So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.

Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.

With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

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

The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple complex, and at once the gates were shut.

As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.

Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter.

Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me!’

“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in You imprisoned and beaten.

They listened to him up to this word. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this person off the earth—it’s a disgrace for him to live!”

As they were yelling and flinging aside their robes and throwing dust into the air,

the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be examined with the scourge, so he could discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse: neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul.

“The Jews,” he said, “have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they are going to hold a somewhat more careful inquiry about him.

Don’t let them persuade you, because there are more than 40 of them arranging to ambush him, men who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they kill him. Now they are ready, waiting for a commitment from you.”

Also provide mounts so they can put Paul on them and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin.

Therefore, the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris as they were ordered.

The next day, they returned to the barracks, allowing the cavalry to go on with him.

When these men entered Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

They didn’t find me disputing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple complex or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city.

Neither can they provide evidence to you of what they now bring against me.

But I confess this to you: I worship my fathers’ God according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing all the things that are written in the Law and in the Prophets.

It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me.

Either let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin,

Then the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed,

asking him to do them a favor against Paul, that he might summon him to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush along the road to kill him.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove,

Since they stayed there many days, Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There’s a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix.

Therefore, when they had assembled here, I did not delay. The next day I sat at the judge’s bench and ordered the man to be brought in.

Instead they had some disagreements with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man Paul claimed to be alive.

They had previously known me for quite some time, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I lived as a Pharisee.

the promise our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve Him night and day. King Agrippa, I am being accused by the Jews because of this hope.

I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.’

Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.

and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is doing nothing that deserves death or chains.”

When it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment.

When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they had achieved their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete.

After hoisting it up, they used ropes and tackle and girded the ship. Then, fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the drift-anchor, and in this way they were driven along.

Because we were being severely battered by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo the next day.

On the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands.

When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting in the Adriatic Sea, and in the middle of the night the sailors thought they were approaching land.

They took a sounding and found it to be 120 feet deep; when they had sailed a little farther and sounded again, they found it to be 90 feet deep.

Then, fearing we might run aground in some rocky place, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

Some sailors tried to escape from the ship; they had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow.

They all became encouraged and took food themselves.

When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.

When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could.

After casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.

But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves.

The local people showed us extraordinary kindness, for they lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live!”

They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed.

After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

Disagreeing among themselves, they began to leave after Paul made one statement: “The Holy Spirit correctly spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your ancestors

For the hearts of these people
have grown callous,
their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and be converted,
and I would heal them.

Therefore, let it be known to you that this saving work of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen!”