Festus replied that Paul was being kept in custody at Caesarea and that he himself would be going there soon.

When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him and began bringing a number of serious charges against him that they couldn't prove.

If I'm guilty and have done something that deserves death, I'm willing to die. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to the emperor!"

I answered them that it was not the Roman custom to sentence a man to be punished until the accused met his accusers face to face and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all you men who are present with us! You see this man about whom the whole Jewish nation petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

I find that he has not done anything deserving of death. But since he has appealed to his Majesty, I have decided to send him.

I have nothing reliable to write our Sovereign about him, so I have brought him to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I will have something to write after he is cross-examined.

"I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I can defend myself today against all the accusations of the Jewish leaders,

They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.

Our twelve tribes, worshiping day and night with intense devotion, hope to attain it. It is because of this hope, O King, that I am accused by the Jews.

Why is it thought incredible by all of you that God should raise the dead?

That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the high priests and locked many of the saints in prison. And when I cast my vote against them, they were put to death.

"That is how I happened to be traveling to Damascus with authority based on a commission from the high priests.

On the road at noon, O King, I saw a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun. It flashed around me and those who were traveling with me.

You will help them understand and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Instead, I first told the people in Damascus and Jerusalem, then all the people in Judea and after that the gentiles to repent, turn to God, and perform deeds that are consistent with such repentance.

that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and would bring light both to our people and to the gentiles."

Indeed, the king knows about these things, and I can speak to him freely. For I'm certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this wasn't done in a corner.

Paul replied, "Whether quickly or not, I wish to God that not only you but everyone listening to me today would become what I am except for these chains!"

When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were transferred to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the emperor's division.

After boarding a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to the ports on the coast of Asia, we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, went with us.

"Men, I see that during this voyage there will be hardship and a heavy loss not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives."

Since the harbor was not a good place to spend the winter, most of the men favored putting out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix and spend the winter there. It is a Cretian harbor that faces southwest and northwest.

The ship was caught so that it couldn't face the wind, and we gave up and were swept along.

The ship's crew pulled it up on deck and used ropes to brace the ship. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank near Libya, they lowered the sail and drifted along.

So take courage, men, because I trust God that it will turn out just as he told me.

It was the fourteenth night, and we were drifting through the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors suspected that land was near.

Fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and began praying for daylight to come.

Meanwhile, the sailors had begun trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea and pretended that they were going to lay out the anchors from the bow.

Then the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and set it adrift.

Right up to daybreak Paul kept urging all of them to eat something. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, not eating anything.

So they cut the anchors free and left them in the sea. At the same time they untied the ropes that held the steering oars, raised the foresail to the wind, and headed for the beach.

When we were safely on shore, we learned that the island was called Malta.

The governor of the island, whose name was Publius, owned estates in that part of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us with great hospitality for three days.

After that had happened, the rest of the sick people on the island went to him and were healed.

Three months later, we continued our sailing onboard an Alexandrian ship that had spent the winter at the island. It had the Twin Brothers as its figurehead.

That's why I asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the hope of Israel that I'm wearing this chain."

For this people's minds have become stupid, and their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes so that they may never see with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn and let me heal them."'

You must understand that this message about God's salvation has been sent to the gentiles, and they will listen."

in my prayers at all times, asking that somehow by God's will I may at last succeed in coming to you.

For I am longing to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong,

that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now), so that I might reap a harvest among you, just as I have among the rest of the gentiles.

That is why I am so eager to proclaim the gospel to you who live in Rome, too.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes his eternal power and divine nature have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse.

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

For this reason, God delivered them to degrading passions as their females exchanged their natural sexual function for one that is unnatural.

Furthermore, because they did not think it worthwhile to keep knowing God fully, God delivered them to degraded minds to perform acts that should not be done.

Although they know God's just requirement that those who practice such things deserve to die they not only do these things but even applaud others who practice them.

Now we know that God's judgment against those who act like this is based on truth.

Or are you unaware of his rich kindness, forbearance, and patience, that it is God's kindness that is leading you to repent?

For he will repay everyone according to what that person has done:

They show that what the Law requires is written in their hearts, a fact to which their own consciences testify, and their thoughts will either accuse or excuse them

on that day when God, through Jesus the Messiah, will judge people's secrets according to my gospel.

and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,

No, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, brought about by the Spirit, not by a written law. That person's praise will come from God, not from people.

Or can we say as some people slander us by claiming that we say "Let's do evil that good may result"? They deserve to be condemned!

Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in the Messiah Jesus,

He wanted to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies anyone who has the faithfulness of Jesus.

What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of actions? No, but on the principle of faith.

For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the actions prescribed by the Law.

since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised by that same faith.

Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them.

He is also the ancestor of the circumcised those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith.

Therefore, the promise is based on faith, so that it may be a matter of grace and may be guaranteed for all of Abraham's descendants not only for those who were given the Law, but also for those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

As it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations." Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don't yet exist.

Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," just as he had been told: "This is how many descendants you will have."

His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah's inability to have children,

being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised.

Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that the Messiah died for us while we were still sinners.

Now that we have been justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from wrath through him!

Not only that, but we also continue to boast about God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah, through whom we have now been reconciled.

Nor can the free gift be compared to what came through the man who sinned. For the sentence that followed one man's offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift brought justification, even after many offenses.

For if, through one man, death ruled because of that man's offense, how much more will those who receive such overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness rule in life because of one man, Jesus the Messiah!

Now the Law crept in so that the offense would increase. But where sin increased, grace increased even more,

so that, just as sin ruled by bringing death, so also grace might rule by bringing justification that results in eternal life through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

What should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into union with the Messiah Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life.

We know that our old natures were crucified with him so that our sin-laden bodies might be rendered powerless and we might no longer be slaves to sin.

Now if we have died with the Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him,

for we know that the Messiah, who was raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

For when he died, he died once and for all as far as sin is concerned. But now that he is alive, he lives for God.

Therefore, do not let sin rule your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thank God that, though you were once slaves of sin, you became obedient from your hearts to that form of teaching with which you were entrusted!

I am speaking in simple terms because of the frailty of your human nature. Just as you once offered the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater disobedience, so now, in the same way, you must offer the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness that leads to sanctification.

But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.

Don't you realize, brothers for I am speaking to people who know the Law that the Law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive?

So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.

In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah's body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God.

But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.

and I died. I found that the very rule that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being sinful than ever before.

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am merely human, sold as a slave to sin.

Now if I practice what I don't want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good.

As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.