and because they had the same trade he stayed with them. They worked together because they were tentmakers by trade.

After staying there for quite a while longer, Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut in Cenchrea, since he was under a vow.

When they arrived in Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila there. Then he went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

He had been instructed in the Lord's way, and with spiritual fervor he kept speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only about John's baptism.

When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers wrote to the disciples there, urging them to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who, through God's grace, had believed.

When handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched his skin were taken to the sick, their diseases left them and evil spirits went out of them.

Then some Jews who went around trying to drive out demons attempted to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

Many who became believers kept coming to confess and talk about what they had been doing.

Moreover, many people who had practiced occult arts gathered their books and burned them in front of everybody. They estimated their value and found them to have been worth 50,000 silver coins.

After these things had happened, Paul decided to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. "After I have gone there," he told them, "I must also see Rome."

Some of the crowd concluded it was because of Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front. So Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people.

When the city recorder had quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who in the world doesn't know that this city of Ephesus is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell down from heaven?

He went through those regions and encouraged the people with everything he had to say. Then he went to Greece

On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul began to address the people. Since he intended to leave the next day, he went on speaking until midnight.

We proceeded to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we intended to pick up Paul. He had arranged it this way, since he had planned to travel there on foot.

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia, as he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if that was possible.

When Paul had said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

They were especially sorrowful because of what he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they took him to the ship.

When we had torn ourselves away from those brothers, we sailed straight to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

He had four unmarried daughters who could prophesy.

After we had been there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.

Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us. They took us to the home of Mnason to be his guests. He was from Cyprus and had been an early disciple.

After greeting them, Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the gentiles through his ministry.

For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

Then the tribune came up, grabbed Paul, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He then asked who Paul was and what he had done.

When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because the mob had become so violent.

The tribune gave him permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, motioned for the people to be silent. When everyone had quieted down, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language:

But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion who was standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"

Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.

The next day, since the tribune wanted to find out exactly what Paul was being accused of by the Jews, he released him and ordered the high priests and the entire Council to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

In the morning, the Jewish leaders formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul.

The tribune dismissed the young man and ordered him not to tell anyone that he had notified him.

This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

I wanted to know the exact charge they were making against him, so I had him brought before their Council.

When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus opened the prosecution by saying:

They found me in the Temple doing these things just as I had completed the purification ceremony. No crowd or noisy mob was present.

After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. Since Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.

Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and began bringing a number of serious charges against him that they couldn't prove.

After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to welcome Festus.

I answered them that it was not the Roman custom to sentence a man to be punished until the accused met his accusers face to face and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.

Instead, they had several arguments with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but Paul kept asserting he was alive.

I've had help from God to this day, and so I stand here to testify to both the powerful and the lowly alike, stating only what the prophets and Moses said would happen

Agrippa told Festus, "This man could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to the emperor."

Much time had been lost, and because navigation had become dangerous and the day of fasting had already past, Paul began to warn those on the ship,

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among his shipmates and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would have avoided this hardship and damage.

Meanwhile, the sailors had begun trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea and pretended that they were going to lay out the anchors from the bow.

Everyone was encouraged and had something to eat.

After they had eaten all they wanted, they began to lighten the ship by dumping its cargo of wheat into the sea.

The people who lived there were unusually kind to us. It had started to rain and was cold, so they started a bonfire and invited us to join them around it.

After that had happened, the rest of the sick people on the island went to him and were healed.

Three months later, we continued our sailing onboard an Alexandrian ship that had spent the winter at the island. It had the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.