and although they could not find Him guilty of a capital offense, they begged Pilate to have Him put to death.

When they had carried out everything that had been written in the Scriptures about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

and for many days He appeared to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now witnesses for Him to the people.

As they were leaving the synagogue, the people kept begging that all this be repeated to them the next sabbath,

and after the congregation had broken up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism allied themselves with Paul and Barnabas, and they kept talking to them and urging them to continue to rely on the unmerited favor of God.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were completely overcome by their jealousy and began to contradict the statements made by Paul, and even to abuse him.

But they shook off the dust from their feet as a protest against them, and went to Iconlure;

At Iconium too they went to the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks came to believe.

In spite of this, however, they stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak with courage from the Lord, who continued to bear testimony to His gracious message and kept on granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

they became aware of it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country,

and there they continued to tell the good news.

So the crowds, because they saw what Paul had done, shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods in human form have come down to us!"

They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul, because he was the principal speaker, Hermes.

But the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, when they heard it, tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd,

and shouted, "Men, why are you doing this? We are merely men with natures like your own, who are telling you the good news, so that you may turn from these foolish things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain.

Even by saying this it was all that they could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and won the crowds by persuasion, and they stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the town, supposing he was dead.

They told the good news in that town, and after winning many disciples there, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,

They helped them select elders in each church, and after praying and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Then they passed through Pisidia and went down to Pamphylia,

and after telling their message in Perga, they went on to Attalia,

and from there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been committed to God's favor for the work which they had finished.

On arriving there they called the church together, and in detail reported to them all that God had done through them as instruments, and how He had opened to the heathen the door of faith.

And there they stayed a long time with the disciples.

So, as a dire disturbance and a serious discussion had been created between Paul and Barnabas and them, they decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others from their number should go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

So they were endorsed and sent on by the church, and as they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told of the conversion of the heathen and brought great rejoicing to all the brothers.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported what God had done through them as instruments.

In fact, we believe that it is through the favor of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

By this he quieted the whole congregation, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell of the signs and wonders which God had done through them among the heathen.

When they finished, James responded as follows: "Brothers, listen to me.

They sent this letter by them: "The apostles and elders as brothers send greeting to the brothers from among the heathen in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

So the messengers were sent out, and they went down to Antioch, called a meeting of the congregation, and delivered the letter.

When they had read it, they were delighted with the encouragement it brought them.

Now Judas and Silas, as they were prophets themselves, in a lengthy talk encouraged and strengthened the brothers.

After spending some time there, they were sent back with a greeting to those who sent them.

Some days after this Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we preached the Lord's message, to see how they are."

The disagreement was so sharp that they separated, and Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus.

As they journeyed on from town to town, they delivered to the brothers to keep the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.

Then they crossed Phrygia and Galatia. But because they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in Asia,

they went on to Mysia and tried to get into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.

So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.

This girl kept following Paul and the rest of us, shrieking, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are proclaiming to you a way of salvation."

But as the owners saw that the hope of their profit-making was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square, before the authorities,

and brought them to the chiefs of the police court. They said, "These men are Jews; they continue to make great disturbance in our town

After flogging them severely, they put them into jail, and gave the jailer orders to keep close watch on them.

They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you and your household will be saved."

Then they told God's message to him and to all the members of his household.

But Paul said to them, "They beat us in public and that without a trial, and put us in jail although we are Roman citizens! Let them come here themselves and take us out!"

The policemen reported this message to the chiefs of the police court, and they became alarmed when they heard that they were Roman citizens,

After getting out of jail, they went to Lydia's house; they saw the brothers and encouraged them, and then left town.

Now they traveled on through Amphipolis and Apollonia until they reached Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue.

So some of them were convinced, and they joined Paul and Silas; also quite a number of devout Greeks and not a few women of the first rank.

But this enraged the Jews; so they got together some wicked loafers about the public square, formed a mob, and set the town in an uproar.

They stopped at Jason's house and tried to bring them out to the people. So, as they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the town magistrates, shouting, "These fellows, who have turned the world topsy-turvy, have come here too,

and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to the Emperor's decrees, because they claim there is another king, Jesus."

Thus they wrought up to great excitement the crowd and the town magistrates, on their hearing this,

and they made Jason and the other brothers give bond, and then turned them loose.

That night at once the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, and on arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue.

The Jews there were better disposed than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message with all eagerness and carried on a daily study of the Scriptures to see if Paul's message was true.

But when the Jews at Thessalonica learned that God's message had been proclaimed at Berea by Paul, they came there too to excite the masses and stir up a riot.

Some of the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers began to debate with him; and some said, "What is this scraps-of-truth-picker trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities." They said so because he was telling the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

So they took him and brought him to the city auditorium and said, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

For some of the things you bring sound startling to us; so we want to know just what they mean."

so that they might search for God, possibly they might grope for Him, and find Him, though He is really not far from any of us.

But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some sneered, but others said, "We will hear you again on this subject."

and as they all had the same trade, they proceeded to work together.

But as they opposed and abused him, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads! I am not to blame for it myself. Hereafter I am going to the heathen."

Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and kept beating him right in front of the court; but Gallio paid no attention to it.

Then they came to Ephesus, and Paul left them there. He went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent.

He started speaking courageously in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and more accurately explained the way of God to him.

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism."

On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,

and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy.

as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them.

So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded.

Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars.

When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met.

But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

For you have brought these men here, although they are not guilty of sacrilege or of abusive speech against our goddess.

They went on to Troas and waited there for us,

Then they took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted.

When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived among you all the time from the day I first set foot in the province of Asia, and how I continued

There was loud weeping by them all, as they threw their arms around Paul's neck and kept on kissing him with affection,

(44:37) because they were especially pained at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they went down to the ship with him.

So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Because of impressions made by the Spirit they kept on warning Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

there we bade one another goodbye, and we went aboard the ship, while they went back.

They gave the glory to God, when they heard it, and said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousand believers there are among the Jews, all of them zealous champions of the law.

They have been repeatedly told about you that you continuously teach the Jews who live among the heathen to turn their backs on Moses, and that you continue to tell them to stop circumcising their children, and to stop observing the cherished customs.

What is your duty, then? They will certainly hear that you have come.

Take them along with you, purify yourself with them, and bear the expense for them of having their heads shaved. Then everybody will know that none of those things they have been told about you are so, but that you yourself are living as a constant observer of the law.

As for the heathen who have become believers, we have sent them our resolution that they must avoid anything that is contaminated by idols, the tasting of blood, the meat of strangled animals, and sexual immorality."

as they kept shouting, "Men of Israel, help! help! This is the man who teaches everybody everywhere against our people and the law and this place; yea, more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and desecrated this sacred place."

For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus in the city with him, and so they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Now while they were trying to kill him, news reached the colonel of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in a ferment.

So he at once got together some soldiers and captains and hurried down against them, but as soon as they saw the colonel and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

But they kept shouting in the crowd, some one thing, some another. As he could not with certainty find out about it, because of the tumult, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued: