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

And when our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another.

And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'"

And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, "The will of the Lord be done."

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealous for the law,

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I say something to you?" And he said, "Do you know Greek?

And when they heard that he addressed them in the Hebrew language, they became more quiet. And he said:

And I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'

And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'

came to me, and standing near said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very time I looked up at him.

Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.

And he said to me, 'Go; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

Up to this word they listened to him, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he ought not to live."

But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

So the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes."

The commander answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."

And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day."

Then Paul said to him, "God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?"

Those who stood by said, "Would you revile God's high priest?"

And Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"

When he said this, a dissension broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, for as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome."

They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander; for he has something to tell him."

So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, since he has something to tell you."

And he said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

Then he called two of the centurions and said, "At the third hour of the night get ready two hundred soldiers with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea.

he said, "I will hear you when your accusers arrive also." And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium.

But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you."

"Therefore," he said, "let the men of authority among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them prosecute him."

Paul said in his defense, "Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended at all."

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?"

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

Then Agrippa said to Festus, "I also would like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he said, "you shall hear him."

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

Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen:

And as he was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad."

But Paul said, "I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth.

And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time you think to persuade me to become a Christian!"

And Paul said, "Whether in a short or a long time, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I amexcept for these chains."

And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

and said to them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the owner of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.

When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.

and he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."

Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat.

When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live."

They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after they had waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

After three days Paul called together the local leaders of the Jews; and when they had gathered, he said to them, "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

They said to him, "We have not received letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brethren who have come here has reported or spoken anything bad about you.

Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

For this is what the promise said: "About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son."

"And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

And as Isaiah said: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us children, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah."

and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

For if I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true.

But I am sending the brethren so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!

they only heard it said, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of them all, "If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

For this reason it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

But to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a stool for your feet"?

Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their hearts; and they have not known my ways.'

while it is said, "Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall never enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

And again in this place he said, "They shall never enter my rest."

God again set a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

So also Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but it was he who said to him, "You are my son, today I have begotten you";

For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

Those who formerly became priests took their office without an oath, but he became a priest with an oath through the One who said to him, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever.'"

When he said, "A new covenant," he has made the first obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,' as it is written of me in the roll of the book."

When he said above, "You did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),

then he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people."

of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be called."

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you."

For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a reviling judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly lusts."

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the voice, which I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."

Then one of the elders said to me, "Weep not; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the elders fell down and worshipped.

and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down."

So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey."