“You’re crazy!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true. Then they said, “It’s his angel!”

Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Report these things to James and the brothers,” he said. Then he departed and went to a different place.

As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.”

and said, “You son of the Devil, full of all deceit and all fraud, enemy of all righteousness! Won’t you ever stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord?

Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and went back to Jerusalem.

They continued their journey from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.

The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, exalted the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty arm.

Then as John was completing his life’s work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the One. But look! Someone is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on His feet.’

So beware that what is said in the prophets does not happen to you:

Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: “It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles!

In Lystra a man without strength in his feet, lame from birth, and who had never walked, sat

Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” And he jumped up and started to walk around.

Even though they said these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses!”

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

After these things I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
I will rebuild its ruins
and set it up again,

After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord and see how they’re doing.”

After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

And she did this for many days.

But Paul was greatly aggravated and turning to the spirit, said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

Then he escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had believed God with his entire household.

But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to smuggle us out secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out!”

But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some scoundrels from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.

Then also, some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. Some said, “What is this pseudo-intellectual trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the Resurrection.

They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you’re speaking of?

Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.

For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

because He has set a day when He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

When they heard about resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him. But others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

“This man,” they said, “persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!”

As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of a crime or of moral evil, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because he had taken a vow.

And though they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

but he said good-bye and stated, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

And after spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the Galatian territory and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

When these events were over, Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well!”

When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said: “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.

However, when the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “Men of Ephesus! What man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?

and stayed three months. When he was about to set sail for Syria, a plot was devised against him by the Jews, so a decision was made to go back through Macedonia.

But Paul went down, fell on him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him!”

And when they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time—

In every way I’ve shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

After we tore ourselves away from them and set sail, we came by a direct route to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail.

So we found some disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

we said good-bye to one another. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into Gentile hands.’”

Since he would not be persuaded, we stopped talking and simply said, “The Lord’s will be done!”

Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason, a Cypriot and an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?”

He replied, “Do you know Greek?

Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

“I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting!’

“Then I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’

“And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that is assigned for you to do.’

came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of His voice.

“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in You imprisoned and beaten.

“Then He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

The commander came and said to him, “Tell me—are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” he said.

The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

Paul looked intently at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience until this day.”

Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?”

And those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?”

“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”

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

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

These men went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse that we won’t eat anything until we have killed Paul.

Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”

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

“The Jews,” he said, “have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they are going to hold a somewhat more careful inquiry about him.

He summoned two of his centurions and said, “Get 200 soldiers ready with 70 cavalry and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight.

he said, “I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers get here too.” And he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

When he was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: “Since we enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation by your foresight,

“Therefore,” he said, “let the men of authority among you go down with me and accuse him, if there is any wrong in this man.”

But Paul said: “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you can see very well.

Therefore, when they had assembled here, I did not delay. The next day I sat at the judge’s bench and ordered the man to be brought in.

Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.”

“Tomorrow you will hear him,” he replied.

Then Festus said: “King Agrippa and all men present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community has appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he should not live any longer.

Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted for you to speak for yourself.”

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

“Then I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“And the Lord replied: ‘I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting.

To this very day, I have obtained help that comes from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing else than what the prophets and Moses said would take place—

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”

and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is doing nothing that deserves death or chains.”

Then Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Sailing slowly for many days, we came with difficulty as far as Cnidus. Since the wind did not allow us to approach it, we sailed along the south side of Crete off Salmone.

But the centurion paid attention to the captain and the owner of the ship rather than to what Paul said.

Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to set sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor on Crete open to the southwest and northwest, and to winter there.

Since many were going without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “You men should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete and sustain this damage and loss.

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

After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them, and when he broke it, he began to eat.

When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live!”

They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.