Seeing then that no man saith here against, ye ought to be content, and to do nothing rashly;

For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.

For we are truly in danger of being accused of inciting a riot here today when there is [really] no reason for it to happen. Then concerning this problem, we will not be able to explain how it all came about."

These [men] had gone ahead and were waiting for us [when we arrived] in Troas [i.e., a seaport town across the Aegean Sea from Philippi]. [Note: The use of "us" begins here again, suggesting that the writer Luke rejoins the party at Philippi. See next verse].

And now, under spiritual constraint, I am here on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

[Because] I know that after I am gone [from here] there will be vicious wolves [i.e., ravaging false teachers] who will come in among you, and they will not spare the flock [i.e., the congregation].

Here we found a ship heading across [the open sea] for Phoenicia, boarded it and sailed away.

Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.

As for us, our voyage was over when having sailed from Tyre we reached Ptolemais. here we inquired after the welfare of the brethren, and remained a day with them.

While we were spending some days here, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

He came to us, took Paul's girdle and bound his own feet and hands, saying, "Here is the word of the holy Spirit: 'So shall the Jews bind the owner of this girdle at Jerusalem and hand him over to the Gentiles'."

What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.

so do this which we now tell you. We have four men here who have a vow resting on them.

"We have four men here under a vow; associate yourself with them, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may have their heads shaved; then every one will know that there is no truth in the rumors that they have heard about you; but that you yourself walk orderly obeying the law.

shouting, "To the rescue, men of Israel! Here is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the People and the Law and this Place! And he has actually brought Greeks inside the temple and defiled this holy Place!"

From the crowd, some shouted one thing and some another. When the commander could not hear what was being said because of the noise, he ordered Paul to be taken into the battalion headquarters.

Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, but raised [here] in this city [i.e., Jerusalem]. [I was] instructed by Gamaliel [i.e., a renowned Jewish rabbi of the time] according to the strictest methods of observing the law of our forefathers. [I was very] eager to serve God, just as all of you are here today.

The head priest can also verify all this, and so can the body of [Jewish] elders. They furnished me with letters to our fellow-Jews in Damascus, to which I also traveled to bring people back here to Jerusalem, bound in chains to be punished.

Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

And I saw [and heard] the Lord saying to me, 'Hurry up, get out of Jerusalem quickly, because the people [here] will reject your testimony about me.'

"He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.'"

And they continued to hear him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying, Take away such a one from the earth: for it is not appropriate for him to live.

Then Paul said to him, God will give blows to you, you whitewashed wall: are you here to be my judge by law, and by your orders am I given blows against the law?

But when Paul saw that half of them were Sadducees and the rest Pharisees, he said in the Sanhedrin, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, and the son of Pharisees: I am here to be judged on the question of the hope of the coming back from the dead.

So we want you now, with the consent of the Council, to suggest to the Commanding Officer that he should bring Paul down before you, as though you intended to go more fully into his case; but, before he comes here, we will be ready to make away with him."

And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;

having been informed he was a Roman, I had him brought before their Sanhedrim, to hear what crime they laid to his charge.

"Here I learned that he was accused about questions of their law, but was not charged with anything worthy of death or imprisonment.

And when he had read the letter, he inquired to what province he belonged. And learning that he was from Cilicia, he said: I will hear you when your accusers also have come. And he ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod's palace.

I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall.

Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.

Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me.

Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council,

unless it is for one thing that I shouted out as I stood among them, 'It is for the resurrection of the dead that I am here on trial before you today.'"

Then Felix, who was somewhat well informed about the Way, adjourned the trial, saying to the Jews, "When Lysias, the colonel, comes down here, I will decide your case."

and, during their rather long stay, Festus laid Paul's case before the king. "There is a man here," he said, "whom Felix left a prisoner,

When therefore they were come together here, I made no delay, but on the next day sat on the judgment-seat, and commanded the man to be brought.

Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him.

And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.

Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.

All the Jews know how I lived during my youth and my early days among [the people of] my nation, and [especially here] in Jerusalem.

And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers;

But I have had help from God to this day, and I stand [before people] testifying to small and great alike, stating nothing except what the Prophets and Moses said would come to pass—

And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

We boarded a ship [originating] from Adramyttium which was ready to sail [from here in Caesarea], heading out to sea for parts of the coast of [the province of] Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

and there the centurion having found a ship of Alexandria sailing to Italy, he made us go on board her.

But it was not long before a furious north-east wind, coming down from the mountains, burst upon us and carried the ship out of her course.

And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

After hoisting it on board, they used ropes to brace the ship, and since they were afraid of being stranded on the Syrtis quicksands, they lowered the sail and let her drift.

the next day the storm work'd the ship with great fury; they threw some of her lading over board:

But when the fourteenth day came, while we were going here and there in the Adriatic sea, about the middle of the night the sailors had an idea that they were getting near land;

Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.

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.

And when they had eaten sufficiently, they began lightening the ship [so it would float higher] by throwing their wheat overboard.

And weighing the anchors, they committed her to the sea, and loosing at the same time the chains of the rudders, and hoisting the foresail to the breeze, they made for the beach.

But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea.

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.

Here we found brethren, who invited us to remain with them for a week; and so we reached Rome.

For these reasons, then, I have invited you here, that I might see you and speak to you; for it is for the sake of Him who is the hope of Israel that this chain hangs upon me."

They said to him, “We have not received [any] letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the [Jewish] brothers come here and reported or said anything bad about you.

But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.

Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

It is not those that merely hear the Law read who are righteous in the sight of God, but it is those that obey the Law who will be pronounced righteous.

But the [true] Jew is the person who is one on the inside, and [his] circumcision is a heart condition, [produced] by the Holy Spirit and not by the written law of Moses. [Note: Some translate "Spirit" here as "spirit" and make it simply an amplification of "heart"]. This person receives his praise from God and not [merely] from people.

Now we [all] know that everything the law says applies to those who are under [obligation to obey] that law, [Note: Here "the law" appears to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures generally, since Psalms and Isaiah are quoted. See verses 10-18]. This is so that the mouth of every objector may be stopped [i.e., from making excuses for his sin], and thereby bring the entire world under God's judgment [i.e., both Jews and Gentiles].

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

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.

So here is the comparison: As through one man sin came into the world, and death as the consequence of sin, and death spread to all men; because all men sinned.

For just as through one man’s disobedience [his failure to hear, his carelessness] the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one Man the many will be made righteous and acceptable to God and brought into right standing with Him.

But now, since you have been freed from [the practice of] sin and have become slaves to God, the benefits you receive are a holy life [here] and never ending life in the future.

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

But now that we have died to what controlled us and have been released from [the requirements of] the law of Moses [i.e., under the Gospel age], we serve [God] in a new way [directed] by the Holy Spirit [Note: Some take "Spirit" here to be "spirit" and see it as describing the inner person], and not in the old way [directed] by the written law of Moses.

For I do not [really] understand what I am doing; I practice what I do not want to and I hate what I do. [Note: This highly controversial section (verses 14b-25) is here viewed as the struggles of the apostle Paul after his conversion, and by extension, of all Christians. See Bruce, pages 150ff; Murray, pages 255ff; Lard, pages 236ff].

Thank God! It has been done through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my higher nature I am a slave to the law of God, but in my lower nature, to the law of sin.

For God has done what the Law, weakened here by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the guise of sinful flesh, to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Now the mind of the flesh is death [both now and forever—because it pursues sin]; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace [the spiritual well-being that comes from walking with God—both now and forever];

And if Christ lives in your hearts, even though the body is [doomed to] death because of [Adam's ?] sin; yet the spirit is [destined to] live [forever] because of being [made] right with God. [Note: Some take "spirit" here to be "Spirit" and make it "The Holy Spirit gives you life." See next verse].

For you did not receive the Holy Spirit, to enslave you again to fear, [Note: Some translators take "Holy Spirit" here to be "spirit," making the verse say "you did not receive the spirit of slavery"], but you received the Holy Spirit [who produces] sonship, so we can call out, "Abba", [which means] "Father."

And if we are [His] children, then we have an inheritance from God [i.e., blessings here and hereafter] and are fellow-sharers with Christ [of such blessings], providing we [are willing to] suffer with Him, so we can also be honored with Him [i.e., in the future life. See verses 18-25].

For [all] creation [Note: "Creation" here refers to the material heavens and earth, and is personified through verse 23] is eagerly waiting for the children of God to be revealed [i.e., in their glorious state].

For we know that the whole of Creation is groaning together in the pains of childbirth until this hour.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the lower ranks of evil angels nor the higher, neither things present nor things future, nor the forces of nature,

Nor is that all: later on there was Rebecca too. She was soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather Isaac--

(for they being not yet born, neither having done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to choice, might remain; not of works, but of Him who is calling,) it was said to her --

It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

And why? Simply because Israel has relied not on faith but on what they could do. They have stumbled over the stone that makes men stumble ??33 as it is written, Here I lay a stone in Sion that will make men stumble, even a rock to trip them up; but he who believes in Him will never be disappointed.

For Moses describes the justice that was to be had by the law, thus : "the man who performeth the things here required, shall have life thereby."

But here is what faith-righteousness says: ??Say not in your heart, 'Who will go up to heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down).

That, if thou shalt confess the declaration with thy mouth - That Jesus is, Lord, and shalt believe with thy hear - That, God, raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved; -

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, "how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.

What then? What Israel seeks, this it did not obtain, but the election obtained; and the rest were hardened,??8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear??o this day.