Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat.

So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and began to beat him in front of the judgment seat. Yet none of these things were of any concern to Gallio.

Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because he had made a vow.

When they asked him to stay longer, he would not consent,

but said farewell to them and added, "I will come back to you again if God wills." Then he set sail from Ephesus,

and said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

So Paul said, "Into what then were you baptized?" "Into John's baptism," they replied.

Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."

Now after all these things had taken place, Paul resolved to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. He said, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."

He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.

After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?

After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, put his arms around him, and said, "Do not be distressed, for he is still alive!"

We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus.

When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,

By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed.

especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.

we said farewell to one another. Then we went aboard the ship, and they returned to their own homes.

He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, "The Holy Spirit says this: 'This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'"

Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, "The Lord's will be done."

Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us too, and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple from the earliest times, with whom we were to stay.

When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers of the law.

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commanding officer, "May I say something to you?" The officer replied, "Do you know Greek?

(When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said,

I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'

So I asked, 'What should I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.'

came to me and stood beside me and said to me, 'Brother Saul, regain your sight!' And at that very moment I looked up and saw him.

Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from his mouth,

Then he said to me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

The crowd was listening to him until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!"

When they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing nearby, "Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial?"

Paul looked directly at the council and said, "Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day."

Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?"

Those standing near him said, "Do you dare insult God's high priest?"

When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Have courage, for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to partake of anything until we have killed Paul.

Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to report to him."

So the centurion took him and brought him to the commanding officer and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you."

Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, "Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen by nine o'clock tonight,

he said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive too." Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace.

While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you."

"So," he said, "let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him."

After Festus had stayed not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought.

Paul said in his defense, "I have committed no offense against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar."

Paul replied, "I am standing before Caesar's judgment seat, where I should be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well.

So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought.

Agrippa said to Festus, "I would also like to hear the man myself." "Tomorrow," he replied, "you will hear him."

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer.

So Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense:

So I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

I have experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen:

Agrippa said to Paul, "In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?"

and as they were leaving they said to one another, "This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment."

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

But the centurion was more convinced by the captain and the ship's owner than by what Paul said.

Since many of them had no desire to eat, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not put out to sea from Crete, thus avoiding this damage and loss.

and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously granted you the safety of all who are sailing with you.'

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."

After he said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat.

When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul's hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself has not allowed him to live!"

But they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

There we found some brothers and were invited to stay with them seven days. And in this way we came to Rome.

After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, "Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans.

They replied, "We have received no letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers come from there and reported or said anything bad about you.

They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers. From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.

Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe.

when he said, 'Go to this people and say, "You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive.

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God's children.

it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger,"

"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

But you who eat vegetables only -- why do you judge your brother or sister? And you who eat everything -- why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Therefore after I have completed this and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set out for Spain by way of you,

God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something,

Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."

So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."

and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.

but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.

It is the same for you. If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.

Two or three prophets should speak and the others should evaluate what is said.

And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed -- perhaps of wheat or something else.

On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside some income and save it to the extent that God has blessed you, so that a collection will not have to be made when I come.

and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you can send me on my journey, wherever I go.

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong.

He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,

For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad but the one I caused to be sad?

For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you.

I had no relief in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and set out for Macedonia.

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing --

For God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.