For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and were trying to kill me.

For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him, because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.

Paul replied, "I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains."

There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

We sailed slowly for many days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Because the wind prevented us from going any farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.

And now I advise you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost.

For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve came to me

Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be just as I have been told.

Because they were afraid that we would run aground on the rocky coast, they threw out four anchors from the stern and wished for day to appear.

Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your survival. For not one of you will lose a hair from his head."

The local inhabitants showed us extraordinary kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain and was cold.

Now in the region around that place were fields belonging to the chief official of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.

When they had heard my case, they wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me.

So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel."

But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know that people everywhere speak against it."

For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."'

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

First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you

For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, "The righteous by faith will live."

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

For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,

and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God's kindness leads you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed!

but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.

For there is no partiality with God.

For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.

For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

For just as it is written, "the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

For circumcision has its value if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh,

Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world?

For if by my lie the truth of God enhances his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner?

What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,

For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.

For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about -- but not before God.

For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, "faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness."

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.

For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either.

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants -- not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham's sake,

but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

(For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?

for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.

But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!

And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification.

For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.

For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.

(For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)

For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.

and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.

For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

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."

But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.

For we know that the law is spiritual -- but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.

For I don't understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want -- instead, I do what I hate.

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.

For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.

For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,

because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.

(for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba, Father."

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.

For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility -- not willingly but because of God who subjected it -- in hope