveled throughout the whole island, until they reached Paphos, where they encountered a man who was a magician and Jewish false prophet, whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus. This latter was an intelligent man, and he summoned Barnabas and Saul, desiring to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the magician (for that is how his name is translated) kept working against them, always trying to steer the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹Then Saul, who was also Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze straight at him, ¹⁰and said, “O you, full of all spincraft and every kind of fraud, you son of the devil, you opponent of all that is righteous, are you never going to stop distorting the right ways of the Lord? ¹¹And now behold, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a time."

And immediately there fell upon him a mist, and darkness, and he was going around looking for a guiding hand. ¹²At that time the proconsul believed, when he saw what had happened, completely amazed at the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Then, setting sail from Paphos, Paul and his companions came to Perga of Pamphylia; except for John, who parted from them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴And they passed on through from Perga and arrived in Antioch of Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, "Brothers, if there is among you any word of exhortation to the people, you may speak."

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and waving his hand downward for silence, he said, Men, Israelites, and those who fear God, please listen. ¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and he exalted the people during their sojourning in Egypt, and with a mighty arm led them out of it, ¹⁸and, for about forty years time he bore them in the desert, ¹⁹then after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land out to them as an inheritance, ²⁰all this over a period of about 450 years. And after those things, he gave them the judges, until Samuel the prophet.

²¹"And from then on they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish for 40 years, a man of the tribe of Benjamin. ²²And after removing him, he raised up David for them as king, about whom he also testified and said, 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will perform all my wishes.' ²³From the seed of that man, according to the promise, God brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, ²⁴with John having announced ahead of His appearance a baptism of repentance to all the people Israel.

²⁵"And as John was completing his run, he was saying, 'What are you surmising me to be? I am not the one. But behold, there is coming after me someone whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.'

²⁶"Men and brothers, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been assigned over to us, ²⁷since those living in Jerusalem and their rulers, being ignorant of this and of the voices of the prophets which are read on every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him. ²⁸And even though they found no case for the death penalty, they asked Pilate to execute Him. ²⁹And when they had fulfilled all those things written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰"But God raised him up from the dead. ³¹Over a period of many days he appeared to those who had come up to Jersualem with him from Galilee, those who are now witnesses of him to the people. ³²And we are announcing to you this good news: that the promise made to the fathers, ³³God has fulfilled that promise to us their children by raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm about him: 'You are my son. Today I have begotten you.'

³⁴"And that he raised him from the dead, to revert no more to decay, this is spoken: 'I will grant to you the sure blessings of David.'

³⁵"Pertaining to which also it says in another place, 'You will grant that your blessed one not see decay.'

³⁶"Now certainly: David fell asleep, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, and he was laid to rest with his fathers and he saw decay. ³⁷But the one whom God has raised, he did not see decay. ³⁸Be it known to you therefore, men and brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being announced to you, ³⁹and of everything from which it was not possible to be justified through the Law of Moses, he who believes in this man is being justified.

⁴⁰"Take heed therefore, so that this spoken in the prophets not apply:

⁴¹'Watch, O scornful ones, and marvel, and perish.

Because I am accomplishing a feat in your days,

a feat which you would not believe

if someone were explaining it to you.' "

⁴²And when they went outside, some were inviting them to the next Sabbath, to speak these same words to them. ⁴³Then after the synagogue meeting had broken up many of the Jews and devout proselytes accompanied Paul and Barnabas, who, as they continued to speak to them, were prevailing upon them to continue with this grace of God. ⁴⁴Consequently on the following Sabbath, almost the entire city gathered to hear the word about the Lord.

⁴⁵But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they were rebutting the arguments of Paul by denigrating him. ⁴⁶So Paul and Barnabas bluntly said, "It was mandatory that the word of God be spoken to you first. But since you are pushing it away and convicting yourselves not worthy of eternal life, behold: we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For the Lord has commanded us this: 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, salvation reaching the farthest part of the earth.'" ⁴⁸And the Gentiles listening were cheering, and praising the message about the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

⁴⁹So the message about the Lord was being carried throughout that whole region. ⁵⁰But the Jews stirred up the influential of the pious women along with the chief men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. And they expelled them out of their borders. ⁵¹So they, after shaking the dust off their feet against them, were on their way to Iconium, ⁵²while the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 14

¹And the same thing happened in Iconium. They went into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in this same manner, with the result that a large number of both Jews and Greeks believed. ²As for those Jews who did not believe, they stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers.

³They then stayed however quite a while, speaking boldly on the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to happen through their hands. ⁴But the multitude of the city became divided, and some were with the Jews and some were with the apostles. ⁵And when a campaign arose on the part of both the Gentiles and Jews with their leaders to assault and stone them, ⁶they heard about it, and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding country, ⁷and started evangelizing there.

⁸And a man was sitting in Lystra who was disabled in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who never at any time had walked. ⁹This man was listening to the preaching of Paul, who studied him, and knew that he had the faith to be healed. ¹⁰He said in a loud voice, "Stand up straight, on your feet!" And he jumped up, and was walking.

¹¹And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in Lycaonian, saying, "The gods have come down to us, made like humans." ¹²And they were calling Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, since Hermes was the ruler of speech. ¹³And the priest of Zeus, who dwelt before the the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates, intending to join with the crowds to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they ripped their clothing and rushed out into the crowd, crying out ¹⁵and saying, "Men, why are you doing this? We also are humans with the same frailties as you, preaching that you should turn from these worthless things to the God that is alive, the one who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and everything that is in them; ¹⁶who in the ages gone by has allowed all nations to go in their own paths; ¹⁷though he did not leave himself without evidence, acting good toward you, providing rain for you from the heaven and seasons bearing fruit, satisfying your hearts with food and good cheer."

¹⁸And saying these things just barely dissuaded the crowds from sacrificing to them. ¹⁹But some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, and after winning over the crowds and stoning Paul, they dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

²⁰But the disciples circled around him, and carried him into the city. And the following day, he left for Derbe with Barnabas. ²¹And after evangelizing that city and making many disciples, they reversed their tracks through Lystra and through Iconium and through Antioch, ²²confirming the hearts of the disciples, exhorting them to persevere in the faith, seeing as how we must go through much tribulation into the kingdom of God. ²³And after appointing elders for them in each congregation, and praying for them with fasting, they handed them over to the Lord in whom they had placed their trust.

²⁴And when they had passed all the way through Pisidia they came into Pamphylia, ²⁵and after speaking the word in Perga they went down to Attalia, ²⁶and from there set sail for Antioch, for that is where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had completed. ²⁷So they presented themselves. When they had brought the congregation together, they were reporting what things God had done through them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸And it was no small amount of time they were spending with those disciples.

Chapter 15

¹And some who had come down from Judea had been teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." ²So after there arose no small division and debate between those men versus Paul and Barnabas, they appointed Paul and Barnabas plus some others among them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this question.

³They therefore were sent forth now by the assembly, passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, telling all about the conversion of the Gentiles, and causing great joy among the brethren. ⁴And when they arrived in Jerusalem they were welcomed by the congregation and the apostles and the elders, and they reported the things God had done through them.

⁵But some from the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying it was necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. ⁶And the apostles and elders gathered together to deliberate about this issue.

⁷But after an intense debate occurred, Peter stood up, and he said to them, "Men and brothers, you know full well from the early days, that God chose in your presence Gentiles to hear by my mouth the word of the gospel and to believe, ⁸and God, the knower of hearts, has testified, in that he gave the Holy Spirit to them also, just as to us, ⁹and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing both of our hearts by means of faith. ¹⁰So why test God now by attempting to place upon the necks of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹But rather we believe to be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, the same way also as they."

¹²Then the whole multitude was quiet and listening to Barnabas and Paul recounting at length what signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

¹³And after they had held their peace, James responded, saying, "Men, brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has described how it was that God first turned his attention to obtain from the Gentiles people to his name. ¹⁵And this is in harmony with the words of the prophets, just as it is written:

¹⁶'After these things I will turn back around,

and raise again the fallen tent of David,

and rebuild the ruins of it and set it up aright.

¹⁷so the rest of humanity may seek the Lord,

even all the Gentiles upon whom my name is applied,

says the Lord, the one doing these things,

¹⁸known since long ago.'

¹⁹Therefore it is my judgment not to further dismay those from the Gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and sexual sins and strangled animals and blood. ²¹After all, Moses since ancient times has had people proclaiming him in every city, reading him aloud in the synagogues on every Sabbath."

²²At that time, it seemed good to them, the apostles and elders, together with the whole church, to send select men from among them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas the one called Barsabbas, and Silas; leading men among the brothers, ²³having sent a letter by their hand: "The apostles and elders and brethren, to the brethren of the Gentiles of Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. ²⁴Because we have heard that some men have troubled you with words, upending your souls, who came from among us but to whom we had given no such direction, ²⁵it seemed good to us, after coming to one accord, to send select men to you together with our beloved brothers Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶people who have dedicated their lives to the cause of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, and they will be telling you by speech these same things: ²⁸for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to place no burden upon you beyond these essentials: ²⁹to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from strangled animals, and from sexual sins. Keeping yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."

³⁰Those men therefore when they were dismissed went down to Antioch, and after gathering the congregation together, they delivered the letter. ³¹And when they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement. ³²And Judas and Silas, both being prophets also themselves, encouraged the brethren with much speaking, and they strengthened them as well. ³³And after they had spent some time, they were released back from those brethren with a "Peace be with you" to the ones who sent them. ³⁵Paul and Barnabas, however, stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word about the Lord, along with many others.

³⁶Then some days later, Paul said to Barnabas, "Now let us go back and check on our brethren in all the cities in which we have announced the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing." ³⁷So, Barnabas was wanting to take John with them, also called Mark. ³⁸But Paul thought it better not to take this man along with them, who had withdrawn from them, and from Pamphylia onward had not continued with them in the work.

³⁹There was a disagreement therefore, so sharp, that they parted ways from each other. And Barnabas took Mark, to sail to Cyprus. ⁴⁰Paul however chose Silas, and went forth, committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, confirming those congregations.

Chapter 16

¹Then he went over to Derbe and to Lystra. And behold, there was a disciple there by the name of Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who believed, but whose father was a Gentile. ²He was well spoken of by the brethren in Lystra and Iconium. ³Paul wanted this man to journey with him, and he took him and circumcised him, because of the Jews living in those places. For they all knew that his father was a Gentile.

⁴So as they were going through the cities, they were delivering the decrees that had been decided for them to keep by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. ⁵Those congregations were thus indeed being strengthened in the faith; and they were growing in number daily. ⁶And when they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian territory, they were prevented from speaking the word in Asia by the Holy Spirit, ⁷so they went along the border of Mysia, trying to go into Bithynia― and the Spirit would not let them. ⁸So they passed all the way through Mysia and went down to Troy.

⁹And during the night a vision appeared to Paul. It was a man of Macedonia standing, and he was pleading with him and saying, "Cross over to Macedonia and help us." ¹⁰So since he had seen that vision, we worked on leaving for Macedonia immediately, because we gathered that God had called us to evangelize them. ¹¹We set sail therefore from Troy, and made a straight run to Samothraiki, and the next day on to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which was the first city in the region of Macedonia, a Roman colony. And we continued in that city, spending some days.

¹³And on the Sabbath, we went outside the gate by the river, where we were expecting prayer usually to take place. And after sitting down, we were talking to the women who had gathered. ¹⁴And a woman of the city of Thyatira was listening, by the name of Lydia, a merchant dealing in purple cloth, who worshiped God. Whose heart the Lord opened so that she would take heed to the things being said by Paul. ¹⁵And after she and her household were baptized, she made an appeal as follows, "If you really have judged me to be a believer in the Lord, come stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

¹⁶And it came about that once when we were heading to prayer, a slave girl who had an oracle spirit came across us, who generated much income for her owners by her fortune telling. ¹⁷She continued to follow close after Paul and us, yelling and saying, "These men are servants of the most high God, who are announcing to you the way of salvation!" ¹⁸She kept doing this over a period of many days. And Paul was fed up, and he turned to the spirit and said, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out of her that very instant.

¹⁹Then when her owners saw that their hope of income was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the public square before the authorities. ²⁰And when they moved them up to the magistrates, they said, "These men, who are Jews, are agitating our city, ²¹and they are proclaiming customs which are not permissible for us, being Romans, to either accept or to practice." ²²And the crowd rushed together onto them, and then the magistrates ripped off the clothing and ordered them to be beaten. ²³And after imposing many blows, they threw them in prison, and ordered the warden to keep them in high security; ²⁴who when he got such orders, put them in the inner cell, and secured their legs in stocks.

²⁵And around midnight, Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening with interest. ²⁶And suddenly there was an earthquake, so big, that it caused the foundation of the prison to shift, and all the doors to instantly open. All the chains were released as well. ²⁷And when the warden woke up and saw that the doors of the prison were open, he drew his dagger, and was about to kill himself, figuring the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, and said, "Do not harm yourself. We are all here." ²⁹So he ordered lights, and rushed inside. And he was trembling, and threw himself down before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he led them outside, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

³¹And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." ³²And they spoke to him the word about the Lord, together with all those in his household. ³³Then he took Paul and Silas, washed them of their wounds, and got baptized on the spot, he and all his household, at that hour of the night. ³⁴And after leading them back into the house, he served a meal. And he and all his household were rejoicing, having believed in God.

³⁵And when it was daytime, the magistrates sent the sheriffs, saying, "Release those men." ³⁶So the prison warden declared these words to Paul, as follows: "The magistrates have sent orders that you be released. Now therefore, you may go in peace."

³⁷But Paul said to them, "They gave us a beating in public without due process of law, though we men are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now they are pushing us away quietly? Certainly not! On the contrary they shall come personally and escort us out." ³⁸So the sheriffs reported these statements to the magistrates. And when they heard that they were Roman citizens, they were afraid. ³⁹And they came and apologized to them. And they escorted them out, and asked them to go away from the city.

⁴⁰Now after getting out of prison, they went and stayed with Lydia. And they saw those brethren, exhorted them, and moved on.

Chapter 17

¹And when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ²And as was Paul's custom, he went in to them, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, ³explaining and pointing out that the Messiah had to suffer, and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This man Jesus who I am telling you about, he is the Messiah." ⁴And some of them were persuaded, and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a great many of the Greek proselytes, and of the leading women not a few.

⁵But other Jews were jealous, and recruited some worthless men off the streets, and when they had formed a mob, they were putting the city in an uproar. And they assaulted the house of Jason, intending to bring them out to the people's assembly. ⁶But when they did not find them, they proceeded to drag Jason and some other brothers up before the magistrates, crying, "Those men who have overturned the whole inhabited earth, they have arrived here also; ⁷whom Jason has taken under his roof. And they all are acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, declaring someone else to be king, Jesus." ⁸Thus they riled up the crowd and the magistrates who were hearing these words. ⁹And after taking a bail bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

¹⁰Then the brethren sent Paul and Silas immediately away during the night to Berea. Once they were there, they were going daily into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹And these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica— they received the word with a completely open mind, each day examining the scriptures to see if they were there as described. ¹²Consequently many of them believed, and also some Greek women of high standing, and of the Greek men not a few.

¹³But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came over there as well, agitating and stirring up the people. ¹⁴So immediately at that time the brethren sent Paul away, to journey to the sea coast, while both Silas and Timothy remained there. ¹⁵And those escorting Paul took him as far as Athens, and after receiving orders for Silas and Timothy that they should come join him with all speed, they left.

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was getting stirred up within him, when he saw how rife with idols that city was. ¹⁷He therefore every day was holding discussions with the Jews and devout proselytes in the synagogues, and also in the public square with anyone who happened to be nearby. ¹⁸Thus some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began joining him. And some were saying, "Whatever is this blowhard trying to say?" And others said, "He seems to be a herald for foreign deities." (For he was announcing Jesus and the resurrection.) ¹⁹And they took hold of him and led him to the Hill of Aries, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is, the one being spoken by you? ²⁰For you are announcing some things that are strange to our ears. Therefore we wish to know what these things mean." ²¹For you see, all the Athenians, and also non-citizens visiting, would devote their spare time to nothing else than to speak or to hear anything that was new.

²²So Paul stood at the center of the Hill of Aries, and he said, "Men of Athens, I notice that you are thorough in religion. ²³For, as I was passing along and reviewing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, 'TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.' Now then, the one you venerate without knowing, that God I am proclaiming to you. ²⁴The God who created the world and everything in it, being Master of both heaven and earth, he does not settle in shrines made with hands. ²⁵Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything― he is the one who gives to all, life and breath, and everything else. ²⁶And he has made of one blood all nations of people, to dwell over the face of the whole earth, having marked off the predetermined time periods and boundaries for their habitation, ²⁷to see if they will seek after God, whether perhaps they will grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For in Him we live, and move, and have our being. As even one of your own prophets has said, 'We are his offspring.' ²⁹Since we are offspring of God then, we ought not to think that the divine nature is anything like gold or silver or stone, like an engraved work of art, and of human conception. ³⁰Though God indeed forbore the times of such ignorance, he now commands all people in all places to repent. ³¹Because he has set a day on which he is about to judge the world with righteousness by the man whom he appointed, giving assurance to everyone by raising him from the dead."

³²But some, when they heard resurrection from the dead, were scoffing, while others said, "We will hear from you on this again." ³²And with that Paul went out from their midst. ³³But some men joined up with him and believed; among whom was Dionysius― a member of the Hill of Aries; and a woman also, by the name of Damaris, plus others with them.

Chapter 18

¹After these things, Paul departed from Athens, and went to Corinth. ²And he encountered a Jew by the name of Aquila, Pontic by birth, who had recently come from Italy along with his wife Priscilla, since Claudius had ordered all Jews to go away from Rome. Paul approached them, ³and because of being in the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were doing the work together, for they were tentmakers by trade. ⁴Except every Sabbath he would have a discussion in the synagogue, persuading both Jews and Greeks. ⁵But once both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began restricting himself to the word, testifying solemnly to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. ⁶But when they set themselves against him and were reviling him, Paul shook out his garments toward them, and said, "Your blood is on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I am going to the Gentiles."

⁷And he left there, and entered the home of someone by the name of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house abutted the synagogue. ⁸Then Crispus, a leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his whole house, and many of the Corinthians hearing this were believing and getting baptized.

⁹And the Lord said to Paul during the night in a dream: "Do not be afraid, but speak, and not be silent. ¹⁰Because I am with you, and no one will lay hands on you to harm you, for in this city the crowd that is mine is large." ¹¹So he stayed put for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one mind rose up against Paul. And they took him to the tribunal, ¹³saying, "This man misleads the people, to worship God apart from the Law."

¹⁴And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "O you Jews, if it were a case of intentional crime or a harmful misdeed, I would admit you; ¹⁵but if a dispute about a word or a term or a law specific to you all, you take care of that. I am not willing to be the judge of those things." ¹⁶And he expelled them from the tribunal. ¹⁷Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and were beating him right in front of the tribunal. And that mattered to Gallio not one bit.

¹⁸But Paul after remaining several more days with those brethren, bid them farewell, got his head shaved in Kengkreia, keeping a vow, and then sailed away for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. ¹⁹But when they made landfall at Ephesus, Paul left them there, and went rather by himself into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. ²⁰And when they asked him to stay with them additional time, he did not agree, ²¹but bid them farewell, and said, "I will swing back to you again if God wills."

He sailed away from Ephesus, ²²and arrived over at Caesarea, disembarked and greeted that church, then went down to Antioch, ²³and after spending some time, he left, and went through one place after another in the Galatian and Phrygian territory, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴And a Jew by the name of Apollos, Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, who was powerful in the scriptures. ²⁵This man was orally instructed in the way of the Lord, and burning with spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things about Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John; ²⁶and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him more accurately the way of God.

²⁷And when he wanted to go into Achaia, he was encouraged by the brethren, who wrote to those disciples to welcome him. When he was there, he was contributing much to those who through grace had believed; ²⁸for he was thoroughly refuting the Jews in view of all, proving by the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

Chapter 19

¹And it came about that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the inland districts and arrived in Ephesus. And he found some disciples, ²and he said to them, "When you believed, did you receive the Holy Spirit?"

But they answered, "We have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit."

³And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?"

And they said, "Into John's baptism."

⁴And Paul said, "John baptized a baptism of repentance, telling the people they should believe the one coming after him. That 'one' is Jesus."

⁵So those who heard this were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were speaking in languages and prophesying. ⁷And they were about 12 men in all.

⁸And Paul was speaking boldly when he went into the synagogue, reasoning and persuading about the things of the kingdom of God, for a period of three months. ⁹But when some became hardened and were disobeying, and speaking ill of the Way before the multitude, Paul withdrew from them, and separated the disciples, and began daily lecturing in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰And this went on for two years, with the result that everyone who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹Through the hands of Paul as well, God was doing powerful, extraordinary things. ¹²Even such that handkerchiefs or aprons were conducted from his skin onto those who were sick and the diseases would be removed from them, and any evil spirits would come out from them.

¹³Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists decided to try their hand also at invoking the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits. They would be saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul proclaims." ¹⁴Now they were the seven sons of Skeva, a Jewish high priest, doing this. ¹⁵But in response the evil spirit said to them, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?" ¹⁶And the man in whom the evil spirit was, he sprang up onto them and owned all of them put together, and beat them up, and the result was they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷And this became known to everyone living in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was getting magnified. ¹⁸And many of them after they believed were coming forward confessing and publicising their practices. ¹⁹And a considerable number of the ones who had been practicing magic, they collected the sacred scrolls together in a pile, and burnt them in view of everyone. And they added up the prices of them, and found it to be 5,000 pieces of silver. ²⁰With power like that, the word of the Lord was growing in influence, and prevailing.

²¹And after these things were completed, Paul resolved in his spirit that after passing through Macedonia and Achaia, he would go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I am there, I must see Rome as well." ²²Then he sent two of those who were helping him, Timothy and Erastus, on into Macedonia. He himself remained some more time in Asia.

²³Now about that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. ²⁴For someone by the name of Demetrius, a silversmith, who manufactured silver shrines of Artemis and provided the artisans no little business, ²⁵he convened the tradesmen who worked at such things, and he said, "Men, you know, that from this trade, a comfortable income is ours, ²⁶and you see and hear, that this Paul, who states that gods made by hands are not gods, he has won over and led astray a considerable crowd from not only Ephesus but from almost all of Asia. ²⁷Now not only does this put our profession in danger of coming into disrepute, but it also risks the temple of the great goddess Artemis being counted as nothing, and even she herself, whom all Asia and the inhabited earth worships, is about to be deposed from her greatness."

²⁸And after hearing this, they were filled with anger. They began to shout, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" ²⁹And the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed as with one mind into the theater, keeping a firm grip on Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonian traveling companions of Paul. ³⁰And when Paul tried to enter the people's assembly, the disciples would not let him. ³¹And some of the Asiarchs also, who were friends with him, sent word to him urging him not to present himself in the theater.

³²Then, others began shouting something different. For the assembly was confused, and most had no idea why they were gathered together. ³³Now as the Jews brought Alexander forward, some of the crowd instructed him, and so Alexander signaled with his hand that he wished to defend himself to the mob. ³⁴But because they knew he was a Jew, there arose the sound of them all shouting in unison, continuously for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

³⁵But after the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he says: "Men of Ephesus, who indeed is there among humanity that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is keeper of the temple of the great Artemis who fell from the sky? ³⁶Since these things are undeniable, it behoves you to calm down and do nothing rash. ³⁷For you brought these men who are neither temple robbers, nor blaspheming our goddess. ³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him truly have a case against anyone, court days are observed, and there are proconsuls. They should charge one another. ³⁹So, if you are seeking anything further, that will be settled in the lawful assembly. ⁴⁰For indeed, we are liable to be charged with insurrection because of today, there being no good reason we can give for this unscheduled gathering." ⁴¹And after saying these things, he dismissed the assembly.

Chapter 20

¹Now after the uproar had quieted down, Paul sent for the disciples and exhorted them. And after saying goodbye, he left, to go to Macedonia. ²Then after he had passed through those parts and exhorted them to a greater degree, he went to Greece. ³And when he had spent three months there, a plot was formed against him by the Jews. As he was about to escape by sea to Syria, the idea came to go back via Macedonia. ⁴And traveling with him were: Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, and the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and the Derbian Gaius, and Timothy, and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus; ⁵except these men went on ahead, and waited for us in Troy. ⁶And after the days of Unleavened Bread we sailed away from Philippi, and at the end of five days came to them in Troy, where we spent seven days.

⁷And on the first day of the week, as we were gathered together to break bread, Paul was preaching to them. It was about to go on into the next day and he was extending the word time to midnight, ⁸but there were plenty of lamps on the top floor where we were meeting. ⁹And a youth by the name of Eutychus was sitting in the window, gradually sinking down into a deep sleep because of Paul's lecture going extra time. When he was completely sunken by sleep, he fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead. ¹⁰So Paul went down, and he fell onto him and embraced him, and said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him."

¹¹And after he had gone upstairs and broken bread and eaten, he also socialized for quite a while, until dawn, thus he departed. ¹²And the boy they led away alive, and were comforted not a little. ¹³We however proceeded on by ship, and put to sea for Assos, where we were going to pick up Paul, for that is how it was arranged. He wanted to go on foot. ¹⁴So when he met us at Assos, we took him up on board, and we went to Mitylene. ¹⁵Then, sailing away from there the next day, we arrived off Chios, and the day after that went across to Samos, and the following day came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so as not to lose time in Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the Day of Pentecost. ¹⁷So instead, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus a summons for the elders of that church. ¹⁸And when they had joined him he said to them, "You yourselves are familiar with the manner in which I was with you the whole time since the first days I set foot in Asia, ¹⁹serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and tears; and the trials that have befallen me through the plots of the Jews; ²⁰how I did not withhold anything that was profitable for you, but showed you, and taught you, in public, and from house to house, ²¹solemnly bearing witness to both Jews and Greeks, the repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²²And now behold, constrained by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what things will befall me in there, ²³only that the Holy Spirit in every city testifies to me that chains and afflictions await me. ²⁴But I make my life on no account precious to myself, so that I may finish my run and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus: to solemnly declare the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵And now behold: I know that none of you among whom I passed through preaching the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶Therefore, I am testifying to you on this day: that I am innocent of everyone's blood, ²⁷for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. ²⁸Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. ²⁹For I know that after my departure, overbearing wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰Out of your own number also, men will arise, speaking changed up things, to draw away disciples after them. ³¹For this reason you must be vigilant, recalling what over a period of three years I did not cease to warn each one of you night and day with tears. ³²And now, I hand you over to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and establish your inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have desired silver or gold or clothing of no one. ³⁴You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided the needs of myself and of those with me. ³⁵I have demonstrated everything to you by example, how with such labor it is necessary to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

³⁶And after he had said these things, he got on his knees, together with all of them, and prayed. ³⁷And there was quite a bit of crying from everyone, and they were hugging onto Paul's neck, and kissing him goodbye. ³⁸They were especially pained by the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. Then they were escorting him to the ship.

Chapter 21

¹And when we had put out to sea and pulled away from them, we ran a straight course, and came to Kos, and then to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ²Then we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, and boarded that and set sail. ³And when we sighted Cyprus, we left it behind on port side, and sailed toward Syria, and made landfall at Tyre, because that is where the ship was unloading its cargo. ⁴And there, we stayed put for seven days, after we had searched out the disciples, who kept telling Paul, by the Spirit, not to go into Jerusalem. ⁵But when we had finished the days, and were leaving and on our way, they were all seeing us off, including the women and children, escorting us to the outside of the city. And we all placed our knees on the beach, and prayed. ⁶We said our goodbyes to each other, and we got onto the ship, while they returned to their homes. ⁷And we finished the voyage from Tyre, to come to Ptolemais, and we greeted those disciples, and stayed with them one day.

⁸And the following day we departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and we stayed with him. ⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters, who were prophesying. ¹⁰And during the many days we stayed there, a prophet by the name of Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹And he came up next to us, and took off Paul's belt. And he tied up his own feet and hands. And he said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit: This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and they will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." ¹²And when we heard these things, both we and the ones in that place were pleading with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, "What are you doing crying and breaking my heart? For I am ready, not only to be chained in Jerusalem, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus."

¹⁴And he would not be persuaded, so we held our peace, and said, "The Lord's will be done."

¹⁵And after those days, we gathered supplies, and went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Now some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us, to introduce us to an early disciple, Mnason the Cypriot, with whom we would be staying as guests. ¹⁷And when we got to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

¹⁸So the following day, Paul has gone in to James, together with us, plus all the elders present. ¹⁹And after greeting them, Paul was relating in detail everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰Now when they heard it, they were praising God. And they said to him, "Be aware, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed. And they all remain zealous for the Law. ²¹And they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews throughout the nations apostasy from Moses, saying not to circumcise their sons nor to walk according to the traditions. ²²What then is there to do? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who have obligated themselves with a vow. ²⁴Take these men and purify yourself with them, and pay for them to have their heads shaved, and everyone will know that there is nothing to what they were told about you, but in fact you yourself are walking in conformity and keeping the law.

²⁵"But as for the Gentile believers, we have informed them by letter that we have decided they need observe nothing of that sort, but only keep themselves from food offered to idols and from blood and from anything strangled and from sexual sin."

²⁶Then Paul took those men the following day, and when he had purified himself along with them, he went into the temple announcing when the days of their purification would be finished and when the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷But when the seven days were almost finished, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, and stirred up all the crowd, and laid their hands on him,

²⁸crying out, "Men of Israel, come and help! This is that man who is teaching everyone everywhere against this people and Law and place! And worse yet, he has even brought Greeks into the temple, and profaned this holy place!"

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they assumed Paul had taken into the temple. ³⁰And the entire city was stirred up, and the people ran and gathered together. And after they had taken hold of Paul, they proceeded to drag him outside the temple, and immediately the doors were locked. ³¹Now while they were working on killing him, the report went up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, ³²who promptly took some soldiers and centurions and ran down toward them. And when the crowd saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³At that time the commander came up to him and seized him and ordered that he be bound with two chains, and then was inquiring who he was and what he had done.

³⁴But some in the crowd were yelling one thing and some another. Not able to find out for sure through the din, he ordered him brought into the barracks ³⁵But by the time he was on the steps, Paul had to be carried high by the soldiers, because of the violence of the crowd. ³⁶For a large number of the people were following and shouting, "Away with him!"

³⁷And when he was just about to be taken inside the barracks, Paul says to the commander, "Is it permissible for me to say something to you?"

And he said, "You know Greek? ³⁸Then you are that Egyptian aren't you, who prior to these days rebelled and led four thousand terrorists out in the desert."

³⁹But Paul said, "I am a Jew, a citizen of a city not insignificant, Tarsus in Cilicia. So I ask you, give me permission to speak to the people."

⁴⁰And after he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps, and motioned to the people downward with his hand. And when it was largely quiet, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, and said,

Chapter 22

¹"Men, brothers and fathers, hear now my defense to you." ²And when they heard him addressing them in the Hebrew language, they offered greater silence. And he said, ³"I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strictest tradition of the law of the fathers, and I was zealous for God, as you all are being today. ⁴I persecuted this group, The Way, even as far as death, binding them, both men and women, and delivering them to prison, ⁵to which even the high priest bears witness for me, and all the elders, since from them I took letters of authority to the brothers in Damascus, that I was going to take the members who were there as well, bound, to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶But it came about that as I was going, and about noon had gotten close to Damascus, that suddenly a great light from heaven flashed all around me, ⁷and I fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Shaul, Shaul, why are you persecuting me?'

⁸And I answered, 'Who are you lord?'

And he said to me, "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting." ⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, and were frightened, but they did not hear the voice that was speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, "What should I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me, "Get up, and go to Damascus, and there you will be instructed about all that is assigned for you to do."

¹¹So we proceeded toward Damascus, with me being led by the hand by my companions, since I could not see, because of the brightness of that light. ¹²And Hananiah, a devout man in relation to the Torah, of good report by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³he came to me and stood over me, and he said, 'Brother Shaul, see again.' And at that very time I looked at him and saw him. ¹⁴And he said, "The God of our fathers pre-assigned you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice from out of his mouth. ¹⁵Because you will be a witness for him to all humankind about what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶And now, why delay? Arise and be baptized to wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

¹⁷And then it happened to me that when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I was put into a trance ¹⁸and saw Him saying to me: 'Hurry, and get away quickly from Jersusalem, for they are not going to accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹And I said, 'Lord, they know very well that I myself was imprisoning and binding from each synagogue those who believed in you. ²⁰And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being spilled, I also was there and consenting, and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him."

²¹And he said to me, "Go on your way, for I am assigning you afar off to the Gentiles."

²²Now the crowd had been listening— until those words. Then they lifted up their voice, saying, "Remove such a man from the earth, for it is not fitting for him to live!" ²³And as they kept up their shouting, and were tossing off their cloaks, and throwing dust up in the air, ²⁴the commander ordered him brought inside the barracks, and said to interrogate him by flogging, so that he could find out the reason for all this clamor over him. ²⁵But as they stretched him out in the straps, Paul said toward the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?"

²⁶And when the centurion heard this, he approached the commander and informed him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."

²⁷So the commander came up to Paul, and he said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"

And he said, "Yes."

²⁸And the commander responded, "It took me a large sum of money to get that citizenship."

And Paul said, "But I was actually born one."

²⁹Then those about to interrogate him immediately withdrew from him. And even the commander was afraid, finding out that Paul was a Roman citizen and he had been strapping him up. ³⁰And the next day, wanting to find out exactly why he had been charged by the Jews, he unchained him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble, and he brought Paul and stood him before them.

Chapter 23

¹And Paul, with an earnest gaze upon the Sanhedrin, said, "Men, brothers, I have conducted myself in all good conscience to this day."

²But Hananiah the high priest ordered those standing near him to slap his mouth.

³Then toward him, Paul said, "God is about to slap you, you whitewashed wall. And you sit judging me by the law, yet you transgress the law ordering me to be slapped."

⁴But those standing near him said, "You insult the high priest?"

⁵And Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. For it is written, 'You shall not speak ill of the ruler of your people.' "

⁶Now Paul, knowing that one part were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, cried out to the Sanhedrin, "Men, brothers, I am a Pharisee, the descendant of Pharisees. It is for hope, namely the resurrection of the dead, that I am being condemned."

⁷And after these words of his, discord arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the whole body was divided. ⁸For whereas the Saduccees say there exists no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, the Pharisees confess to all three.

⁹Then there was a loud shout, and some of the Torah scholars of the faction of the Pharisees stood up, and began to insist vehemently as follows: "We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"

¹⁰And such a great uproar occurred that the commander was worried they might tear Paul apart. He ordered the troops under him to go down and snatch him out from their midst and into the barracks.

¹¹And during that night the Lord appeared to him, and said, "Take courage. For just as you solemnly declared the things about me in Jerusalem, you must in the same way testify in Rome as well."

¹²And when it was day, the Jews made a compact and bound themselves, swearing neither to eat, nor to drink, till they had killed Paul. ¹³And there were more than forty who were making this plot. ¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have bound ourselves with an oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵Now therefore, you together with the Sandhedrin should explain to the commander how he should bring Paul down to you, as though you are wanting to find out more accurately the issues concerning him. But we are prepared to kill him before he gets near."

¹⁶But when the son of Paul's sister heard about the ambush, he paid a visit and went inside the barracks, and told Paul. ¹⁷So Paul called one of the centurions over, and he said, "Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him."

¹⁸He then did accept him, and he took him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Paul called me over and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you."

¹⁹And the commander took his arm and withdrew to a private place, and began inquiring, "What is it you have to tell me?"

²⁰And he said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Sanhedrin, as though they want to investigate more accurately concerning him. ²¹You therefore should not trust them, because more than forty men of theirs are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for a promise from you."

²²Then the commander dismissed the young man, and ordered everyone not to divulge that he had reported these things to him. ²³And he called over two of his centurions, and said, "Get 200 infantry ready for a move as far as Caesarea, and 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, departure three hours after dark. ²⁴And provide an animal such that mounting Paul on it they can deliver him safely to Felix the governor."

²⁵He wrote a letter with this text: ²⁶"Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent Governor Felix: Greetings. ²⁷This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be done away with by them, when I intervened with the army and got him out, after I learned he was a Roman citizen. ²⁸And wanting to find out for certain the reason they were charging him, I took him down to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹Which I found out was a charge that concerns things from their law that are disputed. But the charge was nothing deserving of death or imprisonment. ³⁰Then when it was divulged to me that there would be a plot by them against the man, I immediately transferred him to you, giving orders also to his accusers to charge him before you. Farewell."

³¹The soldiers therefore mounted him according to their orders, and took him by night to Antipatris. ³²And the next day, they let the horsemen go on with him, and went back to the barracks. ³³Who when they came into Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, also presented Paul to him.

³⁴And after the governor had read it, and inquired as to which province he was from, and found out he was from Cilicia, ³⁵he announced: "I will hear you when your accusers are also present." And he ordered him kept under guard at the Praetorium of Herod.

Chapter 24

¹And after five days, the high priest Hananaiah came down, together with some of the elders and an orator, Tertullus, and they presented charges against Paul before the governor.

²And when he was called upon, Tertullus began to prosecute, saying, "Since we have experienced much peace because of you, and public reforms beneficial to this nation instituted through your foresight, ³both at all times and in all places we receive it with all gratitude, most excellent Felix.

⁴But lest I delay you any longer, I ask you, with your indulgence, to hear us briefly. ⁵For we have found this man to be a public menace, and stirring up rebellion among all the Jews throughout the world, and to be the ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, ⁶who was even trying to desecrate the temple, whom we then arrested, ⁸from whom you will be able, after examining him yourself, to confirm all these things of which we are accusing him."

⁹Then the Jews also joined in, affirming these things to be so.

¹⁰And when the governor had signaled for him to speak, Paul said in answer, "Knowing it is for many years you have been judge for this nation, happy am I to answer these things in my defense. ¹¹You can verify for yourself, that it has not been more than twelve days since I came up to Jerusalem to worship, ¹²and they have not found me disputing with anyone, or stirring up a crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city, ¹³nor can they bring you proof of the things they are now charging me with.

¹⁴But I admit this to you, that I do serve our ancestral God in the manner of The Way, which they are calling a sect, believing everything in accordance with what is written in the law and the prophets, ¹⁵having a hope in God which these men themselves also accept, that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶It is in that very hope then, that I always strive to maintain an innocent conscience, toward God and toward people.

¹⁷"And after several years, I have come to my own nation to practice charity and to present offerings. ¹⁸But while I was engaged in that, some Jews from Asia found me, purified in the temple, not with a crowd, nor with a disturbance, ¹⁹who therefore ought to have appeared before you as well to state charges if they have anything against me. ²⁰Or, these men here should declare what wrongdoing was found by them when I stood before the Sanhedrin.

²¹Or is it about this one thing that I had proclaimed while standing among them: ' For the resurrection of the dead I stand trial before you this day.' "

²²Then Felix, who knew quite accurately the issues concerning The Way, adjourned them, and said, "When Lysias the commander comes down I will decide your case." ²³And he gave orders to the centurion for Paul to be kept under guard, yet have some freedom, and that no one prevent his friends attending him.

²⁴And after some days, when Felix was present, with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and listened to him about the belief in the Messiah Jesus.

²⁵But when Paul spoke about righteousness, and self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened, and responded, "Go your way for now, and when I find the time I will send for you."

²⁶At the same time, he was also hoping some cash would be delivered to him from Paul. And for that reason, he was summoning him frequently and conversing with him. ²⁷But after two full years went by, Felix was replaced by a successor, Porcius Festus, and Felix left Paul in chains, wanting to earn favor with the Jews.

Chapter 25

¹Festus then, three days after coming to the province, went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ²and the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented charges against Paul, and were urging Festus, ³asking for a favor concerning him, that he summon Paul to Jerusalem, (as they were staging an ambush to kill him on the way).

⁴However, Festus then answered that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself was about to go there soon. ⁵"So," he said, "Let the authorities among you go down with me. If there is anything amiss in the man they can accuse him."

⁶And after spending not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day sat on the tribunal seat and ordered Paul be brought. ⁷And when he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing against him many charges even more serious. Which they could not prove.

⁸While Paul said in defense, "Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any offense."

⁹Then Festus, wanting to earn favor with the Jews, answered Paul and said, "Would you like to go up to Jerusalem and be tried by me for these things there?"

¹⁰And Paul said, "I am standing where it is proper for me to be judged, at the tribunal of Caesar. I have done nothing wrong against the Jews, as you know very well. ¹¹So, if I am a wrongdoer and have done something worthy of death, I do not ask to be spared that death. But on the other hand, if there is nothing to what these men are accusing me of, no one has the authority to give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar."

¹²Then Festus, after consulting with counsel, responded: "You have appealed to Caesar. Before Caesar you will go."

¹³And after some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea to greet Festus. ¹⁴And as they were spending many days there, Festus submitted before the king the issues concerning Paul, saying, "There is a man who was left in chains by Felix, ¹⁵about whom, when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews brought charges, asking for a conviction against him. ¹⁶To whom I answered, that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand a person over before the accused has had his accusers face to face and the opportunity to answer them concerning the offense. ¹⁷When therefore they had come together here, I made no delay. The next day I sat at the judgement seat and ordered the man to be brought. ¹⁸About whom, when his accusers stood up, they were not bringing any criminal charge that I was expecting, ¹⁹but rather they had some points of dispute with him about their religion, and about a dead man Jesus, whom Paul was asserting is alive. ²⁰So, being at a loss how to investigate these things, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem to be judged there concerning these things. ²¹But Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, and I ordered that he be kept until such time I should send him to Caesar."

²²And Agrippa said to Festus, "I also would like to hear this man myself."

"Tomorrow," said Festus, "you will hear him."

²³The next day therefore, after Agrippa and Bernice had arrived and entered the audience with great pomp and spectacle, with also the chiliarchs and prominent men of the city, Festus gave the order, and Paul was brought in.

²⁴And Festus said, "O King Agrippa, and all you men present with us, behold this man, about whom the entire Jewish community has petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and then also here, shouting out that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵Now I found that he had not commited anything worthy of death, but since this man himself had appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶I do not have anything certain to write to My Lord about him. Which is why I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this investigation has taken place I may have something to write. ²⁷Because sending a prisoner without also indicating a charge against him seems out of the question to me."

Chapter 26

¹So Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak for yourself."

Then Paul began making his defense with extended hand: ²"O king Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that before you I am to make my defense today concerning all the things I am charged with by the Jews. ³Particularly since you are knowledgeable regarding the customs and even the controversies among the Jews. So then, I ask you to hear me out with patience.

⁴My manner of life since youth therefore, which took place at first in my own country and also in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵They have previously known of me from the start, if they are willing to testify, that I have lived as a Pharisee, following the strictest sect of our religion. ⁶And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise which God made to our forefathers, ⁷to which our twelve tribes, serving zealously night and day, hope to attain. It is about this hope I am being called to account by the Jews, O king."

⁸"Why is it deemed unbelievable by you people that God raises the dead?"

⁹"Now I myself once considered it necessary to carry out every effort in opposition to the name of Jesus the Nazarene; ¹⁰which indeed I did, not only in Jerusalem, but I also shut up many other saints in prison, by the authority I received from the chief priests, and I cast my vote for their executions. ¹¹And I punished them often, in all the synagogues, and would try to get them to blaspheme. And I was so enraged at them, that I pursued them to foreign cities.

¹²Among those to which I went was Damascus, with authority and a commission from the high priests. ¹³On the way there, at midday, I saw, O king, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone all around me and those traveling with me. ¹⁴And all of us fell to the ground. I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

¹⁵So I said, 'Who are you, lord?'

And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶But get up, and stand on your feet. Because for this I have appeared to you, to appoint you minister and witness, of both the things you have seen and the things which I will show you, ¹⁷all the while delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you; ¹⁸to open their eyes, that they turn away from darkness toward the light, and from the power of Satan back to God, and receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance with those who are sanctified by the faith which is in me.'

¹⁹Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰but to those first in Damascus, and also to those in Jerusalem and every other territory of the Jews, and also to the Gentiles, I was declaring repentance and the turning back to God, the practicing of works befitting of repentance. ²¹It is because of these things the Jews seized me in the temple, trying to kill me.

²²So then, with the benefit of assistance from God up until these very days I have stood testifying to both the small and the great, nothing other than what the prophets and Moses have said was going to take place, ²³that the Messiah would suffer, that as the first of the resurrection of the dead, he would proclaim light both to his people and to the Gentiles."

²⁴And when Paul was finished this his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "You are raving, Paul! All that learning is driving you to madness."

²⁵But Paul replied, "I am not raving, excellent Festus. On the contrary, I am uttering true and rational words. ²⁶The King is informed about these things, thus I speak freely before him. For I am sure there was no way for these things to escape his notice, since they were not done in a corner.

²⁷You believe, O king Agrippa, in the prophets. I know that you believe."

²⁸Then Agrippa said to Paul: ""With a few words you persuade me to be a Christian?"

²⁹And Paul said, "I hope to God that, whether with few or with many, not only you but also everyone hearing me today will become exactly what I am, except for these chains."

³⁰The king got up, and also the governor and Bernice and those seated with them, ³¹and as they were leaving they were saying to each other, "This man is not committing anything worthy of death or of chains."

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free, had he not appealed to Caesar."

Chapter 27

¹And when it was approved for us to sail to Italy, they gave custody of both Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion with the Emperor's Regiment by the name of Julius. ²And so Paul boarded an Adramyttian ship about to set sail for stops along the coast of Asia, and we weighed anchor, with Aristarchus the Macedonian from Thessalonika continuing with us. ³The next day we docked in Sidon, and Julius kindly allowed Paul to go to his friends to receive care. ⁴And from there we sailed alee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. ⁵Then, after we sailed across the deep sea facing Cilicia and Pamphylia, we disembarked at Myra of Lycia. ⁶And there, when the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, he boarded us onto that.

⁷But after quite a few days of slow going and only getting near Cnidus, the wind not allowing us better progress, we sailed alee of Crete close against Salmone. ⁸And after sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, which was near the city of Lasea. ⁹But a lot of time had been used up, and by this point it was dangerous for sailing, and also since the Day of Atonement had now arrived, Paul was announcing a warning, ¹⁰saying to them, "Men, I forsee that this voyage is likely to be with much violence, and loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

¹¹But the centurion was being swayed more by the captain and by the owner, than by the things Paul was saying. ¹²And since that harbor was not well situated for wintering, the majority thought it the best decision to sail away from there, if they could somehow make it to Phoenix to stay the winter, which was a safe harbor on Crete, facing both southwest and northwest. ¹³So when a gentle breeze started blowing from the south, they figured they had obtained their objective, and they weighed anchor, sailing close against Crete.

¹⁴But not long afterward, a typhoon wind called the Euroclydon assailed her; ¹⁵and it seized the ship, and since we were not able to counteract that wind, we gave in, and let ourselves be driven. ¹⁶But when we were running alee of a small island called Cauda, we managed, barely, to get the skiff under control, ¹⁷which they hoisted up. Then they applied frapping to undergird the ship. And because they were afraid they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the rigging. This way they were carried away.

¹⁸But the following day, we were getting tossed around extremely, and they started throwing the cargo overboard. ¹⁹And by the third day, they were throwing the ship's mast and rigging off with their own hands. ²⁰But many days went by with neither sun nor starlight to be seen. And with a lot of winter still ahead, all remaining hope of our survival was being stripped away.

²¹And after they had gone for many days fasting, at that time Paul stood in the midst. He said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not sailed away from Crete and reaped this damage and loss. ²²Yet now, I am advising you to be of good cheer, because there will be no loss of life among you; only of the ship. ²³For this very night there appeared to me, from the God to whom I belong, and whom I serve, an angel, ²⁴who said,

'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, on account of you, God has granted all the lives who are sailing with you.'

²⁵Therefore be of good cheer men. For I trust in God, that this is how it will be, exactly the way it was told me. ²⁶But, we must run aground on some island."

²⁷Now as the fourteenth night arrived, and we were drifting on the Adriatic Sea, at about midnight the sailors were sensing some land looming near them. ²⁸And when they took a sounding, they got 20 fathoms. And then some distance farther they took a sounding again, and got 15 fathoms. ²⁹And fearing we might crash against some rocks, they tossed four anchors from the stern, and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰But some of the sailors were trying to escape from the ship, and they lowered the skiff onto the sea, pretending their purpose was to let out some anchors from the bow. ³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot survive." ³²Then the soldiers cut the lines to the skiff and let it drift away.

³³And just before daylight, Paul began urging everyone to partake of some food, saying, "Fourteen days now, you have fasted in constant apprehension, taking nothing to eat. ³⁴Therefore I urge you to partake of food, because this is for your survival; for there shall not a hair of any of your heads perish." ³⁵And after he said these things, he took some bread, gave thanks to God in front of everyone, and broke it and proceeded to eat. ³⁶Then they all cheered up, and took some food themselves.

³⁷Now we on the ship were 276 souls altogether. ³⁸Then, after they had enough food, they continued lightening the ship, throwing the wheat into the sea. ³⁹And when morning came, they did not recognize the land. But they noticed a bay that had a beach, onto which they decided to direct the ship if they could somehow. ⁴⁰And they left the anchors alone in the sea while at the same time disconnecting the bands to the rudder; and when they hoisted the foresail to the breeze, they were heading toward the beach. ⁴¹But they hit a sandbar between two currents, and ran the boat aground, and the bow jammed in and remained stuck, while the stern was being broken apart by the violence of the waves.

⁴²Then the plan of some of the soldiers was to kill the prisoners, in case any might swim away and escape. ⁴³But the centurion, preferring to deliver Paul safe, stopped them from their plan, and gave orders that those who were able to swim should jump overboard first, and get to shore, ⁴⁴and then the rest on planks or some other piece of the ship. And thus it was, that everyone got safely onto land.

Chapter 28

¹And once we were safe, at that time we figured out that the island was called Malta. ²And the barbarians showed us no small kindness, for they built a fire, and were in the process of housing every one of us, because of the rain that came, and the cold.

³So Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he was adding it to the fire a viper came out of it from the heat, and it fastened onto his hand. ⁴And when the barbarians saw the snake hanging from his hand, they were saying to one another, "This man must be a murderer. He escaped alive from the sea, and Justice has still not allowed him to live." ⁵Meanwhile Paul shook the snake off into the fire, and experienced nothing bad. ⁶But they were waiting for him any minute to swell up, or suddenly drop dead. However after a long time waiting and seeing nothing symptomatic happening to him, they were changing their minds and saying he was a god.

⁷Now in the environs of that place lay the estates of the chief of the island, named Publius, who received us with hospitality for three days and entertained us as friends. ⁸And it so happened that the father of Publius was burning a fever, and in bed suffering from dysentery. Paul went in with him, and prayed and laid hands on him, and healed him. ⁹Then because this occurred, everyone else on the island who had an illness was also being brought and being healed. ¹⁰And so they honored us with all kinds of gifts, and when we were about to sail, they loaded on the supplies that we needed.

¹¹And thus after three months, we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island, that had for its badge the Twin Sons of Zeus. ¹²Then we moored at Syracuse and stayed put for three days. ¹³And from there we tacked about, and made it to Rhegium. Then three days later, because a southerly wind came up, we arrived at Puteoli the next day. ¹⁴We found the brethren there and exhorted them, staying seven days with them. And thus we departed for Rome. ¹⁵And the brethren from there, when they heard the news about us, came out to meet us, as far as the Appian Market and Three Taverns. Seeing them caused Paul to feel encouraged, and he gave thanks to God.

¹⁶And once we arrived in Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier guarding him. ¹⁷And it came about that after three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. And when they had come together, he said to them, "Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or against the customs of our fathers, I was delivered as a prisoner into the hands of the Romans, ¹⁸who, after they examined me, were intending to order that I be freed, since they had found in me no basis for the death penalty. ¹⁹But when the Jews moved against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar— though not for bringing any complaint against my nation. ²⁰This therefore is the reason I asked to see you and converse with you: it is for the hope of Israel I am wearing all this."

²¹And they said to him, "We have neither received a letter about you from Judea, nor has any of the brothers arrived with news about you, or said anything bad about you. ²²But we think it is fitting that we hear from you what things you believe. For regarding this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."

²³So when they had arranged a day for him, a great many were coming to the house. From dawn until evening, he was explaining to them and solemnly testifying to the kingdom of God, and trying to convince them about Jesus, from both the law of Moses and the prophets. ²⁴And some were being convinced by the things being said, but others would not believe. ²⁵So they were in disagreement with one another, and were leaving when Paul said this one last thing: "How rightly the Holy Spirit spoke against your forefathers through Isaiah the prophet, ²⁶saying,

'Go to this people and say,

"Though hearing, you will listen and not understand,

and though seeing, you will look and not perceive.

²⁷For this people's heart has become impervious—

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have shut up their eyes;

lest they see with the eyes and hear with the ears

and understand with the heart and turn,

and I would heal them."

²⁸Be it known to you therefore, that this salvation of God is ordered to go out to the Gentiles. They also will hear it."

³⁰And Paul remained a whole two years in his own rented house, welcoming everyone who came in to him. ³¹He was preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the doctrines concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with complete openness and freedom.

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