Paul held they should not take a man with them who had deserted them in Pamphylia, instead of accompanying them on active service.

He had a good reputation among the brothers at Lystra and Iconium;

so, as Paul wished him to go abroad with him, he took and circumcised him on account of the local Jews, all of whom knew his father had been a Greek.

As they travelled on from town to town, they handed over to the people the resolutions which the apostles and the presbyters in Jerusalem had decided were to be obeyed;

As soon as he saw the vision, we made efforts to start for Macedonia, inferring that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

On the sabbath we went outside the gate to the bank of the river, where as usual there was a place of prayer; we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered.

had many lashes inflicted on them and put them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safe.

When the jailer started from his sleep and saw the prison-doors open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing the prisoners had made their escape;

explaining and quoting passages to prove that the messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that "the Jesus I proclaim to you is the messiah."

There he came across a Jew called Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, as Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul accosted them,

Paul was just on the point of opening his lips to reply, when Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been a misdemeanour or wicked crime, there would be some reason in me listening to you,O Jews.

After waiting on for a number of days Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. (As the latter was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchreae.)

He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and he preached and taught about Jesus with ardour and accuracy, though all the baptism he knew was that of John.

As he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers wrote and urged the disciples there to give him a welcome. And on his arrival he proved of great service to those who by God's grace had believed,

When they heard this, they had themselves baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,

people even carried away towels or aprons he had used, and at their touch sick folk were freed from their diseases and evil spirits came out of them.

Some strolling Jewish exorcists also undertook to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

and numbers who had practised magic arts collected their books and burned them in the presence of all. On adding up the value of them, it was found that they were worth two thousand pounds.

Some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority had no idea why they had met.

When the tumult had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them; he then took leave of them and went his way to Macedonia.

Now we had gone on beforehand to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there. This was his own arrangement, for he intended to travel by land.

This was because Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, to avoid any loss of time in Asia; he wanted to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

When we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we made a straight run to Cos, next day to Rhodes, and thence to Patara;

and had four unmarried daughters who prophesied). We stayed with him.

and after saluting them Paul described in detail what God had done by means of his ministry among the Gentiles.

Then Paul associated himself with the men next day; he had himself purified along with them and went into the temple to give notice of the time when the days of purification would be completed ??the time, that is to say, when the sacrifice could be offered for each one of them.

(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian along with him in the city, and they supposed Paul had taken him inside the temple.)

By the time he reached the steps, he had actually to be carried by the soldiers on account of the violence of the crowd,

as the high priest and all the council of elders can testify. It was from them that I got letters to the brotherhood at Damascus, and then journeyed thither to bind those who had gathered there and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

Then a certain Ananias, a devout man in the Law, who had a good reputation among all the Jewish inhabitants,

Till he said that, they had listened to him. But at that they shouted, "Away with such a creature from the earth! He is not fit to live!"

They had strapped him up, when Paul said to the officer who was standing by, "Are you allowed to scourge a Roman citizen ??and to scourge him without a trial?"

The commander replied, "I had to pay a large sum for this citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," said Paul.

Then those who were to have examined him left him at once alone; even the commander was alarmed to find that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

When day broke, the Jews formed a conspiracy, taking a solemn oath neither to eat nor to drink till they had killed Paul.

This man had been seized by the Jews and was on the point of being murdered by them, when I came on them with the troops and rescued him, as I had ascertained that he was a Roman citizen.

As Felix had a pretty accurate knowledge of the Way, he remanded Paul, telling the Jews, "When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case."

Some days later Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and heard what he had to say about faith in Christ Jesus;

But when two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and as Felix wanted to ingratiate himself with the Jews, he left Paul still in custody.

When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and brought a number of serious charges against him, none of which they were able to prove.

Some days had passed, when king Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.

I told them Romans were not in the habit of giving up any man until the accused met the accusers face to face and had a chance of defending himself against the impeachment.

but when his accusers stood up they did not charge him with any of the crimes that I had expected.

The questions at issue referred to their own religion and to a certain Jesus who had died. Paul said he was alive.

I could not find he had done anything that deserved death, so I decided to send him, on his own appeal, to the emperor.

To this day I have had the help of God in standing, as I now do, to testify alike to low and high, never uttering a single syllable beyond what the prophets and Moses predicted was to take place.

Then the king rose, with the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated beside them.

"He might have been released," said Agrippa to Festus, "if he had not appealed to Caesar."

Putting to sea from there, we had to sail under the lee of Cyprus, as the wind was against us;

For a number of days we made a slow passage and had great difficulty in arriving off Cnidus; then, as the wind checked our progress, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Cape Salmone,

By this time it was far on in the season and sailing had become dangerous (for the autumn Fast was past), so Paul warned them thus:

When a moderate southerly breeze sprang up, they thought they had secured their object, and after weighing anchor they sailed along the coast of Crete, close inshore.

As we were being terribly battered by the storm, they had to jettison the cargo next day,

for many days neither sun nor stars could be seen, the storm raged heavily, and at last we had to give up all hope of being saved.

When they had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and spared yourselves this hardship and loss by refusing to set sail from Crete.

The sailors tried to escape from the ship. They had even lowered the boat into the sea, pretending they were going to layout anchors from the bow,

and when they had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.

The natives showed us uncommon kindness, for they lit a fire and welcomed us all to it, as the rain had come on and it was chilly.

Now Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, when a viper crawled out with the heat and fastened on his hand.

The natives waited for him to swell up or drop down dead in a moment, but after waiting a long while and observing that no harm had befallen him, they changed their minds and declared he was a god.

When this had happened, the rest of the sick folk in the island also came and got cured;

We set sail, after three months, in an Alexandrian ship, with the Dioscuri on her figure-head, which had wintered at the island.

As the local brothers had heard about us, they came out to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae, and when Paul saw them he thanked God and took courage.

But the Jews objected, and so I was obliged to appeal to Caesar ??not that I had any charge to bring against my own nation.

They replied, "We have had no letters about you from Judaea, and no brother has come here with any bad report or story about you.

whom God put forward as the means of propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to demonstrate the justice of God in view of the fact that sins previously committed during the time of God's forbearance had been passed over;

as well as a father of those circumcised persons who not only share circumcision but walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had as an uncircumcised man.

and felt convinced that He was able to do what He had promised.

so that, while sin had reigned the reign of death, grace might also reign with a righteousness that ends in life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What follows, then? That 'the Law is equivalent to sin'? Never! Why, had it not been for the Law, I would never have known what sin meant! Thus I would never have known what it is to covet, unless the Law had said, You must not covet.

It is not, of course, as if God's word had failed! Far from it! 'Israel' does not mean everyone who belongs to Israel;

and though the children were still unborn and had done nothing either good or bad (to confirm the divine purpose in election which depends upon the call of God, not on anything man does),

Indeed, as Isaiah foretold, Had not the Lord of hosts left us with some descendants, we would have fared like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorra.

by the force of miracles and marvels, by the power of the Spirit of God. Thus from Jerusalem right round to Illyricum, I have been able to complete the preaching of the gospel of Christ ??20 my ambition always being to preach it only in places where there had been no mention of Christ's name, that I might not build on foundations laid by others,

but that (as it is written) They should see who never had learned about him, and they who had never heard of him should understand.

But now, as I have no further scope for work in these parts, and as for a number of years I have had a longing to visit you

None of the Powers of this world understands it (if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory).

But I could not discuss things with you, my brothers, as spiritual persons; I had to address you as worldlings, as mere babes in Christ.

Who singles you out, my brother? What do you possess that has not been given you? And if it was given you, why do you boast as if it had been gained, not given?

You Corinthians have your heart's desire already, have you? You have heaven's rich bliss already! You have come into your kingdom without us! I wish indeed you had come into your kingdom, so that we could share it with you!

but there is so much immorality that every man had better have a wife of his own and every woman a husband of her own.

You were a slave when you were called? Never mind. Of course, if you do find it possible to get free, you had better avail yourself of the opportunity.

I mean, brothers, ??the interval has been shortened; so let those who have wives live as if they had none,

let mourners live as if they were not mourning, let the joyful live as if they had no joy, let buyers live as if they had no hold on their goods,

Suppose now I were to come to you speaking with 'tongues,' my brothers; what good could I do you, unless I had some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching to lay before you?

First and foremost, I passed on to you what I had myself received, namely, that Christ died for our sins as the scriptures had said,

that he was buried, that he rose on the third day as the scriptures had said,

If you forgive the man, I forgive him too; anything I had to forgive him has been forgiven in the presence of Christ for your sakes,

Well, when I reached Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, though I had a wide opportunity in the Lord,

if what faded had its glory, then what lasts will be invested with far greater glory.

Yes, and by more than his arrival, by the comfort which you had been to him; for he gave me such a report of how you longed for me, how sorry you were, and how eagerly you took my part, that it added to my delight.

In fact, if I did pain you by that letter, I do not regret it. I did regret it when I discovered that my letter had pained you even for the time being,

I told him of my pride in you, and I have not been disappointed. No, just as all I have had to say to you has been true, so all I said about you to Titus, all my pride in you, has also proved true.

Thus it is to give and take ??as it is written, He who got much had nothing over, and he who got little had not too little.

Along with them I am also sending our brother: I have had ample proof of his keen interest on many occasions, and it is specially keen on this occasion, as he has absolute confidence in you.

(At Damascus the ethnarch of king Aretas had patrols out in the city of the Damascenes to arrest me,

You had all the miracles that mark an apostle done for you fully and patiently ??miracles, wonders, and deeds of power.

no man put it into my hands, no man taught me what it meant, I had it by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

But the God who had set me apart from my very birth called me by his grace,

instead of going up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles before me, I went off at once to Arabia, and on my return I came back to Damascus.