(The Pharisees and indeed all the Jewish people don't eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders.

When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant's life.

he had not voted for their plan and action from the Jewish town of Arimathea; and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and descendants of Levi to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

Now standing there were six stone water jars used for the Jewish rites of purification, each one holding from two to three measures.

The Jewish Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?"

The Jewish leaders said, "This sanctuary has been under construction for 46 years, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?"

So the Jewish leaders told the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

The man went off and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

So the Jewish leaders began persecuting Jesus, because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

So the Jewish leaders were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Then the Jewish leaders began grumbling about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

Then the Jewish leaders debated angrily with each other, asking, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, because he didn't want to travel in Judea, since the Jewish leaders there were trying to kill him.

Now the Jewish Festival of Tents was approaching.

The Jewish leaders kept looking for him at the festival, asking, "Where is that man?"

Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders were astonished and remarked, "How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?"

Then the Jewish leaders tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

Then the Jewish leaders asked one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we won't be able to find him? Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

So the Jewish leaders were asking, "He isn't going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, "You cannot come where I'm going'?"

The Jewish leaders replied to him, "Surely we're right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon, aren't we?"

Then the Jewish leaders told him, "Now we really know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "You are not even 50 years old, yet you have seen Abraham?"

The Jewish leaders did not believe that the man had been blind and had gained sight until they summoned his parents

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, since the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue.

The Jewish leaders summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner."

So the Jewish leaders surrounded him and quizzed him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you're the Messiah, tell us so plainly."

Again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone him to death.

The Jewish leaders answered him, "We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!"

The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again?"

Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and before the Passover many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves.

Little children, I'm with you only a little longer. You will look for me, but what I told the Jewish leaders I now tell you, "Where I'm going, you cannot come.'

Then the soldiers, along with their commander and the Jewish officers, arrested Jesus and tied him up.

The Jewish leaders told him, "It is not legal for us to put anyone to death." This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "What is "truth'?" and then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

The Jewish leaders answered Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that Law he must die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, "If you release this fellow, you're not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!"

Now it was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. He told the Jewish leaders, "Here is your king!"

Then the Jewish high priests told Pilate, "Don't write, "The King of the Jews,' but that this fellow said, "I am the King of the Jews.'"

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

Later on, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and he came and removed his body.

Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and because the tomb was nearby, they put Jesus there.

It was the evening of the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, "Peace be with you."

Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the district of Libya near Cyrene, Jewish and proselyte visitors from Rome,

Now when the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.

After several days had gone by, the Jewish leaders plotted to murder Saul,

The men replied, "Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say."

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I'm sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting!"

Arriving in Salamis, they began to preach God's word in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John to help them.

They went through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish occult practitioner and false prophet named Bar-jesus.

But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to object to the statements made by Paul and even to abuse him.

But the Jewish leaders stirred up devout women of high social standing and the officials in the city, started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their territory.

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

Paul also went to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish wife whose husband was a Greek.

Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

But the Jewish leaders became jealous, and they took some contemptible characters who used to hang out in the public square, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. They attacked Jason's home and searched it for Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the people.

That night the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

But when the Jewish leaders in Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul also in Berea, they went there to upset and incite the crowds.

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jewish leaders gathered together, attacked Paul, and brought him before the judge's seat.

Paul was about to speak when Gallio admonished the Jewish leaders, "If there were some misdemeanor or crime involved, it would be reasonable to put up with you Jews.

Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, "The Holy Spirit says, "This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.'"

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

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

The Jewish leaders supported his accusations by asserting that these things were true.

Some days later, Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him talk about faith in Jesus the Messiah.

The high priests and Jewish leaders informed him of their charges against Paul, urging

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.

Then Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders a favor, asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried there before me on these charges?"

But Paul said, "I am standing before the emperor's judgment seat where I ought to be tried. I haven't done anything wrong to the Jewish leaders, as you know very well.

When I went to Jerusalem, the high priests and the Jewish elders informed me about him and asked me to condemn him.

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all you men who are present with us! You see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

"I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I can defend myself today against all the accusations of the Jewish leaders,

since you are especially familiar with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen patiently to me.

For this reason the Jewish leaders grabbed me in the Temple and kept trying to kill me.

The Jewish leaders told him, "We haven't received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you.

and not pay attention to Jewish myths or commands given by people who reject the truth.