So he drove them from the judge’s bench.

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

But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

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.

But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a united cry went up from all of them for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

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?

He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.

but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on speaking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

Then we went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there. For these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.

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—

and that I did not shrink back from proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching it to you in public and from house to house.

But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.

And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following 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.

When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them one day.

While we were staying there many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

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.

With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

As the seven days were about to end, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple complex, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

Aren’t you the Egyptian who raised a rebellion some time ago and led 4,000 Assassins into the wilderness?”

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.”

as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to bring those who were prisoners there to be punished in Jerusalem.

“As I was traveling and near Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

Therefore, those who were about to examine him withdrew from him at once. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, rescue him from them, and bring him into the barracks.

Don’t let them persuade you, because there are more than 40 of them arranging to ambush him, men who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they kill him. Now they are ready, waiting for a commitment from you.”

After he read it, he asked what province he was from. So when he learned he was from Cilicia,

But Lysias the commander came and took him from our hands with great force,

and while I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar.

He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from serving him.

Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove,

“All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem.

I actually did this in Jerusalem, and I locked up many of the saints in prison, since I had received authority for that from the chief priests. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

“I was traveling to Damascus under these circumstances with authority and a commission from the chief priests.

King Agrippa, while on the road at midday, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.

I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles. I now send you to them

to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.’

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—

that the Messiah must suffer, and that as the first to rise from the dead, He would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

When we had put out to sea from there, we sailed along the northern coast of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

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.

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.

Then, fearing we might run aground in some rocky place, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

Some sailors tried to escape from the ship; they had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow.

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.”

But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on debris from the ship. In this way, everyone safely reached the shore.

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!”

Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

From there, after making a circuit along the coast, we reached Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and the second day we came to Puteoli.

Now the believers from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

After three days he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

But we would like to hear from you what you think. For concerning this sect, we are aware that it is spoken against everywhere.”

After arranging a day with him, many came to him at his lodging. From dawn to dusk he expounded and witnessed about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.

To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

know His will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,

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.

But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed—attested by the Law and the Prophets

For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the man God credits righteousness to apart from works:

but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.

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.

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.

Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.

since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.

because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him.

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.

But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were transferred to,

and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from allegiance to righteousness.

So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

But now, since you have been liberated from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life!

For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.

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.

Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.

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.

And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?

because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.

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

Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Can affliction or anguish or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

height or depth, or any other created thing
will have the power to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.

The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

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

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