Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



The high priest and Jewish leaders brought charges against Paul.

After five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders. They brought an orator, Tertullus, who made a statement to the governor against Paul.

The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? read more.
Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


Peter and the other apostles answered: We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed. You hanged him on a stake. God exalted him to his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. read more.
We are witnesses of these things. The Holy Spirit, which God gave to those who obey him, also witnessed.

They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered: You judge whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God. We cannot stop speaking the things we have seen and heard.

The priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people: This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears. Then I Jeremiah said: Jehovah sent me to proclaim everything that you heard me say against this Temple and against this city. You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing. You must obey Jehovah your God. If you do, he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you. read more.
I am in your hand (power)! Do with me whatever you think is fair and right. But if you put me to death, you and everyone else in Jerusalem will be guilty of murdering an innocent man. This is because everything I spoke came from Jehovah. The judges and the other people told the priests and prophets: Since Jeremiah only told us what Jehovah our God had said, we do not think he deserves to die.

The chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate again asked him: Do you not answer? See how many things they testify against you! But Jesus gave no answer. Pilate wondered.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we are on trial for a good deed done to a sick man, concerning how this man was made well; Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you impaled and whom God raised from the dead, even by him this man stands before you healed. read more.
This is the stone that was rejected by you builders. It became the chief corner stone. There is no salvation in anyone else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

The high priest asked: Are these things so? He said: Men, brothers and fathers, listen; The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. He said to him: 'Get out of your country and away from your relatives. Go to the land that I will show you. read more.
He went out of the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. After his father died, God moved him to this land, where you now dwell. He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. Yet he promised that he would give it to him and his seed after him for a possession. This promise was made before he had a child. God spoke to this effect, that his seed would be alien residents in a strange land. They would enslave them, and mistreat them for four hundred years. I will judge the nation to whom they shall be in bondage,' said God, 'and after they will come serve me in this place.' He gave him the covenant of circumcision. Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became father to Jacob and Jacob fathered the twelve family heads. The family heads were jealous of Joseph and sold him as a slave into Egypt. However, God was with him. And God delivered him out of all his afflictions. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Pharaoh made him governor over Egypt and his entire house. A famine and great suffering came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan. Our fathers found no food. When Jacob heard there was food in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. The second time Joseph got acquainted with his brothers and Pharaoh was told about Joseph's family. Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his family, seventy-five people. Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers. Their bodies were brought to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem. When the time of God's promise to Abraham drew near, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. Another king arose. He did not know Joseph. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our fathers so that they cast out their young children and they did not survive. Moses was born then. He was divinely beautiful. He was nursed three months in his father's house. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him and nourished him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers the children of Israel. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged the oppressed one by killing the Egyptian. He supposed his brothers would understand how God by his hand would deliver them but they did not understand. The next day he appeared to them while they were fighting. He wanted to unite them and said, 'You are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?' The one who was treating his neighbor unjustly pushed him away, saying: 'Who made you our ruler and judge? Will you kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' When he heard this talk Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of Median, where he became father to two sons. At the end of forty years, Jehovah's angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. (Exodus 3:3) When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. He drew near to look at it and the voice of Jehovah came to him. He said: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and did not dare to look further. Jehovah said: Take the sandals from your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. (Exodus 3:5) I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come to deliver them. Come, I will send you into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying: Who made you ruler and judge? God sent him to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out. He showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. This is the Moses that said to the children of Israel, your God will raise up a prophet like me from your brothers. This one was with our father in the congregation in the wilderness. The angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He received the living oracles to give to us. Our fathers would not obey him. They sent him away, and in their hearts turned back again to Egypt. They said to Aaron: Make us gods to go in front of us. We do not know what happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven. It is written in the book of the prophets: O you house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan. You made figures to worship them. I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David; Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. The most High does not dwell in houses made with hands as the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will you build me? Said Jehovah God. What is the place of my rest? (Isaiah 66:1) Did my hand make all these things? You obstinate men who are uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They killed those who announced in advance the coming of the righteous one whom you have betrayed and murdered. You have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not obeyed it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. They gnashed their teeth at him. Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people. When Paul saw that part of them were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin: Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee! I am being judged because of the hope and resurrection of the dead. When he said this dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The crowd was divided.


If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you should go to the place Jehovah your God chooses. Approach the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days. Inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. Act according to the terms of the verdict they declare to you from that place Jehovah chooses. Be careful to abide by all that they teach you. read more.
Act according to the verdict and the terms they tell you. Do not turn away from the word they declare to you. The man who acts presumptuously and does not listen to the priest or the judge will die. This way you will purge the evil from Israel. The priests and judges are there to serve Jehovah your God. Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act presumptuously again.

Now you will gather in troops, O daughter of troops! He has attacked us. They will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people. When Paul saw that part of them were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin: Men! Brothers! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee! I am being judged because of the hope and resurrection of the dead.

The governor motioned for Paul to speak. He said, I know that you have been a judge for this nation for many years. For this reason I cheerfully make my defense. You can easily verify that it was no more than twelve days ago that I went to worship in Jerusalem. They did not find me in the Temple, in the synagogues nor in the city disputing with any man. Neither did I cause a riot with the people. read more.
Neither can they prove the things for which they now accuse me. This I confess to you that according to The Way, which they call a sect, I serve the God of our fathers. I believe all the things written in the law and the prophets. I have hope toward God, which they also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and the unrighteous. I exercise myself always, to have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Now after many years I came to bring offerings and gifts of mercy to my nation. Some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple. There was neither crowd nor disturbance! They should have been here before you to testify against me. Or let the men here say what wrong they found in me while I stood before the Sanhedrin. Except for one utterance I cried out while standing among them. It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am called in question by you this day.

Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his arm and began his defense, I would be happy, King Agrippa, to answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which the Jews accuse me. I know you are an expert in all customs and controversy among the Jews. Therefore I urge you to hear me patiently. read more.
All the Jews know the way I first lived as a youth among my own nation at Jerusalem. They knew me from the beginning. They could testify that I was from the strictest sect of our religion and I lived as a Pharisee. Now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. Our twelve tribes served God day and night with the promise and hope of what was to come. It is because of this hope that the Jews accuse me, King Agrippa. Why should it be an incredible thought to you that God should raise the dead? I was convinced that I should oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. That I did in Jerusalem. I locked up many of the holy ones in prison. I received authority from the chief priests and gave the command to put them to death. I punished them in every synagogue and tried to force them to recant their beliefs. I was exceedingly mad against them. I persecuted them even in strange cities. I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven. It was brighter than the sun and shinned all around me. It also shinned around those who journeyed with me. We all fell to the ground. I heard a voice speaking to me. It said in the Hebrew tongue: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' (You only hurt yourself.) I said: 'Who are you, Lord?' And he answered: 'I am Jesus whom you persecute. Stand up on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things that you have seen, and of those things I will show to you. I will rescue you from the people and the nations. I am sending you to them. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. They may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' You see, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. I preached first to Damascus, and to Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the people of the nations, that they should repent and turn to God, and prove their repentance by deeds. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having obtained help from God, I continue to this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those that the prophets and Moses said should come. That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first to rise from the dead, and should show light to the people, and to the nations.


Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.

The chief priest and the elders of the people assembled at the court of Caiaphas, the high priest.

Those who captured Jesus took him to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The scribes and those in authority also gathered there. But Peter kept his distance. He followed him to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the servants, to see the outcome. The chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for false witness against Jesus. They wanted to put him to death. read more.
They failed, even though a number of false witnesses came. Later two witnesses came. They said: This man said, 'I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.' The high priest stood up and said to him: Have you no answer? What is it these say against you?

When they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and those who were with him. He called the council together and all the senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. The officers did not find them in the prison when they came. So they returned and said, We found the prison locked with the guards standing before the doors. When we opened it we did not find a man. read more.
When the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted them. They wondered what this would come to. Someone came to them and told them: The men you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers brought them in without violence. They feared the people lest they should have been stoned. They brought them before the council and the high priest asked them: Did we command you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are willing to bring this man's blood upon us.



Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


The commander wanted to find out for sure what the Jews were accusing Paul of. The next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He must then take his wife to the priest along with eight cups of barley flour as an offering for her. He must not pour olive oil on the flour or put frankincense on it, since it is a grain offering brought because of the husband's jealousy. It is an offering used for a confession, to remind someone of a sin that was committed.

Those who captured Jesus took him to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. The scribes and those in authority also gathered there.

Jesus told him: Do that for which you came. They laid hands on Jesus, and captured him.

When the man mentioned the Ark of God Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck and he died. He was a leader in Israel for forty years.

If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you should go to the place Jehovah your God chooses. Approach the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days. Inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. Act according to the terms of the verdict they declare to you from that place Jehovah chooses. Be careful to abide by all that they teach you. read more.
Act according to the verdict and the terms they tell you. Do not turn away from the word they declare to you. The man who acts presumptuously and does not listen to the priest or the judge will die. This way you will purge the evil from Israel. The priests and judges are there to serve Jehovah your God. Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act presumptuously again.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.

The chief priest and the elders of the people assembled at the court of Caiaphas, the high priest.

When they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and those who were with him. He called the council together and all the senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. The officers did not find them in the prison when they came. So they returned and said, We found the prison locked with the guards standing before the doors. When we opened it we did not find a man. read more.
When the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted them. They wondered what this would come to. Someone came to them and told them: The men you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers brought them in without violence. They feared the people lest they should have been stoned. They brought them before the council and the high priest asked them: Did we command you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are willing to bring this man's blood upon us.

The high priest stood up and said to him: Have you no answer? What is it these say against you?

Let no man find fault and let no man reprove. After all your people are the ones who debate (argue) with a priest.


The commander wanted to find out for sure what the Jews were accusing Paul of. The next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

Paul looked straight at the Council and said: Fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day. The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Paul said to him: God will strike you, white washed wall! Do you sit judging me according to the Law, and against law command me to be struck? read more.
Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.



Those who stood near him said, Do you revile the high priest of God? Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.


He told his men: Stop talking foolishly. We are not going to attack Saul. He is my king. I pray that Jehovah will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.

In like manner these men also in their dreams defile the flesh, reject authority and speak evil of glorious ones.




Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.

Then Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. It is written: You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.