When they heard this they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus;

and after Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak with tongues, and to prophesy.

They were in all about twelve men.

And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang on two of them, overpowered them and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.

And some of them who had practised magic arts, collected their books, and burned them in the presence of all. And they counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand silver coins.

"And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but almost throughout all of Asia, this fellow Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, by telling them that they are no gods at all who are made with hands.

After listening to this they were filled with rage, and cried out again and again, saying,

The city was filled with commotion. They rushed like one man into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's companions in travel.

Now some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in an uproar, and the majority had no idea why they were come together.

And they brought Alexander out of the crowd, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, would have made a defense to the people,

but when they saw that he was a Jew they all, with one voice, for about two hours, shouted,

They had taken the lad home alive, and were not a little comforted.

and when they arrived, he said to them. "You yourselves know quite well, how I lived among you, from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock;

And they all began, with loud lamentations, to throw their arms about his neck, and to kiss him lovingly, again and again,

sorrowing most of all for the words that he had spoken, that after that day they should look upon his face no more. And they began to escort him to the ship.

and said good-bye, and went on board the ship, while they returned home again.

And some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us. They led us to the house of Mnason, a Cypriote, a disciple of long standing, with whom we were to lodge.

And they, when they heard it, glorified God, and said to him. "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews, of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law.

"Now what they have been told about you, again and again, is that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses, and not to circumcise their children, nor to follow the old customs.

"What then ought to be done? They will certainly hear that you are come.

"We have four men here under a vow; associate yourself with them, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may have their heads shaved; then every one will know that there is no truth in the rumors that they have heard about you; but that you yourself walk orderly obeying the law.

"As for the Gentile believers, we wrote giving judgment that they should abstain from anything sacrificed to an idol, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication."

(For they had formerly seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, and supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

While they were attempting to kill him, news came to the tribune commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

At once he took soldiers and centurions, and rushed down upon them. When they saw the tribune and the troops, they left off beating Paul.

When they heard him speaking in Hebrew they became the more quiet.

"Now my companions, though they beheld the light, did not hear the words of Him who spoke to me.

"I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, "'Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me.'

"'Lord,' I replied, 'they themselves well know that I was beating and imprisoning in synagogue after synagogue those who believed in you,

Until they heard this last statement, the people were listening to Paul, but now they roared out. "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He is not fit to live!"

When they continued to shout, throwing their clothes into the air, and flinging dust around,

But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing near, "If a man is a Roman citizen, and uncondemned, is it lawful for you to scourge him?"

But when the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul in pieces, ordered the troops to march down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

When day dawned the Jews made a conspiracy, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.

They went to the high priests and elders, and said to them. "We have bound ourselves by a solemn oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

"The Jews," he answered, "have agreed to ask you to bring down Paul tomorrow to the Sanhedrin, as though they wish to examine his case in detail.

"Now do not let them persuade, for more than forty men are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse, not to eat nor drink until they have killed him; even now they are all ready, awaiting your consent."

"Anxious to find out why they had accused him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin.

So the soldiers took Paul, as they were bid, and brought him by night to Antipatris.

They reached Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, and also presented Paul before him.

Five days later, Ananias the high priest came down to Caesarea with some of the elders, and with an orator, named Tertullus. They laid information before the governor against Paul.

"and that neither in the Temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city, did they find me disputing with any man or stirring up a crowd.

"Nor can they prove the charges which they are now bringing against me.

"But this I confess to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors, according to the Way which they call a heresy, believing everything that is according to the Law, or is written in the Prophets,

"While I was thus engaged, they found me in the temple, purified, with no crowd and no uproar. But there were certain Asiatic Jews

"who ought to have been here before you, and to have made accusations if they had anything against me.

"Or let these men themselves say what fault they found, when I appeared before the Sanhedrin!

They urged him, asking it as a favor, to send for him to Jerusalem. They meant to lay in wait for him and kill him on the way.

When he came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought a number of serious charges against him, which they could not prove.

And while they tarried many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. "There is a man here," he said, "whom Felix left a prisoner.

"But when his accusers stood up, they did not begin charging him with any of the crimes that I was expecting,

but they kept quarreling with him about certain matters connected with their own religion, and about one Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed over and over was alive.

"They know me of old, if they are willing to testify, how that according to the strict sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.

"And this also I did in Jerusalem. Armed with authority from the chief priests, I shut up many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death I gave my vote against them.

"'so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, in order to receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

"but I proceeded to preach, first to those in Damascus, and then in Jerusalem and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they must repent and turn to God and do deeds worthy of repentance.

When they had withdrawn they continued talking to one another. "This man is doing nothing," they said, "for which he deserves death or imprisonment."

When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they proceeded to hand over Paul and a few other prisoners to the custody of Julius, a centurion of the Imperial Regiment.

and as the harbor was ill adapted for winter quarters, the majority advised putting out to sea from thence, to see whether they could get to Phoenix and winter there, a harbor on the coast of Crete facing northeast and southeast.

And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close in shore.

After hauling it aboard, they used ropes to undergird the ship, and since they were fearful lest they should be driven upon the Syrtes, they lowered the gear and lay to.

And as we were being terribly battered by the storm, the next day they began to throw the freight overboard,

and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship's tackling overboard.

When for a long time they had been without food, Paul stood among them and said: "Men, you ought to have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and so have spared yourselves this injury and loss.

It was now the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea when, about midnight, the sailors began to suspect that they were drawing near to some land.

So they sounded and found twenty fathoms; and after a little they sounded again, and found fifteen fathoms.

Then, fearing lest we should run ashore on the rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern, and longed for day to come.

Then they all cheered up and themselves took food.

After eating a hearty meal, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the wheat overboard.

When it was day they tried in vain to recognize the land, but they spied an inlet with a sandy beach, and they began conferring to see whether they could drive the ship into it.

They cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, and unloosing at the same time the ropes that tied the rudders, they hoisted the foresail to the breeze, and headed for the beach.

But coming to a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; the bow struck and remained fixed, but the stern began to break up under the violence of the waves.

The foreign-speaking people showed us uncommon kindness, for they lighted a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain and because of the cold.

When the natives saw the reptile hanging on his hand, they began saying to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live."

But they kept expecting him to swell up or fall down dead suddenly. But after waiting a long time, and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said over and over that he was a god.

These loaded us with many honors and, when at last we set sail, they put on board such things as we needed.

From there the brothers, when they heard about us, came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them he thanked God and took courage.

Now three days later he called the leading Jews together, and when they were come together he said to them. "Brothers, I was delivered a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of your fathers.

"Then when they had examined me they wanted to set me at liberty because there was no cause of death in me.

They said to him. "We neither received any letters about you from Judea nor has any brother come hither to report or speak any harm of you.

So they arranged a day with him and came to him in his lodgings in great numbers. He expounded the matter to them; testifying to the Kingdom of God, and persuading them about Jesus, from morning till evening, both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

Unable to agree among themselves, they began to go, but not before Paul had spoken a word to them, saying. "Right well did the Holy Spirit say to your ancestors, through the prophet Isaiah.

For this people's heart is grown obtuse, Their ears are heavy of hearing, Their eyes have they closed, Lest they should see with their eyes And hear with their ears, Lest they understand with their heart, And turn again, and heal them.

"Be fully assured, therefore, that this salvation of God is now sent unto the Gentiles. They will listen to it."

For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse.

For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.

While they professed to be wise, they became fools,

because they exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen.

And just as they refused to continue to retain God in their knowledge, so did God cast them out to an outcast mind, to do those things which were indecent.

They were overflowing with every kind of iniquity, depravity, greed, and malice. They were full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malignity.

They became whisperers, back-biters, hated of God, insolent, haughty, boastful. They invented sins. They were disobedient to parents.

They were without sense, without faith, without natural affection, without mercy.

Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.

For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves.

For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them,

Their throat is an open grave; With their tongues they have used deceit. The venom of asps is under their lips.

And the path of peace they have not known.

but they are now being justified by his free grace through the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus.

Blessed he says are they whose iniquities have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered.