And when they came there, and had got the church together, they gave them an account of all the things which God had done through them, and how he had made open a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And after Paul and Barnabas had had no little argument and discussion with them, the brothers made a decision to send Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them to the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem about this question.

The Church, therefore, sent them on their journey, and they made their way through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling the story of the conversion of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the Brethren.

Then the Apostles and Elders met to consider the matter;

And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

Then the whole assembly remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.

When they finished James made this response: "Brothers, listen to me.

That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Says the Lord, who has made these things clear from the earliest times.

but that we write to them that they are to abstain from anything that has been contaminated by [being offered to] idols and from sexual impurity and from [eating the meat of] what has been strangled and from [the consumption of] blood.

We met and decided to choose certain men and send them to you with our dear brothers Barnabas and Paul,

that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from [consuming] blood, and from [eating the meat of] things that have been strangled, and from sexual impurity. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”

And Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, gave teaching to the brothers and made them strong in the faith.

And having made time, they were loosed with peace from the brethren to the sent.

After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers and sisters (believers) in every city where we preached the message of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”

But Paul thought it not meet to take him unto their company which departed from them at Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.

He made his way through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

When Paul came to Derbe and [then] to Lystra, he met a certain disciple named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek [i.e., Gentile].

And on their way through the towns, they gave them the rules which had been made by the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem, so that they might keep them.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they continually increased in number day after day.

And having come to Mysia, they made an attempt to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them;

After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;

From there we made our way to Philippi, which is the principal city of that part of Macedonia, and also a Roman Settlement. In that city we spent several days.

And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

And a certain woman named Lydia, a trader in purple cloth of the town of Thyatira, and a God-fearing woman, gave ear to us: whose heart the Lord made open to give attention to the things which Paul was saying.

When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgement I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she made us go there.

And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities who met together in the public square.

And when they brought them before the city officials, they made this charge [against them]: "These Jewish men are causing too much trouble in our city,

And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped.

Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

When the jailer started from his sleep and saw the prison-doors open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing the prisoners had made their escape;

And bringing them out, he said, Lords, what must I do that I might be saved

And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

Then they came and made prayers to them, requesting them, when they had taken them out, to go away from the town.

As they made their journey through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where was a synagogue of the Jews.

And the unbelieving Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to them of the loungers certain evil men, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having assailed also the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring them to the populace,

And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here;

And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go.

where the people were more amenable than at Thessalonica; they were perfectly ready to receive the Word and made a daily study of the scriptures to see if it was really as Paul said.

And they conveying Paul brought him even to Athens: and having taken a command to Silas and Timothy that now they might come to him most speedily, they departed.

Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

But, certain both of the Epicurean and of the Stoic philosophers, were encountering him; and some were saying - What might this picker-up-of-scraps wish to be saying? And, others - Of foreign demons, he seemeth to be a declarer: because, of Jesus and the Resurrection, he was announcing the joyful tidings.

And having taken hold on him they brought him to Areopagus, saying, Might we know what this new doctrine which is spoken by thee is?

for considering, as I pass'd along, the deitys, which you adore, I met with an altar that had this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. now that GOD whom you worship without knowing him, is the same that I denounce to you.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

So since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.

Now God made allowance for the times when people were still uninformed [about His complete will], but now [in the Gospel age] He requires all people everywhere to repent [i.e., change their hearts and lives].

because He has set a day when He will judge the inhabited world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed and destined for that task, and He has provided credible proof to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time.

There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because [the Roman Emperor] Claudius had issued an edict that all the Jews were to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

and because he was of the same trade, he made his home with them, and worked: for by trade they were tent-makers.

for I will be with you [See Matt. 28:20] and no one will attack you or hurt you, for I have many people in this city [i.e., who will be converted]."

And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

But, when Paul was about to begin his defence, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been some wrongful act or piece of cunning knavery I might reasonably have listened to you Jews.

And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things.

Paul stayed for a while longer, and then told the brothers and sisters goodbye and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea [the southeastern port of Corinth] he had his hair cut, because he was keeping a [Nazirite] vow [of abstention].

And having made some stay he went forth, going through in order the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Then, as he had made up his mind to cross over into Greece, the brethren wrote to the disciples in Corinth begging them to give him a kindly welcome. Upon his arrival he rendered valuable help to those who through grace had believed;

for he publicly refuted the Jews with might and main, showing from the scriptures that the messiah was Jesus.

did you receive the holy spirit, when you made profession of your faith? they answer'd, we have not so much as heard of a holy spirit.

But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

An attempt was made by some itinerant Jews, who were exorcists, to use the Name of the Lord Jesus over those who had wicked spirits in them. "I adjure you," they would say, "by the Jesus, whom Paul preaches."

And this came to the ears of all those, Jews and Greeks, who were living at Ephesus; and fear came on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was made great.

And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.

Thus with might the word of the Lord increased and prevailed.

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;

He called a meeting of his men and others involved in the same work and said to them, "Fellows, you know that we have made a good living from this work [of making temple replicas].

Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

and not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana be made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met together.

And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.

For, truly, we are in danger of being made responsible for this day's trouble, there being no cause for it: and we are not able to give any reason for this coming together.

having made also three months' stay -- a counsel of the Jews having been against him -- being about to set forth to Syria, there came to him a resolution of returning through Macedonia.

On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul, who was going away the next morning, was preaching to them, and prolonged his discourse till midnight.

And there were many lamps in the upper room, in which they had met together.

But we went on ahead to the ship [and] put out to sea for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there. For having made arrangements in this way, he himself was intending to travel by land.

And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.

For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

From Miletus he sent messengers to Ephesus to ask the elders of the church to meet with him.

And how I kept back nothing which might be of profit to you, teaching you publicly and privately,

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

You yourselves know that these hands served [to meet] my needs and [the needs of] those who were with me.

When we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we ran a straight course and came to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara;

and having sighted Cyprus, and left it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and made the land at Tyre, for there the ship was to discharge her cargo.

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.

After we had made the run from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, and exchanged greetings with the Brethren there, and spent a day with them.

after we had been there several days, a prophet arriv'd from Judea, one Agabus, who made us a visit.

When he met with us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet [with it], and said, "The Holy Spirit has revealed [to me] that the man who owns this belt will be tied up like this by the Jews in Jerusalem and will be turned over to the Gentiles."

And hearing these things, we and those who were living in that place made request to him not to go to Jerusalem.

It was then that Paul made the reply: "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart like this? For my part, I am ready not only to be bound, but even to suffer death at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus."

And as he might not be moved we did no more, saying, Let the purpose of God be done.

And after those days we made ready, and went up to Jerusalem.

and there went certain also of the disciples from Caesarea, along with us, who were to introduce us unto one with whom we might be entertained, one Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple.

What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.