Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." read more.
But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,

There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the Law, highly respected by all the Jews who lived there, came to see me, and standing by my side, said to me, 'Saul, my brother, regain your sight!' Then instantly I regained my sight and looked at him, and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn his will and to see his Righteous One and hear him speak, read more.
for you shall be his witness before all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash out your sins, calling on his name.'


Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, and all God's people all over Greece;


Paul, an apostle not from men nor sent by any man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead??2 and all the brothers who are here with me, to the churches of Galatia;

and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. "But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do."

The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake."

As they were engaged in worshiping the Lord and in fasting, the holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me, for the work to which I have called them." So after fasting and prayer, they laid their hands upon them and let them go.



Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy,


Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus in fulfilment of the promise of that life which is found in union with Christ Jesus,




But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. read more.
"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,




Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, went to the high priest, and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there who belonged to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem. But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, read more.
and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. "But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,


Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work in the Lord's service?

and finally he was seen by me also, as though I were born at the wrong time.

and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn his will and to see his Righteous One and hear him speak,

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the express purpose of appointing you to serve me and to testify to what you have seen and to the visions you will have of me.

On the following night the Lord stood beside him and said, "Courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome also."

But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. read more.
"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit."


and saw him saying to me, 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, for they will not accept your evidence about me.'




Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work in the Lord's service?

and finally he was seen by me also, as though I were born at the wrong time.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me the strength for it, for thinking me trustworthy and putting me into his service, though I once used to abuse, persecute, and insult him. But he had mercy on me, because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief,

You have heard of my former conduct when I was attached to the Jewish religion??ow furiously I used to persecute the church of God and ravage it,

But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. read more.
"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized, and, after taking some food, regained his strength. Saul stayed for some time with the disciples at Damascus, and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Everyone was astonished, and said, "Is not he the man who made such havoc of the people in Jerusalem who call upon that name, and who came here especially for the purpose of arresting such persons and taking them before the high priests?" But Saul grew more and more powerful, and bewildered the Jews who lived in Damascus by his proofs that Jesus was the Christ.

I persecuted this Way even to the death, and bound both men and women and put them in prison, as the high priest and the whole council will bear me witness. In fact, they gave me letters to the brothers in Damascus and I went there to bind those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished. But on my way, as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly about noon, a blaze of light flashed around me from heaven, read more.
and I fell upon the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?' I answered, 'Who are you, sir?' 'I am Jesus of Nazareth,' he said, 'whom you are persecuting.' The men who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. Then I said, 'What am I to do, sir?' The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told of all you are destined to do.' As I could not see, because of the dazzling light, my companions had to lead me by the hand, and so I reached Damascus. There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the Law, highly respected by all the Jews who lived there, came to see me, and standing by my side, said to me, 'Saul, my brother, regain your sight!' Then instantly I regained my sight and looked at him, and he said, 'The God of our forefathers has appointed you to learn his will and to see his Righteous One and hear him speak, for you shall be his witness before all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash out your sins, calling on his name.' After I had returned to Jerusalem, one day when I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance, and saw him saying to me, 'Make haste and leave Jerusalem at once, for they will not accept your evidence about me.' And I said, 'Lord, they know that I used to go through one synagogue after another, and to imprison and flog those who believed in you,

I once thought it my duty vigorously to oppose the cause of Jesus of Nazareth. That was what I did at Jerusalem when on the authority of the high priests I put many of God's people in prison. When they were put to death, I cast my vote against them, and many a time in all the synagogues I had them punished, and tried to force them to say impious things. In my extreme rage against them I even pursued them to distant towns. read more.
I was once going to Damascus on this business, authorized and commissioned by the high priests, when on the road at noon, your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun flash around me and my fellow-travelers. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me? You cannot kick against the goad!' 'Who are you, sir?' said I. The Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.


But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. read more.
"But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized,




but be glad that you are in a measure sharing the sufferings of the Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may be triumphantly happy. If you are being abused for the sake of Christ, you are blessed, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.







and if children, heirs also; heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ, if we really share his sufferings in order to share his glory too. For I consider what we suffer now not to be compared with the glory that is to burst upon us. For creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be disclosed. read more.
For it was not the fault of creation that it was frustrated; it was by the will of him who condemned it to that, and in the hope that creation itself would be set free from its bondage to decay, and have the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation has been groaning in agony together until now. More than that, we ourselves, though we have in the Spirit a foretaste of the future, groan to ourselves as we wait to be declared God's sons, through the redemption of our bodies.

we have worked with our hands for a living. When people abuse us, we bless them, when they persecute us, we put up with it, when they slander us, we try to conciliate them. We have come to be like the scum of the earth, the dregs of the world, and we are so now.


For every day I live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be visible in my mortal nature. So it is death that operates in my case, but life that operates in yours. In the same spirit of faith as his who said, "I believed, and so I spoke," I too believe, and so I speak, read more.
sure that he who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will raise me also like Jesus, and bring me side by side with you into his presence. For it is all for your benefit, in order that as God's favor reaches greater and greater numbers, it may result in more and more thanksgiving in praise of God. So I never lose heart. Though my outer nature is wasting away, my inner is being renewed every day. For this slight, momentary trouble is piling up for me an eternal blessedness beyond all comparison, because I keep my eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.

For he was sick, and nearly died, but God took pity on him, and not only on him, but on me, to save me from having one sorrow after another. So I am all the more eager to send him, so that you may have the pleasure of seeing him again, and I may feel more relieved. So give him a hearty Christian welcome, and value men like him very highly, read more.
for he came near dying for the Lord's work, and risked his life to make up for what was lacking in the service you have done me.

As a result, we ourselves speak of you with pride in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in the face of all the persecutions and troubles you are having to endure. This is a proof of God's justice in judging, and it is to prove you worthy of the Kingdom of God, for the sake of which you are suffering,






Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, went to the high priest, and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women there who belonged to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem. But on his journey, as he was approaching Damascus, a sudden light flashed around him from heaven, read more.
and he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," said the voice. "But get up and go into the city, and there you will be told what you ought to do." Saul's fellow-travelers stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could not see anyone. When he got up from the ground and opened his eyes he could see nothing. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus, and for three days he could not see, and neither ate nor drank. There was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord!" The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called the Straight Street, and ask at the house of Judas for a man named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is there praying. He has had a vision and seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, and the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. He is here with authority to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." The Lord said to him, "Go! This man is the means I have chosen for carrying my name among the heathen and their kings, and among the descendants of Israel. For I am going to show him what he will have to endure for my sake." Ananias set out and went to the house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said to him, "Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit." Something like scales immediately dropped from his eyes, and his sight was restored, and he got up and was baptized, and, after taking some food, regained his strength. Saul stayed for some time with the disciples at Damascus, and began at once to declare in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Everyone was astonished, and said, "Is not he the man who made such havoc of the people in Jerusalem who call upon that name, and who came here especially for the purpose of arresting such persons and taking them before the high priests?" But Saul grew more and more powerful, and bewildered the Jews who lived in Damascus by his proofs that Jesus was the Christ. After some time had passed, the Jews made a plot to kill him, but Saul found out about the plot. They watched the city gates day and night, in order to kill him, but his disciples took him one night and let him down over the wall, lowering him in a basket. When he reached Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they could not believe that he was really a disciple. But Barnabas got hold of him and introduced him to the apostles, and he told them how on his journey he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how boldly he had spoken for the cause of Jesus at Damascus. After that, he associated with them freely in Jerusalem, and spoke boldly for the Lord's cause, talking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews. But they tried to kill him. When the brothers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and sent him away to Tarsus. So the church all over Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace and became established. It lived in reverence for the Lord and, stimulated by the holy Spirit, it grew steadily in numbers.