So he invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he rose, and went off with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied them;

"not to all the people, but to witnesses??en previously chosen by God??hat is, to us, who ate and drank with him after he had risen from the dead;

"But for the second time a voice spoke from the sky, 'What God has cleansed, you must not call common.'

"And lo! at that very moment, three men who had been sent for me from Caesarea stood before the house in which I was.

At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

suddenly an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him saying, "Rise up quickly." At once the chains dropped from his hands.

Peter, coming to himself, said, "Now I know for a certainty that the Lord has sent his angel and released me from the hand of Herod, and from all that the Jewish people were anticipating."

Then Herod had search made for him, and could not find him. After sharply questioning the guards, he ordered them off to execution. He then went down from Judea to Caesarea, where he stayed for some time.

and after discharging their mission, Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, bringing with them John, surnamed Mark.

So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

But Elymas, "the sorcerer," for that is the translation of his name, opposed them, and tried to divert the proconsul from the faith.

From Paphos Paul and his party set sail for Perga in Pamphylia; but John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem.

Then they themselves, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and sat down.

"And when they had fulfilled everything which had been written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

"But God raised him from the dead.

"For many days he was seen by those that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and are now his witnesses to the people.

"And as to his having raised him from among the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has said this, "I will give thee the holy and sure blessings of David.

"and that by him every one that believes is justified from all things from which you could never be justified by the law of Moses.

So Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly. "It was necessary," they said, "first to proclaim the word of God to you. But since you push it away from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

Now at Lystra there used to sit a certain man, lame in his feet, a cripple from birth, who had never walked.

"Men, why are you doing all this? We also are men, with natures like your own! We are bringing you good tidings, that you are to turn from these empty things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is.

and yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."

Even with saying this they with difficulty restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Thence they sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been commended to the grace of God, for the work which they had now completed.

But some men came down from Judea and attempted to teach the brethren, saying, "Unless you are circumcised according to Moses' custom, you cannot be saved."

and after there had been a long discussion, Peter rose and said: "Brothers, you know how a good while ago God made choice among you, that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the message of the gospel and believe.

"Brothers, listen to me. Symeon has told how God first looked graciously upon the Gentiles, to take out from among them a people to be called by his name.

"Says the Lord, who has been making this known from the beginning of the world.

"My judgment therefore, is against troubling those who turn to God from among the Gentiles;

"but that we should write to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.

"For Moses from the earliest times has had his preachers in every town where he is read aloud, Sabbath after Sabbath, in the synagogues."

"as we have heard that some of your number who went out from us have troubled you with words and upset your souls, without having received any such instruction from us;

"that you abstain from food that has been sacrificed to idols, and from tasting blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. Keep yourselves clear from these things and it will be well with you. Farewell."

So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis,

The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped.

explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah."

but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;

inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."

So Paul withdrew from them.

Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.

And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized.

And he drove them from the tribunal.

Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.

for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public argument, proving to them from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

so much so, that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick; and their diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.

"So there is danger not only that our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be brought into disrepute, and that she herself may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world now worships."

At length the recorder got them quiet. "Men of Ephesus," he said, "who here does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-guardian of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

but we ourselves set sail from Philippi, after the days of unleavened bread, and joined them five days later at Troas. There we remained for a week.

and a young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window, overborne by deep sleep, while Paul continued to preach at length. Overcome at last by sleep, he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

We sailed from thence, and arrived next day off Chios; and the day after we touched at Samos; and the following day we came to Mitylene.

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church to come to him;

and when they arrived, he said to them. "You yourselves know quite well, how I lived among you, from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

"You know that I never shrank from declaring to you anything that was profitable, nor from teaching you publicity and in your homes,

But I hold not my life of any account, as dear unto myself, if only I may run my race, and accomplish the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to attest the gospel of the grace of God.

So I testify to you this day that I am clear from the blood of all men;

I never shrank from telling you the whole counsel of God.

and that from among your own number, men will arise, perverting the truth, to draw away the disciples after them.

When at least we had torn ourselves away, and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos, and next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

And when we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, and greeted the brothers and stayed with them one day.

and while we remained there many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

And some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us. They led us to the house of Mnason, a Cypriote, a disciple of long standing, with whom we were to lodge.

"As for the Gentile believers, we wrote giving judgment that they should abstain from anything sacrificed to an idol, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication."

"To this the high priest and all the council of elders are witnesses. It was from them that I received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was already on my way to bring those also who were there back to Jerusalem, in bonds, for punishment.

"But when, on my journey, I was nearing Damascus, about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone round about me.

"Then he said: "'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to know his will; and to see the righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

Until they heard this last statement, the people were listening to Paul, but now they roared out. "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He is not fit to live!"

But when the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul in pieces, ordered the troops to march down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks.

"But not to weary you too much, I beg of your Excellency to listen to a few words from us.

"Then the chief captain, Lysias came and violently took him from us.

From him you will be able, by examining Paul yourself, to learn the truth of all these charges we are bringing against him."

Then at a nod from the governor, Paul spoke. "Because I know that for many years you have been a judge in this nation, I feel encouraged to make my defense.

Three days after Festus entered his province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

When he came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought a number of serious charges against him, which they could not prove.

"The kind of life I have lived from my youth upward among my own nation and at Jerusalem, all that early life of mine, is well known to all the Jews.

"And this also I did in Jerusalem. Armed with authority from the chief priests, I shut up many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death I gave my vote against them.

"when at noon, as I journeyed, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and around those who journeyed with me.

"'I will deliver you from the Jewish people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes

"'so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, in order to receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

"But having obtained the help that comes from God, I stand even to this day witnessing both to small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said should come;

"how that the Christ must suffer, and how he should be the first to rise from the dead, and should bring a message of light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

Putting to sea from thence we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us;

For many days we sailed slowly, and then arrived with difficulty over against Cnidus; from this point, as the wind did not further favor us, we ran under the lee of Crete, off Cape Salmone;

and coasting along with difficulty we reached a place called Fair Havens, not far from the town of Lasea.

and as the harbor was ill adapted for winter quarters, the majority advised putting out to sea from thence, to see whether they could get to Phoenix and winter there, a harbor on the coast of Crete facing northeast and southeast.

But it was not long before a furious wind, called Euroclydon, rushed down from the island;

Then when for many days neither sun nor stars were seen, and a great tempest still beat upon us, all hope that we should be saved was now taken away from us.

When for a long time they had been without food, Paul stood among them and said: "Men, you ought to have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, and so have spared yourselves this injury and loss.

Then, fearing lest we should run ashore on the rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern, and longed for day to come.

And when the sailors were trying to flee from the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea under pretext of laying anchors from the bow,

"So I beg you to take some food, for this is for your safety. For there shall not a hair perish from the head of any one of you."

But the centurion kept them from their purpose, because he wished to save Paul. He gave orders that those who could swim should first jump overboard and get to land;

When the natives saw the reptile hanging on his hand, they began saying to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live."

From thence, tacking round, we reached Rhegium. Next day a south wind sprang up, which brought us in a day to Puteoli.

From there the brothers, when they heard about us, came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them he thanked God and took courage.

Now three days later he called the leading Jews together, and when they were come together he said to them. "Brothers, I was delivered a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of your fathers.

They said to him. "We neither received any letters about you from Judea nor has any brother come hither to report or speak any harm of you.

"But we are eager to hear from you what it is that you believe; for we all know that as for this sect it is everywhere spoken against."