However, as they set themselves against him and became abusive, Paul shook his clothes in protest and said to them: "Your blood be on your own heads. My conscience is clear. From this time forward I shall go to the Gentiles."

One night the Lord said to Paul, in a vision: "Have no fear, but continue to speak, and refuse to be silenced;

Just as Paul was on the point of speaking, Gallio said to the Jews: "Jews, if this were a case of misdemeanor or some serious crime, there would be some reason for my listening patiently to you;

As he took his leave, "I will come back again to you, please God," and then set sail from Ephesus.

Sometime after these events Paul resolved to go through Macedonia and Greece, and then make his way to Jerusalem. "And after I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also."

Got these men together, as well as the workmen engaged in similar occupations, and said: "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this work,

When the Recorder had succeeded in quieting the crowd, he said: "Men of Ephesus, who is there, I ask you, who needs to be told that this city of Ephesus is the Warden of the Temple of the great Artemis, and of the statue which fell down from Zeus?

He was about to sail to Syria, when he learned that a plot had been laid against him by the Jews; so he decided to return by way of Macedonia.

But Paul went down, threw himself upon him, and put his arms round him. "Do not be alarmed," he said, "he is still alive."

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so as to avoid spending much time in Roman Asia. He was making haste to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the Festival at the close of the Harvest.

I left nothing undone to show you that, laboring as I labored, you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said himself-- 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Grieving most of all over what he had said--that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

When we had torn ourselves away and had set sail, we ran before the wind to Cos; the next day we came to Rhodes, and from there to Patara,

Where we found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, and went on board and set sail.

And then said good-bye to one another; after which we went on board, and they returned home.

He came to see us, and, taking Paul's girdle, and binding his own feet and hands with it, said: "This is what the Holy Spirit says--'The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound like this at Jerusalem by the Jews, and they will give him up to the Gentiles'."

So, as he would not be persuaded, we said no more to him, only adding--"The Lord's will be done."

And, when they had heard it, they began praising God, and said to Paul: "You see, Brother, that the Jews who have become believers in Christ may be numbered by tens of thousands, and they are all naturally earnest in upholding the Jewish Law.

Now they have heard it said about you, that you teach all Jews in foreign countries to forsake Moses, for you tell them not to circumcise their children or even to observe Jewish customs.

Some of the crowd said one thing, and some another; and, as he could get no definite reply on account of the uproar, he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks.

Just as he was about to be taken into the Fort, Paul said to the Commanding Officer: "May I speak to you?" "Do you know Greek?" asked the Commanding Officer.

"No," said Paul, "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a city of some note; and I beg you to give me permission to speak to the people."

'Who are you, Lord?' I replied. Then the voice said 'I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.'

Then I said 'What am I to do, Lord?' 'Get up and go into Damascus,' The Lord said to me, 'and there you shall be told all that you have been appointed to do.'

Standing close to me, he said 'Saul, my Brother, recover your sight.' And then and there I recovered my sight and looked up at him.

Then he said 'The God of our ancestors has appointed you to learn his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his lips;

But Jesus said to me 'Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away'."

But just as they had tied him up to be scourged, Paul said to the Captain standing near: "Is it legal for you to scourge a Roman citizen, unconvicted?"

On hearing this, the Captain went and reported it to the Commanding Officer. "Do you know what you are doing?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."

So the Commanding Officer went up to Paul and said: "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," replied Paul.

"I had to pay a heavy price for my position as citizen," said the Officer. "I am one by birth," rejoined Paul.

Whereupon Paul turned to him and said: "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to try me in accordance with law, and yet, in defiance of law, order me to be struck?"

The people standing near said to Paul: "Do you know that you are insulting God's High Priest?"

"I did not know, Brothers, that it was the High Priest," said Paul, "for Scripture says--'Of the Ruler of thy People thou shalt speak no ill'."

As soon as he said this, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and there was a sharp division of opinion among those present.

That night the Lord came and stood by Paul, and said: "Courage! You have borne witness for me in Jerusalem and you must bear witness in Rome also."

And they went to the Chief Priests and the Councillors, and said: "We have taken a solemn oath not to touch food till we have killed Paul.

The Captain went with the lad to the Commanding Officer, and said: "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this lad to you, as he has something to tell you."

As soon as Felix had read the letter, he enquired to what province Paul belonged, and, learning that he came from Cilicia, he said:

"We owe it to your Excellency," he said, "that we are enjoying profound peace, and we owe it to your foresight that this nation is constantly securing reforms--advantages which we very gratefully accept at all times and places.

"So let the influential men among you," he said, "go down with me, and if there is anything amiss in the man, charge him formally with it."

And, as they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul's case before the King. "There is a man here," he said, "left a prisoner by Felix,

"I should like to hear this man myself," Agrippa said to Festus. "You shall hear him to-morrow," Festus answered.

Then Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all here present, you see before you the man about whom the whole Jewish people have applied to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly asserting that he ought not to be allowed to live.

Turning to Paul, Agrippa said: "You are at liberty to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.

"I have been congratulating myself, King Agrippa," he said, "that it is before you that I have to make my defense to-day, with regard to all the charges brought against me by Jews,

'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. And the Lord said: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;

But Agrippa said to Paul: "You are soon trying to make a Christian of me!"

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

As it was decided that we were to sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were put in charge of a Captain of the Augustan Guard, named Julius.

"My friends," he said, "I see that this voyage will be attended with injury and much damage, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives also."

The Roman Officer, however, was more influenced by the captain and the owner than by what was said by Paul.

It was then, when they had gone a long time without food, that Paul came forward, and said: "My friends, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and so incurred this injury and damage.

For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I serve, stood by me, and said--

When Paul said to the Roman Officer and his men: "Unless the sailors remain on board, you cannot be saved."

In the interval before daybreak Paul kept urging them all to take something to eat. "It is a fortnight to-day," he said, "that, owing to your anxiety, you have gone without food, taking nothing.

When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another: "Evidently this man is a murderer, for though he has been saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to 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.

They also presented us with many gifts, and when we set sail they put supplies of necessaries on board.

After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island. She was an Alexandrian vessel, and had the Twin Sons of Zeus for her figure-head.

"We," was their reply, "have not had any letter about you from Judea, nor have any of our fellow-Jews come and reported or said anything bad about you.

Some were inclined to accept what he said; others, however, rejected it.

Now we know that everything said in the Law is addressed to those who are under its authority, in order that every mouth may be closed, and the whole world become liable to the judgment of God.

In Scripture, again, it is said to Pharaoh-'It was for this very purpose that I raised thee to the throne, to show my power by my dealings with thee, and to make my name known throughout the world.'

And in the very place where it was said to them-"Ye are not my People", they shall be called Sons of the Living God.'

Still, it may be said, every one did not give heed to the Good News. No, for Isaiah asks--'Lord, who has believed our teaching?'

Or do not you know that a man who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body (for 'the two,' it is said, 'will become one');

I think, then, that, in view of the time of suffering that has now come upon us, what I have already said is best-that a man should remain as he is.

For in the Law of Moses it is said-'Thou shalt not muzzle a bullock while it is treading out the grain.' Is it the bullocks that God is thinking of?

Or is not is said entirely for our sakes? Surely it was written for our sakes, for the ploughman ought not to plough, nor the thrasher to thrash, without expecting a share of the grain.

And, after saying the thanksgiving, broke it and said "This is my own body given on your behalf. Do this in memory of me."

It is said in the Law-'In strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.'

If there is no one able to interpret what is said, they should remain silent at the meeting of the Church, and speak to themselves and to God.

Of preachers two or three should speak, and the rest should weigh well what is said.

For God has placed all things under Christ's feet. (But, when it is said that all things have been placed under Christ, it is plain that God is excepted who placed everything under him.)

Indeed, the same God who said 'Out of darkness light shall shine,' has shone in upon our hearts, so that we should bring out into the light the knowledge of the glory of God, seen in the face of Christ.

Therefore, as I said, we do not lose heart. No, even though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

What agreement can thee be between a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the Living God. That is what God meant when he said--'I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I am not saying this to condemn you. Indeed, I have already said that you are in our very heart, to live and die together.

Although I have been boasting a little to him about you, you did not put me to shame; but, just as every thing we had said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has also proved to be the truth.

So my reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

I have said it, and I say it again before I come, just as if I were with you on my second visit, though for the moment absent, I say to those who have been long sinning, as well as to all others--that if I come again, I shall spare no one.

We have said it before, and I repeat it now--If any one tells you a 'Good News' other than that which you received, may he be accursed!

But, when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the Truth of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, who were born a Jew, adopt Gentile customs, instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs?"

Now it was to Abraham that the promises were made, 'and to his offspring.' It was not said 'to his offsprings,' as if many persons were meant, but the words were 'to thy offspring,' showing that one person was meant--and that was Christ.

That is why it is said--'When he went up on high, he led his captives into captivity. And gave gifts to mankind.'

For everything that has its true character made manifest is clear as light. And that is why it is said--'Sleeper, awake! Arise from the dead, and the Christ shall give thee light!'

But, when Timothy recently returned to us from you with good news of your faith and love, and told us how kindly you think of us--always longing, he said, to see us, just as we are longing to see you--

If any one disregards what we have said in this letter, mark that man and avoid his company, that he may feel ashamed.

It was a Cretan--one of their own teachers--who said: 'Cretans are always liars, base brutes, and gluttonous idlers'; and his statement is true.

And again, when God brought the First-born into the world, he said-- 'Let all the angels of God bow down before him.'

Speaking of the angels, he said-- 'He makes the winds his angels and the fiery flames his servants';

while of the Son he said-- 'God is thy throne for ever and ever; The scepter of his Kingdom is the scepter of Justice;

To which of the angels has God ever said-- 'Sit thou at my right hand until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet'?

Therefore I was sorely vexed with that generation, And I said-- "Their hearts are always straying; They have never learned my ways";

Upon that Rest we who have believed are now entering. As God has said-- 'In my wrath I swore--"They shall never enter upon my Rest;"' Although God's work was finished at the creation of the world;

again God fixed a day. 'To-day,' he said, speaking after a long interval through the mouth of David, in the passage already quoted-- 'If to-day you hear God's voice harden not your hearts.'

In the same way, even the Christ did not take the honour of the High Priesthood upon himself, but he was appointed by him who said to him-- 'Thou art my Son; this day I have become thy Father';

And he of whom all this is said belonged to quite a different tribe, no member of which has ever served at the altar.

For it is plain that our Lord ad sprung from the tribe of Judah, though of that tribe Moses said nothing about their being priests.