Acts

Chapter 1

Introduction by Luke

¹ Dear Mr. Theophilus:

In my first report, ^[1] I told you about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the beginning of His ministry ^2-3 until the day God took Him up to heaven. From the beginning of His ministry, He had chosen His disciples to become His apostles. After He suffered and died on a cross, He came alive again. And for forty days, He showed himself and did many miracles so that His apostles would believe that He really had come back to life. And He also taught them about God’s kingdom. ^[2] Before He ascended to heaven, with the help of the Holy Spirit He gave various commands to His apostles. ⁴ And while Jesus was still with them, He said, “Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait here until He whom I told you about comes, that is He who was promised by My Father. ⁵ For in the past, John baptized you with water, but God will soon baptize you with His Spirit.”

Jesus is raised up to heaven

⁶ While the apostles were together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when You’ll set up the kingdom of Israel again, so that this land of ours will be independent and no longer be under the authority of the kingdom of Rome?”

⁷ Then He said to them, “You don’t need to know the day or the time which the Father has determined according to His own right. ⁸ However, each of you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is sent and lives in you. By His power, you’ll become My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and to all the most remote regions of the earth.”

⁹ After He had said that to them, He was taken up into the sky. While the apostles were witnessing that, a cloud covered Him so that they couldn’t see Him anymore. ¹⁰ And while they were still trying to see Him in the sky, two angels who were robed in white suddenly appeared, standing beside them. The two angels looked like young men. ¹¹ Then the two angels said, “You people of Galilee, why are you still standing here and looking at the sky? One day this Jesus who was taken up from among you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw Him go.”

A replacement for Judas is chosen

¹² Then the apostles returned to the city of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which was the distance of one kilometer from the city. ¹³ Then they entered the city and went to the room upstairs, which was the place they were staying. The apostles were

     Peter, John, James,

     Andrew, Philip, Thomas,

     Bartholomew, Matthew, James, who was the son of Alphaeus, Simon, a man who had followed the Israeli independence movement in the past, ^[3]

     and Judas, who was the son of James.

¹⁴ They all prayed together diligently and in unity. Along with them were Jesus’ younger brothers and some women, one of whom was Mary, His mother.

¹⁵ After several days, there were about one hundred and twenty brothers and sisters of the faith who had gathered there. Then Peter stood up among them and said, ^16-17 “Brothers and sisters, God has obviously arranged it so that everything that has now happened agrees with what was written in the Holy Bible, which is what was revealed by the Holy Spirit through King David’s prophecy. He spoke about Judas, who became a guide to the people who arrested Jesus. Judas was one of our group before that, and had served with us, of course.”

¹⁸ (At the time Peter was speaking, Judas had already bought a piece of land with the money that he got as a result of his evil, when he betrayed Jesus. Then while he was on that land, he fell headlong with his body splitting open. All of the contents of his stomach came out, and then he died. ¹⁹ Then all the residents of Jerusalem became aware of it. Because of that, the land was called ‘Akeldama’ in their language. That means ‘land that has been soaked with blood.’) ^[4] )

²⁰ Peter continued, “For it’s written in the book of Psalms,

     ‘May that man’s land remain empty,

         and may no one live there.’ ^[1]

And in another verse it’s written,

     ‘May that man’s position be taken by someone else.’ ^[2]

^21-22 Because of that, we need to choose another man to replace Judas, so that man can join us other apostles in proclaiming the testimony that the Lord Jesus has come alive again from death. That man must be a person who was always present with us while Jesus was among us, beginning from the time John baptized Him, until He was taken up to heaven from among us.”

²³ Then those who were gathered together suggested two men to replace Judas: first, Joseph (who was also known by two other names, namely Barsabbas and Justus), and the second, Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, You know what’s in every person’s heart. Show us which of these two people is the one You choose ²⁵ to serve as an apostle to replace Judas. For Judas has already gone to the place that’s most appropriate for him.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots for those two names, and Matthias was the one chosen. So he was added to the other eleven apostles.

Chapter 2

The coming of the Holy Spirit

¹ When the Day of Pentecost came, everyone who had followed Jesus in the past had gathered together in one house. ² Then a sound like a strong wind was suddenly heard from the sky. The sound filled the whole house where they were gathered. ³ Then they saw something that looked like flames of fire, which spread, and stopped over each of them. ⁴ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages according to the ability that was given to them by the Spirit.

⁵ It happened at that time that there were people of the Jewish religion in Jerusalem who came from almost all over the whole world. They were people who sincerely worshiped God, and had come to celebrate Pentecost. ^{[1] 6} When they heard the loud noise, many of them came and gathered at the house. They were very confused because they heard the followers of Jesus speaking in various languages, so each one could hear the news in his own language. ^7-8 Then they were truly amazed and said, “How could this possibly happen?! The people who’re speaking are all Galileans, ^[2] but each of us hears them speaking in our own language! That’s really amazing because we come from many regions, ⁹ including Parthia, Media, Elam, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and the province of Asia. ¹⁰ That also includes the regions of Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya that are near the city of Cyrene. There are also some who come from the capital city of Rome, ¹¹ from the island of Crete, and Arabians. We who’re gathered here are Jews, and people from other ethnic groups too, who’ve become followers of the Jewish religion. It’s truly amazing that we can hear them speak in our own languages about the amazing things which God has done.” ¹² Because they were amazed and confused, they asked each other, “How could this happen?” ¹³ But there were some others too who laughed at the followers of Jesus because they thought, “Those people are just drunk.”

Peter preaches to the crowd

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the eleven apostles, and spoke to the crowd with a loud voice, “Jewish brothers and sisters, and everyone living in Jerusalem, allow me to tell you the meaning of all that’s happening. Listen carefully. ¹⁵ We aren’t drunk, as you suppose, because it’s just nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶ But what you’re witnessing is what was prophesied in the past by the prophet Joel, when he said,

     ¹⁷ ‘God says, “In the last days,

         I’ll pour out My Spirit on everyone,

         and your sons and daughters will prophesy,

         your young people will have visions,

         and many of your old men will have special dreams.

     ¹⁸ In those last days too,

         I’ll even pour out My Spirit on those who’ve been sold as slaves to masters,

         both male and female slaves.

         They’re also included as My chosen people, and in those days they will prophesy too.

     ¹⁹ And at that time, I’ll also do many miracles

         in the sky and on the earth,

         in the form of blood, or fire, and clouds of smoke.

     ²⁰ The sun will change and become dark,

         and the moon will become red like blood.

         After that, the great and amazing day of the Lord will come.

     ²¹ And everyone who calls out to the Lord, asking for His help, will be saved.”’ ^[3]

²² So my Jewish brothers and sisters, listen to what I’m saying: It’s now been proven that Jesus, from the village of Nazareth, was sent by God. And God has proven that to you by doing all kinds of miracles through Jesus, as you already know. ²³ According to God’s plan, which He determined in the past, Jesus was turned over to you. And with the help of people who don’t know God, you killed Jesus by nailing Him to a cross. ²⁴ But now God has raised Him from the dead, and freed Him from continuous suffering in the kingdom of death. For the kingdom of death couldn’t possibly hold on to Him. ²⁵ For King David already prophesied about Jesus like this:

     ‘I realize that the Lord is always with Me. ^[3]

         I’ll be protected by Him from the attacks of all who oppose Me, because He’s close to Me. ^[4]

     ²⁶ For that reason, My heart rejoices,

         and I always praise You gladly with My mouth.

         My body even feels calm because of the hope that You’ve given Me.

     ²⁷ For You won’t leave My spirit

         in the place of dead people.

     And You won’t let the body of Your Holy One

         rot in the grave either.

     ²⁸ You’ve shown Me the way leading to life.

         And I’ll always rejoice, because I’ll live with You.’ ^[4]

²⁹ Brothers and sisters, allow me to speak clearly to you about David, our forefather. What he said was definitely not about himself, because he died and was buried, and his grave is still with us to this day. ³⁰ But David was also a prophet, and he knew that God had promised with an oath that a Person from David’s own descendants would become king, and sit on David’s throne. ³¹ So David already knew what would happen, and that’s why he spoke like that about the resurrection of his Descendant, namely the Christ, because he said that the Holy One ‘won’t be left in the place of dead people’ and that ‘His body won’t rot in the grave.’

³² So this Jesus is the one whom God has raised from the dead! And all of us in this group saw Him after He came back to life, and now we’ve been sent to be witnesses of that. ³³ So now He has been taken up to heaven, and sits in the most honored place, which is at God’s right side. And Jesus has also received the Holy Spirit who was promised by His Father. So now Jesus has poured out that Spirit, and that’s what you’re seeing and hearing now. ³⁴ For it wasn’t David who was taken up to heaven, but he himself said,

     ‘God said to my Lord:

     “Sit at My right side and rule as King

         ³⁵ until I defeat all who oppose You, and make them Your slaves.”’ ^[5]

³⁶ For that reason, let all the people of Israel know for certain that God has appointed Jesus, whom you crucified, as Lord and Christ ^[5] who was promised.”

³⁷ When Peter finished speaking, the hearts of the crowd who heard him were touched. Then they asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸ Peter answered, “Each of you should repent and be baptized as followers of Christ Jesus. By doing that, your sins are forgiven and you’ll receive the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For this promise is valid for you, your children, and even for those who’re far away, that is for everyone who is called by our Lord God.”

⁴⁰ And Peter spoke and testified about many other things to encourage their hearts. At the end he said, “Do everything you can to escape God’s judgment on the evil of the people of this age!” ⁴¹ Then those who believed Peter’s teaching were baptized, and on that day the number of believers grew by about three thousand people. ⁴² They diligently studied the apostles’ teaching, and often gathered in fellowship, prayed together and ate together (including the Lord's Supper) too. ^[6]

The believers share their possessions with each other

⁴³ At that time, everyone in Jerusalem felt amazed and afraid because God gave power to the apostles to do many miracles. ⁴⁴ All of the believers kept united, and felt their possessions were common property. ⁴⁵ So it often happened that one of them sold the land he owned and shared the proceeds of the sale with his fellow members who needed help. ⁴⁶ They got together everyday, with one heart and mind, in the courtyard of God’s House. They often invited each other to eat together in their houses too, (where they also celebrated the Lord's Supper). They did this very happily and wholeheartedly. ⁴⁷ They kept praising God and were liked by everyone. And the Lord added newly saved people to the group of believers everyday.

Chapter 3

Peter heals a paralyzed man

¹ One day, Peter and John went to the courtyard of God’s House to take part in the prayer time, which was about three o’clock in the afternoon. ² At the Beautiful Gate, the name of the door to the courtyard of God’s House, there was a beggar whose legs were paralyzed since birth. His friends placed him at that gate of the courtyard everyday so he could beg money from people who were going in and out of the courtyard. ³ When the beggar saw Peter and John entering, he asked them for money. ⁴ Then the two of them looked at the paralyzed man and said, “Look at us.” ⁵ So he looked at them, hoping to receive money from them. ⁶ But Peter said, “I don’t have any gold or silver, but I’ll give you what I have: By the power of Christ Jesus, He who came from Nazareth, I command you to stand up and walk!” ⁷ Then Peter held him by his right hand and helped him to stand up. His feet and ankles became strong immediately. ⁸ He stood up quickly and began to walk! Then he followed them into the courtyard of God’s House while walking and jumping around, along with praising God. ^9-10 And all the people there recognized him as the beggar who always sat at the gate of the courtyard, that is the Beautiful Gate. When they saw him walking, and heard him praising God, they were really amazed and confused because of what had happened to him.

Peter speaks to the crowd

¹¹ The man kept on following Peter and John, and kept holding onto them. Then all the amazed people ran to them in the courtyard which is called Solomon’s Porch. ^{[1] 12} When Peter saw the crowd, he said to them, “Jewish brothers and sisters, why’re you amazed at what happened? Why do you keep looking at us— as if we have unusual power or special goodness in God’s eyes to make this man well and able to walk? ¹³ It wasn’t us, but God who healed him. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— namely the God of our forefathers, has done this to glorify His Servant Jesus. He’s the Man whom you handed over to be killed. You rejected Him before Governor Pilate, even though Pilate had already decided to release Him. ¹⁴ You didn’t want to acknowledge Him who’s holy and righteous, but you asked Pilate that a murderer ^[2] be released to you. ¹⁵ So you actually killed Him who is the source of life, but God caused Him to live again after death. We’ve been sent to witness about that event. ¹⁶ Jesus’ power is what gave strength to this paralyzed man— whom you’ve seen and already know. This happened because we believe in His power. The truth, as you’ve witnessed for yourselves, is that this man was completely healed because of our faith in Jesus.

¹⁷ “Brothers and sisters, I know that you and our leaders weren’t aware of what you did when you killed Jesus. ¹⁸ But in that way, God fulfilled what He spoke in the past through the words of the prophets, that His Servant Christ must suffer and die. ¹⁹ Because of that, repent and return to God, so that your sins are forgiven. ²⁰ Then God will give spiritual refreshment to you. And God will send Jesus— whom God has chosen as the Christ, to us once again. ^{[3] 21} But Jesus must stay in heaven until the time of the restoration of everything, like what God spoke through the prophets in the past. ²² Remember what Moses said,

‘The Lord your God will give you another Prophet— ^[4] who’ll be a Prophet like me, who’ll come from our own people. You have to obey everything that Prophet says. ²³ And whoever doesn’t obey that Prophet will be expelled from God’s people.’ ^[6]

²⁴ All the other prophets, beginning with the prophet Samuel, have prophesied about this time. ²⁵ We’re the heirs of those prophets, of course, and we’re included in the promise given by God to our forefathers. It has now begun to happen according to God’s word to Abraham,

‘Everyone in this world will be blessed through your descendants.’ ^[7]

²⁶ So when God brought His Servant Jesus back to life again, God sent Him to us, the people of Israel first of all, so that He would bless us if each of us repents of our wickedness.” Finished

Chapter 4

Peter and John defend themselves before the Religious Court

¹ While Peter and John were talking to the crowd, some Jewish leaders began to oppose them. The leaders who were present were the chief guards of God's House, some priests, and some of the Sadducee group. ^{[1] 2} They were very angry at Peter and John because the two apostles were speaking to the crowd and teaching that believers will live again after death through the power of Jesus. ³ So the leaders arrested the two apostles and put them in jail. Because it was already evening, the two of them were kept there until the next day. ⁴ However, many people who had heard Peter and John’s teaching became believers in Jesus because of what they said. In that way, the number of believers became about five thousand people, not including women and children.

⁵ The following day, the Jewish authorities and leaders, along with the Law experts, held a council in Jerusalem. ⁶ The high priest, Annas, was present, with all the important people in his family, including Caiaphas, John ^[2] and Alexander. ⁷ After they ordered the two apostles to stand before them, the council presented this question to them, “By what power, or in whose name did you make that paralyzed man well?”

⁸ Then Peter, who at that time was full of the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Sirs, authorities and leaders of the nation: ⁹ If we’re being tried today because we did a good deed to a paralyzed man, and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then you and all the Jews should know that this man was made well in the name and power of Christ Jesus the Nazarene, whom you crucified. But He was brought back to life from death by God. So through the power of this Jesus, this paralyzed man can stand healthy before you now. ¹¹ As God’s Word says, Jesus is pictured as

     ‘The foundation stone that was considered to be useless by the builders’, that is you yourselves,

         ‘but God has made that Stone become the most important Stone.’ ^[8]

¹² So He’s the only One who can save people. For in all the world, He alone was chosen by God as the Savior of people. There’s no one else.”

¹³ At that moment, the leaders realized that Peter and John were ordinary people who didn’t have any special education, but they were also amazed because those two men spoke with boldness. And they also realized that Peter and John had often been with Jesus. ¹⁴ And because the man who had been healed was standing there with Peter and John, they couldn’t say anything to oppose the two apostles. ¹⁵ So they ordered the two apostles to leave the council room of the Religious Court, and they discussed it together and said, ¹⁶ “What should we do to these two men? Everyone in Jerusalem has heard that this exceptional miracle came about through the two of them, and we can’t deny it. ¹⁷ But we need to threaten them and forbid the two of them to speak to anyone anymore using the name of that Nazarene, so that this news doesn’t spread more widely among more people.”

¹⁸ So they ordered Peter and John to come back in. Then they forbid the two apostles to teach or speak to anyone about Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered, “You yourselves should think about what’s right: to obey God or to obey you, ²⁰ because we can’t keep quiet about what we’ve seen and heard!” ^21-22 In the end, the Jewish leaders couldn’t find a reason to punish the two apostles because everyone was praising God for what had happened, since the person who had experienced the miraculous healing was already over forty years old. For that reason, the leaders released the two apostles, but with even more severe threats.

Peter and John return to the group of believers

²³ After being released, Peter and John returned to the group of believers. Then the two of them told about everything that the chief priests and Jewish leaders in the council had said. ²⁴ When the believers heard it, they all prayed with one heart to God, “O Lord Almighty, You’re the one who created the sky, the earth, the sea, and all they contain. ²⁵ By Your Holy Spirit, You’ve spoken through Your servant, our forefather David, saying,

     ‘It’s useless for non-Jewish peoples to be angry and act in opposition to God.

         And it’s useless for the people who don’t know God to plan to oppose Him.

     ²⁶ Their kings and all the world’s authorities combine their armies

         to war against God,

         and the Christ whom He promised.’ ^[9]

²⁷ Yes, Lord, that really actually happened here in Jerusalem, when King Herod, Governor Pontius Pilate, and the non-Jewish people, along with the Jews, united to oppose Jesus, who is Your holy Servant whom You anointed to be the Christ! ²⁸ But because You’re the Almighty, all of that happened according to Your will and Your plan from the past. ²⁹ So now, O Lord, take note of their threats against us, and help us, Your servants, to tell the News of Salvation from You with complete boldness. ³⁰ And we ask You to stretch out Your powerful hand to heal sick people and do all kinds of miracles, and may that all happen just to glorify Jesus’ name.”

³¹ Then after they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and kept telling God’s Word with complete boldness.

The believers share their possessions with each other

³² The whole group of believers were united in heart and soul. No one said that his possessions were just his own property. Everything they owned was used for the common good. ³³ And with great power, the apostles gave their testimony that the Lord Jesus had been brought back to life from death. And God just kept showing that He was very kind to all the believers. ³⁴ At that time, none of them was needy, because it often happened that one of them who owned a field or a house, sold his property, and the proceeds of the sale were brought ³⁵ and turned over to the apostles. Then the money was distributed to those who needed it.

³⁶ One of them who did that was named Joseph, who came from the island of Cyprus and was from the family of the tribe of Levi. The apostles gave him a new name, which was Barnabas. The name means “one who encourages others.” ³⁷ Barnabas sold a field he owned, and then brought the money from the sale of that field and turned it over to the apostles.

Chapter 5

Ananias and Sapphira agree to deceive the apostles

¹ There was a man named Ananias. He and his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of land that they owned. ² Then the couple agreed to keep some of the money from that land. So Ananias handed over only part of the money to the apostles. ³ But Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let the devil control your heart? You’ve tried to deceive the Holy Spirit by keeping some of the money from your land. ⁴ Before you sold it, the land was your property, of course. And after you sold it, the money from that land was still yours. Why did you plan this evil thing in your heart! You not only tried to deceive us but to deceive God too!” ^5-6 When Ananias heard Peter’s words, his breathing stopped, and he fell down. Some young men came, wrapped his body with a cloth, then carried the body outside of the city and buried it. Everyone who heard about what happened became very frightened.

⁷ Then about three hours later, Ananias’ wife came in. She didn’t know what had happened to her husband. ⁸ So while showing her the money which Ananias had turned over, Peter said to Sapphira, “Tell me, is it true that you sold your land for this price?”

And Sapphira answered, “Yes, the total was that much, of course.”

⁹ Then Peter said to her, “Why did the two of you agree to test the Lord’s Spirit? Look! Those who buried your husband’s body are at the door, and they’ll carry your body out too!” ¹⁰ At that very moment, Sapphira’s breathing stopped, and she fell down near Peter’s feet. When the young men entered, they found she was already dead, so they carried her body to the same place too, and buried her next to her husband. ¹¹ The whole church, and everyone who heard about it, became very frightened.

Many miracles from God

¹² After that, the miracles done among the crowd by the apostles increased. At that time, all the believers met regularly in the courtyard of God’s House which was called Solomon’s Porch. ^{[1] 13} Other people who didn’t yet believe didn’t dare to join them, but everyone respected them. ¹⁴ And the people who believed in the Lord increased in number more and more, both men and women. ¹⁵ In fact, the crowd brought sick people to the streets and laid them on beds or mats. They did that with the hope that sick people would be healed if they were just touched by Peter’s shadow when he passed by there. ¹⁶ And many people came bringing sick people, and those who were troubled by evil spirits, from the cities around Jerusalem too. Then all of them were healed.

The Jewish leaders try to stop the apostles

¹⁷ Then the high priest and his friends began to take action against the apostles because they were jealous. (All the friends of the high priest were part of the Sadducee religious group.) ^{[2] 18} So they arrested the apostles and put them in prison. ¹⁹ But at night, an angel came and opened the doors of the prison and led them out. He said, ²⁰ “Go and stand in one of the courtyards of God’s House and tell the people there about the teaching of new life.” ²¹ So they entered one of the courtyards of God’s House very early in the morning, and began to teach the crowd, just like the angel told them to do.

At the same time, the high priest and his friends came through a different courtyard door, and they gathered the members of the Religious Court council and all the Jewish elders to hold a council. Then they ordered some officials to bring the apostles from prison. ²² But when the officials arrived at the prison, they didn’t find the apostles there. They returned and reported the situation, saying, ²³ “We found the jail doors tightly locked, and each guard standing in front of the doors. But when we opened all the doors, no one was inside.” ²⁴ When the head guard of God’s House and everyone present heard that, they were confused, and tried to figure out what would happen next.

²⁵ Then a person came in and said, “Listen! The men you put in jail yesterday are now standing in the courtyard of God’s House and teaching the crowd.” ²⁶ Then the head guard of God’s House, along with his officials, went and brought the apostles back. But they didn’t use force because they were afraid of the crowd who were following the apostles’ teaching. They didn’t want the crowd to become angry and stone them.

²⁷ They brought the apostles in to face the Religious Court council. Then the high priest said to the apostles, ²⁸ “We strictly commanded you not to teach about that man from Nazareth again, but you’ve taken your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you also want to blame us for his death.”

²⁹ But Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God more than you. ³⁰ You killed Jesus by hanging Him on a cross, but the God of our forefathers has caused Him to live after death. ³¹ Then God placed Him at the most honored place in heaven, which is at His right side. Jesus rules there as King and Savior. God did that so that all Jews would have an opportunity to repent, and be forgiven for their sins. ³² We’ve been sent to testify about all of that. And the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to all of us who obey Him, is proving that those things are true too.”

³³ When the Jewish leaders heard that, they became very angry and wanted to kill the apostles. ³⁴ But a Pharisee, whose name was Gamaliel, stood up among the members of the Religious Court council. He was a teacher of the Law who was respected by everyone. He ordered the apostles to be taken outside for a short while. ³⁵ Then he said to them, “Men of Israel, we need to be careful about what we do to them. ³⁶ For in the past, a man named Theudas appeared. He claimed to be a leader, and there were four hundred people who became his followers. But when he was killed, all of his followers scattered and his movement just disappeared. ³⁷ After that, at the time of the census of residents, another Galilean man named Judas appeared. Many people were interested and followed him. But he was killed too, and all of his followers scattered. ³⁸ So in this problem now, I suggest that we distance ourselves and leave them alone. For if their plan or work comes from man, this movement will definitely fail. ³⁹ But if their movement comes from God, we won’t be able to stop them. It might even turn out that we’re the ones who are opposing God!”

The Jewish leaders agreed with what Gamaliel said. ⁴⁰ Then they called the apostles and commanded that they be beaten with whips. After that, they forbid the apostles to speak about Jesus anymore, and the apostles were released. ⁴¹ But the apostles left the Court council rejoicing, because they felt it was an honor to be persecuted for Jesus. ⁴² And they didn’t stop teaching the Good News that Jesus is the Christ, who was promised by God. They told it everyday in God’s House and in people’s homes.

Chapter 6

Seven people are chosen as church workers

¹ The number of Jesus’ followers at that time was increasing more and more. Then the Jewish brothers and sisters who spoke Greek complained against the Jewish brothers and sisters who spoke Hebrew. ^[1] They complained that the widows among them were overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ² Because of that, the twelve apostles gathered all of Christ’s followers and said, “It isn’t good for us to leave the ministry of God’s Word in order to take care of food. ³ So brothers and sisters, choose seven of your men who are known as good men, who are wise and full of the Holy Spirit. Then we’ll turn this ministry over to them to be their responsibility. ⁴ In that way, we ourselves will be diligent in praying and in teaching God’s Word.”

⁵ Everyone present was happy with that suggestion. Then Christ’s followers chose Stephen (a man who had great faith in Jesus, and was filled with the Holy Spirit), also Philip, ^[2] Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a man from Antioch, who had just become a convert to Judaism before he became Jesus’ follower). ⁶ When those seven men were presented to the apostles, the apostles prayed while laying their hands on them as a sign that they were set apart and sent to do that task.

⁷ After that, all of Jesus’ followers kept proclaiming God’s Word to people so that God’s Word kept spreading, and the number of followers in Jerusalem increased more and more. In fact, a large number of Jewish priests surrendered themselves and became believers in Jesus.

The Jews oppose Stephen

⁸ Because of God’s kindness, Stephen was given great power to perform all kinds of miracles among the crowd, ⁹ but several people began to debate with him. They were members of a Jewish synagogue which was called the Synagogue of Free People. ^[3] The members of that synagogue were residents of Jerusalem who came from the city of Cyrene, the city of Alexandria, the province of Cilicia, and the province of Asia. ¹⁰ But not one of them was able to win those debates, because Stephen spoke full of wisdom by the help of the Holy Spirit.

¹¹ They finally bribed several people to lie saying, “We heard Stephen insult Moses and God.” ¹² In that way, they stirred up the crowd and the Jewish leaders, along with the Law experts. Then they all arrested Stephen and brought him before the Religious Court council.

¹³ Then false witnesses came forward and said, “He always insults God’s House and the Law. ¹⁴ For we’ve heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy God’s House and change the customs which Moses gave us.” ¹⁵ When everyone sitting in the council looked at Stephen, they saw that his face radiated goodness, like the face of an angel.

Chapter 7

Stephen’s defense

¹ Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Is their report true?” ² Stephen answered, “Fathers and brothers, listen to me! The Most Glorious God showed Himself to our forefather Abraham. At that time, he still lived in Mesopotamia and hadn’t yet moved to Haran. ³ And God said,

‘Leave your land and your family too, and go to the land that I’ll show you.’ ^[10]

⁴ Abraham left the land of the people of Babel ^[1] and moved to Haran. After his father died, God ordered Abraham to move from there to this land, the place where we live now. ⁵ At that time, God didn’t give Abraham any piece of land to become his own property. But God promised him, ‘This land will become the property of your descendants.’ However, Abraham didn’t have a son yet at that time. ⁶ God also said to him,

‘Your descendants will live as foreigners in the land of another people group, and that people group will force all of your descendants to work as their slaves, and will treat them very harshly for four hundred years. ⁷ But I’ll punish the people group that enslaves them. And after that, your descendants will come out of that land and will worship Me in this place.’ ^[11]

⁸ Then God gave Abraham the promise of circumcision for all the male children. So when Isaac was born, and was one week old, ^[2] Abraham circumcised him. It was the same when Isaac had a child, Jacob, he was also circumcised. Jacob also did the same thing to his twelve sons, who then became the twelve forefathers of our Jewish ethnic group.

⁹ “But the other sons of Jacob were jealous of their younger brother Joseph, so they sold him, and he was forced to work as a slave in the land of Egypt. But God was with Joseph, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all the trouble he experienced. And God enabled Joseph to answer the king of Egypt ^[3] wisely, so that the king gladly accepted him. Then the king raised Joseph up to become the governor of all Egypt, including the management of all of the king’s own palace. ¹¹ Then a famine occurred in all of Egypt and Canaan, so that all the people really suffered. And our forefathers in the land of Canaan couldn’t find food either.

¹² “When Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt, he sent our forefathers there. That was the first time they went to Egypt. ¹³ But when their food was gone, they went back a second time. Then Joseph openly made himself known to his older brothers. That was when the king learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴ Then Joseph sent his older brothers back home to bring his father and move all of his family to Egypt. At that time, they all numbered seventy-five people. ¹⁵ Then Jacob and all his family left for Egypt and lived there. So Jacob died in that land, and all of our forefathers died there too. ¹⁶ But their bodies were brought back to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham bought from the local people, namely Hamor’s sons, with a lot of money.

¹⁷ “After many years, when God was ready to fulfill the promise He gave to Abraham in the past, the number of our people in Egypt had really increased. ¹⁸ At that time, a new king who didn’t know about Joseph ruled in Egypt. ¹⁹ That king cheated and mistreated our forefathers. He forced them to throw away their babies so that they died. ²⁰ That’s when Moses was born, and he was a child who was pleasing in God’s eyes. His parents hid him in their house for three months. ²¹ When they couldn’t hide him any longer, they had to throw him out. Then the King of Egypt’s daughter took him and raised him as her own child. ²² So Moses was educated in all the knowledge of the Egyptians, until he became powerful, both in speech and in action.

²³ “After Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers and sisters, the people of Israel. ²⁴ That’s when he saw one of them being persecuted by an Egyptian, so he tried to defend the Israelite. Then he beat the Egyptian to death. ²⁵ Moses thought that his Israelite brothers and sisters would understand that God was using him to save them, but they didn’t understand it. ²⁶ The next day, he met two Jews who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Hey friends, you’re brothers, so why are you fighting?’ ²⁷ But the man who was doing wrong to the other pushed Moses and said,

‘Who appointed you to become a ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me too, like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ ^[12]

²⁹ When Moses heard what the man said, he was frightened because the news about the murder of the Egyptian had obviously spread. For that reason, he ran away and lived as a foreigner in the land of the Midianites. He married there, and had two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel showed himself to Moses in the form of a burning bush, in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ Moses was really amazed to see that fire. When he approached the fire to see it more clearly, he heard the voice of the Lord saying,

³² ‘I am the God of your forefathers, who is worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ ^[13]

When Moses heard those words, he shook and was really afraid, and he didn’t dare look at the fire again. ³³ Then the Lord said to him again,

‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you’re standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I’ve seen that My people are severely persecuted in Egypt, and I’ve heard their complaints, of course. Because of that, I’ve come down to free them. So get ready, because I’m sending you to Egypt now.’ ^[14]

³⁵ “So the Lord sent Moses, who hadn’t been accepted by the Israelites in the past when they said, ‘Who appointed you to be a ruler and judge over us?’ But he was, in fact, the one sent by God to become a ruler and savior, through the angel who appeared to him in the middle of that bush. ³⁶ Then Moses led them out of Egypt, by doing many miracles in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and also while they were in the desert for forty years. ³⁷ And this Moses is also the one who said to the people of Israel,

‘God will once again raise up a Prophet for you from the descendants of our own people. He’ll also give God’s message like I do.’ ^[15]

³⁸ Moses continued to live with God’s people, our forefathers, while they were in the desert. And the angel who had spoken to him in the past on Mount Sinai repeatedly gave God’s Words to him and to our forefathers. And finally, that Word has been given to us, that is the word that gives life.

³⁹ “But our forefathers didn’t want to obey him. They rejected him instead, and in their hearts, they wanted to return to Egypt. ⁴⁰ Then they said to Aaron,

‘Make us some idols as gods that will lead us back to Egypt, because we don’t know what’s happened to Moses, who brought us out of that land.’ ^[16]

⁴¹ Then they made a statue in the form of a calf, and brought offerings to the idol. And with joyful hearts, they had a big party to celebrate the statue they made with their own hands. ⁴² Because of their deeds, God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. As it’s written in the book of the prophets, God said,

     ‘You Israelites didn’t truly bring sacrifices and offerings to Me

         when you lived in the desert for forty years.

     ⁴³ For until now, in your hearts,

         you still prefer to worship in the tent of your god Molech,

         and worship the idols that you made in the form of the star god Rephan.

     Because of that, I’ve decided that you’ll become prisoners of war,

         and be taken away beyond the city of Babylon by your enemies.’ ^[17]

⁴⁴ “Our forefathers took the Holy Tabernacle ^[4] with them wherever they moved while in the desert. The Tabernacle was made according to God’s instructions, like what God commanded and showed to Moses. ⁴⁵ After that, Joshua led our forefathers to take over this region. They could stay in this region because God drove the people out of here who didn’t know Him. And they brought the Holy Tabernacle here. And the tent was with them until the time David became king. ⁴⁶ David was truly pleasing to God, so he asked God’s permission to build a house for Him, the God worshiped by Jacob. ⁴⁷ However it was his son, Solomon, who built God’s House.

^48-49 “Yet the Most High God doesn’t live in a house that’s built by human hands, like what the Lord said which was told by one of the prophets:

     49 ‘The sky is the place where I sit to rule,

         and the earth is the place I put my feet.

     So it’s impossible for you to build a house for Me

         or a place for Me to rest.

     ⁵⁰ Remember, My hands were the ones that made all of this!’” ^[18]

⁵¹ Then Stephen said, “You’re hard-headed people! And in your hearts, you’re just the same as the tribes who don’t know God, and your ears don’t want to hear Him! You’re just like our forefathers: you always oppose the Holy Spirit too! ⁵² Try to name one prophet who wasn’t persecuted by our forefathers! There aren’t any, of course! In fact, they killed the prophets who in times past told about the coming of the Christ, who was God’s Servant, who always lived right in God’s sight. But now you’re the ones who betrayed and killed Him! ⁵³ You received the Law, of course, which was given by God through His angel, but you’ve never obeyed that law!”

Stephen is killed

⁵⁴ When the Jewish leaders heard all that, they were extremely offended and could hardly restrain themselves anymore. ^{[5] 55} But at that moment, Stephen was filled by the Holy Spirit. And when he looked up to heaven, he saw God’s glory, and Jesus was standing at the most honored place, which is at God’s right side. ⁵⁶ Then he said, “Look! I see heaven open and Jesus, as the Son of Man, ^[6] is standing in the most honored place there.”

⁵⁷ When they heard Stephen’s words, they cried out while covering their ears, then they all attacked him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him outside the city, and threw stones at him until he died. The people who testified against Stephen left their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ^{[7] 59} While the people were throwing stones at him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then while kneeling, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” After saying that, Stephen died.

Chapter 8

^1-3 Saul also agreed that killing Stephen was a good thing. After that, some devout men buried Stephen, and they cried very sadly for him.

Saul persecutes the believers

But on that day a great persecution also began against the believers in Jerusalem. And Saul was trying to destroy the church. He went from house to house and dragged away believers to imprison them, both men and women. So many believers fled from Jerusalem and scattered to various places in Judea and Samaria, but the twelve apostles still remained in Jerusalem. ⁴ The believers who were scattered kept telling the Good News wherever they went.

Philip tells the Good News in Samaria

⁵ Philip ^[1] went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Christ. ⁶ When they heard his teaching and witnessed the many miracles he did, they all listened with great attention. ⁷ Many residents of that city were possessed by evil spirits, but Philip drove out the spirits in Jesus’ name. The evil spirits went out crying loudly. Many lame and totally paralyzed people were also healed, ⁸ so the people in that city were really joyful because of all of that.

⁹ But there was also a sorcerer in Samaria named Simon. He had amazed the residents of Samaria with his knowledge of sorcery for a long time. He also claimed that he was a great person. ¹⁰ So before Philip came, all the people of Samaria, both ordinary as well as important people, paid attention to him and said, “This man has God’s power called the great power.” ¹¹ So they really respected Simon, because he had amazed them with his knowledge of sorcery for a long time.

¹² But when Philip told them the Good News about God’s kingdom and Christ Jesus’ power, many people, both men and women, believed the news. Then Philip baptized them. ¹³ Simon himself believed and was baptized. After that he always followed Philip. When he saw the many extraordinary miracles that Philip did, he was really amazed.

¹⁴ When the apostles, who were still in Jerusalem, heard that the people in Samaria had accepted God’s Word which Philip had told them, they sent Peter and John to them. ¹⁵ When they arrived, they prayed that the Samaritans who had believed would receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ The believers had been baptized in the Lord Jesus’ name, of course, but the Holy Spirit hadn’t yet descended on them. ¹⁷ So when Peter and John laid their hands on them, then they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ Then when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given to those people through the two apostles who placed their hands on them, he offered money to the apostles. ¹⁹ He said, “Give me that power too, so that when I lay my hands on anyone, that person will receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter answered Simon, “May you and your money perish, because you think you can buy God’s special ability with money! ²¹ You don’t have a right to take part in this work, because your heart isn’t right before God. ²² So repent. Pray that the Lord forgives this evil desire in your heart, ²³ because I see that you’re trapped in sin, and your heart is full of envy.”

²⁴ Then Simon answered. “Pray to the Lord for me so that all that you’ve said won’t happen to me!”

²⁵ After the two apostles gave a testimony and told them the Lord’s Word, they returned to Jerusalem. And on the way back, they went through many villages in the region of Samaria and told the Good News about Jesus to many people.

Philip teaches an Ethiopian

²⁶ One day, an angel spoke to Philip and ordered him to do this, “Get ready and go to the south, ^[2] to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (That road crosses a deserted area.) ²⁷ So Philip got ready and left. He saw an Ethiopian eunuch ^[3] there who was an official of the queen of Ethiopia. ^[4] He was responsible for all the treasury of that land and he had gone to worship in Jerusalem, ²⁸ At that time, he was on his way home. His servant was driving his carriage while the official himself sat and read from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go, get close to the carriage.” ³⁰ So Philip ran close to the carriage and heard the official reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. Then Philip said to him. “Sir, do you understand what you’re reading?”

³¹ The official said, “I can’t possibly understand if there's no one to explain it to me.” Then the official asked Philip to come up into his carriage and sit with him. ³² The part of the Holy Bible that he was reading was as follows,

     “He was just like a lamb that was brought to be sacrificed,

         and like a lamb that doesn’t make a sound when someone cuts its wool.

         In the same way, that Man didn’t say a single word.

     ³³ He was humiliated and all of His rights were taken away.

         No one can talk about His descendants, ^[5]

         because He was killed and taken from this world before He had any children.” ^[19]

³⁴ The official said to Philip, “Please tell me: Who is the Prophet talking about? Was he talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to explain it to him. He told the Good News about Jesus to him, beginning with that passage.

^36-37 On the way, they came to a place where there was water, and the official said to Philip, “Look, there’s water here. Why can’t I be baptized now?” ^[6]

³⁸ Then the official commanded the carriage to stop, so the two of them got out and went into the water. Then Philip baptized him. ³⁹ After they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away from that place, and the official didn’t see him any more. Then the official continued on his trip with a cheerful heart. ⁴⁰ But Philip suddenly appeared in a city called Azotus. Then he traveled through that region while telling the Good News in every city that he passed through, until he reached the city of Caesarea.

Chapter 9

Saul repents

¹ However, Saul still continued to threaten the followers of the Lord by saying that he was going to kill them. Because of that, Saul went to the high priest, ² and asked for a letter of authority addressed to the leaders of all the Jewish synagogues in the city of Damascus. In that letter, it stated that when he found Jesus’ followers— ^[1] whether men or women, he would arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem to be tried.

³ As Saul was getting close to the city, a light from the sky suddenly shone around him. ⁴ Then Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice that said, “Saul, Saul, why’re you persecuting Me?”

⁵ And Saul asked, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the voice answered, “I’m Jesus, whom you’re persecuting. ⁶ Now get up and go into the city, and you’ll be told what you need to do there.”

⁷ The people who were with him on that trip just stood there and were so afraid that they weren’t able to say anything. They heard the voice, but they didn’t see the Person who was speaking. ⁸ Then Saul got up from the ground. But when he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anything at all anymore. So the people who were with him held his hand and led him to the city of Damascus. ⁹ After that, Saul couldn’t see for three days, and he didn’t eat or drink either.

¹⁰ There was a follower of Jesus in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

Then Ananias answered, “I’m here, Lord.”

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Get up, and go to the street called Straight Street. Look for the house of a person named Judas. ^[2] Tell a person at his house that you want to meet a man named Saul, from the city of Tarsus. He’s praying to Me now. ¹² And in a vision, Saul has seen a man named Ananias come to him and lay his hands on him, so that he can see again.”

¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I’ve heard many things about that man! He has harshly persecuted Your people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And he came here, bringing a letter of authority from the chief priests, to arrest everyone who believes in You.”

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, because I’ve chosen him to be My servant, so that he’ll tell about Me to the non-Jewish people, to kings, and also to Jewish people. ¹⁶ And I Myself will show him just how much suffering he must experience because of serving Me.”

¹⁷ So Ananias went to Judas’ house to meet Saul. Then he laid his hands on him and said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus sent me to you. He’s the one you saw on your trip here. He sent me so that you can see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ Then there was something like fish scales that suddenly fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. After that he got up, and Ananias baptized him. ¹⁹ Then Saul ate and felt strong again.

Saul begins to tell about Jesus in Damascus

Then Saul stayed several days with the followers of Jesus in Damascus. ²⁰ He immediately went to the Jewish synagogue and began to tell about Jesus saying, “Jesus is God’s Son.”

²¹ Everyone who heard him was amazed and said, “Isn’t he the one who’s trying to destroy those who believe in Jesus in Jerusalem?! That’s why he came here, to arrest them and bring them to the chief priests!”

²² But the Lord gave Saul more and more wisdom and ability to convince people through his teaching, and when he debated with the Jews in Damascus, no one could defeat him, because he proved that Jesus is the Christ, ^[3] whom God had promised.

Saul escapes from the Jews in Damascus

²³ After several days had passed, the Jews in Damascus made plans to kill Saul. ²⁴ They guarded the city gates day and night, in order to kill him, but Saul found out about their plan. ²⁵ And one night, the people who were following Saul’s teaching helped him to escape from the city. They lowered him down in a large basket through an opening that was in the city wall.

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶ When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join in with the other believers, but they were all afraid of him. They didn’t believe that he had become Jesus’ follower. ²⁷ But Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told how Saul had seen the Lord on the trip to Damascus. Barnabas also told them that the Lord had spoken to Saul, and that Saul had spoken about Jesus boldly in Damascus.

²⁸ So Saul joined them, and often went with them all over Jerusalem, and he always spoke boldly about the Lord. ²⁹ But he often debated with some Jews who spoke the Greek language, until they finally tried to kill him. ³⁰ When the other brothers in the faith heard about that, they took Saul to Caesarea, then sent him to Tarsus.

³¹ After that, all of the believers in all Judea, Galilee and Samaria lived with a feeling of calm in God’s protection. They lived full of respect for the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit always encouraged them, so their numbers increased more and more.

Peter in the cities of Lydda and Joppa

³² At that time, Peter visited all the regions around Jerusalem, and went to visit the believers in Lydda. ³³ He met a man there named Aeneas, who had beein totally paralyzed for eight years, and couldn’t get out of his bed. ³⁴ Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Christ Jesus heals you. Stand up and straighten up your bed.” And he immediately got up. ³⁵ Then everyone who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw that Aeneas had been healed, so they repented and returned to the Lord.

³⁶ A follower of Jesus, whose Jewish name was Tabitha, lived in the city of Joppa. (Tabitha is called Dorcas in Greek, which means ‘small deer’.) This woman always did good things for other people and often helped poor people. ³⁷ While Peter was in Lydda, Tabitha became very sick and died. Then the other women washed her body according to Jewish custom, and placed her body in an upstairs room. ³⁸ The city of Lydda was near Joppa, so when the believers heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two people there. Then they begged him, “Please come quickly.” ³⁹ So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived there, Peter was taken to the room upstairs. All the widows stood around Peter there, and while they were crying, they showed him the robes and other clothes that Dorcas made for them while she was still alive. ⁴⁰ After Peter ordered everyone out of the room, he knelt down and prayed. Then he looked toward the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then Tabitha opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she awoke and sat up. ⁴¹ Then Peter stretched out his hand and helped Tabitha to stand up. So Peter called the believers and the widows, and showed them that Tabitha had come back to life.

⁴² The news about that miracle spread to the whole city of Joppa, and many people became believers in the Lord. ⁴³ After that, Peter stayed quite awhile in Joppa with a man named Simon, who prepared animal skins.

Chapter 10

Peter and Cornelius

¹ In the city of Caesarea, there was a Roman soldier named Cornelius. He led a group of a hundred soldiers called the Italian Troops. ² Cornelius and his family truly honored and obeyed God. He often gave help to poor people and always prayed to God too. ³ One day, about three o’clock in the afternoon, he had a vision and saw clearly that an angel came to him and said, “Cornelius!”

⁴ Then Cornelius looked at the angel fearfully and asked, “What is it, Sir?”

The angel answered, “God is pleased with your prayers and with all the help you give to poor people. And in God’s sight, those two things are like an offering. ⁵ Now send some men to Joppa to get a man named Simon, who is also called Peter. ⁶ He’s staying as a guest in the house of a man who prepares animal skins. His name is also Simon, and his house is on the seashore.” ⁷ Then after the angel left, Cornelius called two of his servants and one of the soldiers who served as his personal secretary. The soldier was also a worshiper of God. ⁸ And after he explained everything to the three of them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹ The next day, at about twelve noon, while they were on their way and getting close to the city of Joppa, Peter went up to the terrace on top of the house, ^[1] to pray. ¹⁰ Then he felt hungry and wanted to eat. While someone was preparing the food, Peter had a vision. ¹¹ He saw the sky open up, and then something that looked like a wide linen sheet came down from the sky. The sheet hung by its four corners. ¹² There were many different kinds of animals in that sheet which couldn’t be eaten by Jews, including four-legged animals, animals that crawl on the ground, and wild birds. ¹³ Then a voice said to him, “Peter, stand up! Kill something and eat it.”

¹⁴ But Peter said, “No, Lord! I’ve never eaten anything that’s forbidden or unclean.”

¹⁵ The voice spoke for a second time, “What God says is permisable you must not consider to be forbidden.” ¹⁶ The vision appeared three times, then the sheet was immediately lifted up again to the sky.

¹⁷ While Peter was still thinking about the meaning of the vision, the people who were sent by Cornelius had found Simon’s house and were standing at the gate of the yard of that house. ¹⁸ They asked, “Is there a man named Simon who’s also called Peter, staying here?”

¹⁹ And while Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Listen, Peter! There are three men looking for you. ²⁰ Get up and go downstairs. Go with them without having doubts, because I’ve sent them to you.”

²¹ Peter went down and said to the three men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why did you come?”

²² They said, “Cornelius, a Roman officer, ordered us to come here. He’s a good man. He has become a worshiper of God, and all the Jews respect him. He was told by an angel from heaven to invite you, Sir, to come to his house so that he can hear the teaching that you’ll give.” ²³ Then Peter invited them to come in and stay overnight in that house. The next day, after getting ready, he left with them. Several brothers in the faith from Joppa also went with them. ²⁴ And they arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was already waiting for them and had gathered all of his family and close friends at his home.

²⁵ When Peter arrived at his house, Cornelius immediately knelt at Peter’s feet and worshiped him. ²⁶ But Peter held onto him and pulled him up to standing, saying, “Stand up! I’m just a human being like you!” ²⁷ While talking with Cornelius, they went into the house, and Peter saw how many people had gathered there.

²⁸ So Peter said to them, “You already know that we Jews are forbidden to associate with or visit non-Jewish people like you. But God has shown me that I shouldn’t consider anyone too unholy to be accepted by God. ²⁹ For that reason, I didn’t have a problem when I was invited to come here. So now I want to ask, why did you call me?”

³⁰ And Cornelius answered, “Four days ago, I was praying in this house at the same time it is now, that is at three o’clock in the afternoon. A man in shining clothes suddenly stood in front of me. ³¹ Then he said, “Cornelius, God is pleased with your prayers and the help you often give to poor people. ³² Because of that, send some people to Joppa to invite Simon, who’s also called Peter, to come here. He’s staying at the house of Simon, a man who prepares animal skins. His house is by the seashore.’ ³³ So I quickly sent some men to go and call you, Sir. I’m thankful that you’ve come here. So now we’ve gathered before God to hear everything that the Lord has ordered you to tell us.”

Peter speaks in Cornelius’ house

³⁴ Then Peter said, “Now I finally realize that God doesn’t discriminate between people, ³⁵ but people from any people group whatsoever, who honor Him and do what’s right, are received by Him. ³⁶ You’ve heard that God has given the Jewish people the Good News that we must make peace again with God through the Christ who was promised, that is Jesus, who is Lord over everyone in this world. ^37-38 And you already know about what Jesus, the Nazarene, did in all Judea. He began His ministry in the province of Galilee after John the Baptist told the Jewish people that they must repent and be baptized. So you already know about Jesus, who was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with His power. Then Jesus went everywhere, doing good things and freeing everyone who was controlled by the devil, because God was with Him. ³⁹ And we’re eyewitnesses of everything that Jesus did in the province of Judea and in Jerusalem. But the Jews killed Him by hanging Him on a cross. ⁴⁰ Yet on the third day, God brought Him back to life from death, and showed Him to us and to the crowd. ⁴¹ Not all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw Him, but only those people who were chosen by God. We who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from death were chosen by Him to be witnesses for Him. ⁴² And He commanded us to tell everyone, and to witness that God has appointed Him to judge everyone, both those who’re still living and those who’ve already died. ⁴³ All of the prophets have told news about Him, that through the name of Jesus the sins of everyone who believes in Him will be forgiven.”

The Holy Spirit is given to people who aren’t Jews

⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking like that, the Holy Spirit came down and overpowered everyone who heard that news. ⁴⁵ The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were really amazed to see that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on non-Jewish people too, ⁴⁶ for they heard those people praising God using various languages of the Spirit. Then Peter said to the Jewish brothers, ⁴⁷ “It’s obvious that they’ve received the Holy Spirit, just like we experienced in the past. So people can’t blame us if we baptize them with water too.” ⁴⁸ Then Peter told the brothers in the faith from Joppa to baptize those non-Jewish people in the name of Christ Jesus. After that, Cornelius and the others asked Peter to stay with them for several more days.

Chapter 11

Peter returns to Jerusalem

¹ Then all the apostles, and the brothers and sisters in the faith in the province of Judea, heard that non-Jewish people had also believed the Word of God about the Lord Jesus. ² So when Peter went to Jerusalem, there were Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith ^[1] who argued with him. ³ They said, “You went to the house of non-Jewish people, ^[2] and you even ate with them!”

⁴ So Peter explained everything that had happened from the beginning. ⁵ Peter said, “When I was in the city of Joppa and was praying, I had a vision, and I saw something that looked like a wide linen sheet which descended from the sky. The sheet was hanging by its four corners. Then the sheet came down right in front of me. ⁶ When I noticed what was inside the sheet, I saw that there were many kinds of animals that can’t be eaten by Jews, including four-legged animals, animals that crawl on the ground, and wild birds. ⁷ Then I heard a voice which said to me, ‘Stand up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No Lord! I’ve never eaten anything that’s forbidden or unclean.’ ⁹ Then the voice spoke from the sky again, ‘What God says is permisable don’t consider to be forbidden.’ ¹⁰ That vision happened three times, then the sheet was immediately taken up into the sky again. ¹¹ And at that very moment, there were three men who came to the house where I was staying. They were from Caesarea, having been sent to call me. ¹² Then the Holy Spirit told me to go with them without having doubts. The six brothers from Joppa who are sitting here now, also went with me when we went into the house of that non-Jewish man. ¹³ And the owner of the house told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send some people to Joppa to get Simon, who’s also called Peter. ¹⁴ He’ll tell you the news about how you and everyone who lives with you can be saved.’ ¹⁵ Then when I began to speak, the Holy Spirit suddenly descended on them, just like what we experienced earlier. ¹⁶ Then I remembered that the Lord Jesus had said, ‘John baptized you with water in the past, but you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ So if God has given His Spirit to those who aren’t Jews, how could I possibly hinder the Lord! They’ve also received the same gift that we received earlier, based on believing in our Lord Christ Jesus.”

¹⁸ When the Jewish brothers and sisters had listened to Peter’s explanation, they stopped opposing him and praised God, “Wow! If that’s so, God has also given the opportunity to non-Jewish people to repent and receive eternal life, just like us!”

The Good News arrives in the city of Antioch

¹⁹ Meanwhile, the believers who had scattered because of the persecution which happened after Stephen’s murder, fled as far as the country of Phoenicia, the island of Cyprus, and the city of Antioch. They still kept on telling God’s Word about Jesus in those places, but only to the Jews. ²⁰ But there were some of them who came from Cyprus and the city of Cyrene. When they went to Antioch, they began to tell the Good News about the Lord Jesus to people who weren’t Jews. ²¹ And the Lord God helped them, so a large number of non-Jewish people believed and converted to become worshipers of the Lord Jesus.

²² When the church in Jerusalem heard about those people who had recently believed, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ^23-24 Barnabas was a very good person, who was full of the Holy Spirit and had strong faith. When he arrived and saw that the Lord was obviously showing His kindness there, he was really happy. Then he urged all the believers there to wholeheartedly remain faithful to the Lord. In the end, many more people became the Lord’s followers because of Barnabas’ ministry.

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ After he found Saul, Barnabas brought him back to Antioch. Then they got involved in the church and taught a large number of people for a whole year. And it was at Antioch that Jesus’ followers were first called “Christians.”

²⁷ At that time, some people from Jerusalem who had the special ability to prophesy came to Antioch. ²⁸ One of them was named Agabus. He stood up in the church meeting, and by the Holy Spirit’s power he said, “Almost all of the world’s population will experience a great famine.” (That famine happened while Claudius was ruling as high king in Rome.) ²⁹ After hearing that prophecy, all of Jesus’ followers in Antioch decided to collect a contribution and send it to help the brothers and sisters in the faith in the province of Judea. They agreed to give as large a contribution as possible, according to each one’s ability. ³⁰ They did that, and then sent Barnabas and Saul to turn over the funds to the elders of the believers in Jerusalem.

Chapter 12

Herod Agrippa persecutes the brothers and sisters in the faith

¹ At that very time, King Herod ordered his soldiers to arrest and persecute some of the brothers and sisters in the faith. ² And he ordered his soldiers to kill James, the brother of John, with a sword. ³ When he saw that this murder pleased the Jewish leaders, he gave orders to his soldiers to arrest Peter too. This happened during the week of Passover celebration. ^{[1] 4} When Peter was arrested and imprisoned, Herod ordered four groups of soldiers to guard him. Each group consisted of four soldiers. He planned to try Peter in public after Passover Day. ⁵ While Peter was kept in jail, the church fervently prayed for him.

An angel releases Peter from jail

⁶ During the night, before the day Herod was to try Peter, Peter was sleeping and was bound with two chains to the two soldiers to his right and left. There were other soldiers who were guarding the jail door too. ⁷ An angel suddenly appeared there, and a light shone into the jail. Then the angel touched Peter on his side to wake him up and said, “Get up quickly!” At that moment, the chains fell off Peter’s hands. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your tunic and sandals.” So Peter did that. Then the angel said again, “Put on your robe and follow me.” ⁹ Then Peter followed him outside, but he didn’t think that what the angel was doing was actually happening. He thought he was having a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards, and then they arrived at the iron gate, which was the gate leading to the city. The gate opened by itself and they just went out of there. After they had walked from the intersection of one street to another street, the angel suddenly disappeared.

¹¹ At that very moment, Peter realized what had happened and said, “Now I know for sure that God sent His angel to save me from the hand of Herod and from all the evil plans of the Jews.”

¹² When Peter realized what had happened, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark. That Mark was also called John. Many people were gathered at the house and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the door, and a woman named Rhoda came to open the door. She worked as a servant in the house. ¹⁴ When Rhoda recognized Peter’s voice, she ran inside and forgot to open the door because she was so happy. Then she told everyone who was there, “Peter’s standing at the front door!” ¹⁵ They said to her, “You’re crazy!” When she just kept saying that Peter was definitely outside, they said again, “Maybe it’s the angel who’s always on duty to guard him.”

¹⁶ Meanwhile, Peter kept knocking at the door, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were really amazed. ¹⁷ But Peter signaled with his hand for them to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had released him from jail. After that he said to them, “Tell James ^[2] and the other brothers and sisters in the faith about this.” Then he left for another place.

¹⁸ The next morning, the guards and the soldiers were in an uproar about how Peter could have gotten out of jail. ¹⁹ Herod ordered his other soldiers to look for Peter, but they didn’t find him. Then Herod examined the sixteen soldiers who had guarded the jail. In the end, he gave an order for all of them to be killed.

Herod Agrippa dies

After that, Herod left the province of Judea for the city of Caesarea, and stayed there for a while. ²⁰ Before this, Herod and the people of the cities of Tyre and Sidon held grudges against each other, so on that visit, delegates from those two cities tried to make peace with the king, because their region depended on Herod’s region for food. For that reason, they bribed an official named Blastus, who was the head of palace management, so that he would help them in that matter.

²¹ So on a certain day, Herod wore the special royal robes, sat on the throne of the kingdom, and gave a speech to them. ²² The crowd from those two cities wanted to please the king, so they praised him by shouting, “What we’re hearing is the voice of a god, ^[3] not the voice of a human!” ²³ An angel suddenly brought punishment on Herod because he received that praise, and didn’t give the honor to God. Then Herod’s intestines were eaten by worms so that he died.

²⁴ At that time, God’s Word still continued to spread, and the number of people who believed in Jesus kept increasing more and more.

²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul finished their ministry in Jerusalem, they returned to Antioch. Mark, who’s also called John, went with them.

Chapter 13

Barnabas and Saul are given a special task

¹ At that time, there were several brothers and sisters in the faith in Antioch who had the special ability to prophesy or teach God’s Word. They were Barnabas, Saul, Simeon, who was also called Niger, Lucius, who came from Cyrene, and Manaen. This is the Manaen who had been brought up together with King Herod. ² While they were taking part in a special meeting to praise the Lord, and were fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do the task I’ve prepared for them.”

³ So after more fasting and prayer, they laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul as a sign that they had been surrendered and sent to do that task.

Barnabas and Saul on the island of Cyprus

⁴ Because they were sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to the island of Cyprus. ⁵ When they arrived at the city of Salamis, they told the news of God’s salvation in the Jewish synagogues. Mark, the one who was called John, also went along to help them.

^6-8 Then they visited every place on the island until they arrived at the city of Paphos. There they met a sorcerer and false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was also called Elymas in the Greek language. He was a Jew. He had become a friend of the governor of that island, whose name was Sergius, an intelligent man who was also called Paul. Then the governor called for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear news from God. But Elymas opposed the two of them, and tried to keep the governor from believing in Jesus. ⁹ However Saul, who was also called Paul, was controlled by the Holy Spirit at that moment, looked at Elymas, ¹⁰ and rebuked him, “You’re the devil’s son! Your heart is full of lies and false teaching. You’re an enemy of everything that’s right! When will you stop twisting the Lord’s way! ¹¹ Look out! The Lord is striking you now, and you’ll become blind for a while. In fact, you won’t be able to see the sunshine.”

Then suddenly, something like a dark fog covered Elymas. And he felt his way around, trying to find someone to hold his hand and lead him away. ¹² When the governor saw what happened, he became a believer in Jesus, because he was truly amazed at the teaching about the Lord Jesus.

Paul and Barnabas go to Antioch in the province of Pisidia

¹³ From the city of Paphos, Paul and his friends sailed to Perga, in the province of Pamphylia. Mark suddenly left them there and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ From Perga, Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch, in the province of Pisidia. On the Sabbath Day, they entered the Jewish synagogue and sat down there. ¹⁵ After the reading from the Law and one of the prophets writings, the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas. They said, “Brothers, if one of you two can give some advice to encourage us here, please speak now.”

¹⁶ Then Paul stood up and signaled with his hand that he wanted to speak, saying, “Jews and non-Jews who’ve become worshipers of God, listen to me! ¹⁷ The God of the people of Israel chose our forefathers. He blessed them while they lived as foreigners in Egypt, so that they became a great people group. Then He brought them out of that land with His great power. ¹⁸ And during the forty years that they stayed in the desert, God remained patient with their evil behavior. ¹⁹ Then God destroyed the seven people groups that were in the land of Canaan, and gave that land to the people of Israel to become their possession. ²⁰ That all happened over a period of four hundred and fifty years.

“After that, God raised up judges to lead them until the time of the last judge, Samuel, who was also a prophet. ²¹ At that time the people of Israel asked to be led by a king. Then God appointed Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, and he led them for forty years. ²² But when God brought Saul down from his throne, He raised up David as king. And this is what God said about David, ‘I know that David, Jesse’s son, has a heart that’s in agreement with My heart’s desires. He’s the one who’ll do everything I want.’

²³ “So as God Himself had promised, He raised up One of David’s descendants to save Israel, that is Jesus. ²⁴ Before His coming, John taught that all the Israelites must be baptized as a sign that they had repented from their sins. ²⁵ And when John had almost finished his task, he asked, ‘In your opinion, what position am I in? I’m not the One you’re waiting for, but He’ll come after me. I’m not worthy to serve Him, not even to untie the straps of His sandals.’

²⁶ “Brothers and sisters from Abraham’s descendants, and you non-Jewish people who’ve become worshipers of God: This news about salvation was sent to us by God! ²⁷ But the people of Jerusalem, along with their leaders, didn’t realize that Jesus was the King of Salvation. They also didn’t understand the writings of the prophets which are read every Sabbath Day. Then without realizing it, they fulfilled what the prophets had prophesied when they invoked the death sentence on Him. ²⁸ Although they didn’t find any reason at all to kill Jesus, they kept pressing Pilate to have Him be killed.

²⁹ “In the end, without being aware of it, after they had done all that the prophets had written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid His body in a stone tomb. ³⁰ But God raised Him up from death. ³¹ For several days after that, He showed Himself over and over again to the people who had followed Him when He went from Galilee to Jerusalem. And it’s those people who’re now telling about Him to the people of Israel.

³² “So now we’re telling you the Good News that God had promised to our forefathers. ³³ Now, for us descendants of theirs, God fulfilled His promise when He caused Jesus to come to life again after death. That agrees with what’s written in the Second Psalm, which says,

     ‘You’re My Son,

         today I announce that I’m Your Father.’ ^[20]

³⁴ And according to God’s promise, He raised Jesus from death, so that His body wouldn’t rot in the grave. For God had promised us,

     ‘I’ll give you a blessing that’s holy and worthy to be believed,

         which is what I had promised David.’ ^[21]

³⁵ So David also says to God in another place in the book of Psalms,

     ‘You won’t allow the body of Your Holy Servant to rot in the grave.’ ^[22]

³⁶ Those words weren’t about David himself, because after he had served God all of his life, he died too, and his tomb is in the same place where his family was buried. So the body of David did rot there, of course. ³⁷ But the One God meant is Jesus! He’s the One God made alive again after death, and whose body didn’t rot in the grave! ³⁸ So Brothers and Sisters, you also need to know that only through Jesus can our sins be forgiven. ³⁹ That means that all our sins that couldn’t be erased through sacrifices in the past, which were offered according to Moses’ Law, have now been erased for everyone who believes in Jesus. It’s only through believing in Jesus that we become right in God’s eyes! ⁴⁰ For that reason, you should watch out, Brothers and Sisters, so that what God told about through His prophet doesn’t happen to you:

     ⁴¹ ‘You who like to mock when you hear My Word, pay careful attention!

         You’ll be amazed, and then disappear from this world,

     because I’m doing something in this age

         that you couldn’t possibly believe,

         even if someone explained it to you.’” ^[23]

⁴² When Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue, they were asked over and over again to speak about the same thing again on the following Sabbath Day. ⁴³ As they were leaving the synagogue, many Jews and worshipers of God who had joined the Jewish religion followed Paul and Barnabas. The two apostles emphasized and taught that those people should keep holding on to God’s kindness, which was given to us through Jesus.

⁴⁴ The following Sabbath Day, almost all the people in that city gathered to hear the preaching of God’s Word. ⁴⁵ But when some of the Jews who didn’t yet believe in Jesus saw how many people came to listen to Paul, they got really jealous. Then they opposed and mocked what he taught. ⁴⁶ But Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly, “It was necessary that the Good News from God be given to you Jews first. But because you don’t want to receive it, it means you consider yourselves to be unworthy to receive eternal life. Because of that, we’re leaving you now, and are going to serve the non-Jewish people groups. ⁴⁷ For God has commanded us, saying,

     ‘I’ve given you the task to enlighten people who aren’t Jews,

         to tell the news of salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” ^[24]

⁴⁸ When the non-Jewish people heard that, they were happy and praised God for the news. And everyone who was appointed by God to receive eternal life became believers.

⁴⁹ Then the news of salvation about the Lord Jesus spread through that whole region. ⁵⁰ But the Jews who weren’t happy with the two of them stirred up the important people of that city, including prominent women who had already joined the Jewish religion. They persecuted Paul and Barnabas, and finally drove the two of them out of that region. ⁵¹ However, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet ^[1] as a warning to the residents of that city that God would punish them. Then they went to the city of Iconium. ⁵² But the new followers of Jesus in Antioch continued to live with joy, and were controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 14

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, the capital city of Lycaonia province

¹ When they arrived in Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and taught about Jesus there, just as they had done in Antioch. They taught with full authority so that many Jewish and non-Jewish people believed in Jesus. ² But some of the Jews who didn’t believe stirred up the non-Jewish people so that they weren’t happy with the believers. ³ But Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time and taught boldly about the Lord’s kindness. And the Lord strengthened their testimony by giving them power to do many miracles. ⁴ In the end, the residents of that city were divided into two groups because there were those who sided with the Jews, and those who sided with the two apostles.

⁵ Then some of the Jewish and non-Jewish people, along with the leaders of the city, agreed to torture and stone Paul and Barnabas. ⁶ But when the two apostles heard about the plan, they ran away to another region in the province of Lycaonia, to the region around the cities of Lystra and Derbe. ⁷ And they kept telling the Good News about Jesus there.

Paul in the cities of Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there was a man who had been paralyzed since birth and had never walked. ⁹ While the man was listening to Paul speak, Paul looked at him and realized that the man had faith that he could be healed. ¹⁰ Then Paul said in a loud voice, “Stand on your feet!” And the paralyzed man immediately stood up and began walking around.

¹¹ When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” ¹² Then they began to call Barnabas by the name “Zeus,” ^[1] and Paul by the name Hermes, ^[2] because he was the one who talked a lot. ¹³ It so happened that the house of worship for the god Zeus was very close to that city. The priest who worked in that house of worship came bringing bulls to be offered to Paul and Barnabas, because he heard that two of their gods had come down. He also brought floral wreaths to decorate the sacrifices.

¹⁴ But when Paul and Barnabas heard the priest’s plan, they tore their robes as a sign that the two of them completely disapproved. Then they ran into the middle of the crowd, speaking in loud voices, ¹⁵ “Friends, don’t do this! We’re only normal men, just like you. We came here to teach you the news of salvation so that you would stop worshiping false gods, but turn to worship the only true God, that is He who created the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything that’s in those three places. ¹⁶ In times past, God allowed everyone to do whatever they thought was right. ¹⁷ But God gives you blessings to show that He really exists. For example, He gives you rain from the sky, plants that produce a lot, plenty of food, and joyful hearts.” ¹⁸ Even though the two of them spoke like that, they almost didn’t succeed in keeping the crowd from offering a sacrifice to honor the two of them. But in the end, the offering didn’t take place.

¹⁹ Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there. They changed the thinking of the crowd to side with them. Then the crowd threw stones at Paul and dragged him outside the city, because they thought he was dead. ²⁰ But when the people who had begun to follow Jesus stood around Paul, he stood up and went back into the city. Then he left for Derbe the next day, with Barnabas.

The two apostles return to Antioch in the province of Syria

²¹ In the city of Derbe, Paul and Barnabas told the news of salvation, and many people believed in Jesus. After that, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and the city of Antioch, which was in the province of Pisidia. ²² The two of them encouraged the believers in those cities to keep holding on to their faith in Jesus. They said, “We have to suffer a lot before entering God’s kingdom.” ²³ They also chose elders for every church. And after they all prayed and fasted, Paul and Barnabas surrendered those elders into the hands of Jesus, the Lord in whom they believed.

²⁴ After that, the two of them traveled back through the province of Pisidia, and arrived in the province of Pamphylia. ²⁵ They taught the news of salvation once more in the city of Perga, and then went down to the city of Attalia. ²⁶ They took a ship from there across to the city of Antioch in the province of Syria, which is the place where the church earlier surrendered them to be guarded by God according to His kindness. That’s how the two of them finished the task that had been entrusted to them.

²⁷ When they arrived in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together, and told them everything that God had done for the two of them. They also said, “God has definitely opened the door of opportunity so that many non-Jewish people believe in Jesus.” ²⁸ Then they stayed with the brothers and sisters in the faith in that city for a long time.

Chapter 15

Meeting in Jerusalem

¹ At the same time, there were some people, who came to Antioch from the province of Judea who taught the brothers and sisters following Jesus like this, “If you non-Jews don’t follow the custom of circumcision which Moses taught, you won’t be saved.” ² But Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with this teaching. After a serious debate arose among them, all the brothers in the faith decided to send Paul and Barnabas, along with some other people, to go to the apostles and elders of all the believers in Jerusalem to discuss that problem.

³ So with the support of the church, they went to Jerusalem. When they passed through the provinces of Phoenicia and Samaria, they also visited the brothers and sisters in the faith there and told them that many non-Jewish people had repented and followed Jesus. The brothers and sisters in the faith were very joyful when they heard that. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were warmly welcomed by the apostles and elders, along with other brothers and sisters in the faith. Then Paul and Barnabas reported everything that God had done through them. ⁵ But some brothers in the faith who had previously been members of the Pharisee religious group stood up and said, “Those non-Jewish believers need to be circumcised, and we need to command them to obey the whole Law of Moses.”

⁶ Then the apostles and all the elders got together to talk about this problem. ⁷ After a long debate, Peter stood up and said, “Brothers, you know that God chose me from among you in the past to become the first person to tell the Good News to people who aren’t Jews so that they would believe. ⁸ And God, who knows everyone’s heart, has accepted those non-Jewish people. God showed us this when He gave the Holy Spirit to them, just as He had been given to us. ⁹ And God didn’t differentiate at all between us and them. God purified their hearts the moment they believed, just like it happened to us. ¹⁰ So why’re you testing God now by making it difficult for our non-Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith? Neither we nor our forefathers were ever able to keep the whole Law. Why burden them with all of that? ¹¹ Instead, we believe that we Jews can only be saved through the kindness of the Lord Jesus, and it’s the same for those who aren’t Jews.”

¹² Then everyone present got quiet and listened to Barnabas and Paul, who told about all the miracles that God had done through them among those who aren’t Jews. ¹³ After the two of them finished speaking, James said, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴ Peter has already told us how God showed His kindness to people who aren’t Jews for the first time, in which many of them were chosen to become His people. ¹⁵ This happened according to what was prophesied by one of the prophets, as it’s written,

     ¹⁶ ‘After that, I’ll return and rebuild David’s kingdom, which has been ruined.

         It’s like a tent which has collapsed.

         But I’ll rebuild it and set up that tent again.

     ¹⁷ I’ll do that so that the rest of people who still remain, will seek the Lord,

         including all non-Jewish people groups,

         that is those whom I’ve chosen to become My people.

     These are the words of the Lord, who will do this.’ ^[1]

     ¹⁸ ‘He’s the one who told about His plans long before they happened.’” ^[25]

¹⁹ Then James continued, “For that reason, in my opinion, let’s not make it difficult for non-Jewish people who’ve begun to repent and return to God. ²⁰ But we need to write a letter to tell them

not to eat meat that has become unclean by being offered to idols;

or the meat of animals that were killed by strangling;

or anything that contains blood;

and not to commit the sin of immorality.

²¹ These prohibitions are not new to them, because from times past until now, Moses’ Law has been taught every Sabbath Day in Jewish synagogues in every city.”

The letter to non-Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith

²² Then the apostles and elders, along with the whole church, decided to choose and send some of them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. So they chose Silas and Judas, who was also called Barsabbas. Those two men were respected as leaders among the brothers and sisters in the faith in Jerusalem. ²³ A letter was given to the two men to carry, which read like this:

“Greetings to all of you non-Jewish brothers and sisters in the faith who’re in the city of Antioch, and in other places in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. This letter is from the apostles and elders of all the believers in Jerusalem, who are your brothers.

         ²⁴ We’ve heard there were some people who went to you from our region, and they taught you some things that made you doubt and waiver in your faith. But we didn’t send them there to teach you. ²⁵ For that reason, we all unanimously decided to choose two people and send them to you with our two beloved brothers, Barnabas and Paul. ²⁶ Barnabas and Paul have risked their lives to serve our Lord Christ Jesus. ²⁷ So we’ve sent Judas and Silas to tell what’s written in this letter in person too. ²⁸ For it is the Holy Spirit’s opinion, and ours too, not to burden you with more rules than what’s necessary, that is:

²⁹ Don’t eat meat which has been offered to idols;

or the meat of animals killed by strangling;

or anything that contains blood.

And don’t commit the sin of immorality.

If you avoid those things, you’ll do well.

That’s all, and greetings from us.”

³⁰ So the group of messengers left Jerusalem and went to Antioch. When they arrived, they gathered the church together and told them what was in the letter. ³¹ And when the letter was read, the church was very glad because the advice in the letter encouraged them. ³² Judas and Silas also had the special ability to prophesy, so they said many things to advise and encourage the brothers and sisters in the faith. ^33-34 Then after the two of them stayed there for some time, the church in Antioch sent them back to the church in Jerusalem. When they parted, the church prayed that God would always protect them. ^[2]

³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch for some time. They and many other people taught the news of salvation and the Lord’s Word to the people there.

Paul and Barnabas separate

³⁶ Then after a while, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit our brothers and sisters in the faith in every city where we told the Lord’s Word before, so that we know how they’re doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas agreed, but he wanted Mark, who was called John, to go with them again. ³⁸ But Paul didn’t feel good about taking him, because John had left them in Pamphylia and didn’t continue the work of ministry with them. ³⁹ For that reason, a major disagreement arose between Paul and Barnabas, so they separated. Barnabas took Mark and went by ship to the island of Cyprus. ⁴⁰ But Paul chose Silas, and they left after the brothers and sisters in the faith in Antioch entrusted them to the Lord God so that He would protect them with His kindness. ⁴¹ Then Paul and Silas visited the whole province of Syria and Cilicia, while strengthening the faith of the churches there.

Chapter 16

Timothy accompanies Paul and Silas

¹ Then Paul went to the cities of Derbe and Lystra too, and there was a follower of Christ there named Timothy. His mother was a Jew who had already believed in Jesus, but his father was a Greek. ² All the brothers and sisters in the faith in Lystra and Iconium said that Timothy was a good person. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to go with the two of them, so he circumcised Timothy so that the Jews would accept him. Paul didn’t want to cause a problem, because everyone in that region knew that Timothy’s father was a Greek. ⁴ As they visited from one city to another city, they told the churches about the rules that had been determined by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. ⁵ In that way, the churches were strengthened in their faith, and the number of believers increased daily.

Paul’s vision about the needs of people in the province of Macedonia

⁶ Then Paul and those who were with him took a trip through the provinces of Phrygia and Galatia because they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to tell the news of salvation in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they arrived at the border of the province of Mysia, they tried to go into the province of Bithynia. But once again Jesus’ Spirit ^[1] didn’t allow them to go there. ⁸ For that reason, they went past Mysia until they arrived at the harbor city of Troas. ⁹ That night, the Lord gave Paul a vision. He saw a man from the province of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ Then after Paul had that vision, we, including me, Luke, ^[2] immediately got ready to leave for Macedonia, because from that vision we concluded that God had called us to tell the Good News to the Macedonian people.

Lydia believes in Jesus

¹¹ Then we got on a boat from Troas and sailed directly to the island of Samothrace. And on the following day we arrived in the city of Neapolis. ¹² From there we walked to the city of Philippi, which was the most important city in Macedonia, and a city where the residents were considered by the government to be Roman citizens. ^[3] We stayed there for several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath Day, we went out through the city gate to the riverside. Because that city didn’t yet have a Jewish synagogue, we thought that there might be a place there for them to get together and pray every Sabbath Day. When we found that place, we sat and talked with some women who had gotten together there. ¹⁴ One of them was a woman named Lydia who came from the city of Thyatira. She sold purple cloth and she had already become a worshiper of God, even though she wasn’t a Jew. When she heard Paul, the Lord opened her heart, and she believed what Paul taught. ¹⁵ So she and everyone who lived in her house were baptized. Then Lydia invited us to her house. She said, “If you think that I really do believe in the Lord Jesus, come and stay at my house”. So we gladly agreed to stay in her home.

Paul and Silas in jail

¹⁶ Another day, while we were going to the place of prayer by the river side, we were met by a woman fortune teller. That woman was a slave owned by several masters. The woman was possessed by a demon who made her able to predict what was going to happen in the future. Everyone who came to the woman fortune teller to have their future told had to pay her masters first. So the masters made a lot of money because of that woman. ¹⁷ She kept following Paul and us, while shouting over and over again, “These men are servants of the Most High God. They’re telling us about the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ She did that day after day until Paul couldn’t restrain his anger any longer. So Paul turned around and said to the demon, “In the name of Christ Jesus, I command you to come out of this woman!” And the demon immediately came out.

¹⁹ But when the woman’s masters saw that they wouldn’t get any more profit as the result of her work, they captured Paul and Silas and dragged the two of them to a public meeting place in the market to face the city officials. ²⁰ Then the masters said to the officials, “These men are Jews who are upsetting the residents of this city! ²¹ They’re teaching Jewish customs, and as Roman citizens it isn’t proper for us to follow or practice those things!”

²² Then the crowd also joined in opposing the two apostles. And the officials tore Paul and Silas’ clothes so that they were naked, then commanded that the two of them be beaten with rods. ²³ After being beaten harshly many times, they were put in jail. The city officials ordered the jailer to guard them closely. ²⁴ Because of that command, the jailer put Paul and Silas in the innermost and safest room in the building. Then their feet were put in stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praise songs to God, and the other prisoners heard them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was an earthquake so strong that the foundation stones of the jail were shaken. All the jail doors opened, and all the prisoners’ chains came loose. ²⁷ Then the jailer woke up. When he saw that the jail doors were open, he took out his sword to kill himself, ^[4] because he thought that all the prisoners had run away. ²⁸ But Paul said to him in a loud voice, “Hey, don’t kill yourself! We’re all still here.”

²⁹ Then after the jailer ordered his servant to bring a lamp, he ran inside, and knelt down before Paul and Silas, trembling with fear. ³⁰ Then he accompanied the two of them out and asked, “What do I have to do to be saved, Sirs?”

³¹ Then they answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, then you’ll be saved, and everyone who lives in your house should do the same thing.” ^32-34 Then that very night, the jailer brought the two of them to his house, cleaned their wounds and gave them food. So they told the Good News about the Lord Jesus to him and to everyone who lived in his house. So he and the others were baptized, and all of them were glad because they had believed in God.

³⁵ The next morning, the officials sent some city peace officers to the jailer to tell him, “Release those two men.”

³⁶ Then the head of the jail told Paul, “The officials have ordered that you’re to be released, Sirs, so now you may go out and leave safely.”

³⁷ Then Paul said to the peace officers, “We’re Roman citizens, ^[5] but the city officials ordered us to be beaten in public, and that was done without finding any fault with us! Then they put us in jail without a reason, and now they want us to go away quietly. We certainly don’t want to! They have to come here themselves and escort us out!”

³⁸ Then the peace officers went and reported Paul’s words to the officials. When they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid because they could be punished if that was reported to their superiors. ³⁹ So they came and apologized. After escorting Paul and Silas out of the jail, they asked the two of them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ After that, they went to Lydia’s house. And when they had met and encouraged the brothers and sisters in the faith, they left the city.

Chapter 17

Paul and Silas in the city of Thessalonica

¹ After that, Paul and Silas went to the city of Thessalonica by passing through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia. There was a Jewish synagogue in that city already. ² So Paul went to the synagogue as usual, and he discussed the Holy Bible with the Jews for three Sabbath Days in a row. ³ Based on the writings of the prophets, he explained and proved that the Christ had to suffer, then die, and then come back to life after death. Paul confirmed that, “Jesus, whom I’m telling you about, is the Christ ^[1] who was promised.” ⁴ Then some of them believed and joined with Paul and Silas, including a large number of Greek people who had already become worshipers of God before this, and also many prominent women.

⁵ But when the other Jews saw this, they got jealous. So they got some evil men together who were always loitering in the marketplace. And they caused a big riot in the city with that mob. Then they attacked Jason’s house in order to find Paul and Silas, intending to drag them before the crowd. ⁶ But when they didn’t find the two apostles, they dragged Jason and some other brothers in the faith before the city officials. They shouted, “The infamous people who’ve caused disturbances all over the world have come here now too, ⁷ and Jason has received them at his house. They do things that are against the commands of our king in Rome because they say that there’s another king whose name is Jesus.”

⁸ When the crowd and the city officials heard their words, they became so angry that there was a riot. ⁹ So the city officials forced Jason and the believers to pay a fine to guarantee that this kind of riot wouldn’t happen again. After that, they were released.

Paul and Silas go to Berea

¹⁰ Then that night, the brothers and sisters in the faith who were there quickly sent Paul and Silas to the city of Berea. After arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ The people of Berea were more open to new knowledge than the people of Thessalonica. They were happy to hear the teaching of Paul and Silas, and they examined the Holy Bible every day to prove if what Paul and Silas said was true. ¹² Because of this, many of them became believers, including Greeks who had previously become worshipers of God, and several prominent women, as well as many men. ¹³ But when the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul was telling the Word of God in Berea too, they went there to stir up a crowd to create another riot. ¹⁴ Because of that, the brothers and sisters in the faith who were there quickly sent Paul to the coastal region. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. ¹⁵ Then those who escorted Paul took him as far as the city of Athens. After that, they returned to Berea bringing a message from Paul for Silas and Timothy that the two of them should come to him quickly.

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to come, he became very upset because he saw that the city of Athens was full of idols. ¹⁷ Because of that, he often went to the Jewish synagogue and talked about Jesus with the Jews, and also with non-Jews who had become worshipers of God. And he went to the marketplace everyday too, and spoke about Jesus with whomever he met. ¹⁸ Then some expert philosophers ^[2] from the Epicurean and Stoic movements began to debate with Paul. There were some of them who said, “This loudmouth’s teaching doesn’t make sense.” And others said, “It seems like he’s talking about foreign gods.” They said that because Paul was proclaiming news about Jesus, especially about His coming back to life after death. ¹⁹ Then they brought him to the meeting of expert philosophers which was held at the council place of the city officials called the Council of Areopagus. ^[3] And there they said, “Please explain to us this new teaching that you’re telling. ²⁰ We hear that you’re telling a new and strange teaching, so we want to know more about the meaning of that teaching.” ²¹ (They spoke like that because the city of Athens was known as a city where the residents and all new-comers were busy just talking about or listening to the latest ideas.)

²² So Paul stood up before the Council of Areopagus and said “People of Athens, I can see clearly that you really are religious people. ²³ For as I was walking around the city, I noticed that you have many places to worship gods. I also saw a writing on one of the altars: ‘Sacrifices to yet unknown god.’ Let me introduce to you the One whom you worship, whom you don’t know yet!

²⁴ “He’s the God who created this world with everything in it, and He’s the Lord who has power over the sky and the earth. So He doesn’t live in houses of worship that are built by humans. ²⁵ He doesn’t need man’s help, because He’s the one who gives life, breath and everything else to us. ²⁶ God created every ethnic group that lives on this earth beginning with one man. And He’s the one who determines when each people group advances to become a kingdom or falls, and He also determines the borders of their region of authority. ²⁷ God’s purpose in everything He does is that we’ll try to search for Him, with the hope that we’ll find Him, even though He isn’t actually far from any of us. ²⁸ So as it’s often said, ‘We can live, move and breathe only because of His power’. And several poems created by native sons of this region say, ‘We’re all His children.’

²⁹ “So because we’re ‘His children,’ let’s not think that God is something that we humans can imagine or make from gold, silver or stone according to our skill. ³⁰ In times past, God didn’t mind if people didn’t know Him and didn’t know how to worship Him. But now He commands each person everywhere to repent and worship Him alone. ³¹ For God has determined a day when He’ll judge everyone with justice. That judgment will be accomplished by one Man who has been appointed by Him. And God has proven this to everyone by bringing that Man back to life after death.”

³² When the people heard Paul say that there was a Man who had been brought back to life after death, some of them laughed at Paul. But others said, “We want to listen to you speak about this again.” ³³ So Paul left them. ³⁴ But there were some of them who believed in Jesus and associated with Paul. Included among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Council of Areopagus, a woman named Damaris and several other people too.

Chapter 18

Paul in Corinth

¹ After that, Paul left the city of Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he met a Jew whose name was Aquila, who came from the province of Pontus. He and his wife, Priscilla, had just recently come from Italy because the high king Claudius had commanded that all Jews had to leave Rome. ³ And because Paul had the same occupation as they did, which was making tents, he lived and worked with the two of them.

⁴ Paul went to the Jewish synagogue every Sabbath Day and talked with everyone present there, both Jews and non-Jews. He tried to convince them to believe in Jesus. ⁵ But when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself completely to teaching the news of salvation to everyone who was of the Jewish religion. He kept giving his testimony that Jesus is the Christ ^[1] promised by God. ⁶ But when they opposed and insulted Paul, he shook the dust off his robe, as a sign that they had to bear God’s punishment, and said to them, “You will bear God’s punishment yourselves, not me! So from now on, I’m going to teach the news of salvation to non-Jewish people groups.”

⁷ So Paul left the synagogue and entered Titius’ house, which was next door to the synagogue. Titius, who was also called Justus, was a non-Jew, who before this had become a worshiper of God. ⁸ Crispus, the head of the synagogue, also believed in the Lord Jesus, along with his whole family. And many other people in Corinth who heard Paul’s teaching believed, and all of those believers were baptized.

⁹ One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Don’t be afraid. Keep teaching boldly and don’t keep silent, ¹⁰ because I’m with you! No one will trouble you. Keep teaching, because I’ve chosen many people in this city to become My people.” ¹¹ Then Paul stayed and kept on teaching the news of salvation there for a year and a half.

Paul is brought before Gallio

¹² But while Gallio was in the position of governor of the province of Achaia, the leaders of the Jews united to oppose Paul. They captured him and brought him to be tried before Gallio. ¹³ They accused him by saying, “This person teaches people to worship God in a way which opposes our Law.”

¹⁴ When Paul wanted to speak, Gallio answered them, “If you Jews reported him because he did some crime or something wrong, I would be patient and listen to your complaint. ¹⁵ But your complaint is merely a question of words and names that are just found in your Jewish law. You can deal with things like that yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.” ¹⁶ Then Gallio ordered them to be driven out of the courtroom. ¹⁷ While the Jews were being driven out, some of the officers of the peace who were doing that caught Sosthenes, the leader of the Jewish synagogue and beat him. Even though he was beaten right there in the courtroom, Gallio didn’t care.

Paul returns to Antioch in the province of Syria

¹⁸ After that, Paul stayed in Corinth a few more months. Then he said goodbye to the brothers and sisters in the faith and sailed to the province of Syria with Priscilla and Aquila. While in the harbor city of Cenchrea, Paul shaved his hair before leaving, according to Jewish custom, as a sign that he had kept a vow to the Lord. ^19-21 When they arrived in Ephesus, Paul entered the Jewish synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews who were present there. They asked him to stay there longer but he refused saying, “If God permits, I’ll come back again.” After that, he boarded the ship and left Priscilla and Aquila there.

²² When Paul arrived in Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem to give greetings to the church there and then continued his journey to Antioch. ²³ After staying there for some time, he went to visit the churches in the provinces of Galatia and Phrygia, so that the faith of all Jesus’ followers was strengthened.

Apollos in Ephesus and the province of Achaia

²⁴ At the same time, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He came from the city of Alexandria, Egypt, and he was a person who had studied a lot about the Holy Bible, and was a great speaker. ²⁵ He taught in the Jewish synagogue about the way of salvation, which would come through Jesus, with fiery enthusiasm. He taught accurately about Jesus, but he only knew the story of Jesus up to the baptism of John. ²⁶ Priscilla and Aquila were present when Apollos began to teach boldly in the synagogue, so they took him to their house and explained the way of salvation to him more completely.

²⁷ After that, Apollos wanted to go to the province of Achaia. Then the brothers and sisters in the faith in Ephesus helped him by writing a letter of introduction so that all the brothers and sisters in the faith there would receive him well. When he arrived there, he really helped all of those who had already believed in Jesus because of the Lord’s kindness, ²⁸ because he overwhelmingly defeated the Jews in public debates who didn’t believe in Jesus. He proved from verses in the Holy Bible that Jesus is the Christ who was promised.

Chapter 19

When Paul was in Ephesus

¹ While Apollos was still in the city of Corinth, in the province of Achaia, Paul visited several regions in the provinces of Galatia and Phrygia. Then he kept traveling through the interior of the province of Asia and arrived again in Ephesus. There he met some believers. ² So he asked them, “When you believed in Jesus, did you also receive the Holy Spirit?”

They answered, “Not yet, in fact we haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.”

³ Then he asked again, “If that’s so, whose teaching about baptism are you following?”

They said, “What John taught.”

⁴ Then Paul said, “John baptized people as a sign that they had repented of their sins. And at that time he also told them that they must believe in the One who would come after him, namely Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard Paul say that, they asked him to baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul laid his hands on each of them, God’s Spirit came down on them. And they began to speak in various languages of the Spirit and prophesied. ⁷ There were about twelve men in all.

⁸ For the next three months, while Paul stayed in Ephesus, he often entered the Jewish synagogue. He debated boldly and convinced them about the news of salvation and God’s kingdom. ⁹ But some of them hardened their hearts and refused to believe in Jesus. And they insulted the way of salvation through Jesus in public. Because of that, Paul left the synagogue and he urged the other believers to separate themselves from the people who didn’t believe in Jesus. After that, he taught those believers every day in the meeting hall which was called the Discussion Hall of Tyrannus. ^{[1] 10} And Paul continued to teach in that place for two more years so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and non-Jews, heard the news of salvation about the Lord Jesus.

Seven sons of Sceva imitate Paul

¹¹ God did many unusual miracles through Paul at that time. ¹² If sick people couldn’t come to meet Paul, then people brought handkerchiefs or cloths that Paul had touched and laid them on the sick people, and they were healed. And there were also some who placed them on people who were possessed, and the evil spirits left them.

¹³ But there were some Jewish shamans who traveled from city to city. They tried to drive out evil spirits by using the name of the Lord Jesus. And several times they tried telling people who were possessed by evil spirits, “In the name of Jesus, who Paul teaches, we command you to come out of this person.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a man named Sceva did it. (Sceva was the descendant of a Jewish priest, and he claimed to be the high priest.)

¹⁵ But once when they tried doing it again, the evil spirit answered them through the mouth of the possessed person, “I know who Jesus is, and I’ve heard about Paul, but who’re you?!” ¹⁶ Then the person who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped up and attacked them. He overcame them and tore off their clothes so that they were wounded, and ran naked from that house.

¹⁷ When all the people who lived in Ephesus— both the Jews and non-Jews, heard what happened, they were very afraid, and truly honored the Lord Jesus. ¹⁸ Then many people who had believed in Jesus came and confessed in public that they had been involved in sorcery. ¹⁹ In fact, many of them gathered their sorcery books and burned them in front of everyone. The total value of those books was about 50,000 silver coins, if counted with money. ²⁰ That way the news of salvation about the Lord Jesus spread more and more, and increased in its effect.

Paul plans a trip

²¹ After all that happened, Paul planned to go to Jerusalem by passing through Macedonia and Achaia. And he also said, “After I go there, I must visit Rome.” ²² Then Paul sent two of his representatives, namely Timothy and Erastus, to go ahead of him to the province of Macedonia. Meanwhile, he himself stayed a while longer in the province of Asia.

The riot in Ephesus

²³ At about that time, a great riot took place because people opposed the way of salvation taught by Paul. ²⁴ The problem began with a businessman named Demetrius. His business was making artistic objects from silver. There was a temple for the goddess Artemis in that city, and Demetrius, along with his coworkers, made small temples in the shape of the goddess’ temple. The small temples were sold to worshipers of the goddess, so everyone who was involved in that business made a lot of money. ²⁵ Demetrius gathered all the craftsmen who were involved in that business and said to them, “Brothers, you all know that we make a lot of money because of this business.” ²⁶ But now you see and hear for yourselves that Paul has changed the thinking of many people by saying, ‘The gods and goddesses made by human hands don’t live and don’t have power over anything at all.’ And he has succeeded in changing the thinking of many people, including the residents of Ephesus as well as residents of all the regions in Asia. ²⁷ So it isn’t just unfortunate that our business will be considered useless, but the main center for the worship of our goddess will be considered useless later on too, and the greatness of the name of Artemis herself will be trampled on! How unfortunate! For she’s the goddess who’s worshiped by everyone in Asia and in the whole world.”

²⁸ When they heard him speak like that, their hearts were inflamed, and they shouted, “Great is Artemis, the goddess of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ Then the whole city was in chaos. And two of Paul’s followers from Macedonia, Gaius and Aristarchus, were captured and dragged along when the crowd ran wildly into the stadium. ³⁰ At the time, Paul wanted to enter the stadium to speak to the crowd too, but the brothers and sisters in the faith wouldn’t allow him. ³¹ Even some high officials of the province of Asia who had become close friends of Paul sent word that he shouldn’t enter the place.

³² The situation in the stadium was very chaotic because some people were shouting about one issue, and others were shouting about something else. So most of the people didn’t know why they were there. ³³ Then some Jews pushed a man named Alexander to the front because they wanted him to explain that the people who caused this problem weren’t Jews. Alexander wanted to speak, so he signaled with his hand so that they would be quiet. ³⁴ But when the crowd realized that he was a Jew, they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis, the goddess of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ Then the city secretary commanded the crowd to be calm. After that he said, “Hey you people of Ephesus, there’s no need for a commotion! Doesn’t everyone in the world know that we Ephesians are the ones who guard the main temple of our great goddess Artemis! And we’re the ones who guard her statue that fell down from the sky. ^{[2] 36} And no one will deny that, of course. Because of that we should be calm. Don’t rush to take action. ³⁷ You brought these two men here for no reason because they haven’t stolen anything from the temple of our goddess, and they haven’t insulted her either. ³⁸ So if Demetrius and his coworkers are angry with someone, they should take that matter to the council of law where the two parties can point out their own accusations before the judges in an orderly way. ³⁹ And if you still have other issues, we can settle those later in an official council of citizens. ⁴⁰ Because our authorities in the Roman government could accuse us for making this disturbance today. If they ask, ‘Why did you cause that riot?’, and we couldn’t give a reason.” ⁴¹ After he said that, he ordered them to disperse. And they all left.

Chapter 20

Paul goes to the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia

¹ After the riot had stopped, Paul gathered all the followers of Jesus and encouraged them. Then he said goodbye and left for the province of Macedonia. ² He visited the churches there and gave lots of advice to encourage them. Then he came to the province of Achaia, which is also called Greece. ³ He stayed there for three months. But when he was getting ready to sail for Syria, he heard that the Jews were planning to kill him on that trip. For that reason, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴ The people who accompanied him on that trip were Timothy, Sopater (son of Pyrrhus, from the city of Berea), Aristarchus and Secundus (two people from the city of Thessalonica), Gaius (from Derbe), and Tychicus and Trophimus (both from the province of Asia). ⁵ They left first, then Paul and I (Luke) followed afterwards, and they waited for us in Troas. ⁶ Then, after the Passover Day Celebration, ^[1] we left by ship from Philippi, headed for Troas. After five days of travel, the two of us arrived in Troas and met them. We all stayed there for seven days.

Paul’s last visit to the city of Troas

⁷ On Sunday night, ^[2] we got together with the brothers and sisters in the faith in Troas to eat and celebrate the Lord's Supper. ^[3] Paul preached to them for a long time, until midnight, because our party was planning to leave them the next morning. ⁸ We all gathered in an upstairs room, and many lamps were lit. ⁹ A young man, whose name was Eutychus, was sitting in a window. While Paul continued to talk, Eutychus became sleepy and finally couldn’t resist his drowsiness. Then he fell fast asleep and fell from the third floor. When the people went down and picked him up, it was obvious that he was dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and immediately knelt by the young man and hugged him. Then Paul said, “Don’t worry because he’s still alive.” ¹¹ Then Paul and the rest of us went upstairs again, and he led us in the Lord's Supper. Then he continued to talk to them until dawn. After that, he left with our group. ¹² Then Eutychus was taken to his home, and all the brothers and sisters in the faith there were very glad because he was still alive.

Paul’s trip from Troas to the city of Miletus

¹³ According to the plans we had arranged, Paul walked on foot from Troas to the city of Assos, while I, Luke, sailed ahead with the other members of our group to Assos and waited for him there. ¹⁴ So when Paul arrived in Assos, he also got on the ship which we were on, and we continued the trip to the city of Mitylene. ¹⁵ The next day we sailed from Mitylene until we saw the island of Chios. We continued sailing, and on the following day we passed by the island of Samos. Then we arrived in Miletus the next day. ¹⁶ In that way, we passed by Ephesus. Paul had decided not to stop there of course, so that he wouldn’t stay too long in the province of Asia because he wanted to take part in the holiday of Pentecost in Jerusalem, if possible.

Paul speaks to the elders of the church at Ephesus for the last time

¹⁷ For that reason, Paul sent news to Ephesus and asked the elders of the church there to come and meet him in Miletus. ¹⁸ After they arrived, he said to them, “You know how I lived among you, from the first day I arrived in Asia until now. ¹⁹ I always served the Lord with humility, and often cried because I really love you. I also have experienced many difficulties because of the evil plans of the Jews against me. ²⁰ Even so, I never held back any teaching that was useful for you, either when I taught in public or from house to house. ²¹ I always taught clearly, both to Jewish and non-Jewish people, that they should repent and believe in our Lord Jesus.

²² But now I’m obligated to obey God’s Spirit, who orders me to go to Jerusalem. And I don’t know what will happen to me there. ²³ But in every city which I’ve just recently visited, the Holy Spirit has told me that I’ll be put in jail and experience suffering later on. ²⁴ But for me, living or dying is not what's important. I only think about fighting to the finish line and completing the task which the Lord Jesus entrusted to me, which is to tell the Good News about God’s kindness.

²⁵ “And now I know that all of you, whom I’ve served and taught for so long about God’s kingdom, will never see me again. ²⁶ So today I’m emphasizing that if any of you go to hell, the Lord won’t blame me! ²⁷ For I faithfully told you all the teachings that God wants you to know.

²⁸ So I urge each of you to guard yourselves, and shepherd all of the churches well, because the Holy Spirit has appointed you as guardians and shepherds of God’s church, the flock of His sheep which He has redeemed by the blood of His Son. ²⁹ I know that as soon as I go, evil wolves will sneak in among you and they’ll try to destroy this flock of sheep. ³⁰ In fact, some men will rise up among you who will try to twist the true teachings in order to draw brothers and sisters in the faith away to become their followers. ³¹ For that reason, be on guard! Remember that for three years, I never stopped advising each of you day and night, with many tears.

³² “And now I surrender you to God, according to His promise to us in the news of salvation about His kindness. It is that Good News which has power to strengthen you to receive all the blessings which God has prepared for His people whom He made pure. ³³ I never wanted your wealth in the form of silver, gold, or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that I worked with both my hands so that I could meet all my needs and the needs of some of the brothers in the faith who worked with me. ³⁵ In that way, I always tried to be an example to you of how we should work hard to help the people who are weak. And we should also remember that the Lord Jesus said, ‘God blesses those who help others more than those who receive help.’”

³⁶ After Paul said all of that, he knelt down with all of them and led them in prayer. ³⁷ Then they all cried, while hugging and kissing him over and over again. ³⁸ They were very sad, especially because Paul said that they wouldn’t see him again. Then they took him to the ship.

Chapter 21

Paul goes to Jerusalem

¹ We and the elders of the church of Ephesus parted from each other with heavy hearts. Then we sailed smoothly and headed directly to the island of Cos. The next day we went to the island of Rhodes. And from there we continued the trip until we reached the city of Patara. ² There we saw a ship that was going to cross over to the region of Phoenicia. ^[1] So we went on board the ship and left. ³ While we were sailing, we saw the island of Cyprus on the left. We just passed by it and kept sailing to Syria. Finally, we arrived in the city of Tyre because the ship was carrying cargo that had to be unloaded there. ⁴ At that time, we met some followers of Jesus there and stayed with them for seven days. Through a prophecy from God’s Spirit, they advised Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ⁵ When the time came to leave on the ship again, all the brothers in the faith there, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside the city. Then on the beach, we all knelt down and prayed. ⁶ After saying goodbye, we boarded the ship and they each went to their own homes.

⁷ From Tyre, we continued sailing and arrived at the city of Ptolemais. We looked for brothers and sisters in the faith there. When we met and greeted them, they invited us to stay with them that night. ⁸ The next day we sailed again and arrived at the city of Caesarea. There we went to see Philip and stayed at his house. He had the special ability to proclaim the message of salvation. And he was also one of the seven men who had been chosen in the past as church workers to serve the needs of the widows. ^{[2] 9} He had four unmarried daughters who had the special ability to prophesy.

¹⁰ After we stayed there for several days, it happened that a man named Agabus came from the province of Judea, and he also had the special ability to prophesy. ¹¹ He approached us, took Paul’s belt and tied his own feet and hands with that belt. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the owner of this belt like this. Then they’ll hand him over into the hands of non-Jewish people.’”

¹² When we heard that, we and the brothers and sisters in the faith who were there asked Paul not to continue his trip to Jerusalem. ¹³ But Paul answered, “Why are you crying and breaking my heart! I’m ready not only to be tied up, but even to die there, so that the name of the Lord Jesus is glorified.” ¹⁴ We couldn’t change his mind, so we finally stopped trying to persuade him and said, “May the Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵ After several days in Caesarea, we got ready to leave for Jerusalem. ¹⁶ And there were some of Jesus’ followers from that city who came along with us and who would take us to Mnason’s house, the place we were going to stay while in Jerusalem. Mnason was a man from Cyprus who had long ago become Jesus’ follower. ^[3]

Paul visits James

¹⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters in the faith welcomed us gladly. ¹⁸ Then the next day, Paul went with us to meet James. All the other elders had already gotten together with James too. ¹⁹ Paul greeted them, and gave a detailed report of all the things that God had done among non-Jewish people through his ministry.

²⁰ After they heard Paul’s report, they all praised God. Then they said to Paul, “Brother, you can now see for yourself that there are already many thousands of Jews who believe in Jesus and they all hold firmly to the Law. ²¹ But they’ve heard false stories about you, Brother, that you teach all the Jews, who are spread out in non-Jewish regions, so that they forsake Moses Law. For example, they hear that you teach that Jews don’t need to follow Jewish customs or circumcise their sons. ²² So now we have to decide on something to correct this situation, because they’ll hear that you’ve returned here, for sure. ^23-24 So we elders advise you to do this, Brother: There are four of the brothers in the faith who’ve finished the time period of their special vows ^[4] and need to follow the purification ceremony in the courtyard of God’s House. Support them, Brother, and take part with them in the purification ceremony yourself, and pay the cost to shave everyone’s hair. In that way, when they see you, all the Jews in this region will know that the news about you isn’t true, and that you still follow the Law yourself. ²⁵ Whereas regarding the brothers and sisters who have believed in Jesus among the non-Jewish people groups, we have sent a letter to them in which we prohibited these things:

Don’t eat meat that has been offered to idols;

or the meat of animals that have been killed by strangling;

or anything that contains blood;

and don’t commit the sin of immorality.”

²⁶ So the next day, Paul went with the four men to support the ceremony of purification, and he also took part in the ceremony. Then he entered the courtyard of God’s House to tell the priests the last date of the seven day purification process and that each of their offerings would be given on that date.

Paul is arrested in God’s House

²⁷ When the seven days to purify them was almost over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in one of the courtyards of God’s House. Then they stirred up the crowd who were there in order to capture him. ²⁸ They shouted, “Hey, you Jewish people, help! This is the man, the one who teaches everyone everywhere to oppose the traditions of our people, the Law and this Holy House. In fact, he has now defiled this holy place by bringing non-Jewish people into the courtyard of God’s House.” ²⁹ (They said this because they had seen Paul in Jerusalem with Trophimus, a man from Ephesus. They thought that Paul had brought him into the courtyard of God’s House, although he hadn’t.)

³⁰ Then the whole city became upset, and the crowd ran and gathered around Paul. They captured him, and dragged him out of the courtyard of God’s House. And at that very moment, the doors of the courtyard of God’s House were shut by the priests on guard. ³¹ While the crowd was trying to kill Paul, a report came to the Roman troop commander ^[5] that all the residents of Jerusalem were rioting. ³² He immediately ordered his soldiers and officers to run to the place of the riot. When the Jews saw the troop commander and his soldiers coming, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ After the commander came, he ordered his soldiers to arrest Paul and tie him up with chains to two soldiers on his right side and left side. Then he asked, “Who’s this man, and what has he done wrong?” ³⁴ But some of the crowd were shouting one thing, and others were shouting something else. The commander couldn’t determine what was true because the people's voices were so loud. So he commanded that Paul be brought to their barracks. ³⁵ When they reached the stone steps, the soldiers were forced to carry Paul because the crowd was pressing in hard so that he would killed. ³⁶ And too many people were following and shouting, “Destroy him!”

³⁷ When the soldiers were ready to take Paul into the barracks, Paul asked the commander, “May I have a minute to speak to you, Sir?”

The commander answered, “Wow! It sounds like you can speak Greek! ³⁸ If so, then you aren’t the Egyptian who began a revolt some time ago and led four thousand rebels into the desert.”

³⁹ Then Paul answered, “I’m a Jew, of course, but I’m from the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia. So I’m a citizen of an important city in the Roman kingdom. I ask for permission to speak to this crowd.”

⁴⁰ Then the commander gave Paul permission to speak to the crowd. Paul stood on the steps and signaled with his hand for the crowd to be quiet. When they were quiet, he began to speak in Hebrew:

Chapter 22

Paul defends himself before the crowd

¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen to what I want to tell you to defend myself.”

² When they heard that he spoke in Hebrew, they became even more calm.

Then he continued speaking, ³ “I’m a Jew, who was born in the province of Cilicia in the city of Tarsus, but I was raised in this city. I’m a student of Gamaliel, ^[1] and I was strictly educated according to the laws of our forefathers. So I sincerely obey God, just like you do today. ⁴ For that reason, I persecuted all the followers of the ‘way’ which was taught by Jesus, to the point of taking part in killing them. I also arrested them and put them in jail, both men and women. ⁵ And the high priest, along with all the Jewish leaders, can testify about that because I received letters from them. The letters were addressed to the leaders of the synagogues in Damascus so that when I came, I could arrest and tie up people who followed that movement and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “But while I was on my way, near to Damascus, at about noon suddenly a very bright light from the sky shone on me. ⁷ Then I fell to the ground and heard a voice that said, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

⁸ “I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

Then He answered, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you're persecuting.’ ⁹ Those who were with me saw the light too, but they didn’t hear the voice that spoke to me.

¹⁰ “Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’

And the Lord answered, ‘Get up and go to Damascus. You’ll be told there all the things that I’ve planned for you to do.’

¹¹ “But because the light was so brilliant, I went blind. So those who were with me led me to Damascus. ¹² In Damascus, there was a man named Ananias. ^[2] He was a person who was very faithful to obey the Law, and all of the Jews who lived there respected him. ¹³ He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, may you see again!’ And at that very moment, I could see him.

¹⁴ “Then Ananias said to me, ‘The God of our forefathers has chosen you to know His will and hear Jesus’ voice and see Him who always lives right in God’s sight. ¹⁵ For He has chosen you to give your testimony about what you’ve seen and heard to everyone . ¹⁶ So now what are you waiting for?! Stand up and be baptized. Pray to the Lord Jesus that you’ll be cleansed from your sins.’

¹⁷ “After I returned to Jerusalem, while I was praying in God’s House, I had a vision. ¹⁸ And I saw Jesus in that vision, who said, ‘Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here won’t accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹ “But I answered, ‘Lord, they know that I’ve gone into the synagogues to arrest people who believe in You. Then I beat them and put them in jail. ²⁰ And when Stephen, Your faithful witness was killed, I stood there and agreed that he be killed. In fact, I guarded the robes of those murderers.’

²¹ “Then Jesus said to me, ‘Go, because I’ll send you to distant places, to non-Jewish people groups.’”

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he mentioned “non-Jewish people groups.” Then they all shouted loudly, “Destroy this man! He isn’t fit to live anymore!” ²³ While shouting, they took off their robes and threw dust into the air. ^{[3] 24} At that moment, the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. Then he gave the command that Paul be whipped while being examined in order to find out why the crowd shouted like that at him. ²⁵ But when the soldiers tied up Paul to whip him, he asked one of the officers who stood there, “Are you allowed to whip a Roman citizen before he has been tried?”

²⁶ When the officer heard Paul’s words, he went to the commander of the troops and said, “Sir, please think carefully about what you’re doing to that man! He’s a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ So the commander came to Paul and asked, “Tell me, is it true that you’re a Roman citizen?”

“It’s true,” Paul answered.

²⁸ Then the commander mocked what Jewish prisoners usually said by saying, “And now you’ll say that you’ve paid a very high price to become a Roman citizen.” ^[4]

But Paul answered, “No, I was born a Roman citizen.”

²⁹ When they heard that answer, those who had been ordered to whip him stepped back immediately. And the commander became afraid when he realized that Paul, whom he had ordered be tied up without examining him, was a Roman citizen.

Paul defends himself before the Jewish Religious Court council

³⁰ But the commander wanted to know why Paul was accused by the Jewish people. So the next day he ordered all of the chief priests and the whole Religious Court council to gather. Then he ordered Paul to stand in front of them, without being tied with chains.

Chapter 23

¹ Then Paul stared at the members of the Religious Court council and said, “Brothers, until now I’ve lived well in God’s eyes, without feeling guilty in my heart.”

² Then the high priest, Ananias, ^[1] ordered one of the people standing next to Paul to slap him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to Ananias, “God will slap you who are only pretending to be good! ^[2] You sit there judging me according to the Law, yet you break the Law yourself by ordering someone to slap me.”

⁴ Then those who stood near Paul said, “You are too daring to insult the high priest, God’s servant!”

⁵ And Paul answered, “Brothers, I didn’t know that he was the high priest, because it’s written, ‘Don’t insult the leader of your people.’ ^[26]

⁶ Paul knew that the members of the council consisted of some from the Sadducee group and some from the Pharisee group, so he cried out, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee, and my father was also a Pharisee! I’m on trial today because of my conviction that dead people will be brought back to life!”

⁷ After Paul said that, a huge argument arose between the two groups, and the Court council was divided in two. ⁸ (That happened because the Sadducee group teach that after people die there won’t be any after-life, and they don’t believe that there are angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in all those things.) ⁹ Because of that, there was a big commotion. Then some of the Law experts, who were also members of the Pharisee group, stood up and protested loudly. They said, “In our opinion, this man isn’t guilty at all! Maybe it’s true that an angel or a spirit spoke to him.”

¹⁰ Eventually, the debate grew greater and so dangerous that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. So he ordered his soldiers to rescue Paul from them and take him to the barracks.

¹¹ That night the Lord stood beside Paul and said, “Don’t be afraid. Just as you’ve testified about Me in Jerusalem, you’ll testify about Me in Rome too.”

The Jews make plans to kill Paul

¹² The next morning, the Jews secretly made plans to kill Paul. They swore to God that they wouldn’t eat or drink before they succeeded in killing Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty people who swore an agreement like that. ¹⁴ Then they went to the chief priests and the Jewish leaders to say, “We have sworn before God that we won’t eat or drink anything at all until we succeed in killing Paul. ¹⁵ Now in the name of the Religious Court council, ask the commander of the troops that Paul be brought to you again, as if you want to examine his case more carefully. But he won’t arrive here, because we’re ready to kill him on the way before he gets here.”

¹⁶ But Paul’s nephew heard about that plan. (He was Paul’s sister’s son.) So he went to the barracks and told Paul the situation. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the officers and said, “Please take this young man to the commander, because he wants to tell him something.”

¹⁸ So the officer brought him to the commander and said, “That prisoner, Paul, called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He wants to tell you something.”

¹⁹ So the commander took the hand of the young man and drew him aside and asked, “What do you want to tell me?”

²⁰ And the young man said, “Sir, the Jews have made plans to ask you to bring Paul to the Religious Court tomorrow morning. They’ll pretend that they want to examine his case more carefully. ²¹ But don’t listen to them, Sir, because more than forty of the them have made plans to attack him on the way. They’ve sworn that they won’t eat or drink until they succeed in killing Paul. And now they’re ready and are just waiting for your decision, Sir.”

²² So the commander told the young man to go home, and ordered, “Don’t tell anyone at all that you’ve told me this.”

Paul is sent to Caesarea

^23-24 Then the commander called two of his officers and said, “Prepare three groups of soldiers to take Paul safely to Governor Felix in Caesarea. The three groups will consist of two hundred swordmen, two hundred spearmen, and seventy horsemen. Prepare some horses for Paul and all of his needs too. ^[3] Be ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight.” ²⁵ Then the commander wrote a letter which said,

²⁶ “To the glorious and respected Governor Felix: Greetings from Claudius Lysias.

²⁷ I’m sending a prisoner along with this letter. This man was captured by the Jewish people, and they intended to kill him. But I came with my soldiers to rescue him because I heard that he’s a Roman citizen.

²⁸ I wanted to know why he was accused by them, so I brought him to the council of their Religious Court.

²⁹ They’re apparently accusing him because of some problems in their Law, but he wasn’t accused of anything that deserves to be punished by death or imprisonment.

³⁰ When I was informed that the Jews made plans to kill him, I immediately sent him to you, Sir. I’ve also ordered those who accuse him to tell you all of their accusations.”

³¹ According to the order that was given to them, the soldiers took Paul to the city of Antipatris that night. ³² The next day, the troop with horses continued the trip with Paul while the other four hundred soldiers returned to the barracks. ³³ When the seventy horsemen with Paul arrived in Caesarea, they handed Paul and the letter over to the governor. ³⁴ After the governor had read the letter he asked Paul, “What province are you from?” When Paul answered that he was from the province of Cilicia, ³⁵ the governor said, “I’ll hear your case when the people who accuse you have arrived here.” Then he gave an order that Paul be kept as a prisoner in the government building that was built by King Herod.

Chapter 24

The Jewish leaders accuse Paul before Governor Felix

¹ After five days had passed, the high priest Ananias and some leaders of the Jews went to Caesarea. They went to the governor to present their accusations against Paul. An expert in national law, whose name was Tertullus, went with them. ^2-3 Then Paul was called and brought before the governor. After that, Tertullus began to accuse Paul by saying, “Governor Felix, whom I honor, it is because of your government Sir, that we’ve enjoyed a state of peace. And our people have also experienced many improvements because of your wisdom. So in all of these things and wherever we are, we really appreciate everything you’ve done, and we’re thankful for all of that. ⁴ However, so that I don’t waste too much of your time, Sir, I respectfully ask that you be willing to hear this brief accusation of ours. ⁵ We’ve found that this man is a trouble maker. He causes many divisions among the Jews throughout the whole world. He’s also a leader of the group that follows the teaching of the Nazarene. ^6-8 He also tried to defile God’s House, but we quickly caught him. ^[1] If you examine him, Sir, you’ll find out for yourself that all of our accusations against him are true.” ⁹ And the Jews who were there joined in supporting and affirming that all those accusations were definitely true.

Paul defends himself before Governor Felix

¹⁰ When the governor gave a sign permitting Paul to speak, Paul said, “Your honor, Mr. Governor, I know that for years you’ve been a leader of this people group and have decided its legal cases. For that reason, I’m not afraid to defend myself before you, Sir. ¹¹ It’s quite easy to prove that not more than twelve days ago, I came to Jerusalem to worship at God’s House. So there wasn’t time for me to do what they accuse me of. ¹² And no one ever saw me quarrel or create a disturbance, either in the courtyards of God’s House or in the Jewish synagogues, or anywhere at all in that city. ¹³ And these men can’t prove to you that their accusations are true, Sir.

¹⁴ But I admit that I worship the God of our forefathers by following ‘the way of salvation’, which was taught by Jesus, the Nazarene. According to these people, anyone who follows the way is a follower of false teaching, yet I still believe in everything that’s written in the Law and in the books of the prophets. ¹⁵ Just like them, I also have confidence that some day in the future God will raise up everyone from death, both those who were righteous and those who were evil. ¹⁶ Because of that, I always try to do what’s best so that my conscience doesn’t feel guilty. And in that way, I live right in the sight of God and man.

¹⁷ “After being away from Jerusalem for several years, I returned there to bring some sacrificial offerings to God and also contributions to help fellow brothers and sisters who are poor. ^18-19 When some Jews from Asia met me in the courtyard of God’s House, I had just completed the ceremony of purifying myself, ^[2] and at that time, there wasn’t a crowd there, and I wasn’t involved in any disturbance. Those people from Asia are the ones who should come to you and tell you their accusations, Sir, if they have accusations against me. ^20-21 Or let the men who're here say what wrong they found when I stood up to be examined before the Religious Court. At that time, they didn’t find any wrong with me at all, except they weren’t happy with the statement which I gave with a loud voice. I said, ‘Today I’m being tried because of my belief that dead people will be brought back to life!’”

²² When he heard that, Governor Felix postponed the council saying, “When commander Lysias comes, I’ll decide your case.” (It happened that Felix already knew a lot about the way that was taught by Jesus.) ²³ Then he ordered his officer to keep Paul under guard, but not to be bound with a chain and not to prevent Paul’s friends from helping him when he needed something.

Paul speaks to Felix and his wife

²⁴ Several days later, Felix and his wife returned to the city after a visit. (His wife Drusilla was a Jewish woman.) So Felix ordered Paul to face the two of them. Then they listened to Paul speak about how to believe in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ But when Paul explained how to live right in the Lord’s eyes, about controlling one’s self, and how God will later judge people, Felix became afraid, and said, “That’s enough! You may go now. If there’s an opportunity, I’ll call you again.” ²⁶ During this time, Felix hoped that Paul would give him bribe money. That’s why he often ordered Paul to be brought before him to talk with him.

²⁷ But after two years had passed, Felix was replaced by Porcius Festus. When Felix left his position, he deliberately left Paul in jail because he wanted to please the Jews.

Chapter 25

Paul requests to be judged by the high king of Rome

¹ Three days after Governor Festus arrived in Caesarea, he went to Jerusalem. ^2-3 There the chief priests and other Jewish leaders came to him to present different accusations against Paul. They urgently requested that Paul be sent back to Jerusalem because they had secretly planned to kill him while he was on the way. ⁴ But Festus answered, “Paul is being kept in Caesarea, and I’ll be going there soon. ⁵ So let some of your leaders go there with me. If he really has done something wrong, they’re the ones who’ll accuse him there.”

⁶ After Festus had stayed in Jerusalem eight to ten days, he returned to Caesarea. The next day, he held a trial council and ordered people to bring Paul before him. ⁷ When Paul entered the room, the Jews who had come from Jerusalem stood around him. They presented many serious charges against him, but they couldn’t prove that what they were saying was true. ⁸ Then Paul defended himself saying, “I’ve never broken the Jewish Law. I haven’t done any wrong against God’s House or opposed the king of Rome either.”

⁹ But because Festus wanted to please the Jews, he asked Paul, “Do you want to go to Jerusalem to be tried there before me about all of these accusations?”

¹⁰ Then Paul answered, “I stand now before the court of the king of Rome and this is the proper place for me to be tried. I haven’t done wrong to the Jewish people, as you already know. ¹¹ If it’s proven that I’ve committed a crime that makes me deserve the death sentence, I’m willing to accept that. But because their accusations against me aren’t true, no one has the right to turn me over to them. I request that the high king himself judge my case.”

¹² Then after Festus had discussed this with his advisors, he answered, “All right. Since you request to be judged by the high king, you’ll go to Rome to face him.”

Festus asks King Herod Agrippa about Paul

¹³ Some days later, King Agrippa ^[1] and his younger sister whose name was Bernice ^[2] arrived in Caesarea to visit Governor Festus. ¹⁴ After they had stayed there several days, Festus explained the problem of Paul to the king like this, “There’s a prisoner here who was left in jail by Felix. ¹⁵ And while I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the Jewish leaders told me that this person had committed many crimes. So they asked me to sentence him to death. ¹⁶ But I answered them that according to Roman law, we can’t just hand an accused person over to the people who are accusing him. Before that he must be given the opportunity to face his enemies, in order to defend himself against their charges. ¹⁷ So when they came here with me, I didn’t delay in handling the problem. I immediately held a trial council the next day and ordered that this man be brought before me. ¹⁸ But when his enemies brought their charges against him, they didn’t present any serious offense that he had committed, like I had expected. ¹⁹ But the problems were only differences of opinion about the teachings of their religion and about a man named Jesus who had died. But Paul said that this man came back to life. ²⁰ So I was confused as to how I should examine this problem. I asked him if he wanted to be tried on those charges in Jerusalem. ²¹ But Paul himself requested that his case be tried directly by our high king. So I’ve ordered that he still be held until I have an opportunity to send him to our king.”

²² Then Agrippa answered Festus, “I, myself, would also like to hear the man speak.”

Festus answered, “If so, I’ll arrange a time so that you’ll have an opportunity to hear him tomorrow, Sir.”

²³ The next day Agrippa came with Bernice, and they were welcomed with a royal ceremony of honor. They entered the council room with the army commanders and important people of the city, and Festus gave the command that Paul be brought in. ²⁴ Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and everyone gathered here, you see this man. All the Jews, both those in Jerusalem and those here, have made demands of me, shouting that this man can’t be allowed to live any longer. ²⁵ But when I examined his offenses, I didn’t find a single offense that makes him deserve the death sentence. So when he asked that his case be judged by our king, I decided to send him to Rome. ²⁶ I don’t have a statement that makes sense to write in a letter of explanation to our king. Because of that, I present him to all of you and especially to you, King Agrippa, so that through this examination, what I need to write will be clear, Sir. ²⁷ In my opinion, it isn’t proper to take a prisoner to our high king without a letter of explanation about the charges against him.”

Chapter 26

Paul defends himself before King Agrippa

¹ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak to defend yourself.”

Then Paul raised his hand as a sign that he was beginning to defend himself. He said, ² “Exalted King Agrippa, I’m really happy that I can stand before you today, to defend myself against all of the accusations that have been given by the Jews, ³ especially because you know in depth about all the customs of the Jews and the things that cause differences of opinion among them. For that reason, I’m asking you to listen to me patiently, Sir.

⁴ “All the Jews know my education and my way of life as a Jew, because I lived among them since I was young, first in my city Tarsus, and then in Jerusalem. ⁵ They’ve known me for a long time, and if they want to testify, they can tell you that I’ve lived well as a member of the Pharisee group, which is the strictest group of our religion. ⁶ And now, I stand here to be tried precisely because of my belief that God will fulfill one of the most important promises which He promised to our forefathers in times past. ⁷ In the same way, our twelve tribes still truly hope this promise will be fulfilled. That's the reason they sincerely worship God day and night. Yet it is because of that same hope, King Agripa, that I’ve been accused by my own people! ⁸ So I’m asking all of you, why is it so difficult for you to believe that God has the power to make dead people alive again?

⁹ “Actually, I also used to think that all Jews were obligated to take strong actions to oppose everything that was done in the name of Jesus, the Nazarene. ¹⁰ That’s what I did in Jerusalem too. With the authority I received from the chief priests, I put many of God’s people ^[1] in jail. And when they were being judged by the Religious Court, I was also on the side of the leaders who demanded that they be sentenced to death. ¹¹ In fact, I often tortured them in the synagogues too, and I tried to force them to insult the name of Jesus. I was so full of anger that I chased them to other cities.

Paul tells that he saw Jesus

¹² “That’s why I went to Damascus with letters of permission and full authority from the chief priests. ¹³ But, your majesty, around mid-day on that trip, a light from heaven, which was brighter than the sun, shone on me and on those who traveled with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice that spoke to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? You’re just like a cow that is always kicking the sharp stick of its master. By opposing My will, you’re causing trouble for yourself.’

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are You, Lord?’

“And the Lord answered, ‘I’m Jesus, whom you’re persecuting. ¹⁶ But now get up! I have shown Myself to you because I have chosen you to serve Me. And you’ll tell your testimony about what you’ve seen and what I’ll show you later on. ¹⁷ I’ll save you from the people who oppose you, both Jewish people and non-Jewish people. And now I’m sending you to non-Jewish people, ¹⁸ to make them aware, so that they’ll no longer live in darkness but live in the light, and so that they’ll no longer be controlled by the devil either, but will be controlled by God. In that way, their sins will be forgiven, and they’ll take part with those who’re being purified because of fully believing in Me.’

Paul explains about his work

¹⁹ “For that reason, my King Agrippa, I’ve definitely tried to be obedient to the vision that was given from heaven. ²⁰ So I began to teach the news of salvation, first among the people in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, then in the whole province of Judea, and also in non-Jewish regions. I told them that they must repent of their sins and turn to the Lord, and do the things that show they truly have repented. ²¹ That’s why the Jews captured me in God’s House and tried to kill me. ²² But to this day, God has always protected me, so that I can stand here and testify to all of you, to people of either low or high status. And I only proclaim what has been prophesied by the prophets and Moses, ²³ which is that God’s plan was for Christ to suffer and die, and after that He would be the first One to come back to life after death. Then the news of salvation would become like a bright light that shines on both Jewish and non-Jewish people groups.”

Paul urges King Agrippa to become a follower of Christ

²⁴ While Paul was defending himself like that, Festus said in a loud voice, “Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve studied religion so much that you’ve become insane.”

²⁵ But Paul answered, “I’m not insane, my ruler, honorable Festus! What I’m saying is true and makes sense. ²⁶ His majesty King Agrippa already knows about these things too, and because of that I can speak frankly with him. And I’m sure that he hasn’t just recently heard about these things, because all of this is already well known by the public. ²⁷ Now King Agrippa, do you believe what was prophesied by the prophets? I’m sure you believe those things!”

²⁸ Then Agrippa answered Paul, “Do you think that you can persuade me to become a Christian in such a short time?”

²⁹ And Paul answered, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I pray to God that not just you, but everyone who hears me today may become like me, but not be bound with iron chains like these.”

^30-31 After Paul said that, King Agrippa stood up and began to walk out. Then Bernice, Governor Festus and everyone who sat with them stood up and left the room. Once outside, they said to each other, “This man hasn’t done any crime requiring him to be sentenced to death or be imprisoned.”

³² Then King Agrippa said to Festus, “If this man hadn’t asked that his case be judged by the high king he could actually have been released.”

Chapter 27

Paul sails to Rome

¹ When the date came that was set for us, including me, Luke, to sail to the province of Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were turned over to an officer named Julius. He was a member of the high kings’ special troops. ² Aristarchus, who was from the city of Thessalonica in the province of Macedonia, also came with us. Then we boarded a ship that came from the city of Adramyttium, which was going to dock at several harbors along the coast of the province of Asia.

³ We arrived at Sidon the next day. Julius was kind to Paul by allowing him to get off to visit his friends in the city so that they could give him what he needed. ⁴ While we were sailing from Sidon, a strong headwind blew so the ship sailed along the coast of the island of Cyprus, to be protected from the wind. ⁵ When the ship had crossed the open sea along the coast of the provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we arrived at Myra in the province of Lycia, and we got off the ship. ⁶ It happened that a ship was there from Alexandria which was leaving for Italy. Then the officer arranged for all of us to sail with that ship.

⁷ Because the headwind continued to blow hard, we were forced to sail very slowly for several days, and with great difficulty we arrived near the city of Cnidus. Then because the wind continued to prevent the ship’s forward progress, we sailed in a southerly direction. By following the south coast of the island of Crete, near the cape of Salmone, the ship was somewhat protected from the wind. ⁸ We sailed with great difficulty the length of the south coast until we arrived at a place which was called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹ We had already lost a lot of time, and because it was already past the Jewish Day of Fasting, ^[1] it was no longer safe to continue the voyage. For that reason, Paul advised Julius and all of the ship’s crew, saying, ¹⁰ “Brothers, I foresee that if we continue the voyage, there will be a disaster and great loss, not just to the ship and its cargo, but our lives will also be threatened.” ¹¹ But Julius believed the pilot of the ship and the ship’s owner more than what Paul said. ¹² And that harbor wasn’t a good place to stay through the winter, for sure. For that reason, most of the ship’s crew chose to continue sailing and to try to reach the harbor of Phoenix, so that we could all stay there through the winter. That harbor was better protected from the wind because it faced southwest and northwest.

Trapped in a typhoon

¹³ So when the wind began to blow gently from the south, the ship’s crew thought they could sail again, as they had planned. For that reason, they raised anchor and sailed again following the south coast of Crete. ¹⁴ But not long after that, a typhoon wind, known as “the Northeastern Wind,” blew from the direction of the island. ¹⁵ Then the ship was caught in the middle of that typhoon, and the ship couldn’t possibly keep sailing anymore against that strong wind. So the sailors let the ship be driven by the wind. ¹⁶ While we were drifting, and were somewhat protected because of passing the shore of a small island called Cauda, we managed to secure the small boat that was tied to the back of the ship with great difficulty. ¹⁷ After the small boat was pulled aboard the ship, the crew attached strong ropes in loops around the ship. They did that because they were afraid the ship would run aground on shallow sand in a place called Syrtis. So after that, they also lowered the sail and the anchor so that the ship would be driven more slowly by the wind. ¹⁸ But the typhoon and the waves were still beating the ship very hard, so the next day the ship’s crew threw the cargo into the sea in order to lighten the ship. ¹⁹ And on the following day, they even threw some of the ship’s tackle into the sea. ²⁰ Day after day, we didn’t see the sun or the stars, and the typhoon just kept blowing hard. And we finally lost all hope of being saved.

²¹ For many days none of us ate anything. Then Paul stood up among us and said, “Brothers, if you had followed my advice not to sail from Crete earlier we wouldn’t have experienced this disaster and loss. ²² But I’m advising you not to give up now, because none of us will be destroyed. Only the ship will be ruined. ²³ I’m saying that because last night, the God whom I worship and whom I serve ordered one of His angels to come and stand by me. ²⁴ The angel said, ‘Paul, don’t be afraid. You’ll stand before the high king of Rome, for sure. And because of God’s kindness to you, He promises that everyone who’s sailing with you will be saved.’ ²⁵ So brothers, don’t give up because I have faith in God that everything will happen according to what He promised me. ²⁶ But this ship will definitely run aground on some island.”

²⁷ On the fourteenth night, while the typhoon continued, we were driven by the waves to the middle of the Adriatic Sea. ^[2] At midnight, the ship’s crew felt that the ship was approaching land. ²⁸ Then they measured the depth of the sea by dropping a rock line, and its depth appeared to be about thirty seven meters. After sailing a little farther, they measured the depth again, and apparently the sea’s depth at that place was only twenty seven meters. ^{[3] 29} Because they were afraid that the ship would run aground on the coral, they lowered four anchors from the back of the ship so that the ship would move forward slowly, and then they prayed that morning would come quickly. ³⁰ But at that time, the ship’s crew lowered the small boat in order to flee from the ship. They deceived us by pretending that they wanted to lower more anchors from the front of the ship. ³¹ But Paul said to Julius and the other soldiers, “If the ship’s crew doesn’t stay on board, you won’t all be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes tied to the boat and let it fall and drift away with the waves.

³³ Toward morning, Paul urged us all to eat by saying, “For fourteen days we haven’t eaten anything because of waiting in fear. ³⁴ Because of that I advise each of you to eat now, in order to have strength to save yourselves. Not a single one of you will be destroyed. In fact, not even one strand of hair on our heads will be lost.” ³⁵ After he said that, he took bread and gave thanks to God for it in front of everyone. Then he broke the bread, took a piece and began to eat. ³⁶ Then the rest of us were motivated again and ate bread with Paul. ³⁷ (Those of us who were on the ship numbered two hundred and seventy-six people.) ³⁸ After we had all eaten enough, the ship’s crew lightened the ship again by throwing the cargo of wheat into the sea.

The ship runs ground and is destroyed

³⁹ Then, when the sun had risen, they saw land that they didn’t recognize, but they also saw that there was a bay with a beach. Because of that they decided to try to land the ship on that beach. ⁴⁰ So they cut the ropes of the anchors and let the anchors sink into the sea. At the same time, they loosened the ropes that tied the steering device of the ship, and they hoisted the sail so that the wind would blow them towards the beach. ⁴¹ But in one place where the bottom of the sea wasn’t deep, the ship crashed onto the sand so that it stuck. The front of the ship struck the sand very hard so that it couldn’t move at all, while the back of the ship began to break apart because it was pounded by the waves.

⁴² At that time, the soldiers planned to kill all the prisoners so that none of them would swim to land and escape. ⁴³ But Julius wanted to save Paul. So he forbid them and ordered that those who could swim should jump into the sea first and swim to land. ⁴⁴ And the other passengers, who couldn’t swim, were ordered to hold onto boards or other pieces of the ship. In that way, everyone arrived safely on the beach.

Chapter 28

Paul on the island of Malta

¹ After we arrived safely on land, we were told by the residents there that the island was named Malta. ² The people who lived on the island received us and helped us very kindly. They lit a fire to warm our bodies, because the rain was still falling and the weather was very cold.

³ But when Paul had gathered branches of wood and put them on the fire, a poisonous snake hidden in the wood came out because of the heat of the fire, and it bit Paul and clung to his hand. ⁴ When the residents saw that, they said to each other, “This man is definitely a murderer, for even though he was saved from the danger of the sea, the goddess of Justice ^[1] won’t allow him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook his hand so that the snake came off and fell into the fire, and he didnt feel sick at all. ⁶ Of course the residents thought that Paul’s arm would become swollen, or that he would suddenly stop breathing and fall down. But after waiting quite a while and seeing that nothing happened to him, they changed their minds and said, “Wow, this man is a god, for sure!”

⁷ There was some land not far from that place that was owned by the governor of the island who was named Publius. He welcomed us and invited us to his house, and he was very good to us while we were guests there. We stayed with him for three days. ⁸ At that time, Publius’ father was lying in bed because he was sick with a fever and diarrhea. Then Paul went to see him, and when Paul prayed while laying his hands on him, the man was instantly healed. ⁹ After that happened, all the other sick people on the island came to Paul, and they were also divinely healed. ^10-11 Because of that they really respected us. After three months there, when the time came for us to continue our trip, they provided for all of our needs.

Paul sails from Malta towards Rome

After that, we left again on a ship which came from Alexandria, which had been on the island all winter. On the front of the ship was a carving of the Twin Gods. ^{[2] 12} We arrived at the city of Syracuse (on the island of Sicily) and stayed there for three days. ¹³ From there we sailed across, and arrived at the city of Rhegium (at the tip of the province of Italy). And the next day, a wind blew from the south so we were able to sail to the north and reached the city of Puteoli by the following day. ¹⁴ We met some brothers in the faith in that city, and they asked us to stay at their house for seven days. Then we continued our trip and arrived in Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers and sisters in the faith in the city of Rome had heard the news that we were on our way to the city, and they came to meet us at the two villages which are called the Market of Appius and the Three Inns. ^[3] When Paul saw them, he thanked God and was encouraged.

Paul in Rome

¹⁶ After we arrived in Rome, the leader there gave permission for Paul to live on his own, and a soldier was ordered to guard him.

¹⁷ After three days, Paul invited all the Jewish leaders in Rome to meet him. After they gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, even though I didn’t do anything to oppose our people or to break the customs of our forefathers, the Jews captured me in Jerusalem and handed me over to the Roman authorities. ¹⁸ When the officials of the Roman kingdom in that place examined me, they wanted to release me because they didn’t find any wrong in me that makes me deserve the death sentence. ¹⁹ But the Jews strongly opposed my being released. So for that reason, I was forced to request that my case be transferred to the high king. But I don’t intend to accuse my own people. ²⁰ That’s why I asked to meet and talk with you, because it’s actually on account of my faith in all of God’s promises to our Jewish forefathers that I’m bound with this iron chain.”

²¹ Then they answered, “We haven’t yet received a letter about you from the province of Judea. And so far there has not been any Jewish person who has come from there who has brought any news or said that you have done evil. ²² But we want to hear from you directly about this faith of yours, Brother. For we know that people everywhere speak against this movement.”

²³ Then they set a time to meet with Paul again. And that day, more people came and gathered in the house where he was staying. Then from morning until night he explained and testified to them about God’s kingdom. And he tried to convince them to believe in Jesus by using verses from Moses’ Law and the writings of the prophets. ²⁴ Some of them believed because of Paul’s teaching. But there were also others who didn’t believe. ²⁵ So they debated among themselves and began to leave that place when Paul finished by saying this, “How fitting are the words spoken by the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah to our forefathers! The Lord said,

     ²⁶ ‘Go to your people who are so stubborn and give them this message:

     Even though you keep hearing news from God,

         you will never understand.

     And even though you keep seeing what the Lord is doing,

         you still will not understand what’s happening.

     ²⁷ For the hearts of these people don’t want to understand anymore.

         Their ears don’t want to hear,

         and their eyes are so tightly closed that they can’t see what’s true.

     But if their minds weren’t closed,

         they could truly see with their eyes,

         hear with their ears,

         and understand with their minds.

     Sad to say, they won’t possibly return to Me,

         even though I’m ready to heal them.’ ^[27]

^28-29 “So, Brothers, because you Jews don’t want to hear the news of salvation from God, then you must know that God has now sent that news to people who aren’t Jews. And they’re receiving that news.” ^[4]

³⁰ Then for two full years, Paul stayed in a house which he rented himself, and he welcomed everyone who came to visit him. ³¹ With great boldness and without being hindered by anyone, he told about God’s kingdom and taught about the Lord Jesus, who is the Christ ^[5] promised by God.