Then Paul took those men and the next day purified himself with them. Then he went into the Temple to announce the time when their days of purification would end and when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them.

When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the Temple, stirred up a large crowd. They grabbed Paul,

The crowd was trying to kill Paul when a report reached the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

Immediately the tribune took some soldiers and officers and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because the mob had become so violent.

The tribune gave him permission, and Paul, standing on the steps, motioned for the people to be silent. When everyone had quieted down, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language:

When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued:

Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there, approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.'

But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion who was standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"

When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and told him, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!"

Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.

When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected."

This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I went with the guard and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

When these men came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him.

he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers arrive." Then he ordered Paul to be kept in custody in Herod's palace.

When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus opened the prosecution by saying:

When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he replied:

Otherwise, these men themselves should tell what wrong they found when I stood before the Council

Felix was rather well informed about the Way, and so he adjourned the trial with the comment, "When Tribune Lysias arrives, I'll decide your case."

As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and said, "For the present you may go. When I get a chance, I will send for you again."

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.

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

When his accusers stood up, they didn't accuse him of any of the crimes I was expecting.

That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the high priests and locked many of the saints in prison. And when I cast my vote against them, they were put to death.

When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were transferred to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the emperor's division.

When a gentle breeze began to blow from the south, they thought they could make it to Phoenix, so they hoisted anchor and began sailing along the shore of Crete.

It was the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors suspected that land was near.

When day came, they didn't recognize the land, but they could see a bay with a beach on which they planned to run the ship ashore, if possible.

When we were safely on shore, we learned that the island was called Malta.

When the people who lived there saw the snake hanging from his hand, they told one another, "This man must be a murderer! He may have escaped from the sea, but Justice won't let him live."

The islanders honored us in many ways, and when we were about to sail again, they supplied us with everything we needed.

The brothers there heard about us and came as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and felt encouraged.

When we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who was guarding him.

Three days later, Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. When they assembled, he told them, "Brothers, although I haven't done anything against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

They disagreed with one another as they were leaving, so Paul added this statement: "The Holy Spirit was so right when he spoke to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah!

Therefore, you have no excuse every one of you who judges. For when you pass judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, practice the very same things.

So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on those who practice these things and then do them yourself, do you think you will escape God's judgment?

But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

on that day when God, through Jesus the Messiah, will judge people's secrets according to my gospel.

Of course not! God is true, even if everyone else is a liar. As it is written, "You are right when you speak, and win your case when you go into court."

But if our unrighteousness serves to confirm God's righteousness, what can we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his wrath on us, is he? (I am talking in human terms.)

As it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.

His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children,

Certainly sin was in the world before the Law was given, but no record of sin is kept when there is no Law.

Nevertheless, death ruled from the time of Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. He is a foreshadowing of the one who would come.

For when he died, he died once and for all as far as sin is concerned. But now that he is alive, he lives for God.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

For when you were slaves of sin, you were "free" as far as righteousness was concerned.

At one time I was alive without any connection to the Law. But when the rule was revealed, sin sprang to life,

So I find this to be a principle: when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me.

God has not rejected his people whom he chose long ago. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story about Elijah, when he pleads with God against Israel?

This is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

This is necessary because you know the times it's already time for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we became believers.

Now that I am on my way to Spain, I hope to see you when I come your way and, after I have enjoyed your company for a while, to be sent on by you.

So when I have completed this task and have put my seal on this contribution of theirs, I will visit you on my way to Spain.

And I know that when I come to you I will come with the full blessing of the Messiah.

When I came to you, brothers, I didn't come and tell you about God's secret with rhetorical language or wisdom.

However, when we are among mature people, we do speak a message of wisdom, but not the wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are passing off the scene.

For when one person says, "I follow Paul," and another person says, "I follow Apollos," you're following your own human nature, aren't you?

We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure.

When slandered, we answer with kind words. Even now we have become the filth of the world, the scum of the universe.

In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered together (and I am there in spirit), and the power of our Lord Jesus is there, too,

When one of you has a complaint against another, does he dare to take the matter before those who are unrighteous and not before the saints?

Was anyone circumcised when he was called? He should not try to change that. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called? He should not get circumcised.

Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that bother you. Of course, if you have a chance to become free, take advantage of the opportunity.

But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are so accustomed to idolatry that when they eat food that has been offered to an idol, their conscience becomes contaminated because it is weak.

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak consciences, you are sinning against the Messiah.

What, then, is my reward? It is to be able to preach the gospel free of charge, and so I never resort to demanding my rights when I'm preaching the gospel.

Now I am not praising you in giving you the following instructions. When you gather, it is not for the better but for the worse.

For in the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it.

When you gather in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

Therefore, my brothers, when you gather to eat, wait for each other.

If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you gather it may not bring judgment on you. And when I come I will give instructions concerning the other matters.

You know that when you were unbelievers, you were enticed and led astray to worship idols that couldn't even speak.

But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.

Now if the whole church gathers in the same place and everyone is speaking in foreign languages, when uneducated people or unbelievers come in, they will say that you are out of your mind, won't they?

But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted and examined by everything that's happening.

What, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, foreign language, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding.

However, this will happen to each person in the proper order: first the Messiah, then those who belong to the Messiah when he comes.

Then the end will come, when after he has done away with every ruler and every authority and power, the Messiah hands over the kingdom to God the Father.

for "God has put everything under his feet." Now when he says, "Everything has been put under him," this clearly excludes the one who put everything under him.

But when everything has been put under him, then the Son himself will also become subject to the one who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back?"

Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up by victory!"

After the Sabbath ends, each of you should set aside and save something from your surplus in proportion to what you have, so that no collections will have to be made when I arrive.

When I arrive, I will send letters along with the men you approve to take your gift to Jerusalem.

I will visit you when I go through Macedonia for I intend to go through Macedonia

Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but he was not inclined to do so just now. However, he will visit you when the time is right.

If we suffer, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are suffering.

When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time?

This is the very reason I wrote you, so that when I did come I might not be made sad by those who should have made me happy. For I had confidence that all of you would share the joy that I have.

When you forgive someone, I do, too. Indeed, what I have forgiven if there was anything to forgive I did in the presence of the Messiah for your benefit,

When I went to Troas on behalf of the gospel of the Messiah, the Lord opened a door for me,

However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed.

Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

For even when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We suffered in a number of ways. Outwardly there were conflicts, inwardly there were fears.

Now I myself, Paul, plead with you with the gentleness and kindness of the Messiah I who am humble when I am face to face with you but forceful toward you when I am away!

I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh.

Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present!