On reaching Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and exchanged greetings with the Church, and then went down to Antioch.

Sometime after these events Paul resolved to go through Macedonia and Greece, and then make his way to Jerusalem. "And after I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also."

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so as to avoid spending much time in Roman Asia. He was making haste to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the Festival at the close of the Harvest.

And now, under spiritual constraint, I am here on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

There we found the disciples and stayed a week with them. Speaking under the influence of the Spirit, they warned Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

He came to see us, and, taking Paul's girdle, and binding his own feet and hands with it, said: "This is what the Holy Spirit says--'The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound like this at Jerusalem by the Jews, and they will give him up to the Gentiles'."

When we heard that, we and the people of the place began to entreat Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

It was then that Paul made the reply: "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart like this? For my part, I am ready not only to be bound, but even to suffer death at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus."

At the end of our visit, we made our preparations, and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

On our arrival at Jerusalem, the Brethren there gave us a hearty welcome;

They were bent upon killing him, when it was reported to the Officer commanding the garrison, that all Jerusalem was in commotion.

And to that the High Priest himself and all the Council can testify. For I had letters of introduction from them to our fellow Jews at Damascus, and I was on my way to that place, to bring those whom I might find there prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

After my return to Jerusalem, while I was praying one day in the Temple, I fell into a trance,

And saw Jesus saying to me 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

That night the Lord came and stood by Paul, and said: "Courage! You have borne witness for me in Jerusalem and you must bear witness in Rome also."

For you can easily ascertain that it is not more than twelve days ago that I went up to worship at Jerusalem,

Three days after Festus had entered upon his province, he left Caesarea and went up to Jerusalem.

And asked a favor of him, to Paul's injury--to have Paul brought to Jerusalem. All the while they were plotting to make away with him on the road.

On Paul's appearance, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, and made many serious charges, which they failed to establish.

But, as Festus wished to gain popularity with the Jews, he interrupted Paul with the question: "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges before me there?"

About whom, when I came to Jerusalem, the Jewish Chief Priest and the Councillors laid an information, demanding judgment against him.

And, as I was at a loss how to enquire into questions of this kind, I asked Paul if he were willing to go up to Jerusalem, and there be put upon his trial.

Then Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all here present, you see before you the man about whom the whole Jewish people have applied to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly asserting that he ought not to be allowed to live.

My life, then, from youth upwards, was passed, from the very first, among my own nation, and in Jerusalem, and is within the knowledge of all Jews;

And I actually did so at Jerusalem. Acting on the authority of the Chief Priests, I myself threw many of the People of Christ into prison, and, when it was proposed to put them to death, I gave my vote for it.

On the contrary, first to those at Damascus and Jerusalem, and then through the whole of Judea, and to the Gentiles as well, I began to preach repentance and conversion to God, and a life befitting that repentance.

Three days after our arrival, Paul invited the leading Jews to meet him; and, when they came, he spoke to them as follows: "Brothers, although I had done nothing hostile to the interests of our nation or to our ancestral customs, yet I was sent from Jerusalem as a prisoner, and handed over to the Romans.

By my words and actions, through the power displayed in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, starting from Jerusalem and its neighborhood, and going as far as Illyria, I have told in full the Good News of the Christ;

Just now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem, to take help to Christ's People there.

For Macedonia and Greece have been glad to make a collection for the poor among Christ's People at Jerusalem.

When I have settled this matter, and have secured to the poor at Jerusalem the enjoyment of these benefits, I shall go, by way of you, to Spain.

Pray that I may be rescued from those in Judea who reject the Faith, and that the help which I am taking to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to Christ's People;

On my arrival, I will send any persons, whom you may authorize by letter, to carry your gift to Jerusalem;

Or even going up to Jerusalem to see those who were Apostles before me, I went to Arabia, and came back again to Damascus.

Three years afterwards I went up to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter, and I stayed a fortnight with him.

Fourteen years afterwards I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, and I took Titus also with me.

(The word Hagar meaning in Arabia Mount Sinai) and it ranks with the Jerusalem of to-day, for she and her children are in slavery.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she it is who is our mother.

No, but it is to Mount Zion that you have drawn near, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,

He who conquers--I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God; and never more shall he leave it; and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of Heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

And I saw the Holy City, Jerusalem, descending new out of Heaven from God, like a bride adorned in readiness for her husband.

He carried me away in a trance to a great high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, descending out of Heaven from God, filled with the glory of God.