"You went into the houses of men who are not Jews," they said, "and you ate with them."

But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.

But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

And the Spirit told me to accompany them, not hesitating [at all]. So these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the man's house.

Who, when he came and saw the grace of God, was glad; and he made clear to them the need of keeping near the Lord with all the strength of their hearts:

Then he went on to Tarsus to look for Saul [Note: Tarsus was the home town of Saul, who was later called Paul],

And one of them, named Agabus, said publicly through the Spirit that there would be serious need of food all over the earth: which came about in the time of Claudius.

Now about that time King Herod began a persecution of certain people in the [Jerusalem] church. [Note: This man was the grandson of Herod the Great. See Matt. 2:1].

And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to apprehend Peter also,??nd it was during the days of unleavened bread,??4 and having seized he put him in prison, committing him to four companies of four soldiers each to guard him, wishing after the passover to bring him before the people.

And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.

And day having come, there was not a little stir among the soldiers what then was become of Peter,

And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.

Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon [Note: These were seaport cities not under his jurisdiction]. They came to him as a group, having befriended Blastus, an officer of the king [Herod], and tried to arrange a peaceful relationship [with him] because the country was dependant on him for their food supply.

And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

They asked Pilate to have Him put to death, even though they could not find any [legitimate] reason to execute Him.

And as a proof that he has raised him from the dead, never to return to decay, he has said this: I will give you the holiness of David that fails not.

Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

But he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

"Therefore let it be known to you, men [and] brothers, that through this one forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and from all [the things] from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses,

And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

See therefore that that which is spoken in the prophets do not come upon you,

See, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, because a work I -- I do work in your days, a work in which ye may not believe, though any one may declare it to you.'

And speaking boldly, Paul and Barnabas said, 'To you it was necessary that first the word of God be spoken, and seeing ye do thrust it away, and do not judge yourselves worthy of the life age-during, lo, we do turn to the nations;

But the Jews who did not believe stirred up the minds of those of the nations and made them evil-affected against the brethren.

In Lystra sat a man who could not use his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked.

"Gentlemen, why are you doing these things? [Do you not know that] we are also human beings with the same kind of feelings that you have? And we are just bringing you the good news that you should turn away from these useless things [i.e., idol worship] and [turn] to the living God, who created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

Yet he left not himself without witness,

Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

And from there they went by ship to Antioch, where they had been handed over to the grace of God for the work which they had not done.

and they abode there not a little time with the disciples.

And certain persons, having come down from Judaea, taught the brethren, If ye shall not have been circumcised according to the custom of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

there having been, therefore, not a little dissension and disputation to Paul and Barnabas with them, they arranged for Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of them, to go up unto the apostles and elders to Jerusalem about this question,

And He did not discriminate between us [i.e., Jews] and them [i.e., Gentiles], cleansing their hearts [also] by faith [in Jesus].

Why then are you testing God, by putting on the neck of the disciples a yoke so hard that not even our fathers or we were strong enough for it?

Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

Since we heard that certain ones having come out from us troubled you, disturbing your souls with words which we did not command:

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place on you any greater burden than these essentials:

(Added verse not retained in Sawyer)

But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.

And after they had gone through the land of Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit did not let them take the word into Asia;

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul by night:

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

After seeing [the man in] the vision, we immediately made every effort to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news [about Jesus] to the people there. [Note: This is first use of "we" and "us" in the book of Acts and indicates that Luke, the writer of Acts, joined the party at this point. See 1:1 with Luke 1:1-3].

And this did she many days. But Paul, not content, turned about and said to the spirit, "I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ that thou come out of her." And he came out the same hour.

And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.

But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;

The jailor, who was awakened from sleep [by the commotion] saw the jail doors open so drew his [short] sword and prepared to kill himself, assuming that all the prisoners had escaped. [Note: He would have faced a humiliating execution himself if he had allowed capital offense criminals to escape. With that prospect in view, it was considered honorable by the Romans for a person to commit suicide].

and Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Thou mayest not do thyself any harm, for we are all here.'

And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

But Paul said to them, "They beat us in public without due process--men who are Roman citizens--[and] threw [us] into prison, and now they are wanting to release us secretly? Certainly not! Rather let them come themselves [and] bring us out!"

Now when they [Note: A change from the use of "we" to "they" suggests that the writer Luke remained behind in Philippi at this point] had traveled through the [Macedonian] towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to [the city of] Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue.

And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

Now these people [in Berea] had more character than those in Thessalonica because they [not only] received the message with an open mind but [also] examined the [Old Testament] Scriptures every day to see if what they had heard was really true.

Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

And they took him, and brought him into Mars Street, saying, "May we not know what is this new doctrine whereof thou speakest?

for, passing through and beholding your shrines, I found also an altar on which was inscribed, To the unknown God. Whom therefore ye reverence, not knowing him, him I announce to you.

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things;

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

And the time of this ignorance God regarded not: but now he biddeth all men everywhere to repent,

But certain men, joining themselves to him, believed; among whom also were Dionysius??he Areopagite??nd a woman, Damaris by name, and others with them.

And there he came across a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who not long before had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had given orders that all Jews were to go away from Rome: and he came to them;

But upon their opposing him with abusive language, he shook his clothes by way of protest, and said to them, "Your ruin will be upon your own heads. I am not responsible: in future I will go among the Gentiles."

Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; I am not minded to be a judge of these matters.

and all the Greeks having taken Sosthenes, the chief man of the synagogue, were beating him before the tribunal, and not even for these things was Gallio caring.

Paul remained there some time after this, and then took leave of the Brethren, and sailed to Syria with Priscilla and Aquila, but not before his head had been shaved at Cenchreae, because he was under a vow.

When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;

And when he landed at Ceasarea, he went up [Note: This would mean either up to Ceasarea or up to Jerusalem] and greeted the church [there], then went down to Antioch [in Syria].

And when he desired to travel over into Achaia, he was encouraged [to do so] by the brothers, who wrote to the disciples [in Achaia and urged them] to welcome him. When he arrived [in Achaia] he was a great help to those who had become believers through the unearned favor of God. [Note: An alternate meaning is, "he was a great help, through God's unearned favor on him to those who had become believers"].

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

mighty works also -- not common -- was God working through the hands of Paul,

And not a few of them that practised magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

After sending his two associates Timothy and Erastus on to Macedonia [Note: These were men who cared for various needs of his ministry], Paul remained in [the province of] Asia for a while.

And there came, at that time, not a little stir about the way,

for a certain one, Demetrius by name, a worker in silver, making silver sanctuaries of Artemis, was bringing to the artificers gain not a little,

Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

these things, then, not being to be gainsaid, it is necessary for you to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.

For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this day's riot, there being no cause for it : and as touching it we shall not be able to give account of this concourse.

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].