Written by Paul’s traveling companion Luke the Physician about 64-CE, likely in Greek, and possibly a continuation of a letter that he started with the Gospel of Luke.
This book basically chronicles the life of Paul (the Apostle to the gentiles)
up to just before his death, likely at the hands of Emperor Nero.
Please notice the underlined links, which prove the accuracy and authenticity
of what Luke wrote here.
For you will notice how history attests to the existence
of many of the people that he wrote about.
And though (as expected) some modern
Bible critics claim that he got his dates wrong, it would seem as though the person
that wrote about the things shortly after they happened
should be more trusted
that those that refute his numbers more than two millennia later.
Chapter 1
1 O TheoPhilus;
This is the first account that I’ve assembled
about all the things that Jesus did and taught 2 from the day that he gave his instructions to the
Apostles whom he chose by Holy Breath after he’d
been raised [from the dead]…
3
Yes, those to whom he showed himself after his suffering and to whom he
provided many proofs during the forty days that
they saw him, as he spoke to them about things having to do with the Kingdom of God.
4 Then after
they had all assembled with him, he gave them this order:
‘Don’t leave
JeruSalem; stay there and await the promise about which the Father spoke and
about which you heard from me.
5
Indeed, John baptized you with water; however, in just a few days you will be baptized in Holy Breath.’
6
And when he met with them all again, they asked him this:
‘Lord, are you going
to restore the Kingdom to IsraEl now?’
7 But he
said:
‘It isn’t your business to know the times and periods over which the
Father is in charge.
8 However,
you will receive power when the Holy Breath comes over you, and you’ll be
witnesses of me in JeruSalem, throughout all of Judea, in Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.’
9 Well,
right after he said these things; as they were looking at him, a cloud hid him
from their eyes.
10 Then as
they were staring into the sky watching him go, {Look!} two men in white
clothes stood beside them and said:
11
‘Men of Galilee; Why are you standing there looking up into the sky?
This Jesus
that was taken from you into the sky will return in the same way that you saw
him going into the sky.’
12 And
thereafter, they returned to JeruSalem from the hill called ‘the Mount of Olives,’
which is close to JeruSalem (the [maximum] legal distance for travel on a
Sabbath).
13 And when they
entered [the city], they all went to the upper room where [the Apostles]
(Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, BarTholomew, Matthew, James [the
son] of AlphaEus, Simon the zealous one, and Judas [the son] of James) were
staying.
14
And they were all in one mind and purpose as they continued praying, along with
some women that had come there with Jesus’ mother Mary and his brothers.
15 It was at
this time that Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (about a hundred and
twenty people in all) and said:
16
‘Men! Brothers! The scripture had to be fulfilled, which through [God’s] Holy
Breath was a prophecy that [King] David spoke concerning Judas.
This [Judas]
was the man who guided those that arrested Jesus, 17 though he used to be one of us in sharing in this
service.
18 Yes, he was the one
whose wicked wages were paid to purchase the field into the middle of which he
then fell head first and burst, causing his guts to pour out, 19 and which field has become known to
everyone living in JeruSalem today as Akel
Dama – the Field of Blood.
20 For this is what was written in
about him the scroll of the Psalms:
Let his estate just lie empty
And may no one else ever live there;
Then let another take his position.
21
‘Therefore, we have this obligation:
One of the men that has been with us since
the time that the Lord Jesus entered among us until the time that he left us 22 (starting with his baptism by John
until the day that he was taken up from us) and someone that witnessed his
resurrection, should become one of us.’
23
So they asked two men to stand up, JoSeph
(who is called BarSabbas and was surnamed Justus) and MatThias.
24 Then they prayed, saying:
‘O Jehovah, the One who knows the hearts of all men; show
us which of these two You’ve chosen 25
to receive the position of Apostleship that Judas abandoned so that he could go
his own way.’
26 And at
that, they were both handed lots, and the selected
lot fell to
MatThias.
As the result, he was considered as being
among the other eleven Apostles.
Chapter 2
1 Now,
toward the end of the day known as Pentecost, and while they
were all observing that celebration, 2
there was a noise that suddenly came from the sky.
It sounded like a violent wind and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting.
3 And thereafter, they
saw what looked like tongues of fire, which were distributed so that one
[tongue] sat over each of them, 4
and they all became filled with Holy Breath and
thet started speaking different languages, saying whatever the Breath was telling
them to say.
5 Now at the
time, there were reverent Jews from every nation under the sky that were
staying in JeruSalem.
6 So when
this sound occurred, a huge crowd gathered there and everyone was bewildered,
because each person heard one of [the disciples] speaking his own language.
7 They were astonished and started to
wonder and say:
‘These people that are talking are all Galileans, aren’t they?
8 So how is it that we’re each hearing our
own native tongue being spoken?’
9 [Well,
there were] Parthinians, Medes, Elamites, MesoPotamians, Judeans, CappaDokians,
[and people from] Pontus, Asia, 10
Phrygia, PamPhylia, Egypt, parts of Libya Cyrene, travelers from Rome (Jews and
proselytes), 11 Cretans, and
Arabians.
[They said]:
‘We hear them talking about the wonderful things of God
in our own language!’
12 Yes,
they were all astonished and confused, and they were asking each other:
‘What’s
this all about?’
13 However,
others joked about them saying:
‘They’re full of sweet wine!’
14
But Peter then stood up beside the eleven, and raising his voice, he said this:
‘Men of Judea and all you that live in JeruSalem; I want you to know something…
listen to what I’m saying to you!
15
These [men] really aren’t drunk as you think, because it’s only the third hour
of the day.
16 What’s happening
is the thing that was said through the Prophet Joel.
17 For through him, God said:
‘In the last days,
says The God;
I will pour out My Breath on all flesh,
And your sons and daughters will then prophesy;
Your young men will also have visions,
And the old among you will [see things in] dreams.
18 ‘Yes,
even upon My male servants
And on those that are My handmaidens,
I will pour out My Breath in those days, And all will then prophesy.
19 ‘From
the skies above, I’ll send omens and signs
With blood, fire, and smoke to the earth down below,
20 Before the great,
shining day of the Lord.
‘For the sun will be changed into darkness
And the moon will be changed into blood.
21 Then, all of those
will be saved
That have called on the name of the Lord.’
22 ‘Men of
IsraEl; listen to these words!
Jesus the Nazarene was a man who was shown to
you by The God with power, omens, and signs that He performed through him in
your midst, as you already know.
23
Yet you handed this man (who had received his advice and his ability to see the
future from God) over to men that don’t have the Law, and who then nailed him up.
24 But thereafter, God resurrected
him, freeing him from the cords of death, because it wasn’t possible for
[death] to hold him down.
25 ‘So, notice that David said this about him:
‘I’ve always put Jehovah before me;
And since He is at my right hand,
I will never be shaken.
26 ‘Therefore,
in my heart, I am cheerful,
And with my tongue, I’ll rejoice;
For my body finds rest in the hope
27 That in the grave, You’ll not leave me,
And Your loyal one will not see decay.
28 ‘For
the ways of life, You have shown me,
And You’ll fill me with joy from Your face.’
29 ‘Men!
Brothers!
It’s good to speak to you openly about the patriarch David; for he
died, was buried, and his
tomb is still with us to this day.
30
For he was a Prophet, and he knew that The God had sworn an oath to him that He
would put someone on his throne that was the fruit of his loins.
31 So [David] looked into the future and
spoke about the resurrection of the Anointed One…
that he wouldn’t be abandoned in the grave and that his flesh wouldn’t see
decay.
32 ‘So
this Jesus has now been resurrected by The God (to which fact we’ve all been
witnesses) 33 and he’s been elevated to God’s right hand, where he has
received the Holy Breath that the Father had
promised.
Therefore, he’s the one who poured out all that you’ve been seeing
and hearing today!
34 ‘And
though David didn’t go to heaven, he said:
Jehovah said this to my Lord;
Sit here at My right hand,
35 ‘Til I set your enemies as a
stool for your feet.
36 ‘So let the entire House of IsraEl know for sure that God appointed this Jesus whom you impaled to be the Lord and His Anointed One!’
37 Well when
they heard this, they were all stabbed to the heart.
And they said to Peter and
the other Apostles:
‘Men! Brothers! What must we do?’
38 Then
Peter told them:
‘Repent, and each of you should get baptized in the name of Jesus the Anointed
One, so your sins can be forgiven… and then you’ll receive the gift of the Holy
Breath.
39 That’s a promise to
you, to your children, and to all those who are far away… to all those that will
be called by our God Jehovah!’
40 Well
thereafter, he went on and testified to them a lot more, giving them this
advice:
‘Get saved from this crooked generation!’
41 Then
those who welcomed his words were baptized… and about three-thousand people
were added that day.
42 These
continued to attend, listening to the Apostles as they were teaching, and
everyone participated as they were sharing in meals and in prayers. 43 For they were all in awe over the many
signs and omens that started happening through the Apostles.
44 And all who became believers started
sharing everything that they had.
45 They even
sold their belongings and properties and distributed the proceeds to anyone that
was in need.
46 And they also
agreed to go to the Temple every day, after which they would eat their meals in
private homes… eating the food happily and with sincere hearts, 47 praising The God and finding favor with
everyone.
And all the while, the Lord kept adding more of the newly-saved to them each
day.
Chapter 3
1 Now, Peter
and John had gone to the Temple for the hour of prayer (the ninth hour), 2 and a man was there who had been lame
from birth and had to be carried and placed near the Temple gate (the one
called Beautiful) every day, to beg from those that were entering the Temple.
3 And when he saw Peter and John about to
enter the Temple, he started begging from them.
4 But Peter and John stared at him and said:
‘Look at us!’
5 So he looked at them, expecting to get something.
6 Then Peter
said:
‘I don’t have any silver or gold, but I’ll give you what I do have… in
the name of Jesus the Nazarene, the Anointed One, walk!’
7 Then he took him by the right hand and lifted
him; and instantly, the soles of his feet and his anklebones were made well.
8 So he jumped up and stood… and then he
started walking!
So he entered the Temple with them, walking, jumping, and
praising God.
9 Well,
everyone noticed him walking around and praising God, 10 and they started to realize that this
was the man that used to sit and beg at the Temple’s Beautiful Gate.
This
astonished them and they were all delighted by what had happened to him.
11 So, as the man was holding onto Peter
and John near what was called The Columns of Solomon,
all the people came running to them, surprised out of their wits.
12 And when Peter saw this, he said:
‘Men of
IsraEl; Why are you surprised at this, and why are you staring at us as though
we made him walk by our own power or by our own devotion?
13 It was the God of AbraHam, IsaAc, and
Jacob – the God of our ancestors – that glorified His servant Jesus, whom you
then betrayed and disowned before the face of Pilate after he had actually
decided to release him.
14 ‘Yes,
you disowned that holy and righteous man, and you asked [Pilate] to release a
man that was a murderer… 15 so
you killed the Prince of Life!
However, God thereafter raised him from the
dead, which we all had witnessed!
16
And it is because of [our] faith in his name that this man here whom you see
and know was made well… yes, it’s because of faith that everything that you see
here has happened!
17 ‘And now
brothers; I know that what you did was done in ignorance… and this was true of
your rulers.
18 But, just as it
was foretold by the mouths of all the Prophets; it was God who caused His Anointed One to endure all these things, so that it
could be fulfilled this way.
19
‘So now, repent and turn around to get your sins erased, so that you might come
to see a period of refreshment from Jehovah.
20 Then He will send this one whom He
appointed to you… the Anointed Jesus.
21
However, he will remain in the heavens until the time when everything that God
told us through the mouths of the holy [ones] in His age
of the Prophets is restored.
22
In fact, it was Moses who said,
Jehovah
God will raise a Prophet like me from among your brothers, and you must listen
to everything that he tells you.
23
Then if the people don’t listen to that Prophet, they will all be destroyed!
24 ‘Why, all
the Prophets from SamuEl on – everyone that spoke – clearly talked about these
days.
25 And you are the sons
of the Prophets and of the Sacred Agreement
that God made with your ancestors, when he told AbraHam:
All the families of
the earth will be blest by your seed!
26 Therefore, God then raised this servant and sent him to you first as a blessing to you, so that each of you might turn from the bad things that you’re doing.’
Chapter 4
1 Well, as
Peter and John were talking to the people; the Chief Priests, the Temple
captains, and the
SadDucees came up to them, 2 and were very annoyed by the fact that [Peter and John]
were teaching the people and telling them how Jesus had been resurrected from
the dead.
3 So they had them
arrested and held until the next day (since it was already evening).
4 However, many of those who listened to
them started believing, and their numbers grew to where there were about five
thousand men.
5 Then the
next day, a meeting was held in JeruSalem that included the rulers, elders, and
scribes, 6 along with AnNas
the Chief Priest,
CaiAphas, John, Alexander, and all the rest of the
Chief Priest’s relatives.
7 So
they stood [Peter and John] in their midst and asked them:
‘Who authorized you
and who told you that you could do these things?’
8 Then Peter
(who became filled with Holy Breath) spoke to them,
saying:
‘Rulers of the people and elders;
9
If we are being questioned here today because [we] did a good deed for a
handicapped person, and if we are being asked who made him well, 10 then you and all the people of IsraEl
should know that it was done in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One…
whom you hung on a pole!
For God raised him from
the dead, and he actually stood next to this man that you now see here,
completely healthy!
11 Yes, this is the
stone that was rejected by you builders, but which has now become the head
of the corner!
12 So, salvation
isn’t going come from anyone else, because there isn’t another name that has
been given to any other man under the heavens that can save us.’
13 Well, when
they saw the confidence of Peter and John and realized that they were
uneducated and common, everyone was amazed… and then they started to recognize
them and they remembered that these men used to be with Jesus.
14 However, as they looked at the man who
was standing next to them and who had been cured, no one could come up with
anything to say in rebuttal.
15 So then
they sent them outside of the
Jewish High-Court hall as they discussed the matter between themselves.
16 And they were saying:
‘What will we do
with them, for it’s a fact that a sign has come through them. And because
everyone in JeruSalem saw it, we can’t deny it!
17 Therefore, to keep the news about this from being spread
around among all the people, let’s just threaten them and tell them not to
speak to anyone about this name ever again!’
18 So then
they called them back in and warned them not to speak or teach in the name of
Jesus anywhere.
19 However,
Peter and John replied:
‘If it’s righteous in
God’s eyes to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. 20 But we can’t stop talking about the
things that we’ve actually seen and heard!’
21 So then, after
they threatened them a little more, they let them go, because they couldn’t
find any reason to punish them.
[Of course, they also chose not to do anything] on account
of the people, since they were all praising God over what had happened… 22 for the man that was healed was more
than forty years old!
23 Well,
after they had been released, [Peter and John] returned to their [brothers] and
reported what the Chief Priests and elders had told them.
24 And on hearing this, they all raised
their voices to God together and said:
‘O our only King… You who made the
lands, the skies, the seas, and everything in them; 25 through Your Breath,
You had asked through the mouth of our father David (Your servant):
Why are the nations so noisy,
And why do the people think foolish things?
26 For all the kings and rulers
of this land have now united against You and against the one whom You anointed.
27 Even Herod and Pontius Pilate (these gentiles)
have joined with the IsraElites in this city against Your Holy servant Jesus,
whom You chose 28 to do the all
things that Your hands and directions commanded.
29 ‘So, O
Lord;
Pay attention to their threats and allow Your slaves to keep on speaking
Your Word in full confidence, 30
while You stretch out Your hand to do healing and continue to bring signs and
omens in the name of Your Holy Servant Jesus.’
31 Well, as
they were asking God for this, the place where they were meeting started to
shake.
Then everyone was filled with the Holy Breath and they started speaking
the word of God confidently.
32
As the result, a huge crowd became believers, and they started sharing
everything that they had with a single heart and soul.
None of them claimed that anything they owned was their own, for they shared
everything…
33 And all the
while, the Apostles continued to give a powerful testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
So there was a great manifestation of loving-kindness that
came over them all.
34 In fact,
nobody could be described as being needy among them, because all those that
owned fields or houses sold them and brought back the money from the things
that they sold, 35 laying it at
the feet of the Apostles.
Then everything was distributed among them according
to each one’s needs.
36 For example; JoSeph, whom the Apostles called BarNabas (which translates as Son of Comfort), a Levite and a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a piece of land that he owned and then he brought in the money, laying it at the feet of the Apostles.
Chapter 5
1 However, a
man named AnaNias (along with his wife SapPhira) also sold some property that
they owned, 2 but he secretly
kept part of the money… and his wife knew about this.
Then he brought in part
of it and laid it at the feet of the Apostles.
3 But Peter
asked:
‘AnaNias; Why has the Opposer made you so
bold as to try to fool the Holy Breath and to
secretly hold back some of the money for the field?
4 As long you owned it, it was yours. And
after you sold it, wasn’t the money still yours?
So, why did you plan to do
such a thing in your heart?
You should understand that you weren’t lying to men,
but to God!’
5 Well, just
as he heard those words, AnaNias fell to the ground and died, which really
frightened everyone that heard about it.
6
Then some of the younger men got up and wrapped him in a cloth, and they
carried him outside to be buried.
7 It
was about three hours later that his wife arrived… and she didn’t know what had
happened.
8 So Peter asked her:
‘Tell me; Did you sell the field for (so much)?’
And she answered:
‘Yes, for (so much).’
9 Then Peter
said:
‘Why did you two agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Look! The feet of
those that buried your husband are at the door, and they’ll carry you out also.’
10 And at that, she instantly
dropped dead at his feet.
So when the young men returned, they also found her
dead and they carried her out to be buried her next to her husband.
11 Well, when the whole gathering (and everyone else) heard about this, they were all frightened by the things that were happening.
12 Yet
thereafter, many signs and omens continued to be performed among the people at
the hands of the Apostles, who used to meet among the Columns of Solomon.
13 It’s true that no one else had enough
courage to join them there; but the people continued to speak well of them, 14 and large numbers of men and women kept
on being added to those who believed in the Lord.
15 [So after
that], people started bringing their sick out into the main streets lying on
little beds and cots, so that when Peter passed by, his shadow could fall on
some of them.
16 Also, throngs
from the cities around JeruSalem kept coming, carrying sick people and those
that were bothered by unclean spirits… and everyone
was cured!
17 However, the High Priest and all those who
were with him (particularly those of the sect of SadDucees) became very jealous
of this. 18 So they attacked
the Apostles and arrested them, then they locked them up in a public jail.
19 But during the night, Jehovah’s messenger opened
the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying:
20 ‘Now go! Keep on standing in the Temple
and telling the people everything about The Life.’
21 So after they were told this, they went back to the Temple at daybreak and started teaching again.
Then when the High Priest and those who were with him
finally arrived, they assembled the
Jewish High Court along with all the elders of the sons of IsraEl and they
sent [officers] to the jail to have [the Apostles] brought in.
22 But when the officers got there, they
couldn’t find them in the lockup; so they reported back, 23 saying:
‘We found the jail locked and
guards posted at the doors. But when we went in, we couldn’t find anyone
inside!’
24 Well when the Temple captain and the Chief Priests were told this, they were confused and they wondered what had really happened.
25 But then
someone came and reported:
‘Look! The men that you put in jail are standing in
the Temple teaching the people!’
26 So the
captain took his officers and brought them back peacefully (because they were
afraid of being stoned by the people).
27
Then they led them in and stood them in the Jewish High Court hall, where the
High Priest questioned them and said:
28
‘Though we ordered you not to teach about this name, {Look!} you’ve filled JeruSalem
with your teachings and you’re determined to bring the blood of this man down
upon us!’
29 However, Peter
and the rest of the Apostles replied:
‘We must obey God as ruler rather than
men!
30 For it was the God of
our fathers that raised this Jesus whom you arrested and hung on a tree.
31
And after that, God raised him to His right hand to serve as the Primary Leader
and Savior in order to cause IsraEl to repent so that He could forgive their
sins!
32 We are witnesses to these
things, as is the Holy Breath that God gave to
those who are obeying Him as their ruler.’
33 Well when
[the leaders] heard this, they were really cut to heart and they wanted to
murder [the Apostles].
34 But
then a certain man stood up in the Jewish High Court hall (a Pharisee named GamaliEl,
who was a highly-regarded teacher of the Law) and he commanded that the men be
taken outside for a little while.
35 Then he
said:
‘Men of IsraEl; Be very careful about what you plan to do to these men.
36 Do you remember when
TheuDas came along saying that he was somebody
important, and quite a few people (about four hundred of them) followed him?
But then he was done away with, and all those that listened to him were
scattered and came to nothing.
37
And after him, Judas
the Galilean arose during the registration, and he drew people after him.
But then he died, and all those that listened to him were scattered.
38 ‘So in
this situation, I tell you not to mess with these men… leave them alone!
Because, if this thing that they’re doing is from men, it will be overthrown.
39 But if it’s from God, you won’t be able
to overthrow them and you’ll actually be fighting against God!’
40 Well [after he said that],
they all agreed with him.
So then they called the Apostles back in and had them
whipped, and they ordered them to stop talking about the name of Jesus… and then they released them.
41 But as
they were leaving the Jewish High Court, [the Apostles] were actually rejoicing
because they had been found worthy of being dishonored for [Jesus’] name.
42 So they didn’t stop after that… they
kept on teaching and announcing the good news about Jesus the Anointed One every day, both in the Temple and in
private homes.
Chapter 6
1 Now, back
in those days when the disciples were increasing, the Greek-speaking Jews
started grumbling about the Hebrew-speaking Jews, because their widows were
being overlooked in the daily distribution.
2
As the result, the twelve called all the disciples to them and said:
‘The
thought of our having to abandon the word of God to serve tables is
displeasing to us.
3 So
brothers; find seven qualified males among you that
are filled with wisdom and the Breath [of God], and
we’ll appoint them to handle these needs, 4
so we can continue in our prayers and in serving the word.’
5 Well, what
they suggested sounded good to the whole group, so they selected Stephen (a man
that was filled with faith and Holy Breath), as well as Philip, ProChorus,
NiCanor, Timon, ParMenas, and NicoLaus (a proselyte from AntiOch).
6 Then they took them before the Apostles,
who prayed over them and laid their hands on them.
7
Thereafter, the word of God kept spreading and the number of disciples in
JeruSalem kept on multiplying.
For even a large number of Priests started
obeying the faith.
8 Stephen
was especially filled with joy and power, and he was performing great omens and
signs among the people.
9 But
then certain men came from the so-called Synagogue of
Freed Men (along with some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Kilikians, and [people
from the province of] Asia) and started arguing with him.
10 And because their arguments couldn’t
stand against the wisdom and Breath [of God] with which he was speaking, 11 they talked some men into saying that
they’d heard him say blasphemous things against Moses and God, 12 which riled up the people.
So, some of
the elders and scribes came and arrested him, then they dragged him up before the Jewish High Court, 13 where they produced some false
witnesses that said:
‘This man is speaking against this Holy Place and against
the Law! 14 For we heard him
say that Jesus the Nazarene will tear this place down and change the customs
that were given to us by Moses!’
15 Then as all those that were sitting in the Jewish High Court were looking at him, they saw his face become like that of a messenger [of God].
Chapter 7
1 So the
High Priest asked him:
‘Is all of this true?’
2 And
[Stephen] said:
‘Men… Brothers… Fathers… Listen!
Our father AbraHam saw the
Glorious God while he was in MesoPotamia, before he moved to Haran.
3 And [God] said to him,
Leave your land and your
relatives and go to the land that I’m going to show you.
4 So he went to the land of the Chaldeans
and started living in Haran.
Then after his father died, [God] caused him to
move to the land where you now live.
5
However, He didn’t give him any land as his inheritance… not a foot’s width.
Yet [God] did promise him a land that he could own and pass on to his seed,
though at the time when he didn’t even have any children.
6 ‘Moreover, God spoke to him and told him
that his seed would also have to live in a foreign land where they would be
oppressed and then serve as slaves for four hundred years.
7 But God said that thereafter, He would
pass judgment on the nation [that makes them] slaves… and then [his seed] would
come here and serve Him.
8 So
he made a Sacred Agreement with [AbraHam] [that required] circumcision.
And after that, [AbraHam] went on to
father IsaAc, whom he circumcised on the eighth day… as IsaAc did to Jacob, and
Jacob did to the twelve family heads.
9 ‘However,
these family heads soon became jealous of [their brother] JoSeph, and they sold
him into Egypt.
10 But God was
with him and He carried him through all of his problems. Then He made him
likable and wise in the eyes of PharaOh, the king of Egypt.
So [PharaOh]
appointed [JoSeph] to govern Egypt, as well as [to be over] his entire house.
11 ‘Then a
famine came upon Egypt and CanaAn, which created such a difficult time that our
ancestors couldn’t find any food.
12
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors down
there for the first time.
13
And it was on their second visit that JoSeph made himself known to his
brothers… which was when JoSeph’s ethnic background first became known to
PharaOh.
14
‘Thereafter, JoSeph sent for his father Jacob and all of his relatives (some seventy-five people); 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt, where he died, as did the
rest of our ancestors…
16 And
their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were laid in the tomb that
AbraHam had purchased with silver from the sons of Hamor
in Shechem.
17 ‘Well, by
the time that God’s promise to AbraHam had reached its fulfillment, the people
had grown and multiplied in Egypt.
18
And soon another king had arisen to rule over Egypt that was unfamiliar with
JoSeph.
19 So he treated our
people treacherously and he forced our fathers to give up their young children
to be killed… 20 and that’s
when Moses was born.
‘Well, [Moses] was beautiful to God, and he was nursed for
three months in [his] father’s home.
21
But when he was discovered, the daughter of PharaOh picked him up and raised
him as her own son.
22 So, this
is how Moses came to be trained in the wisdom of the Egyptians… and he grew up
to become mighty in everything that he said and did.
23 ‘Then
when he turned forty years old, [Moses] decided to
pay more attention to his brothers, the sons of IsraEl.
24 And when he saw one of them being
treated unjustly, he came to [the man’s] defense and took vengeance on behalf
of the one that was being abused by beating an Egyptian to death.
25 ‘Well, he
assumed that his brothers would understand that God was going to use him to
save them… however, they didn’t understand.
26
So when he came to [his people] the next day and found [two of them] fighting;
he tried to bring them together peacefully by saying,
Men… you are brothers!
Why are you treating each other so badly?
And at that, the one that was
mistreating his neighbor just pushed him away and asked,
Who appointed you
as the ruler and judge over us? 28
Do you want to kill me the same as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?
29 And when Moses heard him say this, he
ran away and lived in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
30
‘Well, after forty more years, a messenger [from
God] appeared to him in the flames of a burning thorn bush while he was in the
desert near Mount Sinai. 31 And
when Moses saw it, he was dazzled by the sight.
But as he came closer to
investigate, the voice of the Lord said to him,
32 I am the God of your fathers… the
God of AbraHam, IsaAc, and Jacob.
And at that, Moses started to shake so
hard that he didn’t want to investigate any further.
33 ‘Then the
Lord said to him:
Remove your sandals; for the place where you’re standing
is holy ground!
34 ‘Now,
I have seen the bad treatment of my people in Egypt and I’ve heard their
groaning; therefore, I’ve come down here to take them.
So come on, for I’m going
to send you to Egypt!
35 ‘And
though this was the same Moses that [the IsraElites] had previously disowned,
asking,
Who appointed you as our ruler and judge?…
He was the one that
God sent off as both a ruler and savior by the hand of the messenger that had
appeared to him in the thorn bush.
36
‘And then, after he had performed many omens and signs, he’s also the man that
led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the desert for the next
forty years.
37 Yes, this was
the [man] that told the sons of IsraEl:
God will raise a Prophet like me from
among your brothers.
38 And
he was the one that was with the congregation [when they lived] in the desert,
who talked to [God’s] messenger on Mount Sinai, and that received life-giving
signs for our ancestors, so that we might receive them!
39 ‘But then
our ancestors refused to obey him… they just pushed him aside, and in their
hearts they were back in Egypt!
40
For then they told Aaron:
Make gods to lead us, because we don’t know what
has happened to this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt!
41 ‘As the
result, [Aaron] made [an image of] a calf, and then they offered sacrifices to
the idol…
For they were very happy with this thing that they’d made with their
hands!
42 ‘So
thereafter, God handed them over to bow before the [stars] in the skies, just
as it’s written in the Book of the Prophets:
It wasn’t to Me that you
offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the desert, was it, O house
of IsraEl?
43 Rather,
you took up with the images that you made for worship in the tent of Moloch, and with the star of the god Rephan.
This is why I’m going to
send you into exile beyond Babylon!
44 ‘However,
back when our ancestors lived in the desert, they had the Tent of Proofs that [God] had ordered Moses to build
using the pattern that he was shown.
45
And our ancestors who received it then brought it into this land that was once
owned by the nations that God had pushed out ahead of them as they were coming
here with JoShua…
And it remained here until the time of David!
46 ‘Then
[David] found God’s favor, and he asked that [he might be allowed] to build a
Temple for the God of Jacob… 47
though it was really Solomon who built the House for him.
48 However, the Most High doesn’t really
live in houses that are made by [human] hands, just as the Prophet foretold. 49 For Jehovah said:
Since the heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool;
What kind of House can you build for Me,
And in what sort of place should I rest,
50 Since all of these
things were made by My hands?’
51 ‘So now – you with the hardened necks and uncircumcised hearts and ears – you’ve become just like your ancestors, for you’re always resisting [God’s] Holy Breath!
52 ‘Which of
the Prophets weren’t persecuted by your ancestors?
Yes, they even killed the
Prophets that foretold the coming of the Righteous One… and now you’ve become the
betrayers and murderers of him also!
53
So although you were the ones who received the Law that was brought to us by
the messengers [of God], you haven’t kept it!’
54 Well when they heard this, they were really cut down and they were grinding their teeth at him.
55 But as he
was being filled with Holy Breath, he stared into the sky and saw the Glory of
God with Jesus standing at His right hand!
56
So he said:
‘Look! I see the sky opening up, and there’s the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’
57 Then when he said this,
they all started shouting as loudly as they could and putting their hands over
their ears.
Then they ran up to him and grabbed him, 58 and they dragged him outside of the
city, where they started stoning him.
Well at the time, those that came to watch started laying their coats at the feet of a young man called Saul.
59 Then
Stephen said this as they were stoning him:
‘Lord Jesus; Receive my breath.’
60
And he fell to his knees and shouted loudly:
‘Lord, don’t hold this sin against
them!’
And with that, he fell asleep [in death].
Chapter 8
1 Well at the time, Saul actually approved of murdering him.
And on that same day, a tremendous amount of persecution
started to be directed toward the congregation in JeruSalem; so all (except the
Apostles) were scattered throughout the area of Judea and Samaria.
2 However, some devoted men [took the time
to] carry Stephen’s [body] out to be buried, and they wept bitterly over him.
3 [It was
then that] Saul started wiping out the congregation [in JeruSalem]; for he
invaded one house after another, dragging out both the men and the women and
sending them to jail.
4
Meanwhile, those that had been scattered around just kept on preaching the good
news of the word wherever they went.
5 [For
example]; Philip had gone to a city in Samaria, where he preached to the people
about the Anointed One, 6 and large crowds were paying attention to the
things that he was saying…
They listened to him closely and watched the signs
that he performed.
7 For many
who were there had been bothered by unclean spirits
that shouted loudly as they came out, and many others that were paralyzed or
lame, were cured.
8 As the
result, there was a lot of joy in that city.
9 There was
also a man there named Simon, who used to practice magic.
He had amazed the
people of Samaria and he called himself, [Simon] the Great.
10 Why, everyone from the common people to
the most powerful paid attention to him and said,
‘This man that calls himself The
Great has the Power of God!’
11
So they followed him for a long time, because they were dazzled by his magic.
12 However,
when Philip came preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God and about the
name of Jesus the Anointed One, they started believing him; and as the result,
many men and women got baptized.
13
In fact, even Simon became a believer!
Then after he was baptized, he stayed
close to Philip and was amazed as he watched the signs and great powers.
14
Well, after the Apostles in JeruSalem heard that Samaria was starting to accept
the word of God, they sent Peter and John there, 15 and they prayed for [the believers] to receive the Holy
Breath, 16 since it hadn’t come
to any of them yet, though they had been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus.
17
But when [Peter and John] laid their hands on them, they each started receiving
the Holy Breath.
18 And when
Simon saw that the Apostles could give the Breath by just touching people, he
offered them money, saying:
19
‘Give me the power so that anyone I lay my hands on can receive Holy Breath.’
20 But Peter
said:
‘May your silver be destroyed along with you! For because you think that
you can buy the gift that God gives freely, 21
you aren’t going to have any part in this, nor will you share in it… for God
sees that your heart is crooked!
22
So now, turn away from your badness and beg the Lord to forgive you for these
thoughts that you have in your heart, 23
because I see bitterness, hatred, and an unrighteous alliance in you.’
24 Then
Simon said:
‘Please beg the Lord on my behalf, so that none of the things that
you said will happen to me!’
25 Well,
after they had given everyone that was there a thorough testimony and spoke to
them about the things that the Lord had told them, [the Apostles] returned to
JeruSalem.
But because of what they had done, many other Samaritan villages
also heard of the good news.
26 Then the
Lord’s messenger spoke to Philip and told him:
‘Now, get up and go south to the road that runs through the desert from
JeruSalem to Gaza.’
27 And when
he got there, {Look!} he found an Ethiopian man that held the office of Eunuch of the Treasury under the Kandake
(or queen) of the Ethiopians (possibly Amanitore),
who had gone to JeruSalem to worship.
28
And as the man was [on his way back home], he was sitting in his chariot
reading aloud from the Prophet IsaiAh.
29 So the Breath [of God] then told Philip:
‘Go and catch up
with his chariot,’
30 and
Philip started running alongside him.
Then when he heard the man reading from
the Prophet IsaiAh aloud, he asked him,
‘Do you really understand what you’re
reading?’
31 But [the
eunuch] replied:
‘How could I, unless I had someone to explain it to me?’
So at
that, he begged Philip to climb aboard and sit with him.
32 Well, the particular scripture he was reading at the time
was this:
‘He was brought like a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb that is quiet before shearers,
He did not open his mouth…
33 Then he was shamed and his
justice was denied.
So who’ll tell the details to his generation
After his life is removed from the land?’
34 Then the
Eunuch asked Philip:
‘Just who was the Prophet saying this about… was he talking
about himself or someone else?’
35 So Philip proceeded to explain this scripture, telling him the good news about Jesus.
36 Now, as
they were traveling along the road, they happened to be passing by some water.
And the eunuch said to him:
‘Look… here’s some water! What’s to prevent me from
getting baptized?’
37
—— 38 So he commanded the
chariot [driver] to stop, and then Philip took the eunuch down to the water and
baptized him.
39 Well, after they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord then sent Philip quickly away, so the eunuch didn’t see him anymore… however he continued on his way rejoicing.
40
Meanwhile, Philip found that he was in AshDod.
So he traveled on throughout that area, preaching the
good news in all the cities, until he got to Caesarea.
Chapter 9
1 Well at
the time, Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the Lord’s
disciples.
So he went to the High Priest 2
and asked him to write letters that he could carry to the synagogues in
Damascus that would empower him to arrest anyone he found that belonged to The
Way (both men and women) and bring them back to JeruSalem in chains.
3 But as he was getting close to Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed all around him 4 and he fell to the ground.
Then he heard
a voice say:
‘Saul, Saul; Why are you persecuting me?’
5 And he
asked:
‘Who are you Lord?’
Then he heard:
‘I am Jesus, the one whom you are
persecuting.
6 Now, get up and
enter the city, and there you’ll be told what to do.’
7 Well, as
this was happening, the men that were traveling with him were speechless,
because they heard the sound of a voice, but they couldn’t see anyone.
8 And when Saul got up off the ground;
though his eyes were open, he couldn’t see. So they took him by the hand and
led him into Damascus, 9 where
he remained blind for the next three days…
And he wouldn’t eat or drink
anything at all.
10
Meanwhile, there was a disciple named AnaNias
in Damascus; and in a vision, the Lord called out to him saying:
‘AnaNias!’
And
he replied:
‘Here I am Lord!’
11
Then the Lord said:
‘Get up and go to the house of Judas on Straight
Street, and ask for a man called Saul of Tarsus. Look… he’s praying [right
now]!
12 For in a vision he has
seen a man named AnaNias that will come and lay his hands on him so he can start
seeing again.’
13 However,
AnaNias [objected], saying:
‘Lord, I’ve heard about this man from many people,
and they’ve told me about all the bad things that he did to your Holy Ones in
JeruSalem.
14 He’s even been
empowered by the Chief Priests to lock up everyone that calls on your name!’
15 But the
Lord said to him:
‘Go on, because this man is the one I’ve chosen to carry my
name before nations, kings, and the sons of IsraEl.
16 I will also make sure that he
understands all the things that he’ll have to suffer on account of my name.’
17 So
AnaNias went over to the house and went inside, and then he laid his hands
on him and said:
‘Saul, Brother; The Lord Jesus that appeared to you on the road
as you were coming here has sent me to restore your sight and to fill you with
Holy Breath.’
18 Well at
that, what looked like scales immediately fell from [Paul’s] eyes and he
started to see.
Then he got up and was baptized, 19 after which he started eating again and
regaining his strength.
So after that, he spent several days there in Damascus with
the disciples. 20 And he
immediately started preaching in the synagogues that Jesus
is the Son of The God.
21
However, all those that heard him were shocked, and asked:
‘Isn’t this the man
that once ravaged those that are calling on this name in JeruSalem, and didn’t
he come here for that same reason… to carry them back in chains to the Chief
Priests?’
22 But
Saul’s powers kept on growing and he really confused the Jews that lived in
Damascus, because he gave them logical proofs that [Jesus] is the Anointed One.
23 So after several days, the
Jews finally met to discuss ways to get rid of him.
24 However, Saul learned about their plot
against him; and because they were watching the city gates closely both day and
night in order to arrest him, 25
his disciples came to him one night and lowered him in a basket through an
opening in the city wall.
26 Well, when
he got back to JeruSalem, he then tried to join with the rest of the disciples.
However they were all afraid of him, because they didn’t really believe that he
was a disciple.
27 But BarNabas
finally came to his aid… he took [Saul] to the Apostles and explained to them
what had happened to him on the road… of how he had seen the Lord and spoken to
him, and of how he had been boldly teaching in the name of Jesus while he was
in Damascus.
28 So thereafter,
[Saul] stayed with [the brothers], as he entered and left JeruSalem, preaching
in the name of the Lord.
29 He also
talked and argued a lot with the Greek-speaking Jews;
But then they also
attempted to do away with him.
30
So when the brothers learned about their [plot], they took Paul to Caesarea and
sent him on from there to Tarsus.
31 Well for some time thereafter, there was a period of peace for the congregations in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. So [the brothers] kept on walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Breath, as they were growing [in numbers].
32
Meanwhile, as Peter was traveling around, he finally reached the Holy Ones that
lived in LydDa.
33 And there he found a man
named AiNean who had spent eight years lying flat on his back on a cot,
paralyzed.
34 So Peter said to
him:
‘AiNean; Jesus the Anointed One heals you. So now, get up and make your
bed!’
And at that he immediately got up.
35
Then when those who lived in LydDa and the area of Sharon saw [what had happened
to] this man, many started turning to the Lord.
36 Well in
JopPa, there happened to be a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as
Dorcas [in Greek]), who was well-known for the good things she was doing and
for helping others when they were in need.
37
However, one day she got sick and died. So they washed her body and laid her in
an upstairs room.
38 Now,
LydDa was fairly close to
JopPa; so when the disciples
heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him to beg him to please hurry
and come to them.
39 Therefore,
Peter got up and went with them.
Well when he got [to JopPa], they took him upstairs to the
room [where she was laid].
And there, all the widows came to him crying and
showing him the many pieces of clothing that Dorcas had made for them while she
was with them.
40 So after
sending everyone outside, Peter got down on his knees and prayed.
Then he
turned toward the body and said:
‘Tabitha; stand again!
’
And at that, she opened her eyes… and when she saw Peter, she sat up!
41 So he gave her his hand and stood her
[on her feet]; then he called the Holy Ones and widows in and presented her to
them alive.
42 And before long,
this event became so well known throughout JopPa that many started believing
in the Lord.
43 And thereafter,
[Peter] stayed in JopPa for several days, [in the home of] Simon
the Tanner.
Chapter 10
1 In Caesarea there happened to be a man
named Cornelius
(he was a centurion of the Italian Division) 2 who was a devout man.
He and his family
feared God, praying to Him often, and they regularly helped those that were in
need.
3 Well, it was about the
ninth hour of the day when he clearly saw a messenger
from God that came to him in a vision and called out:
‘Cornelius!’
4 So he
stared at [the messenger] in fright and asked:
‘What do you want, Lord?’
And he answered:
‘Your prayers and kind gifts have arisen
and have been remembered before God.
5
So now, send some men to
JopPa and call for a man named Simon, who is also known
as Peter.
6 He’s a guest of
Simon the Tanner, who
has a house by the sea.’
7 Well, as soon as the messenger [from God] that spoke to him left, he called two of his house servants and a devout soldier that was staying with him, 8 and he told them everything that had happened, then he sent them to JopPa.
9
And the next day (as they were on their way and getting close to the city),
Peter had gone up on the roof (at about the sixth hour) to pray.
10 He was also very hungry and he wanted
to eat… but then he fell into a trance. 11
And in [a vision], he saw the sky opening and some sort of container (it looked
like a huge linen sheet that was being held at its four corners) coming down to
the ground.
12 Inside it there
were all kinds of four-footed animals, things that crawl on the ground, and
birds of the sky.
13 Then a
voice came to him that said:
‘Get up, Peter… slaughter [the animals] and eat
them!’
14 But Peter
said:
‘Not me Lord, because I’ve never eaten anything that is dirty or
unclean!’
15 And the
voice [spoke] to him a second time, saying:
‘Stop calling the things that God
has made clean, dirty!’
16 Then
he heard it say this two more times, and the container was then immediately
taken back into the sky.
17 Now,
Peter was confused about the meaning of this vision.
However, the men that
Cornelius had sent were already at Simon’s house, standing at the gate and
asking for him… 18 they were
calling out and asking whether Simon (who is also called Peter) was a guest
there.
19 And as Peter was
still thinking about the vision, the Breath [of
God] said:
‘Look! Three men are searching for you… 20 so go downstairs and get ready to travel with them.
Don’t worry, because I sent them.’
21 So then Peter
went downstairs to the men and said:
‘{Look!} I’m the one you’re searching for…
why are you here?’
22 And they
replied:
‘Cornelius, an army officer who is a righteous and God-fearing man of
whom the whole nation of the Jews speak well, was given Divine instructions by
a holy messenger to ask you to come to his house, so he can hear what you have
to say.’
23 Then
[Peter] invited them in and offered them some hospitality.
And the next day, he
got up and went with them (along with some of the brothers from JopPa), 24 arriving at Caesarea on the following day.
Of course, Cornelius had been expecting them, and he had
called for all of his relatives and closest friends.
25 Then as Peter entered, Cornelius met
him and fell down at his feet, bowing low.
26
But Peter lifted him up, saying:
‘Get up! I’m just a man!’
27 Well, as
they were talking, Paul walked inside; and there he found many people already
assembled.
28 So he said to
them:
‘You know very well how illegal it is for a Jew to associate with or to
even approach people of another race.
Yet, God has shown me that I shouldn’t
call any man dirty or unclean. 29
Therefore, when I was called for, I came without any objections.
But now, let
me ask:
Why have you sent for me?
30 Then
Cornelius told him:
‘Exactly four days ago, I was praying here in my house
during the ninth hour, when {Look!} a man in bright clothes came and stood in
front of me and said,
31 Cornelius;
Your prayers have been heard and your kind gifts have been remembered before
God.
32 So, send to JopPa
and ask for Simon, who is also called Peter. He’s staying by the sea in the
house of Simon the Tanner.
33
Well, I then sent for you right away… and it’s good that you came. For now
we’re all assembled here before God to listen to everything that the Lord has
commanded you to say.’
34 And Peter
said:
‘I can see for a fact that God is impartial;
35 for He accepts any man that
fears Him and does righteous things, no matter
what nation he’s from!
36 So
He’s sending word to the Sons of IsraEl that they must announce the good news
of peace through Jesus the Anointed One to [the
gentiles] also, for he is really the Lord over all!
37 ‘I
can also see that you’ve already come to know about this thing that is being
proclaimed throughout all of Judea, which started in Galilee after John came
preaching about [the need] to get baptized.
38 For after that, God anointed Jesus from
Nazareth with Holy Breath and power, and he traveled throughout the land doing
good things and healing all those that were oppressed by the Slanderer.
Yes, God was with him… 39 and we are eye-witnesses to everything
that he did in the region of Judea and in JeruSalem!
‘But then they murdered him by hanging him on a tree.
40
Yet God raised this one on the third day and allowed him to be seen… 41 but not by everyone, just to witnesses
whom God had selected ahead of time [from among] us.
For he appeared to us,
and we ate and drank with him after he was resurrected
from the dead.
42 Then he
ordered us to preach to the people and to testify that he’s the one that was
chosen by The God to judge the living and the dead,
43 and that he’s the one about
whom all the Prophets had testified, [where they foretold] that all who put faith in him will
have their sins forgiven through this name!’
44 Well, as
Peter was still talking about this, the Holy Breath
came over all of those that were listening to what he said.
45 And the faithful ones that were there
with Peter (all of whom were circumcised) were amazed, because the gift of the
Holy Breath was now being poured out on gentiles…
46 fFor they heard them speaking and glorifying God in
different languages!
Then Peter asked:
47
‘Can anyone forbid water to baptize these that have
received the Holy Breath the same as we have?’
48 So he
commanded that they should be baptized in the name of
Jesus the Anointed One.
And afterward, they asked him to stay with them for
several days.
Chapter 11
1 Soon thereafter,
the Apostles and other brothers in Judea heard that gentiles were also accepting
the word of God.
2 So when
Peter returned to JeruSalem, the circumcised started arguing with him, 3 complaining that he had gone into the
house of uncircumcised men and had eaten with them.
4 So Peter explained it this way:
5 ‘While I
was in the city of
JopPa, I was praying. And in a trance, I saw a vision
of some sort of container coming down from the sky that looked like a huge
linen sheet being held by its four corners… it was very clear to me!
6 And as I stared at it, I saw four-footed
creatures of the ground, wild animals, things that crawl, and birds of the sky.
7 Then I heard a voice say to
me,
Get up Peter; slaughter [the animals] and eat them!
8 But I said,
Not me Lord, because I’ve
never eaten anything that is dirty and unclean.
9 Then the voice came from the sky a
second time, and it told me:
Stop calling things that God has made clean,
dirty.
10 Well, this
happened a third time, and thereafter, everything was pulled back up into the sky.
11 ‘Then
{Look!} at that very moment, there were three men standing outside of the house
who had been sent from Caesarea
to find me.
12 And the Spirit told me to go with them and not to doubt.
So, these six brothers here also went with me, and we all entered the man’s house
together!
13 ‘[Well, when we got
there, the man] told us how he had seen a messenger [from God] standing in his
house, who told him this:
Send your men to JopPa and ask for Simon who is called
Peter.
14 He will tell
you what you must do, so that you and your household can get saved.’
15 ‘But
after I started speaking to them, the Holy Breath fell upon all them, the same
as it did upon us long ago.
16
And then I remembered that the Lord used to say,
John baptized in water, but
you will be baptized in Holy Breath.
17
So if God gave them the same gifts that he gave to those of us who have
believed in the Lord Jesus the Anointed; who am I
that I should be strong enough to resist God?’
18 Well
after they heard this, they all quieted down and started glorifying God,
saying,
‘So then, God has also given gentiles the opportunity for repentance
into life!’
19 Now,
those that had been scattered because of the problems that arose over Stephen
had traveled as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and AntiOch; and until then they
had been spreading the word among just the Jews.
20 However, some Cypriots and Cyrenians that went to AntiOch
started talking to the Greek-speaking [Gentile] peoples, declaring the good
news of the Lord Jesus to them.
21
And the hand of the Lord was certainly with them, because
many of them started believing and they turned to the Lord.
22 So when
news about this reached the ears of the congregation in JeruSalem, they sent
BarNabas to AntiOch, 23 and
when he got there and saw the loving-care that God had shown for these people,
he rejoiced and encouraged them all to whole-heartedly stick with the Lord!
24 ([BarNabas]
is a good man who is filled with Holy Spirit and
faith).
So, many were thereafter added to the Lord.
25
Well from there, [BarNabas] went on to Tarsus to find Saul.
26 And when he found him, he brought him
back to AntiOch,
where they stayed with that congregation for a year
and taught many people.
(It was in AntiOch that the disciples were by Divine
providence, first called Christians).
27 At the
time, [brothers with the gift of] prophesying had traveled to AntiOch from
JeruSalem.
28 And one of them
named Agabus
stood up and told them (through the Breath [of God]) that a great famine was
about to come upon the whole habitation [of mankind]
– which
did in fact happen in the time of [Emperor]
Claudius ([c. 45-CE]).
29 So the disciples there decided that
each of them would collect relief supplies for the brothers that lived in Judea
(as each one could afford to) 30
and send them back to the elders there through BarNabas and Saul.
Chapter 12
1 This all
happened about the same time that King Herod had started
persecuting many of those in the congregation [at JeruSalem]; 2 for he did away with James (John’s
brother) with a sword.
3 And
when he saw how much this pleased the Jews; during the celebration of No
Fermentation, he also arrested Peter 4
and threw him in jail, assigning four shifts of four soldiers to guard
him, because he planned to put him on [trial] before the people after the
Passover.
5 Well
while Peter was in jail, the congregation prayed to God intensely on his
behalf.
6 And on the night
before Herod planned to produce him, he had Peter bound with two chains, he forced
him to sleep between two soldiers, and guards were posted at all the doors.
7 But then {Look!} the Lord’s messenger appeared and he lit up the whole
cell.
Then he tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying,
‘Get up… Now!’
And at that, the chains just fell off his hands.
8 Then the messenger said to him,
‘Get dressed and tie on
your sandals,’
which Peter did.
Then he told him:
‘Now, wrap yourself up in
your robe and follow me!’
9 So [Peter]
left, following [the messenger].
However, he wasn’t really sure of what was
happening, because, though [he knew that] the messenger was real, he also thought
that he was just seeing a vision.
10 Well,
they walked past the first guard, then the second, and when they got to the
iron gate that leads into the city, it opened by itself.
Then after they got
out and started down a street, the messenger suddenly left him.
11 And at that, Peter finally came to his
senses and he said:
‘Now I really know that the Lord
sent his messenger and saved me from the hands of Herod and from all that the
Jews had planned to do [to me].’
12 Then
after [taking a moment] to collect himself; from there he went to the house of Mary the
mother of John (who was called Mark), where
several had gathered to pray.
13
And when he knocked at the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came.
14 Then when she recognized Peter’s voice,
she was so excited that she failed to open the gate… she just ran inside and told
everyone that Peter was standing outside.
15
Well, everyone there said that she had to be crazy, but she kept insisting.
So they said,
‘Perhaps it’s his messenger.’
16
Meanwhile, Peter was still just standing outside [the gate] and knocking.
Then when they opened [the gate] and saw that it really was
[Peter], everyone was astonished.
17
But he motioned with his hand for them to be quiet, and he told them exactly
how the Lord had freed him from the jail.
Then he said:
‘Tell James and the other brothers what has happened.’
And
with that, he left and traveled on to another place.
18 Needless
to say, the next day there was quite a stir among the soldiers over what had
become of Peter.
19 Herod had
them search for him, and when they couldn’t find him, he interrogated the guards
and gave orders to have them arrested.
However, [Peter] had left Judea and traveled
to Caesarea, where he spent quite a bit of time after that.
20 Well back
then, [Herod] had become extremely angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon.
And
as the result, [people from there] went to the Royal
Eunuch Blastus to convince him to ask [Herod] for
peace, since [Herod] had been supplying their country with food [during the
famine (c. 45CE)].
21 Then
there came a day when Herod
dressed himself up in his royal clothes and he sat down on his judgment seat to
give a public lecture.
22 But
at that, the crowd that was assembled started shouting,
‘It’s a god’s voice, not a
man’s!’
23 And instantly, a
messenger of Jehovah struck him, because he didn’t give glory to God; so he
became eaten up with worms and stopped breathing.
24 Meanwhile, during this entire period, the word of the Lord kept on growing and spreading.
25 As for
BarNabas and Saul; after they’d finished delivering relief supplies to
JeruSalem, they returned [to AntiOch].
And this time they took John (the one
called Mark) along with them.
Chapter 13
1 There were
several Prophets and teachers in the congregation at AntiOch.
These included
BarNabas, Symeon (who
was called Niger), Lucius of Cyrene, Mnaen
(who had gone to school with Herod, the district
ruler) and Saul.
2 And it was
while they were serving the Lord and fasting that the Holy Breath said to them:
‘You must consecrate
BarNabas and Saul to do the work for which I have called them.’
3 So thereafter, [the brothers] fasted, prayed, and laid their hands on them and sent them on.
4 Well, the
Holy Breath first sent these men to Seleucia, then they sailed to
Cyprus.
5 And when they arrived
at the city of Salamis,
they started preaching the word of God in the Jewish synagogues there, along
with John (Mark) who had come along to help them.
6
Then from there, they traveled across the whole island to Paphos,
where they met up with a Jew named
BarJesus, who was a sorcerer and a false prophet.
7 He happened to be with the Island’s
governor at the time (an intelligent man named Sergius
Paulus), who had summoned BarNabas and Saul, because he really wanted to
hear the word of God.
8 But the
sorcerer ElyMas (that’s how his name is pronounced [in Aramaic]) opposed them
and tried to keep the governor from becoming interested in the faith.
9 Then Saul
(who is also called Paul) became filled with Holy Breath, and he looked at the
man very hard and said:
10 ‘O
you unethical and deceitful person; you son of the Slanderer
and enemy of everything that’s righteous! When will you stop twisting the
straight ways of the Lord?
11
Now look! The Lord’s hand has touched you so that you’ll be blind and unable to
even see the sun for a while.’
And at that, [the man’s eyes] started to cloud
over and grow dim, so he had to search for someone to lead him by the hand.
12 Well when the governor saw this, he was shocked and he started believing in the Lord’s teachings.
13 From
there, Paul and the men that were with him sailed from Paphos
to [the city of]
Perga in PamPhylia.
However,
John [Mark] left them at this point and he returned to JeruSalem.
14 Then from Perga, they traveled on to AntiOch
in Pisidia.
And on the Sabbath, they entered the synagogue and sat down; 15 then after a reading of the Law and the
Prophets, the presiding officers of the synagogue called them forward saying,
‘Men… Brothers… If you have anything encouraging to tell the people, say it!’
16 So Paul
got up, and with a sweeping gesture, he said:
‘Men, IsraElites, and all of you that
fear God, listen!
17 The God of
the people of IsraEl chose our ancestors, and when they
were visitors in the land of Egypt, He elevated them… He raised His arm and
brought them out of there.
18
But after that, He [had to] put up with their bad manners in the desert for
forty years.
19 Then, after
destroying seven nations in the land of CanaAn, He gave them each an
inheritance of land… 20 and all
of this happened in a period of four hundred and
fifty years.
‘Thereafter, He gave them the
judges until the time of the Prophet SamuEl… 21 for that’s when they asked for a king.
So then God gave them Saul, the son of Kish (a man from the tribe of BenJamin),
who ruled over them for the next forty years.
22 ‘Then
after He removed him, He promoted David to be their king; for God gave this
testimony about him:
I’ve found a man after My own heart, David the son of
Jesse, who will do as I wish.
23
And it was from [this man’s] seed (according to the promise) that God brought a
Savior to IsraEl named Jesus.
24 ‘Now,
John [the Baptist] preached publicly about a baptism of repentance to all the
people of IsraEl before [Jesus] arrived.
25
And as John was finishing the race that he was to run, he asked [the people],
Whom
do you think that I am? I’m not really the one!
Rather, {Look!} someone is coming
behind me whose shoelaces I’m unworthy to untie!
26 ‘So, men…
brothers… you sons of the race of AbraHam and all among you that fear God; we’re
the ones to whom these words of salvation were sent!
27 However, the people that lived in
JeruSalem and their rulers didn’t recognize this man [about whom John spoke].
And when they were acting as his judges, they fulfilled the things that the Prophets said…
the things that are read aloud [here] on each Sabbath.
28
For though Pilate couldn’t find any reason for putting this man to death, the people
demanded that he should have him executed!
29 ‘Well,
after they’d finished doing everything that was written would happen to [this
man], they took his body down from the tree and
laid it in a tomb.
30 However,
God then raised him from the dead!
31
And for several days thereafter, those [of us] that had traveled with him from
Galilee to JeruSalem, saw him again!
So we are now his witnesses to the
people.
32 And here we are
announcing the good news to you about the promise that God made to our
forefathers, 33 and which He
has now completely fulfilled upon their children… upon us!
For He resurrected
this Jesus, just as it was written in the Second Psalm:
You are my son, and
today I am your Father!
34 ‘Yes, He resurrected him from the dead so that [his body]
would not see corruption.
For He had said to him:
I will give you the sacred, trusted things of [King]
David.
35 And He said
in another place:
You won’t allow your Holy one
to see corruption.
36
Yet when David (who served his generation well and followed God’s instructions)
fell asleep [in death], he was buried with his ancestors, and [his body] did
see corruption.
37 However,
this one that was raised by God didn’t see corruption!
38
‘Understand this, men and brothers; we’re declaring to you that your sins can
now be forgiven through him.
39
Yes, all the wrong things for which the Law of Moses couldn’t excuse you, can now be
excused for you by this one, if you’ll believe [in him]!
40 Just make sure that [this thing] that
was said by the Prophet doesn’t happen to you,
when he said:
41 ‘Behold, O you that show
scorn;
Yes, be amazed, and then perish!
For there’s a work that I’ll do in your days,
Which you could never believe
Should someone declare it to you!’
42 Well, as
everyone was leaving, many of the people begged them to explain more about this
on the next Sabbath.
43 And
after the meeting at the synagogue was concluded, several of the Jews and
proselytes started following Paul and BarNabas, who urged them to stick closely
to God’s favor.
44 Then on
the next Sabbath, most of the city had assembled there to hear the word of God.
45 And when the Judeans saw all these
people, they became extremely jealous and started contradicting the things that
Paul was saying in blasphemous ways.
46
However, Paul and BarNabas just kept on speaking out boldly. And they told
them:
‘We were told that we had to speak the word of God to you first. But
since you’re just pushing it away and you don’t judge yourselves to be worthy
of age-long life, {Look!} we will now be turning to
the gentiles.
47 In fact, Jehovah commanded us to do this when He said:
‘I will make you a light to the nations…
To bring salvation to the ends of the earth’
48 Well when
the gentiles in the crowd heard this, they started
rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord.
And at that, all those that were
inclined to accept age-long life became believers, 49 and the word of the Lord was thereafter spread
throughout that whole country.
50 However,
the Judeans that were there incited many of the city’s elite (the devout women and
the leading men), and they sent people against Paul and BarNabas that threw them out
of the city.
51 So they just
shook the dust off their feet against them, and traveled on to Iconium.
52 However, the disciples [back in
AntiOch] continued to be filled with joy and Holy Breath.
Chapter 14
1 Then the
same thing happened in Iconium.
[Paul and BarNabas] went into the Jewish
synagogue together to speak, and a large number of both Jews and Greeks became
believers.
2 However, the Jews
that wouldn’t accept what they said riled up the gentiles and influenced them to
act badly toward the brothers.
3
Nevertheless, [Paul, and BarNabas] spent a lot of time boldly telling them
about the Lord.
And [the Lord] himself testified to the fact that his favor was
being shown by allowing these men to perform many signs and omens.
4 Well, the
whole city was thereafter split… some were for the Jews and others for the
Apostles.
5 Then some of the
Jews and gentiles met with the local rulers, who arranged to finish them off by
having them stoned.
6 And when
[Paul and BarNabas] learned about this plot, they got out of there and traveled
to the cities and countryside around Lystra
and Derbe in LycaOnias, 7 where they continued to preach the good news.
8 Well in
Lystra, they noticed a man that was sitting there because he had something wrong with his feet.
In fact, he hadn’t walked at all since he was born.
9 This man was listening to Paul at the
time; and when [Paul] looked at him and realized that he had enough faith to be
healed, 10 he shouted:
‘Stand
up on your feet!’
And at this, [the man] jumped up and started walking around.
11 Well when
the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted (in the LycaOnian
language):
‘The gods have turned themselves into men and come down to us!’
12 Then they
started calling BarNabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes (since he was the one that took
the lead in speaking), 13 and
the city’s Priest of Zeus brought bulls and garlands up to the gates so that he
and the crowd could offer sacrifices [to them].
14 However, when the Apostles BarNabas
and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and jumped into the crowd,
shouting and asking:
15 ‘Why
are you doing this?
We’re just humans that have the same problems as you; and
the reason why we’re here preaching the good news to you is to turn you away
from this foolishness and toward the living God that made the skies, the lands,
the seas, and everything in them!
16
For though He’s allowed the gentiles to go their own way for generations, 17 He didn’t leave Himself without
witnesses.
And He did good things for you by giving you rain from the sky and
good harvests, and He filled your hearts with food and happiness!’
18 Yet despite everything they said, they had a hard time keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
19 But then
some Jews arrived from AntiOch and Iconium, and they convinced the crowd that
they should stone Paul.
So after they did that, they dragged him outside of the
city and left him for dead.
20
However, after the disciples gathered around him, he got up and walked back
into the city.
Then the next day, he and BarNabas left for Derbe, 21 where they preached the good news in that city, making quite a few disciples.
After that, they returned to Lystra in Iconium and to
AntiOch 22 so as to strengthen
the disciples there.
They encouraged them to remain strong in the faith,
saying,
‘We will all have to endure many trials if we wish to enter the Kingdom
of God.’
23 They also appointed
elders in each of the congregations.
Then with prayer and fasting, they entrusted them into the hands of [the God in
whom] they’d come to believe.
24 Well from
there, they traveled through Pisidia to PamPhylia.
25 And after teaching the word
in Perga, they went on to
AtTalia.
26
Thereafter, they sailed back to AntiOch, where by God’s kindness they had
first been entrusted with the work that they were performing so well.
27 And when they arrived, they gathered
the congregation and told them everything that God had done through them, and
of how He had opened the door of faith to the gentiles.
28 Then they spent quite some time there
in AntiOch with the disciples.
Chapter 15
1 However,
some men then came down from Judea and started teaching the brothers that if
they didn’t get circumcised following the custom of Moses, they couldn’t be saved.
2
However, Paul and BarNabas opposed them and argued with them.
So they arranged
for Paul, BarNabas, and some others that were there to go to the Apostles and
elders in JeruSalem to ask [their opinion] on the matter.
3 And at that, the congregation sent them
off.
Well, as they were traveling through Phoenicia and Samaria, they stopped and spoke [to the congregations] along the way about the conversion of gentiles, which brought great joy among all the brothers.
4 Then when
they got to JeruSalem, they were welcomed by the congregation (which included
the Apostles and the elders), and they told them about all the things that God
had been accomplishing through them.
5
However, some of those that were believers from the sect of the Pharisees then
stood up and said:
‘We must circumcise those people
and order them to obey the Laws of Moses!’
6 So
thereafter, the Apostles and the elders held a
meeting to discuss this matter.
7
And after a lot of wrangling, Peter then stood up and said:
‘Men… Brothers… You
know how long it has been since God chose to have gentiles hear the word of the
Good News and believe through my mouth, 8
and of how God (who knows the heart) testified about them by giving them the
Holy Breath, the same as He did to us.
9 So as you can see, He didn’t create a
difference between us. And since He has also purified their hearts in the
faith; 10 why are you testing
God by putting this yoke on the neck of the disciples that we and our fathers
couldn’t carry?
11 For we
believe that they’ve been saved the same as we have, through the loving care of
our Lord Jesus!’
12 Well at
that, the group became silent, and they listened to BarNabas and Paul tell
about the many signs and omens that God had used them to perform among the
gentiles.
13 Then after they’d finished speaking, James said:
‘Men… Brothers… Hear me!
14 It was Simon that explained to us how for the
first time, God has [chosen] to take a people for His Name from among the
gentiles.
15 And the words of the Prophet agree with this, for it is
written:
16 In that day,
I’ll rebuild the tent of David that has fallen…
I’ll rebuild it and make it stand once again.
17 Then those that remain of the gentiles
May inquire of those that have called on My Name.
Yes, this was said by our Lord who made it all happen,
18 because He has known about
these things through the ages!
19
‘Therefore, I’ve decided not to create problems for the gentiles that are
turning to God.
20 Rather, I
will send word to them to stay free from things polluted by idols, from
immorality, from things that are strangled, and from
blood.
21 For [these are
the Laws of] Moses that have been preached in city after city and read in the
synagogues on every Sabbath for generations.’
22 Well
after that, the Apostles, elders, and the whole congregation was unanimously
in favor of sending men that they had selected from among themselves back to
AntiOch.
So among those that traveled there with Paul and BarNabas were Judas
(who was called
BarSabbas) and Silas… leading men
from among the brothers.
23 And
this is what was written by their hands:
‘[From] the Apostles and the older brothers, to those gentile brothers in AntiOch, Syria, and Kilikia; Rejoice!
24 We’ve heard that
there were some that came from us who have been stirring things up there with speeches,
and they’ve urged you to make changes in your lives (though we didn’t really tell them to
do this).
25 Therefore, we’ve
unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our beloved
BarNabas and Paul… 26 these men
who’ve been willing to give their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One.
27
And now Judas and Silas can further explain these things to you.
28 For through the Holy Breath, it has become clear to us that we shouldn’t
put any burdens on you other than these necessary things:
29 Stay away from things that are:
* Sacrificed to idols,
* From blood,
* From things that are strangled,
* And from sexual immorality.
If you stay away from these things,
you’ll do well. Good health to you!’
30 So when
these men whom they’d sent arrived in AntiOch, they assembled the congregation
and presented them with the letter.
31
And after reading it, [the brothers in AntiOch] were very happy over the
encouragement that the letter conveyed.
32 Then
Judas and Silas (since they were also Prophets) gave instructions to the
brothers with many speeches to strengthen them.
33 And after some time had passed, [the congregation] allowed
them to return to those that had sent them with that message of peace.
34 —— 35
However, Paul and BarNabas stayed on in AntiOch for a while (along with many
others), teaching and preaching the good news of the word of the Lord.
36 Then
after many days, Paul said to BarNabas:
‘Now that these matters have been
settled, let’s go back and visit the brothers in all those cities where we’ve
preached the word, to see how they’re doing.’
37
However, BarNabas wanted to bring John (who was called Mark)
along with them. 38 But because
Paul didn’t think he was worthy, he didn’t want to take him, because he had departed
from them at PamPhylia and he hadn’t continued in the work.
39 So there was quite an argument over
this, which resulted in each man going his own way.
Therefore, BarNabas took
Mark and they sailed off to Cyprus, 40
while Paul chose Silas.
Then after sharing the joy of the Lord with the brothers there, [Paul] traveled on, 41 going through Syria and Kilikia, strengthening the congregations in those places.
Chapter 16
1 Well,
[Paul] got as far as Derbe, and then he continued on to Lystra.
{Look!} There he found a disciple named Timothy, who was the son of a believing
Jewish woman and a Greek father.
2
The brothers in Lystra and Iconium had many good things to say about him, 3 and Paul wanted to take this man along
with him. So he went and circumcised him…
He did this because of the many Jews that were in
those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 Well, as
they traveled through the cities, they taught the decisions of the Apostles and
elders in JeruSalem, and urged the brothers to obey them.
5 So the congregations kept getting stronger
in the faith and growing day after day.
6 From
there they traveled through Phrygia
and the country of Galatia.
However, the Holy Breath [of God] wouldn’t allow
them to teach the word in [the province of]
Asia.
7 And when they got
down to Mysia, they tried to go on to Bithynia, but the
Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t allow them to do so.
8 As the result, they passed Mysia and went on to Troas. 9 And there, during the night, Paul had a
vision of a Macedonian man that was standing and begging him,
‘Come over to
Macedonia and help us!’
10 Well,
as soon as he saw this vision, we started out for
Macedonia, assuming that God had called us to preach the good news to them.
11 So having
been led from Troas, we set a straight course for Samothrace.
Then the next
day we traveled to NeaPolis, 12
and from there on to Philippi
(a [Roman] colony that is one of the main cities in that part of Macedonia),
where we spent several days.
13
And on the Sabbath we went to the riverbank outside of the city gate where we
thought that we would find a place to pray, then we sat down and started
talking to the women that had assembled there.
14 Well, a
woman named Lydia from Thyatira (an importer of purple [cloth]) who was a
worshiper of The God, was listening; and the Lord
opened her heart to pay attention to the things that Paul was saying.
15 Then as she and her household were
being baptized, she begged:
‘If you men have judged me to be faithful to the
Lord, come and stay at my house!’
And she kept urging us to come.
16
Then sometime later, as we were going somewhere to pray, a servant girl with a divining spirit came and met us.
Her masters used her to make
predictions, which earned a tidy profit for them.
17 She kept following Paul and the rest of us, shouting:
‘These men are slaves of the Most High God and they’re preaching to you about
the way of salvation!’
18 Well,
after she had done this for several days, Paul finally got tired of it;
So he turned and said to the spirit:
‘I order you to come
out of her in the name of Jesus the Anointed One!’
And it came right out.
19 But
when her masters saw that they had just lost their hope of any income [from
her], they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the rulers in the
marketplace.
20 They brought
them before the judges and said:
‘These men are Jews that are creating a
disturbance in our city 21 and
they’re preaching customs that are illegal for us as Romans to either accept or
to practice!’
22 Well, the
entire crowd arose against them.
So the judges had their clothes stripped off
and commanded that they should be beaten with rods.
23 Then after they had received many
blows, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them safe.
24 And since [the jailer] had received
such an order, he took them into the innermost dungeon and put their feet in
stocks.
25 However, during the
middle of the night, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing sacred hymns
(within earshot of the rest of the prisoners there), 26 a great earthquake occurred that shook
the jail to its foundation… and this immediately opened all the doors and
loosened all the chains.
27
Then when the jailer woke up and saw the cell doors opened, he drew his sword
and was about to kill himself, because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul called out loudly,
‘Don’t harm
yourself… we’re all still here!’
29 So [the
jailer] asked for lamps to be brought in; and shaking in fear, he jumped in and
fell down before Paul and Silas.
30
Then he brought them outside and asked:
‘Lords; What must I do so that I might get saved?’
31 And they
replied:
‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and all in your house will be
saved.’
32 Then they spoke to
him and all those in his house about the word of God (or according to other
texts, ‘the word of the Lord’).
33 So at
that hour of the night, he went and washed their whip wounds; then he and his
family were immediately baptized.
34 And thereafter, he brought them into
his home, sat them at the table, and he and his entire household started
rejoicing over their coming to believe in The God.
35 Well the
next morning, the magistrates sent officers that told him to release them.
36 And the jailer said to Paul:
‘The
magistrates have sent men to release you.
So now that you’re free, you may go
your own way in peace.’
37 But Paul
said to him:
‘Although we weren’t found guilty [of doing anything wrong], they
had us publicly flogged and thrown in jail… and we are Romans! Are they now
going to try to throw us out secretly?
No, let them come down here and bring us
out themselves!’
38 Well at
that, the officers went back and reported what he had said to the judges, and
they were frightened when they heard that the men were Romans.
39 So they called for them and released
them, then they asked them to leave their city.
40 So after they were released, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them before traveling on.
Chapter 17
1 From there
they traveled through
AmphiPolis and Apollonia to ThesSalonica,
where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2
And as it was Paul’s custom, he went inside and reasoned with [the Jews] from
the Scriptures for three Sabbaths.
3
He opened [the scriptures] and proved that the Anointed
One had to suffer and be resurrected from the dead.
Then he said:
‘This
Jesus whom I’m preaching to you is that Anointed One!’
4 And as the result, some of them became
believers and associated themselves with Paul and Silas, as did a large number
of devout Greeks, many women, and quite a few of the [city’s] leaders.
5 However,
this made some of the Judeans very jealous, so they formed a mob…
They
assembled a group of wicked men that had been hanging around in the market, and
these created quite an uproar in the city.
So they all went to
Jason’s house and demanded to have [Paul and Silas] brought out. 6 But when they didn’t find them there,
they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city council, shouting:
‘Those men that are creating confusion throughout the whole world are here also…
7 and Jason has even welcomed
them into his home!
Yet these people oppose the decrees of Caesar by saying
that there’s another king… someone called Jesus!’
8 Well when
the councilmen heard the crowd saying this, they became quite agitated 9 and they demanded a large bail from Jason and
the others, before they would release them.
10
Then that night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea.
Well [upon arriving in Berea], they went into the Jewish
synagogue.
11 And there they
found the people to be more noble-minded than
those in ThesSalonica, because they eagerly welcomed the word and studied the
Scriptures each day to make sure that the things [they were being told] were
true.
12 So, many of them
became believers, as did a number of the prominent Greek women and quite a few
of the men.
13 However,
when the Jews in ThesSalonica learned that Paul was also preaching the word of
God in Berea, they traveled there to incite and agitate the crowds.
14 As the result, the brothers immediately
sent Paul off all the way to the sea…
However, Silas and Timothy stayed behind.
15 Then those that were taking
Paul, brought him to Athens.
And before they returned, he instructed them to
send Silas and Timothy to him as soon as possible.
16 Well,
while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he became disgusted to the core when he saw that the city was filled with
idols.
17 So he started
reasoning with the Jews and other worshipers in the synagogue, as well as with
anyone that happened to be in the markets each day.
18 Then some
Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers came to hear him, and they started asking each other:
‘What is
this seed-picker trying to
say?’
And someone told them:
‘He seems to be preaching a foreign demon’ (because he was telling them the good news
about Jesus and the resurrection).
19
So they grabbed him and took him up to the AeroPagus,
where they asked him:
‘Tell us; What is this new thing that you’re preaching? 20 For we’ve heard that you’ve brought
some strange new ideas, and we want to know
what they are!’
21 (It’s a fact
that all Athenians and even foreigners that traveled there had nothing to do
other than spend their leisure time telling something new or listening to
something new).
22 So Paul
stood up in the middle of the AeroPagus and said:
‘Men of Athens; I see that
you have a greater fear of the demons than do others.
23 And as I was going along and noticing
all the things that you worship, I found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God.
So
I’m here to preach to you about something that you don’t know, but already
worship.
24 For this is the
[same] God that made the cosmos and everything in it; and this Lord of the sky
and the earth doesn’t live in handmade Temples, 25 nor does He need human hands to take care of Him (or
anything at all [for that matter]), because He gives life, breath, and
everything else to each of us.
26
He’s the One that made all the nations of mankind that dwell on the face of the
earth from just one man, and He’s the One that determines the times and the
boundaries of [when and] where they would live, 27 so that we would each search for God and grope around to
find Him… though He really isn’t very far from any of us.
28 For it’s through Him that we have life,
and move, and exist… even as some of your own poets have said:
We are His
offspring!
29 ‘Therefore,
since we are the offspring of God, we shouldn’t think of this Divine One as
being like gold, silver, stone… or like anything else that some man may have
artistically sculpted!
30 Yet,
God has overlooked such periods of ignorance, and now He’s telling all men everywhere
to repent, 31 because He has set
a day when He’s going to judge the entire habitation of mankind righteously by
a man that He has appointed.
And He has also given each of us a reason to
believe in this man by resurrecting him from the dead!’
32 Well when
they heard [him mention] a resurrection of the
dead, some started joking about it.
But others said,
‘We’ll listen to more
about this at some other time!’
33
So at that, Paul left them.
34
However, some of the men started following him and became believers. This
included Dionysius
(a judge of the AeroPagus Supreme Court), a woman named Damaris, and several
others.
Chapter 18
1 After
that, he left Athens and traveled on to Corinth.
2 There he found a Judean from Pontus named Aquila that had
recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (gr. Priskillan),
because Emperor Claudius
had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
So he went to see them; 3 and because they shared the same trade
(they all worked as tent makers), he stayed at their house.
4 He also spoke in the synagogue on every
Sabbath and he kept reasoning with both the Jews and the Greeks.
5 Then after
Silas and Timothy finally arrived from Macedonia, Paul really intensified his
work of witnessing to the Jews and proving to them that Jesus is the Anointed
One.
6 However, they just kept
on opposing him and blaspheming; so he shook out his
clothes and said:
‘Your blood is now on your own heads… I am clean of it!
From
now on, I’ll just be going to the gentiles.’
7 Then he
left them and entered the home of a man named Titius Justus (a worshiper of
God), whose house adjoined the synagogue.
8
And later, Crispus (the synagogue’s presiding officer) became a believer in the
Lord, as did his whole household… and many Corinthians that heard about it also
became believers and were baptized.
9 Then one
night, the Lord said this to Paul in a vision:
‘Don’t be afraid; keep on
preaching here and don’t stop, 10
because I’m with you!
Nobody will attack you or try to hurt you, since I have
many people in this city.’
11 And
as the result, Paul stayed there for a year and a half, teaching the word of God
among them.
12 Well, it
was while
Gallio was governor of Achaea that the Jews got
together and came against Paul.
They took him to court and charged him, 13 saying:
‘This man is violating the Law
by trying to convert people of other faiths to worshiping [his] God.’
14 But just as Paul was about to answer,
Gallio said to them:
‘O Jews; I’d be patient and put up with this if you were
talking about [his doing] something wrong or committing some foul act. 15 But if all you want to do is complain
about words, names, and your Law, take care of it yourselves. I don’t wish to
be the judge of such matters!’
16
And with that, he threw them out of his court.
17 So then
they dragged [Paul] before Sosthenes, the presiding officer of the synagogue.
And right there in front of the Judgment Seat, they started beating him up!
However, Gallio didn’t pay any attention to this.
18 Well,
after staying there for several more days, Paul said goodbye to the brothers
and sailed off for Syria, along with Priscilla and Aquila.
Then [Paul] had his
hair sheared while he was at
Kenchrea, because of a vow that he’d made.
19 And when they arrived at Ephesus, he
left [Priscilla and Aquila] and went into the synagogue to reason with the
Jews.
20 But though they asked
him to stay there for a while, he wouldn’t do it. 21 He just said goodbye and told them:
‘If it’s God’s will,
I’ll be back.’
So then he traveled from Ephesus 22 to Caesarea, where he went up and
greeted the congregation; and from there he traveled on to AntiOch.
23 And after staying [in AntiOch] for
some time, he left and traveled throughout the areas of Galatia and Phrygia,
strengthening all the disciples in those places.
24
Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos (a native of Alexandria) who was an excellent
speaker and who knew the Scriptures very well, arrived at Ephesus.
25 He had been taught the ways of the Lord
and he was aglow with the Breath [of God], so what he
said and taught about Jesus was correct.
However, he only knew about the baptism of John.
26
Well, Priscilla and Aquila had been listening to him as he was boldly speaking
in the synagogue, and then they took him under their wing and explained the
ways of God to him more completely.
27
Then, since he was planning to travel to Achaea, the brothers wrote to the
disciples there, telling them to welcome him.
And when he got there, he
provided assistance to all those that (through [God’s] loving care) became
believers, 28 as he publicly
and very enthusiastically showed that the Jews were absolutely wrong by using
the Scriptures to prove that Jesus was the Anointed One.
Chapter 19
1 From
there, Paul traveled inland while Apollos stayed in Corinth.
And when he got to
Ephesus, he found some disciples 2
and he asked them:
‘Did you receive the Holy Breath when you became believers?’
And they answered:
‘We’ve never even heard that there is
Holy Breath.’
3 So he
asked:
‘Then, into what were you baptized?’
And they replied:
‘Into John’s baptism.’
4 So Paul
told them this:
‘When John baptized, it was a baptism of repentance. However,
he told the people to believe in the one that was coming behind him… in Jesus.’
5 And after
they heard this, they were all baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus.
6 Then
after Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Breath came over them and they each
started speaking in different languages and prophesying 7 (there were about twelve men).
8 So after
that, [Paul] went into the synagogue, where he spoke boldly… for the next three
months he reasoned and talked persuasively about the Kingdom of God.
9 But when [he noted] that some were just
becoming more difficult, refusing to believe and saying bad things about The
Way in front of the crowds, he left them…
He separated the [true] disciples
from among them and started giving lectures in the School of
Tyrannus each day, 10
which went on for the next two years.
So, everyone that
lived in [the
province of] Asia (both the Jews and the Greeks) eventually heard the word
of the Lord.
11 And [all the
while], God kept demonstrating unusual powers through the hands of Paul.
12 For even the bandannas and aprons that
he wore were carried to sick people, which caused their diseases to leave and wicked spirits to come out.
13 However,
there were some traveling Judean exorcists that also started using the name of the
Lord Jesus against wicked spirits, saying:
‘I order you in the name of Jesus,
the one whom Paul preaches …’
14 Well, Sceva (a Judean Chief Priest) had seven sons
that were doing this.
15
However, one of the wicked spirits said to them:
‘I know Jesus, and I’m familiar
with Paul, but just who are you?’
16
And with that, the man that was possessed by a wicked spirit jumped on them,
overpowered each one, and beat them up…
So they had to run from the house naked
and injured.
17 Well before
long, everyone in Ephesus (both the Jews and the Greeks) came to know about
this, and it frightened them.
As the result, the name of the Lord Jesus kept
growing in praise, 18 and many
that became believers would come and openly confess, telling of [the bad]
things that they had done.
19
In fact, several that used to practice magic brought their books together and
burned them up in front of everyone.
And when they calculated how much they’d
paid for them, they found that they [were worth] some fifty thousand silver
coins.
20 So the power of the
word of the Lord kept growing and getting stronger
there.
21 Then
after all these things had happened, Paul resolved that he would travel to Macedonia
and Achaea, and from there on to JeruSalem.
And he told them:
‘After I get
there, I want to see Rome!’
22
So he sent two of those that served him (Timothy and Erastus) on to
Macedonia, as he spent more time in [the province of] Asia.
23 However,
a big disturbance thereafter arose [in Asia] because of The Way. 24 For there was a man named Demetrius who
was a silversmith that made silver shrines of Artemis (it was a very
profitable business for him and his employees).
25 So he gathered them all, along with others in his trade,
and he said:
‘Men; You know that we all make a very good living from this
business.
26 But now you’re
seeing and hearing how this Paul is persuading large numbers of people and
making converts of them not only in Ephesus but in almost all [the province of]
Asia, saying that or our hand-made gods really aren’t gods!
27 [Such teachings] not only endanger our
business by damaging its reputation, but [soon] it will make the temple of the
great goddess Artemis unimportant, and her magnificence (which the whole
[province of] Asia and the entire land worships) is about to be brought to
nothing!’
28 Well when
they heard this, they all became very angry and started shouting,
‘Great is
Artemis of the Ephesians,’
29
and the whole city became filled with confusion.
So at
that, they rushed into the theater and grabbed Gaius and AristArchus
(Macedonians that traveled with Paul).
30
And though Paul wanted to go to visit them in public, the disciples wouldn’t
allow it.
31 For even some of
the public game commissioners (who were friends of Paul) sent word to him,
begging him not to enter the theater.
32 In the
meantime, some [in the theater] were shouting one thing and others were
shouting something else, for the whole group was confused and most of them
didn’t even know why they were there.
33
So they located Alexander in the midst of the crowd, and the Judeans pushed him
up to the front.
Then Alexander started waving his hands to defend himself
before the people.
34 But when
they recognized that he was a Jew, they started a shout that lasted for two
hours:
‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’
35 Well when
the City Recorder finally quieted the crowd, he said:
‘Men! Ephesians! Who in
the world doesn’t know that the City of Ephesus is the place where the temple
of the Great Artemis and the image that fell from the sky is kept?
36 So, since these things are undeniable,
it would be better if you’d just calm down and not act so foolishly!
37 ‘Now,
you’ve grabbed hold of these men, who aren’t guilty of robbing Temples or
blaspheming our goddess.
38 But
if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have a case against them…
[remember that] there are court days and there are governors! So let them
bring charges there.
39 If
you’re looking for anything beyond that, it has to be decided in a legal
hearing!
40
‘Recognize that you are really in danger of being charged with rioting today, and
you don’t have a good reason for doing this!
Who can explain this disorderly
mob?’
41 And after he said that, he sent them all home.
Chapter 20
1 Well,
after all the rioting was over, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them
before he said goodbye and left for Macedonia.
2 Then after traveling around there encouraging the people
with many speeches, he went on to Greece, 3
where he spent the next three months… but then the Jews [in Greece] started
plotting against him.
And though he had first decided to leave for Syria, he
later changed his mind and returned through Macedonia.
4 Those that
were with him at the time were Sopater (the son of
PyrRhus of Berea), AristArchus,
Secundus (of the Thessalonians), Gaius (of
Derbe), Timothy, Tychicus, and
Trophimus (from the [province of] Asia).
5 These traveled ahead of us and waited
for us in Troas.
6 Then after
the period of No Fermentation, we sailed from
Philippi to Troas where they were, which took five days, and we spent seven
more days there.
7 Then on
Sunday, when we met to have a meal, Paul gave a public speech (because he was
going to leave the next day).
This went on until midnight; 8 so, many lamps were lit in the upstairs
room where we met.
9 However,
there was a young man named EuTychus who had been sitting
in a window and fell fast asleep while Paul was talking…
Then he slumped over and
fell out of the third-story window.
And when they went to pick him up, they
found that he was dead.
10 But then
Paul then went downstairs and threw himself on top of man and hugged him… and
finally he announced:
‘Don’t worry; he’s still alive!’
11
So after that, he went back upstairs and started the meal, and they all ate and talked
until daybreak, before [Paul] had to leave.
12 Meanwhile, they took the boy [home] alive, and everyone was extremely encouraged.
13 From
there, we went on ahead of Paul by boat and sailed to Assos, where we waited
for him, because that’s what he told us to do, since he was going to travel
there on foot.
14 So when he
caught up with us in Assos, we took him aboard and we went on to Mitylene.
15 Then we sailed from there the next day,
coming ashore across from Chios, and on the following day we stopped at Samos, then
we finally got to Miletus the day after that.
16 Now, Paul
had planned to sail past Ephesus so he wouldn’t have to spend any time in the
[province of] Asia, because he was in a hurry to get to JeruSalem before
Pentecost if he could.
17
However, [while he was] in Miletus, he sent word to Ephesus to call the elders of the congregation to him. 18 And when they arrived, he told them:
‘You know very well that from the first day I stepped foot into Asia, I was
with you all the time, 19
humbly slaving for the Lord, and [you know] of all the tears and trials that I
endured because of the plots of the Jews.
20
Yet I didn’t fail to remind you and teach you both in
public and in [your] homes;
21
For I thoroughly testified to both Jews and Greeks about [their need to] repent
before God and to put faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 ‘But now
{Look!} I will be traveling to JeruSalem as though I were already in chains, for
I don’t know what’s going to happen to me there.
23 [All I know is that] in city after city, the Holy Breath keeps testifying to me, telling me that
chains and difficulties are awaiting me there.
24 However, I refuse to say anything that would make my life more valuable to me, so I can faithfully finish
my course and fulfill the service assignment that I received from the Lord
Jesus…
To give a complete testimony about the good news of God’s loving care.
25 ‘Now,
{Look!} because I know that all of you to whom I preached the Kingdom will see
my face no more;
26 I’m
testifying to you today that I’m clean from the blood of all men, 27 for I haven’t held back from telling any
of you what God has purposed to do.
28
Therefore, you need to pay close attention to yourselves and to the whole flock
over which the Holy Breath has appointed you watchmen and shepherds…
This congregation of God that He purchased with the blood of
[His own Son].
29 For I know
that after I leave, oppressive wolves will enter among you that won’t spare the
flock, 30 and that men from
among you will arise and speak twisted things to attract some of the disciples
to following them.
31 So
you must stay awake…
And keep those three years in mind during which I didn’t
stop counseling each of you tearfully, both night and day.
32 ‘Now, I’m leaving you the loving care of our Lord that can build you up and give you an inheritance among all the Holy Ones.
33 ‘[You
know that] I haven’t longed for anyone’s silver, gold, or clothing;
34 For you’re aware of how I’ve used my
own hands to take care of my own needs and [for the needs] of those that were
with me.
35 I’ve demonstrated
to you how important it is for us to work like this, so we can help those that
are weak.
Therefore, remember the words that were said by our Lord Jesus:
There
is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.’
36 And after he said this, he kneeled down with them all and prayed.
37 Well,
many tears flowed as they hugged Paul’s neck and tenderly kissed him. 38 For when he said that they wouldn’t see
his face again, they were deeply saddened.
And from there, they all accompanied
him out to the ship.
Chapter 21
1 Well, when
we finally tore ourselves away from them and put
out to sea, we ran straight over to Cos, then to Rhodes the next day, and from
there to Patara.
2 And when we
found a boat that was going to Phoenicia, we went aboard and sailed off.
3 From
there we came in sight of the Island of Cyprus, passing it on our left, and we
sailed on to Syria, landing at Tyre (because that’s where the boat was to
unload its cargo).
4 And while
we were there, we searched for and found the disciples, and we stayed with them
for seven days.
However, by the Breath [of God],
they repeatedly warned Paul not to set foot in JeruSalem.
5 [Then a
week later], we got ready to continue our journey; and everyone (including the
women and children) followed us outside of the city.
And after kneeling down on
the beach, we had a prayer 6
before saying goodbye to each other.
Then we boarded the ship, as they returned
to their homes.
7
Well, after we left Tyre, we finally arrived at Ptolemais, where we greeted the
brothers and spent the day with them.
8
Then on the next day, we traveled to Caesarea, where we went to the house of
Philip the Evangelizer (one
of the seven men), and stayed with him.
9
This man had four virgin daughters who
all prophesied.
10 But after
we’d stayed there for several days, a Prophet named Agabus
came down from Judea.
11 He
walked right up to us and removed Paul’s sash, then he used it to tie up his
own hands and feet, and said:
‘This is what the Holy Breath has declared:
The
Judeans will bind the man to whom this sash belongs and then hand him over to
the gentiles.’
12 Well when
we heard this, we all (everyone there) started begging [Paul] not to go to
JeruSalem.
13 But Paul replied:
‘Why are you crying and crushing my heart? I’m not only ready to be bound, but
also to die in JeruSalem for the name of our Lord Jesus.’
14 And when we couldn’t change his mind,
we gave in, saying:
‘May [God’s] Will be done.’
15 So after
several days, we prepared for the journey and headed toward JeruSalem.
16 Meanwhile, some of the disciples from
Caesarea traveled with us and led us to the home of a man that showed us some
hospitality… Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple.
17 Well when
we arrive in JeruSalem, the brothers were all happy to see us.
18 And the next [day], we went with Paul
to see James and the rest of the elders.
19 So [Paul] greeted them and started
giving a detailed account of the things that God had done among the nations
through his ministry.
20 And
after hearing about it, they glorified God.
Then they said to him:
‘Our brother; You know how many
thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they all zealously obey
the Law.
21
But they’ve heard the rumor that you’re teaching
Jews that live among the nations an apostasy from
Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children
or to follow our traditions.
22
So, what do you suppose we can do about this?
‘Since they’re going to hear that
you’ve arrived, 23 this is what
we are telling you to do:
We have four men that have taken a sacred vow… 24 take them with you, and all of you should
cleanse yourselves ceremonially, then pay to have your heads shaved.
That way,
everyone will know that there’s no truth to the rumors we’ve heard about you,
and that you’re personally following the rules and obeying the Law.
25 ‘As for the gentiles who’ve become
believers;
We’ve already sent them our decision to stay free from things that
are sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things that are strangled, and from
sexual immorality.’
26 So the
next day, Paul took the [four] men along and they cleansed themselves
ceremonially.
Then they entered the Temple to give their notice of their
ceremonial cleansing (to start counting the days until an offering should be
made for each of them).
27 But
when the seven days were about up, some Judeans from [the province of] Asia saw
him in the Temple and started a riot among the crowd… they grabbed him, 28 shouting:
‘Men of IsraEl! Help!
This is
the man that is teaching against our people and against the Law and this place
to everyone everywhere.
He has even defiled this Holy Place by bringing Greeks
into the Temple!’
29 ([They
said this], because they had seen him in the city earlier with
Trophimus the Ephesian, and they thought that Paul had
also brought him into the Temple).
30 Well, the
whole city was in an uproar and many people started running there.
So they
grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, then they closed the [Temple]
doors 31 and tried to kill him.
But when the commander of the [Roman] garrison heard the uproar there in
JeruSalem, 32 he immediately
took a contingent of officers and soldiers, and ran down to them.
So when [the
mob] saw the commander coming with his soldiers, they stopped beating on Paul.
33 However, the commander then arrested [Paul] and ordered him to be bound with two chains.
Thereafter, he asked [the mob] who he was and what he had done.
34 However, some in the crowd started
shouting one thing and others were shouting something else.
So because he was
unable to be sure of anything (due to all the confusion), he commanded [that
Paul] should be taken back to their garrison.
35 Well,
when they reached the [garrison] stairs, the situation got even worse.
For the
mob became so violent that the soldiers had to literally carry [Paul] along… 36 as the people followed them shouting:
‘Take him away!’
37 Then, as
he was being carried into the garrison, Paul asked the commander:
‘Am I allowed
to say something to you?’
And he replied:
‘Can you speak Greek?
38 Aren’t you the Egyptian that started a
rebellion and led four-thousand
dagger men into the desert some time ago?’
39 But Paul
said:
‘No, I’m really a Jew from Tarsus in Kilikia…
I’m a citizen of a well-known city.
So I beg you; Allow me to speak to the people!’
40 Well at
that, he gave Paul permission.
So [Paul] stood on the stairs and waved his arms
[to quiet] the crowd.
And when everything quieted down, he spoke to them in
Hebrew, saying:
Chapter 22
1 ‘Men…
brothers and fathers!
Allow me to say something in my own defense now.’
2 Well when
they heard him addressing them in Hebrew, things did get quieter.
And he said:
3 ‘I’m a Jew that was born in Tarsus of Kilikia.
I went to school right here in this city, and I received my instruction at the
feet of GamaliEl,
who taught me to obey the Law of our fathers strictly and to show the same zeal
for God that you’re showing today.
4 ‘I
personally persecuted this Way, by arresting and delivering their men
and women to prisons for execution.
5
The High Priest and the entire assembly of elders can testify to this, because
I obtained letters from them to our brothers in Damascus, where I went to bring
all those whom they had in prison back to JeruSalem for punishment.
6 ‘But as I was on my way and getting close
to Damascus, at about noon, a bright light in the sky flashed all around me.
7 Then I fell to the ground and I heard a
voice say to me:
Saul; Saul; Why are you persecuting me?
8 So I asked:
Who are you, Lord?
And he replied:
I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one that you are persecuting.
9 ‘Well, the men that were with me also saw the light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one that was speaking to me.
10
‘Then I asked:
What must I do, Lord?
And the Lord said to me:
Get up
and go into Damascus. There you will be told of everything that you’ve been
assigned to do.
11 However,
since I could no longer see due to the brilliance of that light, those that were
[traveling] with me had to lead me into Damascus by the hand.
12 ‘Now, AnaNias
(a man that devoutly obeyed the Law and that was well spoken of by all the
Judeans that live there) 13 came
and stood next to me.
Then he said:
Saul… Brother… See again!
And I
could immediately see him.
14 ‘Then he
said:
The God of our fathers has selected you to learn about His Will, to
see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice from his mouth, 15 because you are to be his witness to
everything that you’ve seen and heard.
16
So now, why are you wasting time?
Get up, get baptized,
and wash your sins away by calling on his name.
17 ‘Then
after I got back to JeruSalem and while I was praying in the Temple, I fell
into a trance where I saw [Jesus].
18
And he said to me:
Hurry! You must leave JeruSalem right away, because the
[people here] don’t want to listen to your testimony about me!
19 ‘But I
said:
Lord; they all know very well that in one synagogue after another I once
had all those that believe in you arrested and whipped.
20 And when the blood of your witness
Stephen was being spilled, I stood there and approved… in fact, I guarded the
robes of those that did away with him!
21 Well at
that, he just told me:
Leave, because I’m sending you to far-away nations.’
22 Now, they
had been listening to him until he said that; but then they started shouting:
‘Kill this man, for he isn’t fit to live!’
23
And because they were shouting, throwing their clothes around and tossing dirt
in the air, 24 the commander
ordered that Paul should be taken inside their
garrison.
There he gave orders to scourge him with a whip so as to force
him to explain why everyone was shouting about him that way.
25 But when
they stretched him out to be whipped, Paul asked the centurion that was standing
there:
‘Is it legal for you to whip a man that is a Roman and hasn’t been
charged with a crime?’
26 Well
when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and asked:
‘Just what
do you intend for us to do? This man is a Roman!’
27 So the
commander came to [Paul] and asked:
‘Tell me; Are you a Roman?’
And he answered:
‘Yes.’
28 Then the
commander said:
‘Well, I paid a lot to obtain my citizenship.’
And Paul said:
‘I was born [a citizen].’
29 Well at
that, the men that were about to torture him left immediately.
And on learning
that he had arrested a Roman [citizen], the military commander was frightened.
30 So the next day, because he wanted to
know for sure just what the Jews were accusing him of; he [unshackled] him and
commanded the Chief Priests and the entire Jewish Court to assemble.
Then he
brought Paul down and stood him before them.
Chapter 23
1 Well, Paul
just glared at the [judges of the] Jewish Court, and said:
‘Men…
Brothers… I have a perfectly clear conscience about the way that I’ve been
behaving before God down to this day.’
2 And at that, the High Priest AnaNias ordered those that were standing by him to hit him in the mouth.
3 So Paul
said:
‘God is going to hit you, you whitewashed wall!
Do you sit there judging me
by the Law, and at the same time break the Law by telling them to hit me?’
4 Then those
that were standing by him asked:
‘Are you speaking against the High Priest of
God?’
5 And Paul
answered:
‘Brothers; I didn’t know that he was the High Priest. For it’s written:
You
must not speak badly of the one that rules your people.’
6 Then when
Paul noticed that part of the group were SadDucees
and the rest were Pharisees, he called out in the High Court:
‘Men… Brothers…
it is because I’m a Pharisee and the son of Pharisee that I’m being judged over
my hope in the resurrection of the dead!’
7 And after he said this, quite an
argument broke out between the Pharisees and SadDucees,
which divided the crowd, 8
since the SadDucees say there is no such thing as a
resurrection, or [divine] messengers, or the Breath [of God]. However, the Pharisees publicly
preach all of those things. 9
So there was a lot of shouting, and some of the Pharisees’ scribes stood up and
started heatedly arguing, saying:
‘We don’t find anything wrong with this man!
For if the Breath [of God] or [one of His] messengers spoke to him… ‘
10 Well, the
argument became so heated that the commander feared that they would pull Paul
to pieces.
So he ordered the soldiers to go down and take him from their midst
and bring him back to their garrison.
11 Then on
the following night, the Lord stood next to [Paul] and said:
‘Be strong!
So far,
you’ve thoroughly testified to things about me in JeruSalem… but now you must
also testify about me in Rome.’
12
Well the next morning, the Judeans formed an alliance and they all swore with
a curse that they wouldn’t eat or drink until after they had killed Paul 13 (there were more than forty men that
formed this oath-bound conspiracy).
14
So they went to the Chief Priests and elders and said:
‘We’ve taken a solemn
oath with a curse not to take a bite of food until after we have killed Paul.
15 Therefore, we want you and the High
Court to explain to the military commander that he should bring [Paul] to you
so you can learn more about the charges against him… and we’ll be ready to do
away with him before he gets there!’
16 However,
Paul’s nephew heard that they would be laying for him, so he went to the
garrison and reported it to Paul.
17
Then Paul called one of the centurions and said:
‘Take this young man to the
commander, because he has something to report.’
18 So [the
soldier] took [Paul’s nephew] to the commander and told him:
‘The prisoner Paul
called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something
to tell you.’
19 Well, the
commander took him by the hand and led him in, then he asked him privately:
‘What is it that you want to report to me?’
20 And he
answered:
‘The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Jewish
Court tomorrow, pretending to want to learn more about the charges against him.
21 But whatever you do, don’t
let them convince you to do this, because they have more than forty men that are
waiting to ambush him.
These men have sworn an oath with a curse not to eat or
drink anything until after they’ve done away with him. And all they’re awaiting is a
promise from you.’
22 So at
that, the commander sent the young man away, giving him the order:
‘Don’t tell
anyone that you’ve explained this to me.’
23 Then he
called in two of his centurions and said:
‘I want you to get two hundred
soldiers ready, plus seventy cavalrymen and two hundred spearmen… have them
prepared to march all the way to Caesarea at eight o’clock tonight.
24 Also, provide an animal for Paul to ride,
for I want you to carry him safely to Governor Felix.’
25 Then he
wrote a letter [to Felix] that read like this:
26 ‘Claudius
Lysias to the mighty Governor Felix:
Rejoice!
27 This man was seized by the
Jews and they were about to do away with him. However, I came there quickly
with a contingent of soldiers and rescued him, because I learned that he was a
Roman.
28 And because I wanted
to know their accusation against him, I had him taken down to their High Court.
29 There I found that they were
just accusing him over questions that have to do with their Law… but he hadn’t been
charged with anything for which he deserves death or being sent to jail.
30 However, because I learned of a plot against this man,
I’m sending him to you right away, and I’m ordering his accusers to speak
against him before you.’
31 So these soldiers followed their orders and they took Paul to AntiPatris that night.
32 Then the
next day, they sent him on with the cavalry (which later returned to the
garrison).
33 And when they got
to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor along with Paul.
34 Well,
after he read the letter, [Felix] asked [Paul] which province he was from.
And
when he heard that he was from
Kilikia, he said:
35
‘I’ll give you a thorough hearing after your accusers get here.’
So thereafter, he gave orders that [Paul] should be kept under guard in the Praetorian Palace of Herod.
Chapter 24
1 Well five
days later, High Priest
AnaNias arrived with some elders and an orator named
Tertullus, and they explained their accusations against Paul to the governor.
2 Then when he was called forward,
Tertullus said this:
‘You’ve brought about so much peace, and we welcome the
well-thought-out reforms that you’ve brought to our nation 3 in every way and everywhere with the
greatest thankfulness, O mighty Felix.
4 But, so that I don’t waste any of your
time, I beg you to hear us briefly, in your kindness.
5 ‘We found
this man (this plague) stirring up rebellions among the Judeans throughout the
whole inhabited earth, for he’s the leader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
6 And when he tried to profane
our Temple, we arrested him.
7
—— 8 You can examine him
yourself to learn more about all these things that we’re saying against him.’
9 And at that, the Judeans also joined in the attack, affirming that the things [Tertullus] was saying were true.
10 Thereafter,
the governor nodded for Paul to speak.
And Paul said:
‘I know very well that
you’ve been the judge of our nation for many years.
So I’m happy to speak in my
own defense about these things that I’ve been accused of, 11 since you are in a good position to
understand them.
‘It hasn’t been more than twelve days since I went to
worship in JeruSalem, 12 and
they didn’t find me in the Temple arguing with anyone, nor did they find me
inciting a riot in the synagogues… or anywhere else in the city for that
matter!
13 So right now, they
can’t prove any of the things they’re accusing me of before you.
14 But I do admit to this:
That which
they’re calling a sect, is nothing more than the way that I’ve always worshipped
the God of my fathers.
For I believe everything that is written in the Law and
in the Prophets, 15 and I have
this hope in God (which they also share) that there’s going to be a resurrection of the righteous
and the unrighteous.
16 This is
why I’m constantly on the alert so as to not offend my conscience by doing
anything against God or men.
17
And this is also the reason why, after [being gone for] several years, I
returned [to JeruSalem]… to bring gifts to the poor in my nation and to present
my offerings [before God].
18 ‘But it
was while I was doing this that they found me in the Temple (ceremonially
cleansed, by the way), and I wasn’t there with a mob, nor did I start a riot…
Really,
some Jews from the [province of] Asia 19
should be here before you to accuse me… that is, if they could actually find anything against me.
20 Just ask these
that are here to tell you what bad things they found me doing as I stood before
their High Court…
21 There was
just the thing that I shouted while I was standing among them when I said,
I
am being judged before you today over the resurrection of the dead!’
22 Well,
although Felix knew a lot about things that have to do with the Way, he just
put them all off, saying:
‘When Commander
Lysias gets here, I’ll make a decision on this matter
that you’re so concerned about.’
23 And thereafter, [Felix] ordered the centurion not to kill [Paul], but to allow him some liberty, and not to prevent his people from serving his needs.
24 It was
several days later that Felix arrived with his woman Drousille.
And since she
was a Jew, he sent for Paul and they listened to him talk about his belief in
the Anointed Jesus.
25 However, Felix became frightened when Paul started
talking about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment; so he said:
‘That’s enough for now! Go on back, and when I
have more time, I’ll send for you again.’
26
(However, he really hoped that Paul would try to bribe him; so,
he sent for him and talked to him frequently).
27 Well
after two years, Felix was succeeded by Porcius
Festus.
And because Felix wanted to be liked by the Jews, he also kept Paul
locked up.
Chapter 25
1 It was
just three days after Festus
had been appointed the provincial governor that he traveled from Caesarea to
JeruSalem.
2 And there the
Chief Priests and Judean leaders talked to him about Paul.
3 They begged him (asking it as a favor)
to send [Paul] to JeruSalem… since they planned to ambush and kill him along
the road.
4 However, Festus
replied that he would just keep Paul in Caesarea.
But because he would be
leaving [JeruSalem] shortly, he said to them:
5
‘Those of you that have been empowered to do so should come back with me, and if
he has committed some crime, you can make your accusations against him there.’
6 Well,
after he had spent about eight to ten days [in JeruSalem], Festus returned to
Caesarea. And the next day, he sat on the Judgment Seat and ordered to have Paul
brought in.
7 And when [Paul]
arrived, the Jews that had come from JeruSalem stood all around him and charged
him with several serious offenses…
However, they couldn’t prove anything.
8 Then Paul stood
up and spoke in his own defense, saying:
‘I haven’t committed any sins against
the Law of the Jews, against the Temple, or against Caesar!’
9 However, Festus
(in an attempt to gain favor with the Jews) asked Paul:
‘Do you want to go back
to JeruSalem and be judged over these things before me there?’
10 But Paul
said:
‘I’m standing before the Judgment Seat of Caesar, and this is where I
ought to be judged!
I’ve done nothing wrong to the Judeans, as you’re finding
out for yourself. 11 However,
if I really am a criminal and have done something that I should die for, I’m
not begging off from dying.
On the other hand, if none of the things they are
accusing me of are true, then no one can just hand me over to them as a favor.
Therefore,
I appeal to Caesar!’
12 Well
after discussing it with his counselors, Festus replied:
‘You have appealed to Caesar, so to Caesar you will go!’
13 Then
after several days had passed, Agrippa
(the king) and Bernice
arrived in Caesarea to pay a courtesy visit on Festus.
14 So, since they were to spend several
days there, Festus laid the matter of Paul before the king, saying:
‘There’s a
man here that was left as a prisoner by Felix.
15
When I was in JeruSalem, the Chief Priests and Judean elders brought me
some information about him and asked me to condemn him to death.
16 But I told them that it isn’t the Roman
way to just hand a man over as a favor before he meets his accusers face to
face and gets a chance to speak in his own defense.
17 So when they got here, I didn’t delay
the matter… the next day I sat down on the Judgment Seat and ordered the man to
be brought in.
18 And when they
came [before me], his accusers didn’t really produce any serious charges as I
thought they would.
19 They
simply complained about some dispute they had with him over questions about
their religion and about some Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul kept claiming
was alive!
20 ‘Well, I
became so confused over the matter that I finally asked if he would like to go
to JeruSalem to be judged there over these matters.
21 But then Paul appealed to be bound over
for a decision by the August One, so I ordered him to be held until I can send him
to Caesar.’
22 So
Agrippa told Festus:
‘I’d like to hear from this man also.’
And he said:
‘Tomorrow you will hear him!’
23 Then the
next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with a lot of pomp and ceremony and went
into the hearing room along with some military commanders and prominent men
from the city.
And when Festus gave the command, Paul was brought in.
24 So Festus
said:
‘O King Agrippa and all of you that are here with us; Now you can see this
man about whom all the Judeans both here and in JeruSalem are shouting that he
shouldn’t be allowed to live any longer.
25
However, I haven’t found anything that he’s done to deserve death; so when he
appealed to the August One, I decided to send him there… 26 but I really don’t have anything to
write to [my] lord about.
Therefore, I brought him here before you… and especially
before you, King Agrippa, so that you can examine him and judge something that I
can write to him about.
27 For it seems
unreasonable to send a prisoner [to Rome] and not be able to specify the
charges against him.’
Chapter 26
1 So at
that, Agrippa said to Paul:
‘You may now speak on your own behalf.’
Well, Paul stretched his hands out and said this in his
defense:
2 ‘King Agrippa; I’m happy to be
here so as to defend myself before you today over all these things that I’ve
been accused of by the Jews, 3
because you’re an expert on all Judean customs and controversies.
Therefore, I
beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 ‘This is
the way that I’ve lived since I was a boy:
From long ago, everyone in my nation
(all in JeruSalem and all the Jews 5
who used to know me) can testify to the fact that I was raised in the strictest
sect of our type of worship… I was a Pharisee.
6 And now, it’s over the hope of a promise that was made by
the God to our ancestors that I’m standing here being judged, 7 since it’s concerning the hope of
attaining this, that our twelve tribes have been so earnestly serving [God]
night and day.
And it’s over this same hope that I’m being accused by these
Judeans, O king.
8 For, why is
it that they all find it so unbelievable that God can raise the dead?
9 ‘For a
fact, I once thought that it was right to do whatever I could to oppose the
name of Jesus the Nazarene… 10
and I did this in JeruSalem.
Back then, I locked up many of the Holy Ones and
threw them in jail, because I was authorized to do this by the Chief Priests.
And as they were being brought up for execution, I voted against them!
11 I often punished them in synagogues and
tried to make them commit blasphemy; and since I was so crazy [in my hatred]
against them, I even traveled to other cities to persecute them.
12 ‘Well, it
was while I was doing this that I traveled to Damascus with an authorization
and a commission from the Chief Priests.
13
Then at noon, as I was [walking along] the road, O king, I saw a light that was
brighter than the sun, which flashed from the sky around me and those that were
traveling with me.
14 Then we
all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew:
Saul; Saul;
Why are you persecuting me, and why are you trying so hard to keep kicking against
the goad?’
15 ‘Then I
asked:
Who are you, Lord?
‘And the Lord replied:
I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting.
16 Now, get
up and stand on your feet. I’ve made myself visible to you so as to take you
ahead of time to be my servant, and you can testify to the fact that you saw me
and all the things that I’m going to make you see.
17 For I’m selecting you out of the people
and out of the nations where I’m going to send you, 18 to open their eyes, to turn them from
darkness to light, and to lead them from the power of the Opposer toward God.
I’m doing this so that their sins
can be forgiven and they can receive an inheritance
among those that have been made holy by [their] faith in me.
19 ‘As the result,
O King Agrippa; I didn’t disobey this vision from the heavens.
20 First I went to those in Damascus, then
to those in JeruSalem and the entire countryside around Judea… and finally to
the gentiles, to whom I carried the message that they should repent and turn to
God by doing things that prove their repentance.
21 And this is why the Judeans grabbed me in the Temple and
tried to beat me to death!
22 ‘However,
through the help of God, I’ve kept witnessing to both the least and the
greatest down to this day.
I haven’t been saying anything other that what the
Prophets and Moses told us would happen… 23
that the Anointed One was to going to suffer.
And then,
as the first to be resurrected from the dead, he was going to proclaim light to
these gentiles.’
24 Now,
while he was saying these things in his defense, Festus shouted:
‘You’re crazy,
Paul!
All of the writings are driving you mad!’
25 But Paul
said:
‘I’m not going crazy, O mighty Festus; I’m telling you things that are
true and make good sense!
26
For a fact; the king that I’m speaking to openly already knows a lot about these
things!
I believe that none of this has escaped his notice, because none of it
was done off in some corner!
27
‘King Agrippa; Do you believe the Prophets?
I know that you believe!’
28 But
Agrippa said to Paul:
‘It wouldn’t take long for you to convince me to become a
Christian also!’
29 And at
this, Paul said:
‘I wish to God (whether it takes a short time or a long time) that
not only you, but also everyone that hears me today would become men just like
me… except for these chains.’
30 Then the
king got up, as did the governor, Bernice, and the rest of the men that were sitting with
them.
31 And as they were
walking out, they were talking to each other, saying:
‘This man hasn’t done
anything deserving of death, or even for which he should be locked up!’
32 Then
Agrippa said to Festus:
‘This man could have been released if he hadn’t
appealed to Caesar.’
Chapter 27
1 Well, since
it had been decided that we had to sail away to
Italy, they handed Paul (along with some other prisoners) over to a centurion
named Julius, who was [a soldier] of the Augustus Division.
2 So we boarded a ship along with
AristArchus (a Macedonian from ThesSalonica).
Now, the ship had come from AdraMyttium,
and it was sailing to places along the coast of the [province of] Asia.
3 So the next day, when we landed at Sidon,
Julius treated Paul very kindly by allowing him to visit friends that cared for
his needs.
4 From there
we sailed around Cyprus, because the winds were against us.
5 Then we got into the open sea [south of]
Kilikia
and PamPhylia, and we put into port at Myra in
Lukias.
6 There the centurion
found a ship that was coming from Alexandria and sailing for Italy, which he
made us board.
7 Then after
sailing slowly (and with a lot of difficulty) for several days, we stopped at Knidos.
And because the winds
wouldn’t let us go on, we sailed [south of] Salmone, Crete.
8 Then following the coastline carefully,
we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
9 Well,
since we had lost so much time (it was already past [Yom Kippur]) and the sea
was hazardous to navigate, Paul made a recommendation.
10 He said:
‘Men; I see that any further
navigation is going to result in damage and huge losses not only to the cargo
and ship, but to our lives!’
11 However, the army officer preferred to listened to the pilot and the ship’s owner, rather than to what Paul was saying.
12 Now,
since this harbor was a poor place to winter, the majority recommended that
they set sail and go on, in an attempt to make it to Phoenix, where they
could spend the winter
(It’s a harbor in Crete that has openings to the northeast
and southeast).
13 Well when
the south wind started blowing gently, they thought that this would meet their
needs.
So they weighed anchor and coasted along the shore next to Crete.
14 But after a little while, a typhoon
wind they call the Euro
Clydon bore down on us.
15 And because the ship was being tossed so violently that
it couldn’t maintain its heading, we just gave up and [allowed ourselves to be]
carried along by the wind.
16 Then when
we passed south of a small island called Cauda, we used all our
strength to get hold of the rowboat that was tied at the rear of the ship.
17 And after we hoisted it aboard, they
started wrapping the ship with [ropes and chains].
Also, since they were afraid
of running aground on the shoals, they lowered the masts and we were just
carried along.
18 Then on
the next day (because we were still being violently tossed by the storm), they
started to lighten the ship.
19
And by the third [day], they had tossed all the boat’s furnishings overboard
with their own hands.
20 Now,
since we hadn’t seen the sun or stars for several days and a storm was still
over us, we had lost any hope of being saved…
21
And considerable time had elapsed since anyone had been able to eat.
But then Paul stood up in the midst of them and said:
‘Men;
You certainly should have taken my advice and not put out to sea from Crete,
just to suffer this kind of damage and loss.
22
But now I’m telling you to be happy, because not a single life will be lost… though the ship will [be lost].
23 For a messenger
from the God that I serve and to whom I belong came to me this evening and
said:
24 Don’t be afraid,
Paul. You will stand before Caesar.
And {Look!} God has favored you by also
giving you [the lives of] those that are sailing with you.
25 ‘So be
happy, men! Because, I believe that God will do exactly as He told me!
26 However, we will be cast ashore on an
island.’
27 Well
thereafter (on the evening starting the fourteenth day), as we were being
carried along in the Adriatic
Sea (at about midnight), the sailors thought that we might be getting close
to land. 28 So they did a depth
sounding and found it at twenty fathoms.
Then after we had traveled on a little
farther, they took another depth sounding, and this time it was fifteen
fathoms.
29 So, because they
were afraid that we might soon run aground on the rocks, they threw out four
anchors at the stern and we waited for daylight.
30
Meanwhile, the crew tried to escape from the ship by lowering the rowboat into
the sea as they were pretending to drop the anchors from the prow.
31 But Paul then told the centurion and
his soldiers:
‘Unless those men stay on this ship, you can’t be saved.’
32 So the soldiers cut away the ropes that
held the rowboat and let it drop.
33 Well,
very close to dawn, Paul encouraged everyone to eat something, saying:
‘Today
makes the fourteenth day that you’ve been on watch, and during all that time
you’ve gone without food or taking anything else into you.
34 So I encourage you to eat something,
since that will help you to survive.
Then, not so much as a hair on any of your
heads will be destroyed!’
35 And after
he said this, he took a loaf [of bread], gave thanks to God before them all,
broke it, and started eating.
36
So they all became more cheerful and started eating some food.
37 At the
time, there were two hundred and seventy-six people on the ship.
38 And after they’d eaten enough food,
they lightened the boat some more by throwing all of the wheat into the sea.
39 However,
when it finally became light, they didn’t recognize where they were… there was
just a bay with a beach, and they decided to try to get to the beach in the
ship.
40 So they cut away the
anchors, letting them drop into the sea; then they untied the ropes that held
the rudder, hoisted the foresail to the wind, and headed for the beach…
41 But then they hit a shoal out in the
water, where the ship ran aground (the prow was stuck and it couldn’t be
moved), and the stern started falling apart in the crashing waves.
42 Well at that, the soldiers decided to kill the
prisoners to keep them from swimming away and escaping.
43 But because the centurion wanted Paul
to make it, he prevented them from doing that.
He just told everyone that could swim
to dive into the sea and get to the shore first, 44 then the rest could [float in] on planks and other
things from the ship… and that’s how everyone got to land safely.
Chapter 28
1 Well,
after we made it to safety, we recognized that this was the island of Malta.
2 There the native people found us and
showed us uncommon hospitality, building a fire and welcoming all of us, there in the
cold and the rain.
3 Then when
Paul went and collected a bundle of sticks and laid it on the fire, a viper was
driven out by the heat, which bit into his hand.
4 And when the native people saw this dangerous animal
hanging from his hand, they said to each other:
‘This man must be a murderer;
for though he made it to safety from the sea, justice isn’t going to allow him
to live!’
5 But [Paul]
just shook the animal off into the fire, and he didn’t suffer any ill effects… 6 though they thought he was going to
swell up and suddenly drop dead.
However, after they had waited a long time and
saw that nothing bad had happen to him, they started saying that he was a god!
7 Fortunately,
there was some property located nearby that belonged to the island’s leader ([a
man] named
Publius).
He also welcomed us and treated us kindly and
hospitably for the next three days.
8
Then when Publius’ father became very sick with a
fever and dysentery, Paul went into his room and prayed, then he laid his hands
on him and healed him.
9 Well after that, the rest of the sick people on the island also started coming to him to be cured, 10 honoring us with many gifts, and several brought us provisions that we would need.
11 It was
three months later that a boat from Alexandria called The Sons of Zeus
(which had been wintering on the island) finally took us aboard 12 and carried us to Syracuse, where we
stayed for three days.
13 Then
from there, we traveled around [Sicily] and arrived at Rheggium.
And a day after
that, we caught a south wind and made it to Puteoli in just two days, 14 where we found some of our brothers that
begged us to stay with them for the next seven days.
Then from there, we
traveled on to Rome.
15 Well,
when the brothers [in Rome] got the news about us, they came as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Shops to meet
us.
And when Paul saw them, he thanked God, because he was very encouraged.
16 Then when we finally entered Rome, they
allowed Paul to live on his own, with just a soldier to guard him.
17 Then three
days later, he called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders.
And after they had
assembled, he said this to them:
‘Men… Brothers… Although I haven’t done
anything against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was
taken prisoner in JeruSalem and handed over to the Romans.
18 But after [the Romans] examined me,
they wanted to release me, because they couldn’t find any reason to put me to
death.
19 However, when the
Judeans kept opposing [my release], I was forced to appeal to Caesar… though I
didn’t do this in order to accuse my nation.
20 ‘Well,
this is why I begged to see you and to talk to you…
For it’s because of the
hopes of IsraEl that I have this chain around me!’
21 Then they
told [Paul]:
‘We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea, nor have
any of the brothers who’ve arrived from there reported or said anything bad
against you.
22 So we think
it’s worthwhile for us to listen to what you have to say, because we know for a
fact that this sect is being spoken against everywhere.’
23 Well
after that, they arranged for a day when many more could come to hear him at
the place where he was staying.
And there he laid things out for them by
completely testifying about the Kingdom of God.
Paul also reasoned with them
about Jesus from morning until evening, citing both the Law of Moses and the
Prophets.
24 But though some
started to believe what he was saying, the rest didn’t. 25 And since they couldn’t reach a
consensus, they all got ready to leave.
So Paul said
this:
‘The Holy Breath [of God] spoke very
accurately to your ancestors through IsaiAh the Prophet, when he said:
26 ‘You must go to these
people and say:
‘When you listen, you’ll hear, but not understand.
And when you look, you’ll look, but not see,
27 For these peoples’
hearts are all closed.
So, though they can hear with their ears,
They just will not respond,
And they will have eyes that are closed.
‘Thus, though they have eyes, they can’t see,
Nor can they hear with their ears
Or understand with their hearts
and return,
So I can bring healing to them.
28 ‘Therefore, I’m warning you that God is now giving this hope of salvation to the gentiles… and they will listen to it!’ 29 ——
30 Well, he stayed in that rented house for two whole years, welcoming everyone that came to visit him, 31 telling them about the Kingdom of God and teaching them things about the Lord Jesus the Anointed One openly and without any interference.
The Ancient Scriptures of Israel
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Leviticus
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
- Joshua
- Judges
- Ruth
- 1 Samuel
- 2 Samuel
- 1 Kings
- 2 Kings
- 1 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles
- Ezra
- Nehemiah
- Esther
- Job
- Psalms
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of Solomon
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Lamentations
- Ezekiel
- Daniel
- Hosea
- Joel
- Amos
- Obadiah
- Jonah
- Micah
- Nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- Zechariah
- Malachi
The Christian Era Scriptures
Note that this is the legacy version of the translation last updated in December 2020. You can also see the latest version.