There were at Antioch in the church there a number of prophets and teachers??arnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the governor, and Saul.

When they reached Salamis, they proclaimed God's message in the Jewish synagogues. They had John with them as their assistant.

Then the governor, seeing what had happened, believed, and was thunderstruck at the Lord's teaching.

Then after he had taken care of them for forty years in the desert,

in preparation for whose coming John had preached to all the people of Israel baptism in token of repentance.

When they had carried out everything that had been said about him in the Scriptures, 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 to Jerusalem with him from Galilee, and they are now witnesses for him to the people.

and after the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism went away with Paul and Barnabas, and they talked with them, and urged them to rely on the favor of God.

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly, and said, "God's message had to be told to you first, but since you thrust it off and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the heathen.

In the streets of Lystra a man used to sit who had not the use of his feet. He had been lame from his birth, and had never been able to walk.

He was listening to Paul as he talked, when Paul looked at him and, seeing that he had faith that he would be cured,

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

They appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

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

When they arrived there, they called the church together, and reported how God had worked with them, and how he had opened the way to faith for the heathen.

When they reached Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported how God had worked with them.

But some members of the Pharisees' party who had become believers got up and said that such converts ought to be circumcised and told to obey the Law of Moses.

The apostles and elders had a meeting to look into this matter.

And God who knows men's hearts testified for them by giving them the holy Spirit just as he had done to us,

This quieted the whole meeting, and they listened while Barnabas and Paul told of the signs and wonders which God had done among the heathen through them.

For Moses for generations past has had his preachers in every town, and has been read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath."

After they had stayed some time, the brothers let them go, with a greeting to those who had sent them.

But Paul did not approve of taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia instead of going on with them to their work.

Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

As they traveled on from one town to another, they passed on to the brothers for their observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.

There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

As soon as he had this vision, we made efforts to get on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to tell them the good news.

Once as we were on our way to the praying place a slave-girl met us who had the gift of ventriloquism, and made her masters a great deal of money by her fortune-telling.

The crowd also joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten.

He, having had such strict orders, put them into the inner cell, and fastened their feet in the stocks.

It woke up the jailer, and when he saw that the doors of the jail were open, he drew his sword and was just going to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!"

After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they reached Thessalonica, where the Jews had a synagogue.

explaining them and showing that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "Jesus," he said, "of whom I am telling you, is the Christ!"

But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace.

He had discussions at the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped with them, and every day in the public square with any whom he happened to find.

There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under.

When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews.

He had had some instruction about the Way of the Lord, and he talked with burning zeal and taught painstakingly about Jesus, though he knew of no baptism but John's.

As he wanted to cross to Greece, the brothers wrote to the disciples there, urging them to welcome him. On his arrival there he was of great service to those who through God's favor had become believers,

that people took to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons he had used, and they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them.

Some Jews who went from place to place casting out demons tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in the cases of people who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

A Jewish high priest named Sceva had seven sons who were doing this.

A number of people who had practiced magic brought out their books and burned them publicly. The value of these was estimated and found to be ten thousand dollars.

Meanwhile the people were shouting, some one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion, and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

Some of the crowd called upon Alexander, as the Jews had pushed him to the front, and he made a gesture with his hand and was going to speak in defense of them to the people.

On the first day of the week, when we had met for the breaking of bread, Paul addressed them, as he was going away the next morning, and he prolonged his address until midnight.

We had already gone on board the ship and sailed for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there, for that was the arrangement he had made, as he intended to travel there by land.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to lose any time in Asia, for he was hurrying to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of the Harvest Festival.

When the parting was over and we had sailed, we made a straight run to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

Paul greeted them warmly and gave a detailed account of what God had done among the heathen through his efforts.

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

Then the colonel came up and seized him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains, and then inquired who he was and what he had been doing.

He gave him permission, and Paul standing on the steps made a gesture to the people, and when they had become quiet he spoke to them in Hebrew.

As I could not see, because of the dazzling light, my companions had to lead me by the hand, and so I reached Damascus.

After I had returned to Jerusalem, one day when I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance,

They had listened to him until he said that, but then they shouted, "Kill him and get him out of the world! A creature like that ought not to be allowed to live!"

But when they had strapped him up, Paul said to the officer who was standing near, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen, and without giving him a trial?"

"I had to pay a large sum for my citizenship," said the colonel. "But I am a citizen by birth," said Paul.

Then the men who had been going to examine him immediately left him, and the colonel himself was alarmed to find that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him bound.

The next day, as he wished to find out the real reason why the Jews denounced him, he had him unbound and ordered the high priests and the whole council to assemble, and took Paul down and brought him before them.

In the morning, the Jews made a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul.

So the colonel sent the youth away, directing him not to tell anyone that he had given him this information.

This man had been seized by the Jews and they were just going to kill him when I came upon them with my men and rescued him, as I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.

As I wanted to learn what charge they made against him, I had him brought before their council,

and found that their accusations had to do with questions about their Law, but that he was not charged with anything that would call for his death or imprisonment.

Then the soldiers took Paul, as they had been ordered to do, and escorted him as far as Antipatris that night.

When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began the prosecution. "Your Excellency Felix," he said, "since through your efforts we enjoy perfect peace, and through your foresight this nation is securing needed reforms,

After an absence of several years, I had come to bring charitable donations for my nation, and to offer sacrifice.

I had undergone the rites of purification and was occupied with these matters when they found me in the Temple, with no crowd or disturbance at all. But there were some Jews from Asia

Some days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and sent for Paul and heard what he had to say about faith in Christ Jesus.

But when two whole years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and as he wanted to gratify the Jews, Felix left Paul in prison.

When he came, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and made a number of serious charges against him, which they could not substantiate.

I told them that it was not the Roman custom to give anybody up until the accused met his accusers face to face and had a chance to defend himself against their accusations.

But when his accusers got up, they did not charge him with any such crimes as I had expected.

Their differences with him were about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but who Paul said was alive.

I could not find that he had done anything for which he deserved death, but as he appealed to his Majesty I decided to send him to him.

and many a time in all the synagogues I had them punished, and tried to force them to say impious things. In my extreme rage against them I even pursued them to distant towns.

To this day I have had God's help and I stand here to testify to high and low alike, without adding a thing to what Moses and the prophets declared would happen,

Then the king rose, with the governor and Bernice and those who had sat with them,

"He might have been set at liberty," said Agrippa to Festus, "if he had not appealed to the emperor."

We went on board an Adramyttian ship bound for the ports of Asia, and put to sea. We had a Macedonian from Thessalonica, named Aristarchus, with us.

For a number of days we made slow progress and had some difficulty in arriving off Cnidus. Then as the wind kept us from going on, we sailed under the lee of Crete, off Cape Salmone,

As a great deal of time had now passed, and navigation had become dangerous, for the autumn fast was already over, Paul began to warn them.

But the officer was more influenced by the pilot and the captain than by what Paul had to say,

Then, when they had gone a long time without food, Paul got up among them, and said, "Gentlemen, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.

When they had had enough to eat, they threw the wheat into the sea, in order to lighten the ship.

The natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they made a fire and welcomed us, because of the rain that had come on and the cold.

The governor of the island, whose name was Publius, had estates in that part of the island, and he welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

Three months later, we sailed on an Alexandrian ship named the Dioscuri, which had wintered at the island.

The brothers there had had news of our coming, and came as far as Appius' Forum and Three Taverns to meet us, and when Paul saw them he thanked God and was greatly encouraged.

But the Jews objected, and I was obliged to appeal to the emperor??ot that I had any charge to make against my own nation.

"We have had no letters about you from Judea," they answered, "and none of the brothers who have come here has reported or said anything against you.

For they had exchanged the truth of God for what was false, and worshiped and served what he had created, instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen!

for what does the Scripture say? "Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as uprightness."

and the forefather of those circumcised persons who not only share his circumcision but follow our forefather Abraham's example in the faith he had before he was circumcised.

as the Scripture says, "I have made you the father of many nations." The promise is guaranteed in the very sight of God in whom he had faith, who can bring the dead to life and call into being what does not exist.

Abraham, hoping against hope, had faith, and so became the father of many nations, in fulfilment of the Scripture, "So countless shall your descendants be."