Acts 19

²³After Paul had spent some time in Antioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures.

¹After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

¹²Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was not at all inclined to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a while longer, he declined.

¹²What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

⁴For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

⁵Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

¹⁵As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁹He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

⁷Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁵On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

¹⁶For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

⁵For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁰This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’

¹⁶Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

¹⁶John answered all of them: “I baptize you with water, but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

¹⁷His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

²⁷He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

²³From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised.

²⁴Before the arrival of Jesus, John preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

¹⁶For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

⁴We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁶They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

²²Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

¹Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

²For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

²³So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

³After His suffering, He presented Himself to them with many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a span of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

³Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

²⁰Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”

²¹All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

¹At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.

⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

⁶But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titus Justus, a worshiper of God.

⁴The people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, and others with the apostles.

¹²These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.

¹⁰These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively.

³¹Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

¹⁵You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

¹⁸But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

⁶After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Greek: The same Lord is Lord of all, and gives richly to all who call on Him,

¹²The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and with one accord the believers gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

¹⁸I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

⁴and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

⁵Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

¹⁸She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

¹⁵As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.

²⁰And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.

²¹Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

²⁹So Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment, take my staff in your hand, and go! If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him. Then lay my staff on the boy’s face.”

³⁰And the mother of the boy said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.

²⁷And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

³⁸John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone else driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”

¹⁹And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.

¹⁸When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money.

¹⁹“Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

⁴⁹“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”

⁷And he shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me!”

¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

¹⁸She continued this for many days. Eventually Paul grew so aggravated that he turned and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” And the spirit left her at that very moment.

³⁴And He healed many who were ill with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

³³In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice,

³⁴“Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

⁹“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”

¹⁰And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.

²⁴“What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

³⁰In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding.

³This man had been living in the tombs and could no longer be restrained, even with chains.

⁴Though he was often bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and shattered the shackles. Now there was no one with the strength to subdue him.

²⁹For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

¹⁵When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

³⁵So the people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man whom the demons had left, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

¹²so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you.

²⁰I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

¹²When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

⁵On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened.

¹¹And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.

¹⁰For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.

⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

²¹Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.

⁴⁰But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—

²⁷Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.

²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

⁸But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

²⁰Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

²⁵You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the Lord your God.

²⁶And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

⁴So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

²⁰In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.

²¹They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

²²So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

⁷So the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew rapidly, and a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

²⁴But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.

¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

¹Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread quickly and be held in honor, just as it was with you.

²²And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

¹¹The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”

¹Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

²¹But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.

¹³I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

²³Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.

²⁰Erastus has remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick in Miletus.

⁵And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.

²⁹Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

⁹During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

²²Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.”

⁹But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

¹⁴I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

⁹unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed;

⁹Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹⁶One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination, who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

²⁷There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”

²⁸When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁴But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

¹⁹When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

¹¹Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:

¹²“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

⁷A merchant loves to defraud with dishonest scales in his hands.

⁸And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

¹⁹When the girl’s owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities in the marketplace.

¹¹And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—

¹²cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;

⁸They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.

³In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

³All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

¹¹Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.

¹⁵“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

²⁸And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

²⁰Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

¹¹The Lord will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.

⁵and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.

³One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.

²¹After these things had happened, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must see Rome as well.”

¹⁹We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

⁸And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.

¹³These kings have one purpose: to yield their power and authority to the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”

²The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the Lord and against His Anointed One:

¹²Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea; with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time.”

⁵The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.

⁶Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

²⁶And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.

²⁷At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!”

⁴Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

²⁴as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

¹⁰My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him.

²We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

²³Gaius, who has hosted me and all the church, sends you greetings. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you greetings, as does our brother Quartus.

²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed for a time in the province of Asia.

³⁹But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”

²²Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

²³For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

¹⁷But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul found out about this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting,

¹⁵“Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

²He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will surely march out with you as well.”

³But the people pleaded, “You must not go out! For if we have to flee, they will not care about us. Even if half of us die, they will not care. But you are worth ten thousand of us. It is better now if you support us from the city.”

¹⁰This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord.

⁶After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.

⁷When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.

²⁹Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

⁷As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?

⁸Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothing are found in kings’ palaces.

²⁴After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?

²⁵Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces.

⁴⁰For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”

¹⁷Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.

²⁰Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.

¹⁴Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

²“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews,

⁴⁰Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

¹⁶Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me!

²⁸When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁰They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil

⁴They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”

⁷And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.

²⁶And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

²⁶And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.

¹⁰and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.

¹¹For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,

²influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

¹²remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates, hoping to offer a sacrifice along with the crowds.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue there and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁶And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

²⁹A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.

⁸do not bring hastily to court. Otherwise, what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?

³⁵“Men of Israel,” he said, “consider carefully what you are about to do to these men.

³⁶Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.

²²You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—

⁸Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

⁷an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

¹⁴But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.

¹If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!

⁸If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the Lord your God will choose.

⁵The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

⁶But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

⁵“But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

⁴¹Now Adonijah and all his guests were finishing their feast when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn. “Why is the city in such a loud uproar?” asked Joab.

¹When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.

³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who incited a rebellion some time ago and led four thousand members of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

⁷You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.

¹⁷The calm words of the wise are heeded over the shouts of a ruler among fools.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.