But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment.

For the king knows about these matters. It is to him I am actually speaking boldly. For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his notice, since this was not done in a corner.

“I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am—except for these 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.

and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward damage and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.”

But not long afterward, a fierce wind called the “northeaster” rushed down from the island.

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.

For this night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me,

When the fourteenth night came, we were drifting in the Adriatic Sea, and in the middle of the night the sailors thought they were approaching land.

Therefore I urge you to take some food. For this has to do with your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head.”

When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could.

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!”

After they examined me, they wanted to release me, since I had not committed a capital offense.

Because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar; it was not as though I had any accusation against my nation.

Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.

And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.

Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.

So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.

you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal?

You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob their temples?

Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision?

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter. That man’s praise is not from men but from God.

What then? If some did not believe, will their unbelief cancel God’s faithfulness?

Absolutely not! God must be true, even if everyone is a liar, as it is written:

That You may be justified in Your words
and triumph when You judge.

Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?

And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin,

as it is written:

There is no one righteous, not even one.

All have turned away;
all alike have become useless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.

and the path of peace they have not known.

Or is God for Jews only? Is He not also for Gentiles? Yes, for Gentiles too,

Do we then cancel the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to brag about—but not before God.

Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed.

But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.

In what way then was it credited—while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while he was circumcised, but uncircumcised.

And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also.

And he became the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while he was still uncircumcised.

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all

in God’s sight. As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.

He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone,

And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,

This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.

In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.

And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.

Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering,

in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope

And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

He did not even spare His own Son
but offered Him up for us all;
how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit—

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

And not only that, but also Rebekah received a promise when she became pregnant by one man, our ancestor Isaac.

For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—

not from works but from the One who calls—she was told: The older will serve the younger.

What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

So then it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

on us, the ones He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

As He also says in Hosea:

I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not My people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.

And just as Isaiah predicted:

If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law.

Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

As it is written:

Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him
will not be put to shame.

I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.