Now there were devout Jews from every part of the world living in Jerusalem.

of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the district of Libya around Cyrene, transient dwellers from Rome, Jews and proselytes,

In those days, as the number of the disciples was increasing, complaint was made by the Greek-speaking Jews against the native Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

But Saul grew stronger and stronger and continued to put to utter confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus, by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

After several days had gone by, the Jews laid a plot to murder him,

and he continued to speak courageously in the name of the Lord, and to speak and debate with the Greek-speaking Jews. But they kept trying to murder him.

We are witnesses of everything that He did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. Yet they murdered Him by hanging Him upon a tree.

for having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews.

Now the fugitives from the persecution that started over Stephen went all the way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message to none but Jews.

and when he saw that this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too -- it was at the time of the feast of Unleavened Bread.

and after the congregation had broken up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism allied themselves with Paul and Barnabas, and they kept talking to them and urging them to continue to rely on the unmerited favor of God.

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were completely overcome by their jealousy and began to contradict the statements made by Paul, and even to abuse him.

Then Paul and Barnabas courageously spoke out, "God's message had to be spoken to you Jews first, but since you continue to thrust it from you and since you show yourselves unworthy to receive eternal life, now and here we turn to the heathen.

But the Jews stirred up the devout women of high rank and the men of first rank in town, and so started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

At Iconium too they went to the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks came to believe.

But the Jews who refused to accept their message aroused and exasperated the minds of the heathen against the brothers.

But the masses of the town were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

And so when there was a movement on the part of both the heathen and the Jews, along with their authorities, to insult and stone them,

But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and won the crowds by persuasion, and they stoned Paul, and dragged him outside the town, supposing he was dead.

Paul wanted this man to join him in his journey; so on account of the Jews in that district he took him and had him circumcised, for everybody knew that his father was a Greek.

and brought them to the chiefs of the police court. They said, "These men are Jews; they continue to make great disturbance in our town

But this enraged the Jews; so they got together some wicked loafers about the public square, formed a mob, and set the town in an uproar.

The Jews there were better disposed than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message with all eagerness and carried on a daily study of the Scriptures to see if Paul's message was true.

But when the Jews at Thessalonica learned that God's message had been proclaimed at Berea by Paul, they came there too to excite the masses and stir up a riot.

So he kept up his discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the pagans who were worshiping there, and also day by day in the public square with any who chanced to be there.

There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had issued an edict for all Jews to leave Rome. So Paul paid them a visit,

Every sabbath it was Paul's habit to preach in the synagogue and to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was wholly absorbed in preaching the message and was enthusiastically assuring the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

While Gallio was governor of Greece, the Jews unanimously attacked Paul and one day brought him before the court,

As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were some misdemeanor or underhanded rascality, O Jews, I would in reason listen to you;

Then they came to Ephesus, and Paul left them there. He went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

for he successfully refuted the Jews in public and proved by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message.

But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor.

Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people.

where he stayed three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, he changed his mind and returned by way of Macedonia, because a plot against him had been laid by the Jews.

to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews.

but constantly and earnestly I urged Greeks as well as Jews to turn with repentance to God and to have faith in our Lord Jesus.

He came to see us and took Paul's belt and with it bound his own hands and feet, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and then will turn him over to the heathen.'"

They gave the glory to God, when they heard it, and said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousand believers there are among the Jews, all of them zealous champions of the law.

They have been repeatedly told about you that you continuously teach the Jews who live among the heathen to turn their backs on Moses, and that you continue to tell them to stop circumcising their children, and to stop observing the cherished customs.

As the seven days were drawing to a close, the Jews from Asia caught a glimpse of him in the temple and began to stir up all the crowd, and seized him,

There a man named Ananias, a man devout in strict accordance with the law, of good reputation among all the Jews who lived there,

The next day, as he wished to learn the exact reason why the Jews accused him, he had him unbound, and ordered the high priest and the whole council to assemble, and took Paul down and brought him before them.

After day had dawned, the Jews formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul.

He answered, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though you were going to examine his case more carefully.

This man had been seized by the Jews and they were on the point of killing him when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, because I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.

For we have found this man a perfect pest and a distributor of the peace among the Jews throughout the world. He is a ringleader in the sect of the Nazarenes;

The Jews also joined in the charges and maintained that they were true.

But there were some Jews from Asia who ought to be here before you and to present their charges, if they have any, against me.

Then Felix, who had a fairly clear conception of the principles involved in The Way, adjourned the trial, saying to the Jews, "When Lysias, the colonel, comes down here, I will carefully look into your case."

But at the close of two whole years Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and as he wanted to gratify the Jews, Felix left Paul still in prison.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and continued to bring a number of serious charges against him, none of which they could prove.

Then Festus, as he wanted to ingratiate himself with the Jews, said to Paul, "Will you go up to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges before me there?"

But Paul said, "I now am standing before the emperor's court where I ought to be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you very well know.

"I count myself fortunate, King Agrippa," said he, "that it is before you that I can defend myself today against all the charges which the Jews have preferred against me,

"The kind of life I have lived from my youth up, as spent in my early days among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is well known to all Jews,

which promise our twelve tribes, by devotedly worshiping day and night, hope to see fulfilled for them. It is for this hope, your Majesty, that I am accused by some Jews.

For these very things the Jews arrested me in the temple and kept on trying to kill me.

Three days later, he invited the leading men of the Jews to come to see him, and when they came, he said to them, "Brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our forefathers; yet at Jerusalem I was turned over to the Romans as a prisoner.

But the Jews objected, so I was forced to appeal to the Emperor; yet it was not because I had any charge to make against my own nation.