And, as this he was saying, there arose a dissension of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and rent asunder was the throng.

For, Sadducees, say, there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, whereas, Pharisees, confess them both.

And there arose a great outcry, and certain of the Scribes of the party of the Pharisees, standing up, began to strive, saying - Nothing bad, find we in this man; - but, if a spirit hath spoken unto him, or a messenger --

And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.

There were more than 40 who had formed this plot.

Thou, therefore, do not be persuaded by them, for there are lying in wait for him, from among them, more than forty men, - who, indeed, have bound themselves under a curse, neither to eat nor drink, till they have killed him; and, now, are they ready, awaiting the promise, from thee.

I found out that the accusations were about disputed matters in their law, and that there was no charge that merited death or chains.

But, when I was informed there would be a plot against the man, forthwith, I sent him unto thee, charging, his accusers also, to be speaking against him before thee.

seeing thou art able to ascertain, that there are, not more, than twelve days, since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, -

[While there] I was not observed arguing with anyone or trying to stir up a crowd [to riot] in the Temple or in the synagogues or [anywhere else] in the city.

Having, hope, towards God, which, even these themselves, do entertain - that, a resurrection, there shall certainly be, both of righteous and of unrighteous:

there religiously employ'd some Asiatic Jews found me, without crowd or tumult:

But [there are] some Jews from Asia who ought to be present before you and bring charges against [me], if they have anything against me,

other than concerning this one declaration that I shouted [while] standing there before them: 'I am being judged before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead!'"

The leading priests and the leading Jewish men [there] informed Festus of the charges against Paul. Then they begged him

However, Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.

They, therefore, among you (saith he) who are in power, let them go down with me; and, if there is in the man, anything amiss, let them accuse him.

When he had tarried there more than ten days he departed unto Caesarea, and the next day sat down in the judgment seat, and commanded Paul to be brought.

and he having come, there stood round about the Jews who have come down from Jerusalem -- many and weighty charges they are bringing against Paul, which they were not able to prove,

But, Festus, wishing, with the Jews, to gain, favour, answered Paul, and said - Art thou willing, unto Jerusalem, to go up, and, there, concerning these things, be judged before me?

If then, on the one hand, I am doing wrong, and, anything worthy of death, have committed, I excuse not myself from dying; but, on the other hand, if there is, nothing, in the things whereof these are accusing me, no man, hath power to give, me, unto them as a favour: - Unto Caesar, I appeal!

And, as they were spending more days there, Festus, repeated, unto the king, the things relating to Paul, saying - A certain man, hath been left behind by Felix, as a prisoner;

But I found that there were certain questions in dispute between them about their own religion, and about some dead man called Jesus, whom Paul declared to be alive.

And, I, being at a loss as to the inquiry into these things, was asking - whether he might be minded to go unto Jerusalem, and, there, be judged concerning these things.

But, in my opinion, there is no cause of death in him, and as he himself has made a request to be judged by Caesar, I have said that I would send him.

Concerning whom I have nothing definite to write to my lord; therefore I have led him to you, and especially to thee, O king Agrippa, in order that, there being an investigation, I may have something which I shall write;

For it seems to me against reason to send a prisoner without making clear what there is against him.

there was not a synagogue where I did not often punish them and force them to blaspheme; and in my frantic fury I persecuted them even to foreign towns.

Indeed, the King knows about these matters, so I speak before him without constraint. I am sure that there is nothing whatever of what I have been telling him that has escaped his attention; for all this has not been done in a corner.

And, after retiring, discussed the case among themselves. "There is nothing," they said, "deserving death or imprisonment in this man's conduct";

And, going on board a ship of Adramittium, about to sail unto the places along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, there being with us, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica;

The next day we stopped at Sidon [i.e., a seaport on the northwest coast of Palestine]. Julius treated Paul with kindness, [even] giving him the opportunity to meet his friends [there] and receive help [from them].

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

And the centurion, there, finding a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, put us therein.

"Men, I see that during this voyage there will be hardship and a heavy loss not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives."

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, after no long time, there beat down from it a tempestuous wind, called Euraquilo, -

and neither sun nor stars appearing for many days, and there being no small tempest on us, finally all hope of saving us was taken away.

And there having been long fasting, then Paul having stood in the midst of them, said, 'It behoved you, indeed, O men -- having hearkened to me -- not to set sail from Crete, and to save this hurt and damage;

And, now, I recommend you to be of good courage; for, loss of life, shall there be, none at all, from among you, - only the ship.

For there stood by me this night, belonging unto the God whose I am, unto whom also I am doing divine service, a messenger,

But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were carried in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that there appeared some country unto them,

Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.

In all there were 276 of us on the ship.

When daylight came they could not recognize the coast, but they saw a bay with a beach and determined to run the ship ashore there if possible.

They got, however, into a kind of channel, and there ran the ship aground. The bows stuck fast and could not be moved, while the stern began breaking up under the strain.

And on the part of the soldiers there was a plan to kill the prisoners, lest any one should swim out and escape.

And the simple people living there were uncommonly kind to us, for they made a fire for us, and took us in, because it was raining and cold.

And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

When the people who lived there saw the snake hanging from his hand, they told one another, "This man must be a murderer! He may have escaped from the sea, but Justice won't let him live."

The natives were expecting inflammation to set in, or that he would suddenly fall dead; but, after waiting for a long time, and seeing that there was nothing amiss with him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God.

Now near that place there was some land, the property of the chief man of the island, who was named Publius; who very kindly took us into his house as his guests for three days.

After having been there three months, we embark'd on board the Castor and Pollux from Alexandria, that had put in there by hard weather:

And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.

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.

There we found believers and were invited to stay with them for seven days.

And so we came to Rome.

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.

And it happened after three days that Paul called together those who were the leading Jews, and when they assembled he said to them, "Brothers, although I had done nothing against the [Jewish] people or the customs of our forefathers, yet I was made a prisoner at Jerusalem, being placed in the custody of the Romans [while there].

who, indeed, when they had examined me, were minded to set me at liberty, because there was, nothing worthy of death, in me.

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.

We think it only right to let you tell your own story; but as regards this sect, we are well aware that there are objections to it on all hands."

And, having arranged with him a day, there came unto him, to the lodging, a larger number; unto whom he proceeded to expound, bearing full witness as to the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses, and from the prophets, - from morning till evening.

And they went away, for there was a division among them after Paul had said this one thing: Well did the Holy Spirit say by the prophet Isaiah to your fathers,

Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him,

All of you there in Rome [i.e., the church there] are also among such obedient believers. You are called Jesus Christ's [people], loved by God and called to be His holy people. May you have unearned favor and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is to say - there may be a mutual encouragement among you, each by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

There it is that divine justification is revealed to be wholly by faith: as it is written, " the just shall live by faith."

For there is being revealed an anger of God from heaven - against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, the truth, in unrighteousness, do hold down; -

because though they knew [there was] a God, they glorified him not as God, nor gave him thanks, but became triflers in their disputations, and their stupid heart was darkened.

But to those that are contentious, and are disobedient to the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there shall be wrath and indignation,

[There will be] affliction and distress for every {human being} who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek,

but there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does right, the Jew first, and the Greek also,

For there is no respect of persons with God; -

They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

There are all kinds of advantages! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the utterances of God.

Even as it is written - there is none righteous, not even one,

There is none that discerneth, There is none that seeketh out God:

All, have turned aside, together, have become useless, There is none that doeth kindness, not so much as one:

[Psa. 5:9 says], "Their throats are like open graves [i.e., they are foul-mouthed]. They have spoken deceitfully." [Psa. 90:3 says], "There is snake venom under their lips [i.e., their words are deadly]."

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

But now without the law there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, to which witness is given by the law and the prophets;

A righteousness of God, through faith in JesusChrist, unto all that have faith; for there is no distinction, -

There is no difference: For all have sinned, and lack the praise that is of valour before God:

what reason then is there for boasting? it is excluded. what, by the ceremonial law? no: but by the law of faith.

since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

As David says that there is a blessing on the man to whose account God puts righteousness without works, saying,

For, the law, worketh out anger, but, where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

Abraham hoped for what he believed [God had promised], even when there seemed little hope [of it happening], so this made him forefather of many nations, according to the words spoken to him [Gen. 15:5], "Your descendants will be many."

Why, it is scarcely conceivable that any one would die for a simply just man, although for a good and lovable man perhaps some one, here and there, will have the courage even to lay down his life.

Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so came upon all men because all sinned,??13 for till the law there was sin in the world, but sin is not accounted where there is no law

For, until law, sin was in the world, although sin is not reckoned when there is no law, -

But there is no comparison between God's gift and that offense. For if one man's offense made the mass of mankind die, God's mercy and his gift given through the favor of the one man Jesus Christ have far more powerfully affected mankind.

Nor is there any comparison between the gift and the effects of that one man's sin. That sentence arose from the act of one man, and was for condemnation; but God's gift arose out of many offenses and results in acquittal.

So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone.

But the law, in the meantime, entered in that sin should increase. Neverthelater, where abundance of sin was, there was more plenteousness of grace.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that there may be abundance of grace?

So, through that commandment, sin found an opportunity to produce in my heart all kinds of improper desires for what belonged to others. For until there was the law, sin was dead [i.e., it did not stimulate excitement and activity as much].

And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;