and as they practiced the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together, for they were tent-makers.

But as they contradicted and abused him, he shook his clothes in protest, and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am not to blame for it! After this I will go to the heathen."

"This fellow," they said, "is trying to induce people to worship God in ways that are against the law."

Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it.

When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews.

They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent.

He spoke very confidently in the synagogue at first, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained the Way of God to him more correctly.

he said to them, "Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?" "No," they said to him, "we never even heard that there was a holy Spirit."

"How then were you baptized?" he asked. "With John's baptism," they answered.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,

and when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in foreign tongues and with prophetic inspiration.

that people took to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons he had used, and they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them.

And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang at them, and overpowered them all, with such violence that they ran out of the house tattered and bruised.

When they heard this, they became very angry, and cried, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

Meanwhile the people were shouting, some one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion, and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

But when they saw that he was a Jew, a great shout went up from them all, and they cried for two hours, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!"

For you have brought these men here, though they have not been guilty of disloyalty nor uttered any blasphemy against our goddess.

They went on to Troas and waited for us there,

They took the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted.

When they came, he said to them, "You know well enough how I lived among you all the time from the first day I set foot in Asia,

They all wept aloud, and throwing their arms about Paul's neck they kissed him affectionately,

for they were especially saddened at his saying that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Instructed by the Spirit, they warned Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

then we bade one another goodbye, and we went on board the ship, and they went home.

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

They have been told that you teach all Jews who live among the heathen to turn away from Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children nor to observe the old customs.

What then? They will be sure to hear that you have come.

Join them, undergo the rites of purification with them, and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will understand that there is no truth in the stories about you, but that you yourself observe the Law.

As for the heathen who have become believers, we have written them our decision that they must avoid anything that has been contaminated by idols, the tasting of blood, the meat of strangled animals, and immorality."

For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the Temple.

They were trying to kill him when the news reached the colonel of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in a tumult.

He immediately got some officers and men and hurried down among them, and when they saw the colonel and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul.

Just as they were going to take him into the barracks, Paul said to the colonel, "May I say something to you?" "Do you know Greek?" the colonel asked.

He gave him permission, and Paul standing on the steps made a gesture to the people, and when they had become quiet he spoke to them in Hebrew.

When they heard him speak to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he said,

as the high priest and the whole council will bear me witness. In fact, they gave me letters to the brothers in Damascus and I went there to bind those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

The men 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 saying to me, 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, for they will not accept your evidence about me.'

And I said, 'Lord, they know that I used to go through one synagogue after another, and to imprison and flog those who believed in you,

They had listened to him until he said that, but then they shouted, "Kill him and get him out of the world! A creature like that ought not to be allowed to live!"

As they were shouting and throwing their clothes about and flinging dust into the air,

the colonel ordered Paul brought into the barracks, and gave directions that he should be examined under the lash, so that he might find out why they made such an outcry against him.

But when they had strapped him up, Paul said to the officer who was standing near, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen, and without giving him a trial?"

As the dispute was becoming violent, the colonel began to be afraid that they would tear Paul in pieces, and ordered the soldiers to go down and get him away from them and bring him into the barracks.

In the morning, the Jews made a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul.

and they went to the high priests and elders and said to them, "We have taken a solemn oath not to touch anything to eat till we have killed Paul.

So the colonel took him by the arm and stepping aside where they could be alone, asked, "What is it that you have to tell me?"

But do not let them persuade you, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, and they have taken an oath not to eat or drink till they have killed him. They are all ready now, and are only waiting to get your promise."

They were also to provide horses for Paul to ride, so that they might take him in safety to Felix, the governor,

This man had been seized by the Jews and they were just going to kill him when I came upon them with my men and rescued him, as I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.

As I wanted to learn what charge they made against him, I had him brought before their council,

Then the soldiers took Paul, as they had been ordered to do, and escorted him as far as Antipatris that night.

The next day, they returned to the barracks, leaving the mounted men to go on with him,

and they on reaching Caesarea delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.

Five days later, the high priest Ananias came down with some of the elders and an attorney named Tertullus, and they presented their case against Paul before the governor.

and they have never found me debating with anyone in the Temple, or creating a disturbance among the people in the synagogues or about the city,

and they cannot sustain the charges they have just made against me.

I admit that in worshiping the God of my forefathers I follow the way of life that they call a sect, but I believe everything that is taught in the Law or written in the prophets,

and I have the same hope in God that they themselves hold, that there is to be a resurrection of the upright and the wicked.

I had undergone the rites of purification and was occupied with these matters when they found me in the Temple, with no crowd or disturbance at all. But there were some Jews from Asia

who ought to be here before you and to present their charges if they have any to make against me.

Or let these men themselves tell what they found wrong in me when I appeared before the council??21 unless it was the one thing I shouted out as I stood among them??It is on the question of the resurrection of the dead that I am here on trial before you today!' "

When he came, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and made a number of serious charges against him, which they could not substantiate.

and as they stayed there several days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. "There is a man here," he said, "who was left in prison by Felix,

So they came back here with me and the next day without losing any time I took my place in the judge's chair and ordered the man brought in.

But when his accusers got up, they did not charge him with any such crimes as I had expected.

for they have known from the first, if they are willing to give evidence, that I was a Pharisee and my life was that of the strictest sect of our religion.

That was what I did at Jerusalem when on the authority of the high priests I put many of God's people in prison. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them,

to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may have their sins forgiven and have a place among those who are consecrated through faith in me.'

but first to the people of Damascus and Jerusalem and then all over Judea, and even to the heathen I preached that they must repent and turn to God and live as men who have repented should.

and after leaving the room, in talking the matter over together, they said, "This man has not done anything to deserve death or imprisonment."

When a moderate south wind sprang up, thinking their object was within reach, they weighed anchor, and ran close along the coast of Crete.

But very soon a violent wind which they call a Northeaster rushed down from it.

After hoisting it on board, they used ropes to brace the ship, and as they were afraid of being cast on the Syrtis banks, they lowered the sail, and let the ship drift.

The next day, as the storm continued to be violent, they began to throw the cargo overboard,

and on the next, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

Then, when they had gone a long time without food, Paul got up among them, and said, "Gentlemen, you ought to have listened to me and not to have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.

On taking soundings, they found a depth of twenty fathoms, and a little later, taking soundings again, they found a depth of fifteen.

Then as they were afraid we might go on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and waited anxiously for daylight.

The sailors wanted to escape from the ship, and actually lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to run out anchors from the bow,

This raised the spirits of all of them, and they took something to eat.

When they had had enough to eat, they threw the wheat into the sea, in order to lighten the ship.

When daylight came they could not recognize the coast, but they saw a bay with a beach and determined to run the ship ashore there if possible.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time they undid the lashings of the steering oars, and hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

But they struck a shoal and ran the ship aground. The bow struck and could not be moved, while the stern began to break up under the strain.

and the rest to follow on planks or other pieces of wreckage. So they all got safely to land.

The natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they made a fire and welcomed us, because of the rain that had come on and the cold.

When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "This man is undoubtedly a murderer, for though he has been saved from the sea, justice will not let him live."

They expected to see him swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

They made us many presents, and when we sailed, they provided us with everything that we needed.

There we found some of the brothers, and they urged us to spend a week with them. Then we went on to Rome.

Three days later, he invited the leading 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 I was turned over to the Romans as a prisoner at Jerusalem.

They examined me and were ready to let me go, as I was innocent of any crime that deserved death.

"We have had no letters about you from Judea," they answered, "and none of the brothers who have come here has reported or said anything against you.

So they fixed a day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying, and from morning till night he explained to them the Kingdom of God and gave his testimony, trying to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

As they could not agree among themselves, they started to leave, when Paul added one last word. "The holy Spirit put it finely," he said, "when it said to your forefathers through the prophet Isaiah,

For this nation's mind has grown dull, And they hear faintly with their ears, And they have shut their eyes, So as never to see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their minds, and turn back, And let me cure them!" '

"Understand then that this message of God's salvation has been sent to the heathen. They will listen to it!"

Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible nature??is eternal power and divine character??ave been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse,

for, though they knew God, they have not honored him as God or given thanks to him, but they have indulged in futile speculations, until their stupid minds have become dark.