So when you are going to give to charity, do not blow a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and the streets, to make people praise them. I tell you, that is all the reward they will get!

And the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew, and beat about that house, and it did not go down, for its foundations were on rock.

And the rain fell, and the rivers rose, and the winds blew and beat about that house, and it went down, and its downfall was complete."

So give us your opinion: Is it right to pay the poll-tax to the emperor, or not?"

"Why do you put me to such a test, you hypocrites? Show me the poll-tax coin!" And they brought him a denarius.

And they came up and said to him, "Master, we know that you tell the truth regardless of the consequences, for you are not guided by personal considerations, but teach the way of God with sincerity. Is it right to pay the poll tax to the emperor or not?

Then he said to them, "Who among you, if his child or his ox falls into a well, will not pull him out at once on the Sabbath?"

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheepgate a pool called in Hebrew Bethzatha, which has five colonnades.

The sick man answered, "I have nobody, sir, to put me into the pool when the water stirs, but while I am getting down someone else steps in ahead of me."

He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not belong to this world.

and said to him, "Go and wash them in the Pool of Siloam"?? name which means One who has been sent. So he went and washed them, and went home able to see.

saying, "Long live the king of the Jews!" each one giving him a blow.

A bowl of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge soaked in the wine on a pike and held it to his lips.

I will show wonders in the sky above, And signs on the earth below, Blood and fire and thick smoke.

But Saul, who was also called Paul, was filled with the holy Spirit, and looked at him

Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and went to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem,

Then Paul got up, and motioning with his hand, said, "Men of Israel, and you who reverence God, listen!

and after the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism went away with Paul and Barnabas, and they talked with them, and urged them to rely on the favor of God.

But when the Jews saw the crowd, they were very jealous, and they contradicted what Paul said and abused him.

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly, and said, "God's message had to be told to you first, but since you thrust it off and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the heathen.

But the Jews stirred up the well-to-do religious women and the leading men of the town, and they started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

He was listening to Paul as he talked, when Paul looked at him and, seeing that he had faith that he would be cured,

The crowds, seeing what Paul had done, shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

They called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul, because he was the principal speaker, Hermes.

But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they rushed into the crowd, tearing their clothes

But some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and won the people over, and they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead.

This created a disturbance and a serious discussion between Paul and Barnabas and them, and it was agreed that Paul and Barnabas and some others of their number should go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

This quieted the whole meeting, and they listened while Barnabas and Paul told of the signs and wonders which God had done among the heathen through them.

Then the apostles and elders with the whole church resolved to select representatives and send them with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. They were Judas who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

we have unanimously resolved to select representatives and send them to you with our dear brothers Barnabas and Paul,

But Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch and taught, and with many others preached the good news of the Lord's message.

Some time after, Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us go back and revisit the brothers in each of the towns where we made the Lord's message known, to see how they are doing."

But Paul did not approve of taking with them a man who had deserted them in Pamphylia instead of going on with them to their work.

But Paul selected Silas and set out, the brothers commending him to the Lord's favor.

Paul wished to take this man on with him, and so on account of the Jews in that district he had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

There Paul had a vision one night; a Macedonian was standing appealing to him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

One of our hearers was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods, from the town of Thyatira. She was a believer in God, and the Lord touched her heart, and led her to accept Paul's teaching.

This girl would follow Paul and the rest of us, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, and they are making known to you a way of salvation."

She did this for a number of days, until Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit in her, "In the name of Jesus Christ I order you to come out of her!" And it came out instantly.

But when her masters saw that their hopes of profits were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them to the public square, to the authorities,

But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

But Paul shouted out, "Do not do yourself any harm! We are all here!"

Then he called for lights and rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas.

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent orders that you are to be released. So you can take your leave and go unmolested."

But Paul said to them, "They had us beaten in public without giving us a trial, and put us in jail, although we are Roman citizens! And now are they going to dismiss us secretly? By no means! Have them come here themselves and take us out!"

Paul went to it as he was accustomed to do, and for three Sabbaths he discussed the Scriptures with them,

He convinced some of them, and they joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a number of the principal women.

The brothers sent Paul and Silas away immediately, in the course of the following night, to Berea. On arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue.

But when the Jews at Thessalonica found out that God's message had been delivered at Berea by Paul, they came there too, to excite and stir up the populace.

Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind.

The men who went with Paul took him all the way to Athens, and came back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible.

While Paul waited for them at Athens, he was exasperated to see how idolatrous the city was.

Then Paul stood up in the middle of the council and said, "Men of Athens, from every point of view I see that you are extremely religious.

So Paul left the council.

There he found a 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. Paul went to see them,

By the time Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was absorbed in preaching the message, emphatically assuring the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

But Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, and so did all his household, and many of the people of Corinth heard Paul and believed and were baptized.

One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, "Do not be afraid! Go on speaking and do not give up,

While Gallio was governor of Greece the Jews made a concerted attack upon Paul, and brought him before the governor.

Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, "If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you.

Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under.

It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, after passing through the interior, reached Ephesus. Finding some disciples there,

"John's baptism was a baptism in token of repentance," said Paul, "and he told the people to believe in him who was to follow him, that is, in Jesus."

and when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in foreign tongues and with prophetic inspiration.

God did such extraordinary wonders by means of Paul,

Some Jews who went from place to place casting out demons tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in the cases of people who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!"

But the evil spirit answered, "I know Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?"

After these events, Paul, under the Spirit's guidance, resolved to go to Jerusalem, and to revisit Macedonia and Greece on the way. "After I have gone there," he said, "I must see Rome also."

and you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and drawn away numbers of people, telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.

So the commotion spread all over the city, and by a common impulse the people rushed to the theater, dragging with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions.

Paul wanted to go before the people himself, but the disciples would not allow it.

When the confusion was over, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them. Then he bade them goodbye and started for Macedonia.

On the first day of the week, when we had met for the breaking of bread, Paul addressed them, as he was going away the next morning, and he prolonged his address until midnight.

and a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting at the window, became very drowsy as Paul's address grew longer and longer, and finally went fast asleep and fell from the third story to the ground, and was picked up for dead.

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

We had already gone on board the ship and sailed for Assos, intending to take Paul on board there, for that was the arrangement he had made, as he intended to travel there by land.

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to lose any time in Asia, for he was hurrying to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of the Harvest Festival.

They all wept aloud, and throwing their arms about Paul's neck they kissed him affectionately,

So we looked up the disciples there and stayed a week with them. Instructed by the Spirit, they warned Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

He came to see us and took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, "This is what the holy Spirit says: 'The Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt like this, and will hand him over to the heathen!' "

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

On the next day we went with Paul to see James, and all the elders came in.

Paul greeted them warmly and gave a detailed account of what God had done among the heathen through his efforts.

Then Paul joined the men and went through the rites of purification with them and the next day went to the Temple to give notice of the time when, upon the offering of the sacrifice for each one of them, their days of purification would be over.

For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the Temple.

The whole city was thrown into confusion, and the people hurried together, and seized Paul and dragged him outside of the Temple, the gates of which were immediately shut.

He immediately got some officers and men and hurried down among them, and when they saw the colonel and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul.

When Paul got to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers, on account of the violence of the mob,

Just as they were going to take him into the barracks, Paul said to the colonel, "May I say something to you?" "Do you know Greek?" the colonel asked.

"I am a Jew," Paul answered, "from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you to let me speak to the people."

He gave him permission, and Paul standing on the steps made a gesture to the people, and when they had become quiet he spoke to them in Hebrew.

the colonel ordered Paul brought into the barracks, and gave directions that he should be examined under the lash, so that he might find out why they made such an outcry against him.

But when they had strapped him up, Paul said to the officer who was standing near, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen, and without giving him a trial?"

Then the colonel came to Paul and said, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

"I had to pay a large sum for my citizenship," said the colonel. "But I am a citizen by birth," said Paul.

Then the men who had been going to examine him immediately left him, and the colonel himself was alarmed to find that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him bound.

The next day, as he wished to find out the real reason why the Jews denounced him, he had him unbound and ordered the high priests and the whole council to assemble, and took Paul down and brought him before them.

Paul looked steadily at the council and said, "Brothers, I have done my duty to God with a perfectly clear conscience up to this very day."

Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Do you sit there to try me by the Law, and order them to strike me in violation of the Law?"

"I did not know, brothers," said Paul, "that he was high priest, for the Scripture says, 'You shall not say anything against any ruler of your people.' "