This book contains the account of the first Christians. We call this book

Acts

1

Acts 1:1-3

Luke referred to the Gospel he had written to Theophilus.

1Dear Theophilus,

In my first book that I wrote for you, I wrote about many of the things that Jesus did and taught 2until the day on which he was taken {God took him} up to heaven. Before he went to heaven, saying what the Holy Spirit told him, he told the apostles whom he had chosen the things that he wanted them to know. 3After he had suffered and died on the cross, he became alive again. As he appeared to them often during the next 40 days, the apostles saw him many times. He proved to them in many ways that he was alive again. He talked with them about how God would rule [MET] the lives of people who accepted him as their king.

Jesus commanded his apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4-5

4One time while he was with them, he told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem yet. Instead, wait here until my Father sends his Spirit [MTY] to you, as he promised to do. You have heard me speak to you about that. 5John baptized people in water because they said that they wanted to change their lives, but after a few days [LIT] God will put the Holy Spirit within you(pl) to truly change your lives.”

Jesus said that they would tell about him everywhere, and then he ascended to heaven.

Acts 1:6-9

6One day when the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you (sg) now become the King [MET] over us Israelite people like King David, who ruled long ago?” (OR, “Lord, will you (sg) now defeat the Romans and restore the kingdom to us Israelite people?”) 7He replied to them, “You do not need to know the time periods and days when that will happen. My Father alone has decided when he will make me king. 8But you do need to know that the Holy Spirit will make you spiritually strong when he comes to live in you. Then you will powerfully tell people about me in Jerusalem and in all the other places in Judea district, in Samaria district, and in places far away all over [IDM] the world.” 9After he said that, he was taken {God took him} up to heaven, while they were watching. He went up into a cloud [PRS], which prevented them from seeing him anymore.

Angels told the apostles that Jesus would return later.

Acts 1:10-11

10While the apostles were still staring towards the sky as he was going up, suddenly two men who were wearing white clothes stood beside them. They were angels. 11One of them said, “You men from Galilee district, ◄you do not need to stand here any longer looking up at the sky!/why do you still stand here looking up at the sky?► [RHQ] Some day this same Jesus, whom God took from you up to heaven, will come back to earth. He will return in the same manner as you just now saw him when he went up to heaven, but he will not return now.”

The apostles and other believers often prayed together.

Acts 1:12-14

12Then after the two angels left, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from Olive Tree Hill, which was about ◄a half mile/one kilometer► [MTY] from Jerusalem. 13When they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room in the house where they were staying. Those who were there included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, another James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who belonged to the group that wanted to expel the Romans, and Judas the son of another man named James. 14All these apostles agreed concerning the things about which they continually were praying together. Others who prayed with them included the women who had accompanied Jesus, Mary who was Jesus’ mother, and his younger brothers.

Peter told them why someone must replace Judas.

Acts 1:15-17

15During those days Peter stood up among his fellow believers. There were at that place a group of about 120 of Jesus’ followers. Peter said, 16“My fellow believers, there are words that King David wrote [MTY] in the Scriptures long ago that needed to be fulfilled {to happen as he said they would}. The Holy Spirit, who knew that Judas would be the one who would fulfill those words, told David what to write. 17Although Judas had been chosen {Jesus had chosen Judas}, along with the rest of us (exc) to serve as an apostle, Judas was the person who led to Jesus the people who seized him.”

How Judas died.

Acts 1:18-19

18The Jewish leaders gave Judas money when he promised to treacherously/wickedly betray Jesus. Later Judas returned that money to them. When Judas hanged himself, his body fell down to the ground. His abdomen burst open, and all his intestines spilled out. So the Jewish leaders bought a field using that money. 19All the people who reside in Jerusalem heard about that, so they called that field in their own Aramaic language, Akeldama, which means ‘Field of Blood’, because it was where someone bled and died.

Peter quoted from the Psalms about Judas.

Acts 1:20

20Peter also said, “I perceive that what happened to Judas is like what the writer of Psalms desired to happen: ‘May his house become deserted, and may there be no one to live in it.’ (OR, ‘Judge him, Lord, so that neither he nor anyone else may live in his house!)’ And it seems that these other words that David wrote also refer to Judas: ‘Let someone else take over his work as a leader.’”

Peter concluded that they needed to choose a man to replace Judas.

Acts 1:21-22

21“So it is necessary for us apostles to choose a man to replace Judas. He must be one who accompanied [MTY] us all the time when the Lord Jesus was with us. 22That would be from the time when John the Baptizer baptized Jesus until the day when Jesus was taken {when God took Jesus} from us up to heaven. He must be one who saw Jesus alive again after he died.”

Jesus’ followers prayed and then chose Matthias to replace Judas.

Acts 1:23-26

23So the apostles and other believers suggested the names of two men who qualified. One man was Joseph, who was called {whom people called} Barsabbas (OR, Joseph Barsabbas) who also had the Roman name Justus. The other man was Matthias. 24-25Then they prayed like this: “Lord Jesus, Judas stopped being an apostle. He died and went to the place where he deserved to be [EUP]. So we(exc) need to choose someone to replace Judas in order that he can serve you(sg) by becoming an apostle. You (sg) know what everyone is really like. So please show us which of these two men you have chosen.” 26Then they cast lots to choose between the two of them, and the lot fell for Matthias. (OR, Then one of the apostles shook in a container small objects/stones that they had marked to determine which man God had chosen. And the small object/stone that they had marked for Matthias fell out of the container). So Matthias was considered {they considered Matthias} to be an apostle along with the other eleven apostles.

2

The Holy Spirit came and enabled the disciples to speak other languages.

Acts 2:1-4

1On the day when the Jews were celebrating the Pentecost festival, the believers were all together in one place in Jerusalem. 2Suddenly they heard a noise coming from the sky that sounded like a strong wind. Everyone in the entire house where they were sitting heard the noise. 3Then they saw what looked like flames of fire. These flames separated from one another, and one of them came down on the head of each of the believers. 4Then all of the believers were ◄completely controlled/empowered► by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit ◄completely controlled/empowered► all of the believers}, and he enabled them to begin speaking other languages [MTY] that they had not learned.

Jews from many places were amazed to hear their native languages spoken by the believers.

Acts 2:5-13

5At that time many Jews were staying in Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost festival. They were people who always tried to obey the Jewish laws. They had come from many different [HYP] countries. 6When they heard that loud noise like a wind, a crowd came together to the place where the believers were. The crowd ◄was amazed/did not know what to think►, because each of them was hearing one of the believers speaking in that person’s own language. 7They were completely amazed, and they said to each other, “All these men who are speaking have [RHQ] always resided in Galilee district, so they would not know our languages. 8◄We(inc) do not understand how these men can speak our own native languages!/How can these men speak our own native languages?► [RHQ] But all of us hear them doing that9Some of us are from the regions of Parthia and Media and Elam, and others of us reside in the regions of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia. 10There are some from Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the regions in Libya that are near Cyrene city. There are others of us who are here visiting Jerusalem from Rome. 11They include native Jews as well as non-Jews who have accepted what we Jews believe. And others of us are from Crete Island and from the region of Arabia. So how is it that these people are speaking our languages [MTY], telling us about ◄the great/the mighty things► that God has done?” 12All those people were amazed, and did not know what to think about what was happening. So they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13But some of them ◄made fun of/laughed at► those who believed in Jesus. They said, “These people are talking like this because they are drunk!”

Peter said that the prophet Joel foretold what the Holy Spirit would do.

Acts 2:14-21

14So Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and spoke loudly to the crowd of people, saying, “My fellow Jews and you others who are staying in Jerusalem, listen to me, all of you, and I will explain to you what is happening! 15Some of you think that we(exc) are drunk, but we are not drunk. It is only nine o’clock in the morning, and people here never get drunk this early in the day! 16Instead, what has happened to us is the miraculous thing that the prophet Joel wrote about long ago. Joel wrote:

God says, 17‘During the last/final days before I judge all people, I will give my Spirit abundantly/generously to people [SYN] everywhere. As a result, your sons and daughters will tell people messages from me, the young men among you will see visions from me, and the old men among you will have dreams that I will give them. 18During those days I will abundantly/generously give my Spirit even to men and women believers who are my slaves/servants, so they can tell people messages from me. 19I will cause amazing things to happen in the sky, and I will do miracles on the earth that will show that I am powerful. Here on the earth [CHI] I will cause wars with blood, fire and thick/dark smoke everywhere. 20In the sky the sun will appear dark to people and the moon will appear red to them. Those things will happen before the important and splendid/amazing day [MTY] when I, the Lord God, will come to judge everyone. 21Before that time, all those who ask me [MTY] to save them from the guilt of their sins will be saved {I, the Lord, will save all those who ask me [MTY] to save them from the guilt of their sins.}’”

Peter said, “You killed Jesus but God caused him to live again.”

Acts 2:22-24

22Peter continued, “My fellow Israelites, listen to me! When Jesus from Nazareth town lived among you, God proved to you that he had sent him by enabling him to do many amazing miracles. You yourselves know that this is true . 23Even though you knew that, you turned this man Jesus over to his enemies. However, God had already planned for that, and he knew all about it. Then you urged men [SYN] who do not obey God’s law to kill Jesus. They did that by nailing him to a cross. 24He suffered terribly when he died, but God caused him to become alive again. God did not let him continue to be dead, because it was not possible for him [PRS] to remain dead.”

David foretold that the Messiah would rejoice about becoming alive again.

Acts 2:25-28

25“Long ago King David wrote what the Messiah said,

“I knew that you, Lord God, would always be near me. You are right beside [MTY] me, so I will not be afraid of those who want to harm me. 26Because of that I [SYN] joyfully praise you, O God. And I am completely confident that you(sg) will ◄cause my body to become alive again/ raise me from the dead►. 27You will not allow my spirit to remain in the place where the dead are. You will not even let my body decay, because I am devoted to you and always obey you. 28You have told me that you will cause my body to become alive again. You will make me very happy because you will be with me forever.”

Peter explained that David wrote that the Messiah would become alive again.

Acts 2:29-31

29Peter continued, “My fellow Jews, I can tell you confidently that our royal ancestor, King David, died, and that his body was buried {that people buried his body}. And the place where they buried his body is still here today. 30So we(inc) know that David was not speaking those words about himself. But because he was a prophet, he spoke about the Messiah. David knew that God had strongly promised him that he would cause one of his descendants to become king [MTY] like David was king. (OR, to be the Messiah who would rule God’s people like David had ruled them.) 31David knew beforehand what God would do, so he was able to say that God would cause the Messiah to live again after he died. He said that God would not let the Messiah remain in the place of the dead, nor let his body decay.”

Peter said, “Jesus has abundantly given us the Holy Spirit, shown by what you see and hear.”

Acts 2:32-35

32“After this man Jesus had died, God caused him to become alive again. All of us(exc), his followers, have seen and tell people that Jesus has become alive again. 33God has greatly honored Jesus by causing him to rule right beside him [MTY] in heaven. Jesus has received the Holy Spirit from God his Father, just like God promised. So Jesus has generously/abundantly given us the Holy Spirit, and he has shown that by what you are seeing and hearing. 34We(inc) know that David was not speaking about himself because David did not go up into heaven as Jesus did. Besides that, David himself said this about the Messiah:

The Lord God said to my Lord the Messiah, ‘Reign here beside me, 35while I completely defeat [MTY] your enemies.’ ”

Peter said, “Know surely that God has made this Jesus both Lord and Messiah.”

Acts 2:36

36Peter concluded, “So I want you and all other Israelites [MTY] to acknowledge that God has caused this Jesus to be both our Lord/Ruler and the Messiah. But God considers that you are the ones who nailed Jesus to a cross.”

Peter told them to repent, and said that believers would baptize them.

Acts 2:37-40

37When the people heard what Peter said, they felt very guilty [IDM]. So they asked him and the other apostles, “Fellow-countrymen, what should we (exc) do so that God will forgive us?”

38Peter answered them, “Each of you should turn away from your sinful behavior. Then we(exc) will baptize you, if you now believe in Jesus Christ. Then God will give you the Holy Spirit. 39God has promised to do that [MTY] for you and your descendants, and for all others who believe in him, even those who live far away from here. The Lord our God will give his Spirit to everyone whom he invites to become his people!” 40Peter spoke much more and spoke strongly/forcefully to them. He pleaded with them, “Ask God to save you so that he will not punish you when he punishes these evil people who have rejected Jesus!”

Many people became believers and joined the other believers.

Acts 2:41-42

41So the people who believed Peter’s message were baptized. There were about 3,000 [SYN] who joined the group of believers that day. 42They continually obeyed what the apostles taught, and they very frequently met together with the other believers. And they continually ate together and celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and continually prayed together.

The apostles performed miracles, all the believers shared everything, and the Lord helped them.

Acts 2:43-47

43All the people [SYN] who were in Jerusalem were greatly revering God because the apostles were frequently doing many kinds of miraculous things. 44All of those who believed in Jesus were united and regularly met together. They were also sharing everything that they had with one another. 45From time to time some of them sold some of their land and some of the other things that they owned, and they would give some of the money from what they sold to others among them, according to what they needed. 46Every day they continued meeting together in the temple area. And every day they gladly and generously shared their food [SYN] with each other, as they ate together and celebrated the Lord’s Supper in their houses. 47As they did so, they were praising God, and all the other people in Jerusalem were thinking favorably about them. As those things were happening, every day the Lord Jesus increased the number of people who were being saved {whom he was saving} from the guilt of their sins.

3

Peter healed a lame man, so the people were amazed.

Acts 3:1-8

1One day Peter and John were going to the Temple courtyard. It was three o’clock in the afternoon, which was the time when people prayed there publicly. 2There was a man there who had been lame from the time he was born. He was sitting by the gate called Beautiful Gate, at the entrance to the Temple area. People put him there every day, so that he could ask those who were entering or leaving the temple courtyard to give him some money.

3As Peter and John were about to enter the Temple courtyard, the lame man saw them and asked them several times to give him some money. (OR, The lame man said to them several times, “Please give me some money!”) 4As Peter and John looked directly at him, Peter said to him, “Look at us!” 5So he looked directly at them, expecting to get some money from them. 6Then Peter said to him, “I do not have any money [MTY], but what I can do, I will do for you. Jesus Christ, who was from Nazareth town, has authorized [MTY] me to heal you! So get up and walk!” 7Then Peter grasped the man’s right hand and helped him to stand up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped up and began to walk! Then he entered the Temple area with them, walking and leaping and praising God!

The people were amazed.

Acts 3:9-10

9All the people there saw that man walking and praising God. 10They recognized that he was the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate in the Temple courtyard and ask people for money! So all the people there were greatly amazed at what had happened to him. 11As the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were so surprised that they did not know what to think So they ran to the two apostles at the place in the Temple courtyard that is called {that people call} Solomon’s Porch.

Peter explained that Jesus healed the man, and they should repent.

Acts 3:12-16

12When Peter saw that, he said to the crowd, “Fellow Israelites, ◄you should not be surprised about what has happened to this man!/why are you so surprised about what has happened to this man?► [RHQ] And you should not stare at us, either! You seem to [RHQ] think that the two of us enabled this man to walk because we (exc) ourselves are powerful or because we please God very much! 13So I will tell you what is really happening. Our ancestors, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worshipped God. And now he has greatly honored Jesus, who always served him. Your leaders brought Jesus to the governor, Pilate, so that his soldiers would kill him. And God considers that in front of Pilate you were the ones who rejected Jesus as your king, after Pilate had decided that he should release Jesus. 14Although Jesus always did what was right/just and good, you rejected him. Pilate wanted to release him, but you urgently asked Pilate to release ◄a murderer/someone who had killed people►! 15God considers that you killed Jesus, the one who gives people eternal life. But God has greatly honored him ◄by causing him to become alive again after he died/by raising him from the dead►. Many of us saw him after that, and now we (exc) are telling you about it. 16It is because we two trusted in what Jesus [MTY, PRS] could do, that he made this man, whom you see and know, strong again. Yes, it is because we (exc) trusted in Jesus that he has completely healed this man for all of you to see.”

Peter told the people to repent.

Acts 3:17-26

17“Now, my fellow-countrymen, I know that you and your leaders did that to Jesus because you and they did not know that he was the Messiah. 18However, your putting him to death was what God had predicted that people would do. Long ago he told all the prophets [MTY] to write what people would do to the Messiah. They wrote that the Messiah, whom God would send, would suffer and die. 19So, turn away from your sinful behavior and ask God to help you do what pleases him, in order that he may completely forgive you for your sins. 20If you do that, there will be times when you will know that the Lord God is helping you. And some day he will again send back to earth the Messiah, whom he appointed for you. That person is Jesus. 21Jesus must stay in heaven until the time when God will cause all that he has created to become new. Long ago God promised to do that, and he chose holy prophets to tell that to people. 22For example, the prophet Moses said this about the Messiah: ‘The Lord ◄your God/the God whom you worship► will cause someone to become a prophet to tell you God’s message. God will send him as he sent me, and he will be from among your own people. You must listen to everything that this prophet tells you and obey him [SYN]. 23Those who do not listen to that prophet and obey him will no longer belong to God’s people, and God will get rid of them’.” 24Peter continued, “All the prophets have told about what would happen during the time [MTY] in which we(inc) are living. Those prophets include Samuel and all the others who later also spoke about these events before they happened. 25You as well as we(exc) are the people to whom God sent the Messiah, as the prophets said [MTY] that he would. And when God strongly promised to bless our ancestors, he also surely promised to bless you. He said to Abraham concerning the Messiah, ‘I will bless all people on the earth as a result of what your descendant will do.’” 26Peter concluded, “So when God sent to the earth ◄Jesus, the one who always obeys him/his servant Jesus►, he sent him first to you Israelites to bless you. God will enable you to stop doing what is wicked and to start doing what pleases him.”

4

Jewish leaders arrested Peter and John, but many people became believers.

Acts 4:1-4

1Meanwhile, in the temple courtyard, there were some priests, the officer who was in charge of the temple police, and also some [SYN] Sadducee sect members. These men came to Peter and John while the two of them were speaking to the people. 2These men were very angry, because the two apostles were teaching the people about Jesus. What they were telling the people was that because ◄God caused Jesus to become alive again/God raised Jesus from the dead►, God would cause other people who had died to become alive again. 3So those officials seized Peter and John. Then they put them in jail. They had to wait until the next day to question Peter and John, because it was already evening and it was contrary to their Jewish law to question people at night. 4However, many people who had heard the message from Peter believed in Jesus. (OR, But many people had already believed in Jesus, because they had heard the message from Peter.) So the number of men who believed in Jesus increased to about five 5,000.

Jewish leaders questioned Peter and John about healing the lame man.

Acts 4:5-7

5The next day the supreme priest summoned the other chief priests, the teachers of the Jewish laws, and the other members of the Jewish Council, and they gathered together in one place in Jerusalem. 6Annas, the former supreme priest, Caiaphas who was the new supreme priest, two other former supreme priests whose names were John and Alexander, and other men who were related to the supreme priest were there. 7They commanded guards to bring Peter and John into the courtroom [MTY] and have them stand in front of them. Then one of the leaders questioned the two of them, saying, “Who do you two claim gave you the power to heal this man? And who authorized [MTY] you to do this [DOU]?”

Peter told them that Jesus healed the man and only Jesus could save people.

Acts 4:8-12

8So as the Holy Spirit completely controlled Peter, he said to them, “You fellow Israelites who rule us and all of you other elders, listen! 9Today you are questioning us concerning our doing something good for a man who was crippled, and you asked us how he was healed. 10So we(exc) want you and all of our other fellow Israelites to know this: It is because Jesus the Messiah [MTY] from Nazareth healed this man that he is able to stand here. God considers that it was you who nailed Jesus to a cross, but God caused him to become alive again. 11In the Psalms this was written about the Messiah:

He is like [MET] the stone that was rejected by the builders {that the builders rejected}.

But that stone became the most important stone in the building that they were building.

Jesus is that stone, and you are those builders who threw away the stone that was the most important one. 12So he alone can save us [MTY]. God has sent only one person [MTY] into the world who can save us from the guilt of our sins, and that person is Jesus!”

The Jewish leaders realized that Peter and John had been associating with Jesus.

Acts 4:13-14

13The Jewish leaders realized that Peter and John ◄were not afraid of them/spoke boldly►. They also learned that the two men were ordinary people who had not studied in schools. So the leaders were amazed, and they realized that these men had associated with Jesus. 14They also saw the man who had been healed standing there with the two of them, so they were not able to say anything to oppose Peter and John.

The Jewish leaders commanded the two apostles to stop teaching people about Jesus.

Acts 4:15-18

15So the Jewish leaders commanded guards to take Peter, John, and the man outside of the room where those leaders were meeting. After they did so, the leaders talked with each other about Peter and John. 16Being frustrated, one after another, they said, “◄There is really nothing that we can do to punish these two men!/How can we (inc) do anything to punish these two men?► [RHQ] Almost everyone [HYP] who is living in Jerusalem knows that they have done an amazing miracle, so we cannot tell people that it did not happen! 17However, we must not allow other people to hear about this miracle. So we must tell these men that we will punish them if they continue to tell other people about this [MTY] man who they say gave them the power to do it.” 18So the Jewish leaders commanded guards to bring the two apostles into that room again. After they did so, they commanded them both that they should never speak about Jesus, and they should not teach anyone about him [MTY] again.

Peter and John said that they needed to continue speaking about Jesus.

Acts 4:19-20

19But Peter and John replied, “Would God think that it is right for us two to obey you and not to obey him? We(exc) will let you decide which of those you think is proper. 20But as for us, we cannot obey you. We will not stop telling people about the things that we (exc) have seen Jesus do and what we have heard him teach.”

The Jewish leaders threatened to punish Peter and John and then released them.

Acts 4:21-22

21-22Then the Jewish leaders again told Peter and John not to disobey them. But all the people there were praising God about what had happened to the lame man. The leaders knew that only God could have enabled Peter and John to miraculously heal the man, because the man was more than 40 years old and he was lame when his mother bore him. They also knew that the people would become angry if they punished the two apostles. So, because they could not decide how to punish Peter and John, they finally let them go.

The believers talked to God about those who opposed him and them.

Acts 4:23-28

23After Peter and John had been released, they went to the other believers and reported all that the chief priests and other Jewish elders had said to them. 24When they heard that, they all agreed as they prayed to God, and one of them prayed, “O Lord! You (sg) made the sky, the earth and the oceans, and everything in them. 25The Holy Spirit caused our ancestor, King David [MTY], who served you, to write these words:

It is ridiculous [RHQ] that the non-Jews became angry and the Israelite people planned uselessly to oppose God .

26The kings of the world prepared to fight God’s Ruler, and the other rulers assembled together with them to oppose the Lord God and the one whom he had appointed to be the Messiah.

27Lord, we know that what you(sg) said long ago was true, because King Herod and the governor, Pontius Pilate, and many other people, both non-Jews and Israelites, assembled together here in this city. They planned to kill Jesus, who devotedly served you and whom you appointed [MTY] to be the Messiah. 28Because you (sg) are all-powerful, those people did only what you [SYN] allowed them to do. It was what you decided long ago would happen.”

The believers asked God to help them speak boldly to people about Jesus.

Acts 4:29-30

29“So now, Lord, listen to what they are saying about punishing us! Help us who serve you (sg) to very boldly speak messages from you (sg) about Jesus30Also, by your power [MTY] miraculously heal sick people and do other amazing miracles [SYN] that show people your power! Ask Jesus, who always serves you, to give us the authority [MTY] to do such miracles!”

God shook the place where they were, and his Spirit enabled them to speak his words boldly.

Acts 4:31

31When the believers had finished praying, the place where they were meeting shook. All of them were ◄completely controlled/empowered► by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit ◄completely controlled/empowered► all of them}, with the result that they began to speak boldly the words that God told them to speak.

The believers shared everything, and the apostles told others about Jesus.

Acts 4:32-35

32The group of people who had believed in Jesus were completely agreed about what they thought and what they wanted/desired. Not one of them claimed that he alone owned anything. Instead, they shared with one another everything that they had. 33The apostles continued to tell others, very powerfully, that God had ◄caused the Lord Jesus to become alive again/raised the Lord Jesus from the dead►. People knew that God was graciously helping all the believers. 34Some of the believers who owned land or houses would occasionally sell some of their property. Then they would bring the money for what they sold35and they would present it to the apostles [MTY]. Then the apostles would give money to any believer who needed it. So no one among the believers was lacking anything.

Joseph Barnabas sold a field and brought the money to the apostles.

Acts 4:36-37

36For example, there was Joseph. He was a descendant of Levi and he was born on Cyprus Island. The apostles called him Barnabas; in the Jewish language that name means a person who [IDM] always encourages others. 37He sold one of his fields, and brought the money to the apostles for them to distribute to other believers.

5

Ananias pretended to give the apostles all the money from selling a field.

Acts 5:1-2

1But there was one of the believers whose name was Ananias, and whose wife’s name was Sapphira. He also sold some land. 2He kept for himself some of the money he had received for the land, and his wife knew that he had done that. Then he brought the rest of the money and presented it to the apostles [MTY].

People were terrified when they saw or heard that Ananias had died.

Acts 5:3-6

3Then Peter said, “Ananias, you (sg) let Satan completely control you [MTY] so that you (sg) tried to deceive the Holy Spirit and us(exc). ◄That was terrible!/Why did you do such a terrible thing?► [RHQ] You have kept for yourself some of the money you (sg) received for selling the land, pretending that you(sg) were giving us all of it. 4Before you (sg) sold that land, you truly owned [RHQ] it. And after you sold it, you could [RHQ] certainly still have used the money any way you wanted to. So why did you (sg) ever think [RHQ] about doing this wicked thing? You were not merely trying to deceive us! No, you tried to deceive God himself!!” 5When Ananias heard that, immediately he fell down dead. So all who were there who heard about Ananias’ death became terrified [PRS]. 6Some young men came in, wrapped his body in a sheet, and carried it out and buried it.

Sapphira also died because she lied, and some men buried her beside her husband.

Acts 5:7-11

7About three hours later, his wife came in, but she did not know what had happened. 8As Peter showed her the money that Ananias had brought, he asked her, “Tell me, is this the amount of money you two received for the land you sold?” She said, “Yes, that’s what we(exc) received.” 9So Peter said to her, “You both did a terrible thing! You two agreed [RHQ] to try to determine if you could do that without the Spirit of the Lord God revealing to anyone that you two tried to deceive them! Listen! Do you(sg) hear the footsteps [SYN] of the men who buried your husband? They are right outside this door, and they will carry your corpse out to bury it, too!” 10Immediately Sapphira fell down dead at Peter’s feet. Then the young men came in. When they saw that she was dead, they carried her body out and buried it beside her husband’s body.

11So all the believers in Jerusalem became greatly frightened [PRS] because of what God had done to Ananias and Sapphira. And all the others who heard people tell about those things also became greatly frightened.

The apostles healed many people, and many people believed in Jesus.

Acts 5:12-16

12God was enabling the apostles to do many amazing miracles among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly in the temple courtyard at the place called Solomon’s Porch. 13All of the other people who had not yet believed in Jesus were afraid to associate with the believers, because they knew that if they did anything evil, God would punish them, as well as revealing it to the believers. However, those people continued to greatly respect the believers. 14Many more men and women started believing in the Lord Jesus, and they joined the group of believers. 15The apostles were doing amazing miracles, so people were bringing those who were sick into the streets, and laying them on stretchers and mats, in order that when Peter came by he would touch them, or at least his shadow might fall upon some of them and heal them. 16Crowds of people were also coming to the apostles from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing their sick relatives/friends and those who were being tormented/troubled by evil spirits {whom evil spirits were tormenting/troubling}, and God healed all of them.

Jewish leaders jailed the apostles, but an angel freed them to teach people.

Acts 5:17-21a

17Then the high priest and all who were with him, who were members of the local Sadducee sect in Jerusalem, became very jealous of the apostles, because many people were accepting the apostles’ message. 18So they commanded the Temple guards to seize the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19The guards did that, but during the night an angel from the Lord God opened the jail doors and brought the apostles outside! The guards were not aware of what the angel had done. 20Then the angel said to the apostles, “Go to the Temple courtyard, stand there, and tell the people all about how God can give them eternal life!” 21So having heard this, about dawn they entered the Temple courtyard and began to teach the people again about Jesus.

The Jewish leaders were perplexed because the apostles were not in jail.

Acts 5:21b-24

Meanwhile, the high priest and those who were with him summoned the other Jewish Council members. Altogether they made up the entire Council of Israel. After they all gathered together, they sent guards to the jail to bring in the apostles. 22But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that the apostles were not there. So they returned to the Council, and one of them reported, 23“We (exc) saw that the jail doors were very securely locked, and the guards were standing at the doors. But when we opened the doors and went in to get those men, none of them was inside the jail!” 24When the captain of the temple guards and the chief priests heard that, they became greatly perplexed, wondering what might result from all this.

After finding them, the leaders brought the apostles back to question them.

Acts 5:25-26

25Then someone came from the Temple courtyard and excitedly reported to them, “Listen to this! Right now the men whom you put in jail are standing in the Temple courtyard and they are teaching the people about Jesus!” 26So the captain of the Temple guards went to the Temple courtyard with the officers, and they brought the apostles back to the Council room. But they did not treat them roughly, because they were afraid that the people would kill them by throwing stones at them if they hurt the apostles.

Peter and the other apostles said that they must obey God.

Acts 5:27-33

27After the captain and his officers had brought the apostles to the Council room, they commanded them to stand in front of the Council members, and the high priest questioned them. 28He said to them accusingly, “We (exc) strongly commanded you not to teach people about that man [MTY] Jesus But you have disobeyed us, and you have taught people all over Jerusalem about him! Furthermore, you are trying to make it seem that we (exc) are the ones who are guilty [MTY] for that man’s death!” 29But Peter, speaking for himself and the other apostles, replied, “We (exc) have to obey what God commands us to do, not what you people tell us to do! 30God considers that you are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors worshipped, ◄caused Jesus to become alive again after he died/raised Jesus from the dead►. 31God has greatly honored Jesus. He has taken him up to heaven! He has authorized him to be the one who will save us and to rule over our lives! God did this so that he might enable us Israelites [MTY] to turn away from our sinful behavior and that he might forgive us for our sins. 32We (exc) tell people about these things that we know happened to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to us who obey him, is also confirming that these things are true.” 33When the Council members heard those words, they became very angry with the apostles, and they wanted to kill them.

After beating the apostles, they followed Gamaliel’s advice and released them.

Acts 5:34-40

34But there was a Council member named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, and one who taught people the Jewish laws, and all the Jewish people respected him. He stood up in the Council and told guards to take the apostles out of the room for a short time. 35After the guards had taken the apostles out, he said to the other Council members, “Fellow Israelites, you need to think carefully about what you are about to do to these men, and I will tell you why. 36Some years ago a man named Theudas rebelled against the Roman government. He told people that he was an important person, and about 400 men joined him. But he was killed {soldiers killed him} and all those who had been accompanying him were scattered. So they were not able to do anything that they had planned. 37After that, during the time when they were ◄writing down names of the people/taking the census► in order to tax people, a man named Judas from Galilee province rebelled against the Roman government. He persuaded some people to accompany him. But soldiers killed him, too, and all those who had accompanied him went off in different directions. 38So now I say this to you: Do not harm these men! Release them! I say this because if this is just something that humans have planned, they will not be able to do it. They will fail, like Theudas and Judas did39But, if God has commanded them to do it, you will not be able to prevent them from doing it, because you will find out that you are opposing God!” The other members of the Council accepted what Gamaliel said. 40They told the temple guards to bring the apostles and flog them. So the guards brought them into the Council room and flogged them. Then the Council members commanded them not to speak to people about [MTY] Jesus, and they released the apostles.

The apostles rejoiced and continued to tell others about Jesus.

Acts 5:41-42

41So the apostles left the Council. They were rejoicing, because they knew God had honored them by letting people disgrace them because they were followers [MTY] of Jesus. 42And every day the apostles went to the temple area and to various people’s houses, and they continued [LIT] teaching people and telling them that Jesus is the Messiah.

6

The believers neglected the Greek-speaking widows.

Acts 6:1

1During that time, many more people were becoming believers. Some of them were from other countries and spoke only the Greek language, but most of them had always lived in Israel and spoke the Hebrew language. Those who spoke Greek began to complain about those who spoke Hebrew. They were saying. “When you Hebrew-speaking believers distribute food or money to widows every day, you are not giving fair amounts to the widows who speak Greek!”

The apostles told the other believers to choose men to care for those widows.

Acts 6:2-4

2So, after the twelve apostles had heard what they were complaining about, they summoned all the other believers in Jerusalem to meet together. Then the apostles said to those other believers, “We (exc) would not be doing right if we stopped preaching and teaching God’s message about Jesus in order to distribute food [MTY] and money to the widows! 3So, fellow believers, carefully choose seven men from among you, men whom you know that the Spirit of God controls completely and who are very wise. Then we (exc) will appoint them to do this work, 4and we (exc) will devote our time to pray and to preach and teach the message about Jesus.”

The apostles appointed seven men to care for the widows’ needs.

Acts 6:5-6

5What the apostles recommended pleased all of the other believers. So they group chose Stephen. He was a man who strongly believed in God and whom the Holy Spirit controlled completely. They also chose Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas who was from Antioch city. Nicolas had accepted the Jewish religion before he had believed in Jesus. 6They brought these seven men to the apostles. Then after the apostles prayed for those men, they placed their hands on the heads of each one of them to appoint them to do that work.

The number of people who were becoming believers increased greatly.

Acts 6:7

7So the believers continued to tell many people the message from God. ◄The number of people in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus was increasing greatly./More and more people in Jerusalem were believing in Jesus.► Among them were many Jewish priests who were believing the message about Jesus.

People opposed Stephen, but could not refute his arguments.

Acts 6:8-10

8God was enabling Stephen to do many things by God’s power. He was doing many amazing miracles among the Jewish people. 9However, some people opposed Stephen. They were Jews from a group that regularly met together in a Jewish meeting place that was {that people} called the Freedmen’s Meeting Place. Those people were from Cyrene and Alexandria cities and also from Cilicia and Asia provinces. They all began to argue with Stephen. 10But they were not able ◄to refute what he said/to prove that what he said was wrong►, because God’s Spirit enabled him to speak very wisely.

People persuaded some men to falsely accuse Stephen.

Acts 6:11-14

11Then that group secretly persuaded some men to falsely accuse Stephen. saying, “We (exc) heard him say bad things about Moses and God.” 12So, by saying that, they made the other Jewish people angry at Stephen, including the elders and the teachers of the Jewish laws. Then they all seized Stephen and took him to the Jewish Council. 13They also brought in some other men who accused Stephen falsely about several things. They said, “This fellow continually says bad things about this holy Temple and about the laws that Moses received from God. 14Specifically, we (exc) have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth town will destroy this Temple and will tell us to obey different customs than Moses taught our ancestors.”

The people saw Stephen’s face shining like the face of an angel.

Acts 6:15

15When all the people who were sitting in the Council room heard that, and as they all stared at Stephen, they saw that his face was shining [SIM] like the face of an angel.

7

Stephen started to answer the high priest’s accusations by talking about Abraham.

Acts 7:1-4

1Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are the things that these people are saying about you(sg) true?” 2Stephen replied, “Fellow Jews and respected leaders, please listen to me! The glorious God whom we(inc) worship appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still living in Mesopotamia region, before he moved to Haran town. 3God said to him, ‘Leave this land where you (sg) and your relatives are living, and go into the land to which I will lead you.’ 4So Abraham left that land, which was also called Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you and I are now living.”

God promised to give the land to Abraham and his descendants.

Acts 7:5

5“At that time God did not give Abraham any land here, not even a small plot of this land that would belong to him. God promised that he would later give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would always belong to them. However, at that time Abraham did not have any children who would ◄inherit it/receive it after he died►.”

God told Abraham that later on he would deliver his descendants from Egypt.

Acts 7:6-7

6“Later God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They will live there for 400 years, and during that time their leaders will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves.’ 7But God also said, ‘I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. Then, after that, your descendants will leave that land and they will come and worship me in this land.’ ”

God commanded the ceremony of circumcision for Abraham and his descendants.

Acts 7:8

8“Then God commanded Abraham that every male in his household and all of his male descendants should be circumcised to show that they all belonged to God and that they would obey what he had told Abraham to do. Later Abraham’s son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later Isaac’s son, Jacob, was born, and Isaac similarly circumcised him. And Jacob similarly circumcised his twelve sons. They are the twelve men from whom we(inc) Jews have all descended.”

God helped Joseph, so Pharaoh appointed him to govern Egypt.

Acts 7:9-10

9“You know that Jacob’s older sons became jealous because their father favored their younger brother Joseph. So they sold him to merchants/traders who took him [MTY] to Egypt. There he became a slave of an official who lived there. But God helped Joseph. 10He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise; and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule over Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh’s property [MTY].”

There was a famine in Canaan, so Jacob’s family moved to Egypt.

Acts 7:11-15a

11“While Joseph was doing that work, there was a time ◄when there was very little food/of famine► throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan also could not find enough food. 12When Jacob heard people report that there was grain/food that people could buy in Egypt, he sent Joseph’s older brothers to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home. 13When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt the second time, they again bought grain from Joseph. But this time he told them who he was. And people told Pharaoh that Joseph’s people were Hebrews and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers. 14Then after Joseph sent his brothers back home, they told their father Jacob that Joseph wanted him and his entire family to come to Egypt. At that time ◄Jacob’s family consisted of 75 people/there were 75 people in Jacob’s family► [SYN]. 15So when Jacob heard that, he and all his family went to live in Egypt.”

When Jacob and his sons died, people buried them in Canaan.

Acts 7:15b-16

“Later on, Jacob died there, and our other ancestors, his sons, also died there. 16But the bodies of Jacob and Joseph were brought {they brought the bodies of Jacob and Joseph} back to our land, and Jacob’s body was buried {they buried Jacob’s body} in the tomb that Abraham had bought, and they buried Joseph’s body in Shechem in the ground that Jacob had bought from Hamor’s sons.”

An Egyptian king who did not know about Joseph began to oppress the Israelites.

Acts 7:17-19

17“Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for God to rescue them from Egypt, as he had promised Abraham that he would do. 18Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph, long before that time, had greatly helped the people of Egypt [MTY]. 19That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He even commanded them to leave their baby boys outside their homes so that they would die.”

Moses, who grew up as an Egyptian, spoke and acted powerfully.

Acts 7:20-22

20“During that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful [LIT] child. So his parents secretly cared for him in their house for three months. 21Then they had to put him outside the house, but Pharaoh’s daughter found him and adopted him and cared for him as though he were her own son. 22Moses was taught {The Egyptian teachers taught Moses} many kinds of wise things [HYP] that the people in Egypt knew, and when he grew up, he spoke powerfully and did things powerfully.”

Moses killed an Egyptian, so he had to flee to Midian.

Acts 7:23-29

23“One day when Moses was about 40 years old, he decided that he would go and see his fellow Israelis. So he went to the place where they worked. 24He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israels. So he went over to help [MTY] the Israeli man who was being hurt/beat {whom the Egyptian was hurting/beating}, and he ◄got revenge on/paid back► the Israeli man by killing the Egyptian who was hurting/beating him. 25Moses was thinking that his fellow Israelis would understand that God had sent him to free them from being slaves. But they did not understand that. 26The next day, Moses saw two Israeli men fighting each other. He tried to make them stop fighting by saying to them, ‘Men, you two are fellow Israelis! So ◄stop hurting each other!/why are you hurting each other?► [RHQ]’ 27But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘◄No one appointed you (sg) to rule and judge us (exc)!/Do you (sg) think someone appointed you (sg) to rule and judge us (exc)?► [RHQ] 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29When Moses heard that, he thought to himself, ‘Obviously, people know what I have done, and someone will kill me.’ He was afraid, so he fled from Egypt to Midian land. He lived there for some years. He got married, and he and his wife had two sons.”

God commanded Moses to rescue the Jewish people from Egypt.

Acts 7:30-34

30“One day 40 years later, the Lord God appeared as an angel to Moses. He appeared in a bush that was burning in the desert near Sinai Mountain. 31When Moses saw that, he was greatly surprised, because the bush was not burning up. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord God say to him, 32‘I am the God whom your ancestors worshipped. I am the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob worship.’ Moses was so afraid that he began to shake. He was afraid to look at the bush any longer. 33Then the Lord God said to him, ‘Take your sandals off to show that you(sg) revere me. Because I am here, the place where you are standing is holy/sacred. 34I have surely seen how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan because those people continually oppress them. So I have come down to rescue them from Egypt. Now get ready, because I am going to send you back to Egypt to do that.’ ”

God sent Moses to lead Israel and tell them of the Prophet who would come.

Acts 7:35-38

35“This Moses is the one who had tried to help our Israeli people, but whom they rejected by saying, ‘No one [RHQ] appointed you to rule and judge us!’ Moses is the one whom God himself sent to rule them and to free them from being slaves. He is the one whom an angel in the bush commanded to do that. 36Moses is the one who led our ancestors out from Egypt. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and during the 40 years that the Israelite people lived in the desert. 37This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will appoint a prophet for you from among your own people. He will speak words from God, just like I speak his words to you.’ 38This man Moses was our people’s leader when they gathered together in the desert. It is Moses to whom God sent the angel on Sinai Mountain to give him our laws, and he was the one who told our other ancestors what the angel had said. He was the one who received from God words that tell us how to live eternally, and Moses passed them on to us.”

Israel rejected Moses, so God rejected them and said that he would punish them.

Acts 7:39-43

39“However, our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. Instead, while he was still on the mountain, they rejected him as their leader and decided that they wanted to return to Egypt. 40So they told his older brother Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us back to Egypt! As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we (exc) do not know what has happened to him!’ 41So, they made out of gold an image that looked like a calf. Then they sacrificed animals and offered other things to honor that idol, and they sang and danced to honor the idol that they themselves had made. 42So God rejected them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote that God said,

You Israelite people [MTY], when you repeatedly killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those 40 years that you were in the desert, ◄you most certainly were not offering them to me!/what makes you think that you were offering them to me?► [RHQ] 43On the contrary, you carried with you from place to place the tent that contained the idol representing the god Molech that you worshipped. You also carried with you the image of the star called Rephan. Those were idols that you had made, and you worshipped them instead of me. So I will cause you to be taken away {people to take you} from your own country. You will be taken {They will take you} far from your homes to regions even farther than Babylon Country.”

The Israelite people worshipped God at the tent Moses built and later in the temple that Solomon built.

Acts 7:44-47

44“While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshipped God at the tent that showed that he was there with them. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses to make it. It was exactly like the model that Moses had seen when he was up on the mountain. 45Later on, other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them into this land. That was during the time that they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people who previously lived here to leave. So the Israelis were able to possess this land. The tent remained in this land and was still here when King David ruled. 46David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where he and all of our Israeli people could worship God. 47But instead, God let David’s son Solomon build a house where people could worship God.”

People can worship God anywhere, not only at certain places.

Acts 7:48-50

48“However, we(inc) know that God is greater than everything, and he does not live in houses that people [SYN] have made. It is like the prophet Isaiah wrote. He wrote these words that God had spoken:

49-50Heaven is ◄my throne/the place from which I rule the entire universe►, and the earth is ◄my footstool/ merely like a stool on which I may rest my feet►. I myself [SYN] have made everything both in heaven and on the earth. So you human beings, ◄you really cannot build a house that would be adequate for me!/do you think you can build a house that would be appropriate for me?► [RHQ] You cannot [RHQ] make a place good enough for me to live in!”

Stephen said that those who were listening to him were opposing God.

Acts 7:51-53

51“You people are extremely stubborn [MET], not wanting to obey God or listen [MTY] to him! You are exactly like your ancestors! You always resist the Holy Spirit as they did! 52Your ancestors caused [RHQ] every prophet to suffer, including Moses. They even killed those who long ago announced that the Messiah would come, the one who always did what pleased God. And the Messiah has come! He is the one whom you recently turned over to his enemies and insisted that they kill him! 53You are the people who have received God’s laws. Those were laws that God caused angels to give to our ancestors. However, incredibly, you have not obeyed them!”

All the people there became very angry with Stephen.

Acts 7:54

54When the Jewish Council members and others there heard all that Stephen said, they became very angry. They were grinding their teeth together because they were so angry at him!

After Stephen said that he could see Jesus standing beside God in heaven, they stoned him.

Acts 7:55-59

55But the Holy Spirit completely controlled Stephen. He looked up into heaven and saw a dazzling light from God, and he saw Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open, and I see the one who came from heaven standing at God’s right side!”

57When the Jewish Council members and others heard that, they shouted loudly. They put their hands over their ears so that they could not hear Stephen, and immediately they all rushed at him. 58They dragged him outside the city of Jerusalem and started to throw stones at him. The people who were accusing him took off their outer garments in order to throw stones more easily, and they put their clothes on the ground next to a young man whose name was Saul, so that he could guard them. 59While they continued to throw stones at Stephen, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

He asked the Lord to forgive them, and he died. The disciples fled, some men buried Stephen, and Saul harassed believers. But the believers preached about Jesus wherever they were scattered.

Acts 7:60—8:3

60Then Stephen fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not punish them (OR, forgive them) [LIT] for this sin!” After he had said that, he died.

8

1-2Then some men who revered God buried Stephen’s body in a tomb, and they mourned greatly and loudly for him.

On that same day people started severely persecuting the believers who were living in Jerusalem. So most of the believers fled to other places throughout Judea and Samaria provinces. The apostles were the only believers who remained in Jerusalem. 3While the people were killing Stephen, Saul was there approving of their killing Stephen. So Saul also began trying to destroy the group of believers. He entered houses one by one, he dragged away men and women who believed in Jesus, and then he arranged for them to be put in prison.

Many Samaritans heeded Philip’s words and rejoiced.

Acts 8:4-8

4The believers who had left Jerusalem went to different places, where they continued preaching the message about Jesus. 5One of those believers whose name was Philip went down from Jerusalem to a city in Samaria province. There he was telling the people that Jesus is [MTY] the Messiah. 6Many people there heard Philip speak and saw the miraculous things that he was doing. So they all ◄paid close attention to/listened carefully to► his words. 7For example, when Philip commanded evil spirits who controlled many people that they should come out of them, they came out, while those spirits screamed. Also, many people who were paralyzed and many others who were lame were healed. 8So many people [MTY] in that city greatly rejoiced.

Philip baptized many Samaritans, including a sorcerer.

Acts 8:9-13

9There was a man in that city whose name was Simon. He had been practicing sorcery for a long time, and he had been amazing the people in Samaria province by doing that. He continually claimed that he was a great/important person. 10All the people there, both ordinary and important people, listened to him. Various ones of them were saying, “This man works in extremely powerful ways because God has caused him to be a great person.” 11They continued to listen to him carefully, because for a long time he had astonished them by practicing sorcery. 12But then they believed Philip’s message when he preached to them about how God desires to rule [MET] the lives of people who believe in him, and about Jesus being the Messiah [MTY]. Both the men and the women who believed in Jesus were baptized. {Philip was baptizing both the men and the women who had come to believe in Jesus}. 13Simon himself believed Philip’s message and, after he was baptized {after Philip baptized him}, he began to constantly accompany Philip. Simon was continually amazed because he often saw Philip doing many kinds of miraculous things.

Samaritan believers received the power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:14-17

14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that many people [PRS] throughout Samaria district had believed the message from God about Jesus, they sent Peter and John there. 15When Peter and John arrived in Samaria, they prayed for those new believers in order that the Holy Spirit’s power would come to them. 16Peter and John realized that the Holy Spirit had not yet begun to empower any of them. They had been baptized {Philip had baptized them} because they had believed in [MTY] the Lord Jesus, but they did not know about the Holy Spirit. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on the heads of each person, and they received the power of [MTY] the Holy Spirit.

Peter denounced Simon the sorcerer.

Acts 8:18-24

18Simon saw things that convinced him that God had given the Spirit’s power to people as a result of the apostles placing their hands on them. So he offered to give money to the apostles, 19saying, “Enable me also to do what you are doing, so that everyone on whom I place/put my hands may receive the Holy Spirit’s power.” 20But Peter said to him, “May you (sg) and your money go to hell, because you mistakenly think that you can buy from us what God alone gives to people21God has not authorized you to have any part of this ministry of giving the Holy Spirit’s power, because he knows that you are not thinking rightly! (OR, because he knows that you are thinking completely wrongly.) 22So stop thinking wickedly like that, and plead that the Lord, if he is willing, will forgive you for what you wickedly thought/planned to do23Turn away from your evil ways, because I perceive that you (sg) are extremely envious of us, and you are a slave of your continual desire to do evil! God will certainly punish you severely!” 24Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord God that he will not do to me what you just said!”

Peter and John preached to many Samaritans.

Acts 8:25

25After Peter and John told people there what they knew personally about the Lord Jesus and declared to them the message about Jesus, they both returned to Jerusalem. Along the way they preached the good message about Jesus to people in many villages in Samaria province.

Philip met an Ethiopian official.

Acts 8:26-28

26One day an angel whom the Lord God had sent commanded Philip, “Get ready and go south along the road that extends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” That was a road in a desert area. 27So Philip got ready and went along that road. Suddenly he met a man from Ethiopia. He was an important official who took care of all the funds for the queen of Ethiopia. In his language people called their queen Candace. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship God, 28and he was returning home and was seated riding in his chariot. As he was riding, he was reading out loud from what the prophet Isaiah had written [MTY] long ago.

The official could not understand what he was reading.

Acts 8:29-31

29God’s Spirit told Philip, “Go near to that chariot and keep walking close to the man who is riding in it!” 30So Philip ran to the chariot and kept running close to it. Then he heard the official reading what the prophet Isaiah had written. He asked the man, “Do you (sg) understand what you are reading?” 31He answered Philip, “No! ◄I cannot possibly understand it if there is no one to explain it to me!/How can I understand it if there is no one to explain it to me?► [RHQ]”

Philip preached about Jesus to the official.

Acts 8:31b-35

Then the man said to Philip, “Please come up and sit beside me.” So Philip did that. 32The part of the Scriptures that the official was reading was this:

He will be silent when they lead him away to kill him

like when a sheep is led away to be killed.

As a young sheep is silent when its wool is being cut off {someone cuts off its wool}, similarly he will not protest [MTY] when people cause him to suffer.

33When he will be humiliated by being accused falsely {people will humiliate him by accusing him falsely},

the rulers ◄will not consider him innocent/will consider him guilty►.

No one will possibly be able to tell about his descendants, because he will be killed {people will kill him} without him having any descendants on the earth.

34The official asked Philip about these words that he was reading, “Tell me, who was the prophet writing about? Was he writing about himself or about someone else?” 35So Philip began to explain that Scripture passage. He told him the good message about [MTY] Jesus. So the official understood and believed in Jesus.

Philip baptized the official. Then the Spirit took Philip away.

Acts 8:36-39

36-37While they were traveling along the road, they came to a place where there was a pond of water near the road. Then the official said to Philip, “Look, there is a pond of water! ◄I would like you to baptize me, because I do not know of anything that would prevent me from being baptized {prevent you from baptizing me.}/Do you know of anything that would prevent me from being baptized {prevent you from baptizing me}?► [RHQ]” 38So the official told the driver to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the official went down into the pond of water, and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, suddenly God’s Spirit took Philip away. The official never saw Philip again. But although he never saw Philip again, the official continued going along the road, very happy that God had saved him.

Philip preached in towns from Azotus to Caesarea.

Acts 8:40

40Philip then realized that the Spirit had miraculously taken him to Azotus town. While he traveled around in that region, he continued proclaiming the message about Jesus in all the towns between Azotus and Caesarea. And he was still proclaiming it when he finally arrived in Caesarea city.

9

Saul asked the high priest to authorize him to arrest believers.

Acts 9:1-2

1Meanwhile, Saul angrily continued to say, “I will kill those who believe that Jesus is the Lord!” He went to the supreme priest in Jerusalem2and requested him to write letters introducing him to the leaders of [MTY] the Jewish meeting places in Damascus city. The letters asked them to authorize Saul to seize any men or women who followed the way that Jesus had taught, and to take them as prisoners to Jerusalem so that the Jewish leaders could judge and punish them.

While Saul was traveling to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and blinded him.

Acts 9:3-8

3Saul took those letters, and while he and those with him traveled toward Damascus, as they were approaching the city, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven shone around Saul. 4Immediately he fell down to the ground. Then he heard the voice of the Lord say to him, “Saul, Saul, ◄stop causing me to suffer!/why are you causing me to suffer?► [RHQ]” 5Saul asked him, “Lord, who are you?” He replied, “I am Jesus, and you (sg) are causing me to suffer by hurting my followers! 6Now instead of continuing to do that, stand up and go into the city! Someone there will tell you (sg) what I want you to do.” 7The men who were traveling with Saul became so frightened that they could not say anything. They just stood there. They only heard the sound when the Lord spoke, but they did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see anything. So the men with him took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9For the next three days Saul could not see anything, and he did not eat or drink anything.

Saul could see again after Ananias had put his hands on him.

Acts 9:9-19

10In Damascus there was a Jew named Ananias who believed in Jesus. While Ananias was seeing a vision, the Lord Jesus said to him, “Ananias!” He replied, “Lord, I am listening.” 11The Lord Jesus told him, “Go to Straight Street to the house that belongs to Judas. Ask someone there if you(sg) can talk to a man named Saul from Tarsus city, because, surprisingly, at this moment he is praying to me. 12Saul has seen a vision in which a man named Ananias entered the house where he was staying and put his hands on him in order that he might see again.” 13But Ananias protested, saying, “But Lord, many people have told me about this man! He has done many evil things to the people in Jerusalem who believe in you! 14And the chief priests have authorized him to come here to Damascus in order to seize all of us who believe in you (sg) [MTY] and take us to Jerusalem!” 15But the Lord Jesus told Ananias, “Go to Saul! Do what I say, because I have chosen him to serve me in order that he might speak about me [MTY] both to non-Jewish people and their kings and to the Israeli people. 16I myself will tell him that he must often suffer greatly because of telling people about me [MTY].” 17So Ananias went, and after he found the house where Saul was, he entered it. Then, as soon as he met Saul, he put his hands on him, and he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus himself commanded me to come to you. He is the same one who appeared to you (sg) while you were traveling along the road. He sent me to you in order that you might see again and that you might be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit {that the Holy Spirit might completely control you}.” 18Instantly, things like fish scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he was able to see again. Then he stood up and was baptized {Ananias baptized him} immediately. 19After Saul ate some food, he felt strong again. Saul stayed with the other believers in Damascus for several days.

People there were astonished that Saul had believed in Jesus.

Acts 9:20-22

20Right away Saul began to preach to people about Jesus in the Jewish meeting places in Damascus. He told them that Jesus is ◄the Son of/the man who is also► God. 21And all the people who heard him preach were amazed. Various ones of them were saying, “◄We(inc) can hardly believe that this is the same man who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem!/Is this really the same man who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem?► [RHQ, MTY] And we (inc) know that he has [RHQ] come here to seize us and take us to the chief priests in Jerusalem!” 22But God enabled Saul to preach to many people even more convincingly. He was proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. So the Jewish leaders in Damascus could not think of anything ◄to refute what he said/to prove that what he said was not true►.

Saul escaped from those who plotted to kill him.

Acts 9:23-25

23Some time later, after Saul had left Damascus and then returned, the Jewish leaders [SYN] there plotted to kill him. 24During each day and night those Jews were continually watching the people passing through the city gates, in order that when they saw Saul they might kill him. However, someone told Saul what they planned to do. 25So some of those whom he had helped to believe in Jesus took him one night to the high stone wall that surrounded the city. They used ropes to lower him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. So he escaped from Damascus.

Barnabas introduced Saul to other believers in Jerusalem.

Acts 9:26-28

26When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he began trying to associate with other believers. However, almost all of them continued to be afraid of him, because they did not believe that he had become a believer. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He explained to the apostles how, while Saul was traveling along the road to Damascus, he had seen the Lord Jesus and how the Lord had spoken to him there. He also told them how Saul had preached boldly about Jesus [MTY] to people in Damascus. The apostles believed Barnabas and told the other believers about that. 28So Saul began to associate with the apostles and other believers throughout Jerusalem, and he spoke boldly to people about [MTY] the Lord Jesus.

The believers sent Saul to Tarsus because some Jews tried to kill him.

Acts 9:29-30

29Saul was also speaking about Jesus with Jews who spoke Greek, and he was debating with them. But they were continually trying to think ◄of a way to kill him/of how they could kill him►. 30When the other believers heard that those Jews were planning to kill him, some of the believers took Saul down to Caesarea city. There they arranged for him to go by ship to Tarsus, his hometown.

The church in Israel had peace and many people believed.

Acts 9:31

31So the groups of believers throughout the entire regions of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria lived peacefully because no one was persecuting them anymore. The Holy Spirit was strengthening them spiritually and encouraging them. They were continuing to revere/honor the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was enabling many other people to become believers.

Because Peter healed Aeneas, many people believed in Jesus.

Acts 9:32-35

32While Peter was traveling throughout those regions, once he went to the coastal plain to visit the believers who lived in Lydda town. 33There he met a man whose name was Aeneas. Aeneas had not been able to get up from his bed for eight years, because he was paralyzed. 34Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you (sg) right now! Get up and roll up your mat!” Right away Aeneas stood up. 35Most of the people who lived in Lydda and on Sharon Plain saw Aeneas after the Lord had healed him, so they believed in the Lord Jesus.

Dorcas died.

Acts 9:36-37

36In Joppa town there was a believer whose name was Tabitha. Her name in the Greek language was Dorcas. Both of these names mean gazelle/deer/antelope. That woman was continually doing good deeds for others. Specifically, she was helping poor people by giving them things that they needed. 37During the time that Peter was in Lydda, she became sick and died. Some women there washed her body according to the Jewish custom so that the people could bury it. Then they covered her body with cloth and placed it in an upstairs room in her house.

Peter resurrected Dorcas.

Acts 9:38-43

38Lydda was near Joppa, so when the believers heard that Peter was still in Lydda, they sent two men to go to Peter. When they arrived where Peter was, they repeatedly urged/begged him, “Please come immediately with us to Joppa!” 39So right away Peter got ready and went with them. When they arrived at the house in Joppa, the two men took Peter to the upstairs room where Dorcas’ body was lying. All the widows therecrowded around Peter. They were crying and showing him the cloaks and other garments that Dorcas had made for people while she was still alive. 40But Peter sent them all out of the room. Then he got down on his knees and prayed. Then, turning toward Tabitha’s body, he said, “Tabitha, stand up!” Immediately she opened her eyes and, when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41He grasped one of her hands and helped her to stand up. After he had summoned the believers and especially the widows among them to come back in, he showed them that Tabitha was alive again. 42Soon people everywhere in Joppa knew about that miracle, and as a result many people believed in the Lord Jesus. 43Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a man named Simon who made leather from animal skins.

10

Obeying an angel, Cornelius sent men to summon Peter.

Acts 10:1-8

1There was a man who lived in Caesarea city whose name was Cornelius. He was an officer who commanded 100 men in a large group of Roman soldiers from Italy. 2He always tried to do what would please God; he and his entire household [MTY] were non-Jews who habitually worshipped God. He sometimes gave money to help poor Jewish people, and he prayed to God regularly.

3One day at about three o’clock in the afternoon Cornelius saw a vision. He clearly saw an angel whom God had sent. The angel came into his room and said to him, “Cornelius!” 4Cornelius stared at the angel and became terrified. Then he asked fearfully, “Sir, what do you (sg) want?” The angel answered him, “You (sg) have pleased God because you have been praying regularly to him and you often give money to help poor people. Those things have been like a sacrifice to God. 5So, now command some men to go to Joppa and tell them to bring back a man named Simon whose other name is Peter. 6He is staying with a man, also named Simon, who makes leather. His house is near the ocean.” 7When the angel who spoke to Cornelius had gone, Cornelius summoned two of his household servants and a soldier who served him, one who also worshipped God. 8He explained to them everything that the angel had said. Then he told them to go to Joppa to ask Peter to come to Caesarea.

Peter’s vision.

Acts 10:9-16

9About noon the next day those three men were traveling along the road and were coming near Joppa. As they were approaching Joppa, Peter went up on the flat housetop to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat. While someone was preparing the food, Peter saw this vision: 11◄He saw heaven open/He saw an opening in the sky► and something like a large sheet was being lowered to the ground. It was tied at its four corners with ropes. 12Inside the sheet were all kinds of creatures. These included animals and birds that the Mosaic laws forbade Jews to eat. Some had four feet, others crawled on the ground, and others were wild birds. 13Then he heard God [SYN] say to him, “Peter, stand up, kill and cook some of these and eat their meat!” 14But Peter replied, “Lord, surely you (sg) do not really want me to do that! I have never eaten any meat that our Jewish law says is unacceptable to God or something that we(exc) must not eat!” 15Then Peter heard [MTY] God talk to him a second time. He said, “I am God, so if I have made something acceptable to eat, do not say that it is not acceptable to eat!” 16This happened three times, so Peter knew that he had to think carefully about what it might mean. Immediately after God had said that the third time, ◄the sheet with the animals and birds was the pulled back into heaven/ someone pulled the sheet with the animals and birds up into the sky again►.

The Holy Spirit commanded Peter to go with the non-Jewish men.

Acts 10:17-23a

17While Peter was trying to understand what that vision meant, the men who had been sent by Cornelius {whom Cornelius had sent} arrived in Joppa. They asked people how to get to Simon’s house. So they found his house and were standing outside the gate. 18They called and were asking if a man named Simon, whose other name was Peter, was staying there. 19While Peter was still trying to understand what the vision meant, God’s Spirit said to him, “Three men are here who want to see you. 20So get up and go downstairs and go with them! Do not think that you (sg) should not go with them because of their being non-Jews, because I have sent them here!” 21So Peter went down to the men and said to them, “Greetings! I am the man you are looking for. Why have you come?” 22One of them replied, “Cornelius, who is a Roman army officer, sent us here. He is a righteous man who worships God, and all of the Jewish people [HYP] who know about him say that he is a very good man. An angel ◄who was sent from God/whom God sent► said to him, ‘Tell some men to go to Joppa to see Simon Peter and bring him here, so that you (sg) can hear what he has to say.’” 23So Peter said that he would go with them, and then he invited them into the house and told them that they could stay there that night.

Peter went with the men and met Cornelius.

Acts 10:23b-26

The next day Peter got ready and went with the men. Several of the believers from Joppa went with him. 24The day after that, they arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them. He had also invited his relatives and close friends to come to his house, so they were there, too . 25When Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and bowed low in front of him to worship him. 26But Peter grasped Cornelius by the hand and lifted him to his feet. He said, “Stand up! Do not revere/worship me I myself am only human, like you!”

Peter asked why they had sent for him.

Acts 10:27-29

27While he was talking to Cornelius, Peter and the others entered a large room inside the house. Peter saw that many people had gathered together there. 28Then Peter said to them, “You all know that any of us Jews think we are disobeying our Jewish laws if we (exc) associate with a non-Jewish person or if we even visit him. However, God has shown me in a vision that I should not say about anyone that God will not accept him. 29So when you sent some men to ask me to come here, I came right away. I did not say that I could not go with non-Jewish people. So, please tell me, why have you asked me to come here?”

Cornelius told about his vision.

Acts 10:30-33

30Cornelius replied, “About this time four days ago I was praying to God in my house, as I regularly do at three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly a man whose clothes shone brightly stood in front of me, 31and said, ‘Cornelius, when you (sg) have prayed, you have been heard by God {God has heard when you (sg) have prayed to him}. He has also noticed that you have often given money to help poor people, and he is pleased with that. 32So now, send messengers to go to Joppa, in order to ask Simon whose other name is Peter to come here. He is staying near the ocean in a house that belongs to another man named Simon, who makes leather. When Simon Peter comes, he will tell you a message from God.’ 33So I immediately sent some men who asked you (sg) to come here, and I certainly thank you for coming. Now we (exc) all are gathered here, knowing that God is with us, in order to hear all the things that the Lord God has commanded you to say. So please speak to us.”

Peter reminded them of what they knew about Jesus.

Acts 10:34-38

34So Peter began to speak [MTY] to them. He said, “Now I understand that it is true that God does not favor only certain groups of people. 35Instead, from every group of people he accepts everyone who honors him and who does what pleases him. 36You know the message that God sent to us Israelis. He proclaimed to us the good news that he would cause people to have peace with him because of what Jesus Christ has done. This Jesus is Lord not only over us Israelis. He is also the Lord who rules over all people. 37You know what he did throughout the land of Judea, beginning in Galilee. He began to do those things after John had been proclaiming to people that they should turn away from their sinful behavior before he baptized them. 38You know that God gave [MTY] his Holy Spirit to Jesus, the Man from Nazareth town, and gave him the power to do miracles. You also know how Jesus went to many places, always doing good deeds and healing people. Specifically, he was continually healing all the people whom the devil was causing to suffer. Jesus was able to do those things because God was always helping him.”

Peter said that God would forgive the sins of all who believe in Jesus.

Acts 10:39-43

39“We apostles tell people about all the things that we saw Jesus do in Jerusalem and in the rest of Israel. The leaders in Jerusalem had him killed by being nailed to a cross. 40However, God caused him to become alive again on the third day after he had died. God also enabled some of us(exc) to see him so that we would know that he was alive again. 41God did not let all the Jewish people see him. Instead, he had chosen us apostles beforehand to see Jesus after he became alive again, and to tell others about him. We apostles are the people who ate meals with him ◄after he had become alive again/after he had risen from the dead►. 42God commanded us to preach to the people and tell them that Jesus is the one whom he has appointed to judge everyone some day. He will judge all those who will still be living and all those who will have died by that time . 43All of the prophets who wrote about the Messiah long ago told people about him. They wrote that if people believe in the Messiah [MTY], God would forgive them for their sins, because of what the Messiah would do for them.”

The Holy Spirit came down on the non-Jewish believers.

Acts 10:44-48

44While Peter was still speaking those words, suddenly the Holy Spirit ◄came down on/began to control► all those non-Jewish people who were listening to the message. 45The Jewish believers who had come with Peter from Joppa were amazed that God had generously given the Holy Spirit to the non-Jewish people, too. 46The Jewish believers knew that God had done that because they were hearing those people speaking languages [MTY] that they had not learned and telling how great God is. 47Then Peter said to the other Jewish believers who were there, “God has given them the Holy Spirit just like he gave him to us Jewish believers, so ◄surely all of you would agree that we(exc) should baptize these people!/would any of you forbid that these people should be baptized?► [RHQ]” 48Then Peter told those non-Jewish people that they should be baptized to show that they had believed [MTY] in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they baptized all of them. After they were baptized, they requested that Peter stay with them several days. So Peter and the other Jewish believers did that.

11

Some Jewish believers criticized Peter.

Acts 11:1-3

1The apostles and other believers who lived in various towns in Judea province heard people say that some non-Jewish people had believed the message from God about Jesus. 2So when Peter and the six other believers returned from Caesarea to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers criticized Peter, because they thought that Jews should not associate with non-Jews [MTY]. 3They said to him, “Not only was it wrong for you(sg) to visit non-Jewish people, you even ate with them!”

Peter told about his vision.

Acts 11:4-10

4So Peter began to explain exactly what had happened concerning Cornelius. 5He said, “I was praying by myself in Joppa town, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw that something like a large sheet was being lowered from heaven. It was tied with ropes at its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6As I was looking intently into it, I saw some tame animals but also animals that our laws forbid us to eat, including wild animals, snakes, and wild birds. 7Then I heard God [MTY] commanding me, ‘Peter, get up, kill some of these, and cook and eat their meat!’ 8But I replied, ‘Lord, you(sg) surely do not really want me to do that, because I have never eaten [MTY] meat from any animal that our laws say that we (exc) must not eat [SYN]!’ 9God spoke from heaven to me a second time, ‘I am God, so if I have made something acceptable to eat, do not say that it is not acceptable to eat!’ 10Then after that happened three times, the sheet with all those animals and birds was pulled up into heaven again.”

Peter said that the Holy Spirit came to be with the non-Jewish believers. Peter accepted those non-Jews as fellow believers.

Acts 11:11-17

11“At that exact moment, three men who had been {whom Cornelius had} sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. 12God’s Spirit told me that I should be willing to go with them even though they were not Jews. These six Jewish believers from Joppa went with me to Caesarea, and then we (exc) went into that non-Jewish man’s house. 13He told us that he had seen an angel standing in his house. The angel told him, ‘Tell some men to go to Joppa and bring back Simon whose other name is Peter. 14He will tell you (sg) how you and everyone [MTY] else in your house will be saved {how God will save you and everyone [MTY] else in your house}.’ 15After I started to speak, the Holy Spirit suddenly came down on them, just like he had first [MTY] come on us during the Pentecost festival. 16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John caused people to be baptized in water, but God will cause the Holy Spirit to enter you and change your lives.’17God gave those non-Jews the same Holy Spirit that he had given to us (inc) after we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, ◄I could not possibly tell God that he did wrong when he gave them the Holy Spirit!/how could I tell God that he did wrong when he gave them the Holy Spirit?► [RHQ] He was showing that he had received them!”

They praised God that he also saves non-Jewish people.

Acts 11:18

18After those Jewish believers heard what Peter said, they stopped criticizing him. Instead, they praised God, saying, “Then it is clear to us that God has also accepted the non-Jews so that they will have eternal life, if they turn from their sinful behavior and believe in Jesus!”

Many non-Jews in Antioch believed in the Lord Jesus.

Acts 11:19-21

19After people had killed Stephen, many of the believers left Jerusalem and went to other places, because people were causing them to suffer there in Jerusalem. Some of them went to Phoenicia region, some went to Cyprus Island, and others went to Antioch city in Syria province. In those places they were continually telling people the message about Jesus, but they told only other Jewish people. 20Some of the believers were men from Cyprus and from Cyrene city in north Africa. They went to Antioch, and although they told other Jews about the Lord Jesus, they also told non-Jewish people there. 21The Lord God [MTY] was powerfully enabling those believers to preach effectively. As a result, very many non-Jewish people believed their message and trusted in the Lord Jesus.

Barnabas encouraged the believers at Antioch.

Acts 11:22-24

22The group of believers in Jerusalem heard [MTY] people say that many people in Antioch were believing in Jesus. So the leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem asked Barnabas to go to Antioch. 23When he got there, he realized that God had acted kindly toward the believers. So he was very happy, and he continually encouraged all of the believers to continue to trust completely in the Lord Jesus. 24Barnabas was a good man whom the Holy Spirit completely controlled, one who trusted God completely. Because of what Barnabas did, many people there believed in the Lord Jesus.

Barnabas and Saul taught many believers at Antioch.

Acts 11:25-26

25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus in Cilicia province to try to find Saul. 26After he found him, Barnabas brought him back to Antioch to help teach the believers. So during a whole year Barnabas and Saul met regularly with the congregation there and taught many of them about Jesus. It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians {that people first called the believers Christians}.

Believers in Antioch helped needy believers in Judea.

Acts 11:27-30

27During the time that Barnabas and Saul were at Antioch, some believers who were prophets arrived there from Jerusalem. 28One of them, whose name was Agabus, stood up in order to speak. God’s Spirit enabled him to prophesy ◄that there would soon be a famine in many countries/that people in many countries [HYP] would soon suffer because they would not have enough food to eat►. (That famine happened when Claudius was the Roman Emperor.) 29When the believers there heard what Agabus said, they decided that they would send money to help the believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided to give as much money as he was able to give. 30They sent the money with Barnabas and Saul to the leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem.

12

Herod had James killed and Peter put in prison.

Acts 12:1-4

1It was about this time that King Herod Agrippa sent soldiers [MTY] who seized and put in prison some of the leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem. He did that because he wanted to make the believers suffer. 2He commanded a soldier to cut off the head of the apostle James, the older brother of the apostle John. 3When Herod realized that he had pleased the leaders of the Jewish people by doing that, he commanded soldiers to arrest Peter in order to kill him, too. This happened during the festival when the Jewish people ate bread that did not have yeast. 4After they seized Peter, they put him in prison. They arranged for four groups of soldiers to guard Peter. Each group had four soldiers. Every three hours a different group began to guard him while the others rested. Herod wanted to bring Peter out of prison and judge him in front of the Jewish people after the Passover Festival was finished. He then planned to command soldiers to execute Peter.

An angel freed Peter from prison.

Acts 12:5-11

5So for several days Peter was kept {they kept Peter} in prison. But the other believers in the congregation at Jerusalem were praying earnestly to God that he would help Peter. 6The night before Herod planned to bring Peter out from prison to have him executed publicly, Peter was sleeping in the prison between two soldiers, with two chains binding his arms to the arms of the soldiers. Two other soldiers were guarding the prison doors. 7Suddenly an angel from the Lord God stood beside Peter, and a bright light shone in his cell. The angel poked Peter in the side and woke him up and said, “Get up quickly!” While Peter was getting up, the chains fell off from his wrists. However, the soldiers were not aware of what was happening. 8Then the angel said to Peter, “Put on your clothes and sandals!” So Peter did. Then the angel said to him, “Fasten your belt/girdle around you(sg) and put on your sandals!” So Peter did that. Then the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me!” 9So, after Peter put on his cloak and sandals, he followed the angel out of the prison cell, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought that he was seeing a vision. 10Peter and the angel walked by the soldiers who were guarding the two doors, but the soldiers did not see them. Then they came to the iron gate that led out into the city. The gate opened by itself, and Peter and the angel walked out of the prison. After they had walked a ways along one street, the angel suddenly disappeared. 11Then Peter finally realized that what had happened to him was not a vision, but it had really happened. So he said to himself, “Now I really know that the Lord God sent an angel to help me. He rescued me from what Herod planned to do [MTY] to me, and also from all the things that the Jewish leaders [SYN] expected that Herod would do to me.”

Peter reported to the other believers.

Acts 12:12-17

12When Peter realized that God had rescued him, he went to Mary’s house. She was the mother of John whose other name was Mark. Many believers had assembled there, and they were praying that God would help Peter somehow. 13When Peter knocked at the outer entrance, a servant girl named Rhoda came to find out who was outside the door. 14When Peter answered her, she recognized his voice, but she was so happy and excited that she did not open the door! Instead, she ran back into the house. She excitedly announced to the other believers that Peter was standing outside the door. 15But one of them said to her, “You (sg) are crazy!” But she continued saying that it was really true. Then they repeatedly said, “No, it cannot be Peter. It is probably the angel who was guarding him who has come (OR, It is the angel who has guarded/protected him, and he has come to tell us that Peter has died.)” 16But Peter continued knocking on the door. So when someone finally opened the door, they saw that it was Peter, and they were completely amazed! 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet. Then he told them exactly how the Lord God had led him out of the prison. He also said, “Tell James, the leader of our congregation, and our other fellow believers what has happened.” Then Peter left and went away to another town.

Herod commanded soldiers to execute the guards.

Acts 12:18-19

18The next morning the soldiers who had been guarding Peter became terribly distressed, because they did not know what had happened to him. 19Then Herod heard about it. So he commanded soldiers to search for Peter, but they did not find him. Then he questioned the soldiers who had been guarding Peter, and asked them, “How did Peter get away when you were there guarding him?” But they could not explain it. So he commanded them to be led away to be executed {other soldiers to lead them away to execute them}. Afterwards, Herod went from Judea province down to Caesarea, where he stayed for some time.

An angel caused Herod to die.

Acts 12:20-23

20King Herod had been furiously angry with the people who lived in Tyre and Sidon cities. Then one day some men who represented them came unitedly to Caesarea in order to meet with Herod. They persuaded Blastus, who was one of Herod’s important officials, to tell Herod that the people in their cities wanted to make peace with him. They wanted to be able to trade with the people that Herod ruled, because they needed to buy food from those regions. Herod had commanded the people in the areas he ruled to stop selling food to the people in those cities. 21On the day that Herod had planned to meet with them, he put on ◄very expensive clothes that showed that he was king/his royal robes►. Then he sat on his ◄throne/chair from which he ruled people►, and formally addressed all the people who had gathered there. 22Those who were listening to him shouted repeatedly, “This man who is speaking is a god, not a man!” 23So, because Herod let the people praise him instead of praising God, immediately an angel from the Lord God caused Herod to become seriously ill. Many worms ate his intestines, and soon he died very painfully.

Many people heard God’s message and became believers. Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch from Jerusalem.

Acts 12:24-25

24The believers continued telling God’s message to people in many places, and ◄the number of people who believed in Jesus was continually increasing/there were continually more and more people who were believing in Jesus►.

25When Barnabas and Saul finished delivering the money to help the Jewish believers in Judea, they left Jerusalem and returned to Antioch, in Syria province. They took John, whose other name was Mark, with them.

13

The Holy Spirit commanded Barnabas and Saul to go on a mission.

Acts 13:1-3

1Among the people in the congregation at Antioch there were ◄prophets/those who spoke messages from God► and those who taught people about Jesus. They were Barnabas; Simeon, who was also called Niger/Blackman; Lucius, from Cyrene city; Manaen, who had grown up with King Herod Antipas; and Saul. 2While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to serve me and to go and do the work that I have chosen them to do!” 3So they continued ◄to fast/to abstain from eating food► and pray. Then having put their hands on Barnabas and Saul and praying that God would help them, they sent them off to do what the Holy Spirit had commanded.

Barnabas and Saul preached the gospel in Jewish meetings place on Cyprus.

Acts 13:4-5

4Barnabas and Saul, guided by the Holy Spirit, went down from Antioch to Seleucia port. From there they went by ship to Salamis port on Cyprus Island. 5While they were in Salamis, they went to the Jewish meeting places. There they proclaimed the message from God about Jesus. John Mark went with them and was helping them.

Saul-Paul denounced a sorcerer, and an official believed in Jesus.

Acts 13:6-12

6The three of them went across the entire island to Paphos city. There they met a magician whose name was Bar-Jesus. He was a Jew who falsely claimed ◄to be a prophet/to speak messages from God►. 7He often accompanied the governor of the island, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent someone to ask Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear God’s message. So Barnabas and Saul came and told him about Jesus. 8However, the magician, whose name was Elymas in the Greek language, was opposing them. He repeatedly tried to persuade the governor not to believe in Jesus. 9Then Saul, who now called himself Paul, empowered by the Holy Spirit, looked intently at the magician and said, 10“You (sg) are serving the devil and you oppose everything that is good! You are always lying to people and doing other evil things to them. ◄You must stop saying that the truth about the Lord God is a lot of lies!/When will you stop changing what is true about the Lord God and saying what is not true about him?► [RHQ] 11Right now the Lord God [MTY] is going to punish you! You will become blind and not even be able to see light for some time.” At once he became blind, as though he was in a dark mist, and he groped about, searching for someone to hold him by the hand and lead him. 12When the governor saw what had happened to Elymas, he believed in the Lord Jesus. He was amazed by what Paul and Barnabas were teaching about the Lord Jesus.

The leaders of the Jewish meeting place in Antioch asked Paul and Barnabas to speak to them.

Acts 13:13-15

13After that, Paul and the two men with him went by ship from Paphos to Perga port in Pamphylia province. At Perga John Mark left them and returned to his home in Jerusalem. 14Then Paul and Barnabas traveled by land from Perga, and arrived in Antioch city near Pisidia district in Galatia province. ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► they entered the synagogue/the Jewish meeting place and sat down. 15Someone read aloud from what Moses had written. Then someone read from what the other prophets had written [MTY]. Then the leaders of the Jewish meeting place gave someone this note to take to Paul and Barnabas: “Fellow Jews, if one of you wants to speak to the people here to encourage them, please speak to us(exc) now.”

Paul said that God helped Israel and gave them the land of Canaan.

Acts 13:16-20

16So Paul stood up and motioned with his right hand so that the people would listen to him. Then he said, “Fellow Israelis and you non-Jewish people who also worship God, please listen to me! 17God, whom we (inc) Israelis worship, chose our ancestors to be his people, and he caused them to become very numerous while they were foreigners living in Egypt. Then after many years, God helped them [MTY] powerfully and led them out of there. 18Even though they repeatedly disobeyed him, he cared for them for about 40 years while they were in the desert. 19He enabled the Israelis to conquer seven tribal groups who were then living in Canaan region, and he gave their land to us Israelis for us to possess. 20Our ancestors began to possess Canaan about 450 years after their ancestors had arrived in Egypt.”

Paul told about God’s removing Saul and appointing David to be Israel’s king.

Acts 13:20b-22

“After that, God appointed leaders to rule the Israeli people. Those leaders continued to rule our people until the time when the prophet Samuel ruled them. 21Then, while Samuel was still their leader, the people demanded that he appoint a king to rule them. So God appointed Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, to be their king. He ruled them for 40 years. 22After God had rejected Saul from being king, he appointed David to be their king. God said about him, ‘I have observed that David, son of Jesse, is exactly the kind of man that I desire [IDM]. He will do everything that I want him to do.’ ”

Paul said that God sent David’s descendant, Jesus, to Israel to save them.

Acts 13:23-25

23“From among David’s descendants, God brought one of them, Jesus, to us Israeli people to save us, just like he had told David and our other ancestors that he would do. 24Before Jesus began his work, John the Baptizer preached to all of our Israeli people who came to him. He told them that they should turn away from their sinful behavior and ask God to forgive them. Then he would baptize them. 25When John was about to finish the work that God gave him to do, he frequently said to the people, ‘Do you think [RHQ] that I am the Messiah whom God promised to send? No, I am not. But listen! The Messiah will soon come. He is so much greater than I am that I am not even important enough to be his slave [MET].’”

Paul said that God resurrected Jesus and caused many people to see him.

Acts 13:26-31

26“Fellow Israelis, you who are descendants of Abraham, and you non-Jewish people who also worship God, please listen! It is to all of us that God has sent the message about how he saves people. 27The people who were living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not realize that this man Jesus was the one whom God had sent to save them. Although messages from [MTY] the prophets have been read aloud {someone has read aloud messages from [MTY] the prophets} every ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►, they did not understand what the prophets wrote about the Messiah. So the Jewish leaders condemned Jesus to die, which was just like the prophets predicted. 28Many people accused Jesus of doing wicked things, but they could not prove that he had done anything for which he deserved to die. They insistently asked Pilate the governor to command that Jesus be executed {to command soldiers to execute Jesus}. So Pilate did what they asked him to do. 29They did to Jesus all the things that the prophets long ago had written that people would do to him. They killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross. Then his body was taken {some people took his body} down from the cross and placed it in a tomb. 30However, God ◄raised him from the dead/caused him to live again after he had died► 31and for many days he repeatedly appeared to his followers who had come along with him from Galilee province to Jerusalem. Those who saw him are telling the Jewish people about him now.”

Paul said that God had done what he had promised that he would do by resurrecting Jesus.

Acts 13:32-37

32“Right now we two are proclaiming to you this good message. We want to tell you that God has fulfilled what he promised to our Jewish ancestors! 33He has now done that for us (inc) who are their descendants, and also for you who are not Jews, by causing Jesus to live again. That is just like what David wrote in the second Psalm that God said when he was sending his Son,

You (sg) are my Son;

Today I have shown everyone that I really am your Father.

34God has ◄raised the Messiah from the dead/caused the Messiah to live again after he had died► and will never let him die again. Concerning that, God said to our Jewish ancestors, ‘I will surely help you, as I promised David that I would do.’ 35So in writing another Psalm, David said this to God about the Messiah: ‘Because I am devoted to you and always obey you, when I die you (sg) will not let my body decay.’ 36While David was living, he did what God wanted him to do. And when he died [EUP], his body was buried, as his ancestors’ bodies had been buried, and his body decayed. So he could not have been speaking about himself in this Psalm. 37Instead, he was speaking about Jesus. Jesus also died, but God ◄raised him from the dead/caused him to live again►, and therefore his body did not decay.”

Paul informed them that God would forgive their sins if they believed in Jesus.

Acts 13:38-41

38-39“Therefore, my fellow Israelis and other friends, it is important for you to know that we(exc) are declaring to you that God can forgive you for your sins as a result of what Jesus has done. Because of what Jesus has done, God considers that everyone who believes in Jesus is no longer guilty (OR, the record has been erased {God has erased the record}) concerning everything that they have done that displeased God. But when God does that for you, it is not as a result of your obeying the laws that Moses wrote. 40Therefore be careful that God does not judge you [MTY], as one of the prophets said [MTY] that God would do! 41The prophet wrote that God said,

You who ridicule me, you will certainly be astonished when you see what I am doing, and then you will be destroyed. You will be astonished because I will do something terrible to you while you are living. You would not believe that I would do that even though someone told you!”

People asked Paul and Barnabas to speak to them again the next Jewish day of rest.

Acts 13:42-43

42After Paul finished speaking, while he and Barnabas were leaving the Jewish meeting place, many of the people there repeatedly requested that on the next ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► the two of them should speak to them again about those things that Paul had just told them. 43After they began to leave that meeting, many of them went along with Paul and Barnabas. They consisted of Jews and also of non-Jews who had accepted the things that the Jews believe. Paul and Barnabas continued talking to them, and were urging them to continue believing the message that God kindly forgives people’s sins because of what Jesus did.

Many non-Jews believed in Jesus and told others about him.

Acts 13:44-49

44On the next Jewish rest day, most of the people in Antioch came to the Jewish meeting place to hear Paul and Barnabas speak about the Lord Jesus. 45But the leaders of [SYN] the Jews became extremely jealous, because they saw that large crowds of non-Jewish people were coming to hear Paul and Barnabas. So they began to contradict the things that Paul was saying and also to insult him. 46Then, speaking very boldly, Paul and Barnabas said to those Jewish leaders, “We two had to speak the message from God about Jesus to you Jews first before we proclaim it to non-Jews, because God commanded us to do that. But you are rejecting God’s message. By doing that, you have shown that you are not worthy ◄to have eternal life/to live eternally with God►. Therefore, we are leaving you, and now we will go to the non-Jewish people to tell them the message from God. 47We are doing that also because the Lord God has commanded us to do it. He said to us,

‘I have appointed you to reveal things about me to non-Jewish people [MET] that will be like a light to them. I have appointed you to tell people everywhere [MTY] in the world about the one who came to save them.’ ”

48While the non-Jewish people were listening to those words, they began to rejoice, and they repeatedly said that the message about the Lord Jesus was wonderful. And all of the non-Jewish people whom God had chosen ◄to have eternal life/to live eternally with God► believed the message about the Lord Jesus. 49At that time, many of the believers traveled around throughout that region. As they did that, they were proclaiming the message about the Lord Jesus [MTY].

People expelled the apostles, but the believers continued on.

Acts 13:50-52

50However, some leaders of [SYN] the Jews incited the most important men in the city, and some important/influential women who had accepted what the Jews believe, to oppose Paul and Barnabas. So those non-Jewish people incited other people also to persecute Paul and Barnabas. As a result they expelled the two men from their region. 51So, as the two apostles were leaving, they shook the dust from their feet to show those Jewish leaders that God had rejected them and would punish them. They left Antioch and went to Iconium city. 52Meanwhile, the believers in Antioch continued to rejoice greatly, and they continued to be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit.

14

Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel and performed miracles in Iconium.

Acts 14:1-3

1At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish meeting place and spoke very convincingly about the Lord Jesus. As a result, many Jews and also non-Jews believed in Jesus. 2But some of the Jews refused to believe that message, and told the non-Jews not to believe it. They told the non-Jewish people that the message about Jesus was not true. As a result, some of the non-Jews became angry towards the believers there. 3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord, and the Lord Jesus enabled them to do many miracles. In this way he showed people that the message about how the Lord saves us in a way that we do not deserve is true.

Before people could attack the apostles, they escaped to Lystra and Derbe.

Acts 14:4-7

4The people who lived in Iconium city strongly disagreed with each other concerning the message about Jesus . Some of them agreed with the Jews [SYN] who did not believe that message . Others agreed with Paul and Barnabas. 5Then the non-Jewish people and the Jewish leaders [SYN] who opposed those two talked among themselves about how they could mistreat them. Some of the important men in that city agreed to help them. Together, they decided that they would kill Paul and Barnabas by throwing stones at them. 6But Paul and Barnabas heard about that, so they quickly went away to Lycaonia district. They went to Lystra and Derbe cities in that district and to the area surrounding those cities. 7While they were in that area, they continually told people the message about the Lord Jesus.

God enabled Paul to heal a lame man.

Acts 14:8-10

8Once while Paul was preaching to people in Lystra, a man was sitting there who was crippled in his legs. When his mother bore him he had crippled legs, so he was never able to walk. 9He listened as Paul was speaking about the Lord Jesus. Paul looked directly at him and could see in the man’s face that he believed that the Lord Jesus could make him well. 10So Paul called out to him, “Stand up!” When the man heard that, he immediately jumped up and began to walk normally.

The apostles stopped the people from worshipping them.

Acts 14:11-18

11When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they thought that Paul and Barnabas ◄were/must be► the gods that they worshipped. So they shouted excitedly in their own Lycaonia language, “Look! These people are the gods that we(inc) worship! They have made themselves look like people and have come down from the sky/heaven to help us!” 12They began to say that Barnabas was probably the chief god, whose name was Zeus. And they began to say that Paul was Hermes, the messenger/spokesman for the other gods. They mistakenly thought that because Paul was the one who had been speaking. 13Just outside the gates of the city there was a temple where the people worshipped Zeus. The priest who was there heard what Paul and Barnabas had done, so he came to the city gate, where many people had already gathered. He brought two bulls with wreaths of flowers around their necks. The priest and the other people wanted to kill the bulls as part of a ceremony to worship Paul and Barnabas. 14But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard about that, and understood that the people thought that they were gods and wanted to sacrifice the bulls to worship them, they were very distressed, so they tore their own clothes. They rushed among the people, shouting, 15“Men, ◄you must not kill those bulls to worship us(dl)!/why are you doing this?► [RHQ] We are not gods! We are just human beings like you! We have come to tell you some good news! We have come to tell you about the God who is all-powerful. He wants you to stop worshipping other gods, because they cannot help you. This true God made the heaven/sky and the earth and the oceans and everything in it. 16In the past, all of you non-Jewish people worshipped whatever gods that you wanted to. God let you worship them, because you did not know him. 17But he has shown us [LIT] that he acts kindly toward us(inc). He is the one who causes it to rain and causes crops to grow. He is the one who gives you plenty of food, and makes you very happy.” 18The people heard what Paul said, but they still thought that they should sacrifice those bulls to worship Paul and Barnabas. But finally, the people decided not to do it.

Some Jews incited people to stone Paul at Lystra.

Acts 14:19-20a

19However, after that, some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded many of the people of Lystra that the message Paul had been telling them was not true. The people who believed what those Jews said became angry with Paul. They let the Jews throw stones at him until he fell down, unconscious. They all thought that he was dead, so they dragged him outside the city and left him lying there. But some of the believers in Lystra had followed them outside the city. 20They came and stood around Paul, where he was lying on the ground. And Paul became conscious! He stood up and went back into the city with the believers.

The apostles revisited believers and appointed leaders.

Acts 14:20b-23

The next day, Paul and Barnabas left Lystra and traveled to Derbe. 21They stayed there several days and they kept telling the people the good message about Jesus. Many people became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas started on their way back. They went again to Lystra. Then they went from there to Iconium, and then they went to Antioch in Pisidia province. 22In each city, they helped the believers [SYN] to become strong spiritually, and they urged them to keep on trusting in the Lord Jesus. They told the believers, “It is necessary that we endure people often persecuting us (inc) before we enter the place where God will rule over us forever.” 23Paul and Barnabas appointed leaders for each congregation. And before Paul and Barnabas left each town, they gathered the believers together and spent some time praying and ◄fasting/not eating any food►. Then Paul and Barnabas entrusted the leaders and other believers to the Lord Jesus, in whom they had believed, in order that he would care for them.

Paul and Barnabas reported to the believers at Syrian Antioch.

Acts 14:24-28

24After Paul and Barnabas had traveled through Pisidia district, they went south to Pamphylia district. 25In that district, they arrived at Perga and preached God’s message about the Lord Jesus to the people there. Then they went down to the seacoast at Attalia. 26There they got on a ship and went back to Antioch in Syria province. That was the place where Paul and Barnabas had been appointed {where believers had sent Paul and Barnabas} to go to other places and preach. Antioch was the place where the believers had asked God to kindly help Paul and Barnabas in the work that they had now completed. 27When they arrived in Antioch, they called the believers together. Then Paul and Barnabas told them all that God had helped them to do. Specifically, they told them how God had enabled [IDM] many non-Jewish people to believe in Jesus. 28Then Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch with the other believers for several months.

15

Some Jewish believers said that God will save only people who are circumcised.

Acts 15:1-2

1Then some Jewish believers went down from Judea province to Antioch. They started teaching the non-Jewish believers there, and said, “You ◄must be circumcised/must have God’s mark put on you► to indicate you belong to God, as Moses commanded in the laws that he received from God. If you do not do that, you will not be saved {God will not save you}.” 2Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with those Jews and started arguing with them. So the believers at Antioch appointed Paul and Barnabas and some of the other believers to go to Jerusalem, in order that they would/could discuss this matter with the apostles and other spiritual leaders.

Paul and Barnabas reported what God had enabled them to do.

Acts 15:3-4

3After Paul, Barnabas, and the others were given things for their trip by the congregation at Antioch {After the congregation at Antioch gave Paul, Barnabas, and the others things for their trip}, they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria provinces. When they stopped at different places in those provinces, they reported to the believers that many non-Jews in Antioch had become believers. As a result, all the believers in those places rejoiced greatly. 4And when Paul, Barnabas, and the others arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the apostles, the other elders, and the other members of the congregation there {the apostles, the other elders, and the other members of the congregation there welcomed them}. Then Paul and Barnabas reported the things that God had enabled them to do among non-Jewish people.

Some Jewish believers said that non-Jewish believers must obey Moses’ laws.

Acts 15:5

5But some of the Jewish believers who belonged to the Pharisee sect stood up among the other believers and said to them, “The non-Jews who have believed in Jesus must be circumcised, and they must be told to obey the laws that God gave to Moses.”

Peter told about non-Jews becoming believers when he preached to them.

Acts 15:6-11

6Then the apostles and the other elders met together in order to talk about this matter. 7After they had discussed it for a long time, Peter stood up and spoke to them. He said, “Fellow believers, you all know that a long time ago God chose me from among you other apostles, in order that the non-Jewish people might also hear me [SYN] tell them the good message about the Lord Jesus, so that they could hear it and believe in him. So Paul and Barnabas are not the first ones to tell non-Jews about Jesus. 8God knows and judges people according to what they think, not according to who their ancestors were. By sending the Holy Spirit to the non-Jews, just like he had also done for us (inc) Jews, he showed me and others that he had accepted them also to be his people. 9God saved us Jews and those non-Jews similarly, making them clean spiritually simply as a result of their believing in the Lord Jesus. That was exactly how he has forgiven us. 10You are wanting to force the non-Jewish believers to obey our Jewish rituals and laws —laws that God has shown that he does not require them to obey [MET]. Your doing that is like putting a heavy burden on them! So then, ◄stop making God angry by doing that!/why are you making God angry by doing that?► [RHQ] Our ancestors and we (inc) Jews have never been able to bear the burden of obeying those laws! 11But we (inc) know that it is not because we (inc) try to obey those laws that God saves us(inc) Jews. On the contrary, we (inc) know that it is because of what the Lord Jesus did for us (inc) that we did not deserve that we (inc) are saved {that God saves us} from the guilt of our sins. God saves non-Jews who believe in the Lord Jesus exactly like he saves us Jews.”

Barnabas and Paul reported what God had helped them to do among the non-Jews.

Acts 15:12

12All the people there became silent after Peter had spoken. Then they all listened to Barnabas and Paul, as the two of them told about the many great miracles that God had enabled them to do among the non-Jewish people, miracles that showed that God had accepted the non-Jews.

James recommended what they should tell the non-Jewish believers.

Acts 15:13-21

13When Barnabas and Paul had finished speaking, James, the leader of the group of believers there in Jerusalem, spoke to all of them. He said, “Fellow believers, listen to me. 14Simon Peter has told you how God previously blessed the non-Jews. God did that by choosing from among them a people who would belong to him [MTY]. 15These words that God spoke, words that were written by one of the prophets {that one of the prophets wrote} long ago, agree with that:

16Later on I will return and I will re-establish the kingdom [MET] that David ruled and that has been {that people have} destroyed. My doing that will be like rebuilding a house that has been {that people have} torn down. 17I will do that in order that all other people might seek me, the Lord God. I will do that in order that all the non-Jews whom I have called to belong to me [MTY] might seek me. You can be certain that this will happen because I the Lord God, who will do those things, have spoken these words. 18I caused my people to know about them long ago.”

19James continued by saying, “Therefore I have decided that we(inc) should stop bothering the non-Jewish people who are turning away from their sins and turning to God. That is, we should stop demanding that they obey all our laws and rituals. 20Instead, we should write a letter to them requiring only four things: They should not eat meat/food that people have offered to idols, they should not have sex with someone to whom they are not married, they should not eat meat from animals that have been killed by being strangled {people have strangled}, and they should not eat the blood of animals. 21In many cities, for a very long time people have been proclaiming the laws that Moses wrote [MTY], laws prohibiting those things. And every ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► those laws are read {someone reads those laws} in the Jewish meeting places. So if the non-Jews want to know more about those laws, they can find out in our meeting houses.”

The church leaders sent messengers with a letter to non-Jewish believers.

Acts 15:22-29

22The apostles and the other elders, along with all the other members of the congregation, accepted what James had said. Then they decided that they should choose men from among themselves and that they should send them, along with Paul and Barnabas, to Antioch, to let the believers there know what the leaders at Jerusalem had decided. So they chose Judas, who was also called Barsabbas, and Silas, who were leaders among the believers at Jerusalem. 23Then they wrote the following letter that they asked Judas and Silas to take to the believers at Antioch:

“We(exc) apostles and other leaders who are your fellow believers send our greetings to you as we write this to you non-Jewish believers who live in Antioch and other places in Syria and Cilicia provinces. 24People have told us that some men from among us went to you, although we had not told them to do that. They troubled/distressed you [SYN] by telling you things that confused your thinking. 25So while we(exc) met together here, we decided to choose some men and ask them to go to you, along with Barnabas and Paul, whom we (exc) love very much. 26Those two have put their lives in danger because of their serving our Lord [MTY] Jesus Christ. 27We (exc) have also chosen Judas and Silas to go to you. They will tell you the same things that we are writing. 28The Holy Spirit and also we decided that you should not be required {that we should not require you} to obey a lot of burdensome Jewish laws. Instead, we only require you to obey the following instructions,

29You should not eat food that people have sacrificed to idols.

You should not eat blood from animals, and you should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them.

Also, you should not have sex with someone to whom you are not married.

Those things especially offend Jewish believers. So if you avoid doing them, you will be doing what is right. That is all.”

The letter and messengers encouraged the believers at Antioch.

Acts 15:30-32

30The four men whom they had chosen went from Jerusalem to Antioch city. When all the believers there had assembled together, Judas and Silas gave the letter to them. 31When the believers there read the letter, they rejoiced, because its message encouraged them. 32Just like Paul and Barnabas were ◄prophets/men who spoke messages from God►, Judas and Silas were also prophets. They spoke for a long time and encouraged the believers there, and helped them to trust more strongly in the Lord Jesus.

Paul and Barnabas continued to teach and preach in Antioch.

Acts 15:33-35

33-34After Judas and Silas had stayed in Antioch for some time and were ready to return to Jerusalem, the believers there wished them well, and the believers prayed that God would protect them as they traveled. So the two men started to go back to the leaders in Jerusalem who had asked them to go to Antioch .15:33-34 just before they left, Silas decided to stay there in Antioch.” Each translator should choose between this text and the implied information that we have given in verse 40. Each should choose the way to translate that seems the most preferable.35However, Paul and Barnabas continued to stay in Antioch. While they were there, they, along with many others, were teaching people and preaching to them the message about the Lord Jesus.

Paul and Barnabas separated, and Paul chose Silas.

Acts 15:36-41

36After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the fellow believers in every city where we previously proclaimed the message about the Lord Jesus. In that way, we will know how well they are continuing to believe in the Lord Jesus.” 37Barnabas agreed with Paul, and said that he wanted to take John, whose other name was Mark, along with them again. 38However, Paul told Barnabas that he thought that it would not be good to take Mark with them, because Mark had deserted them when they were previously in Pamphylia region, and had not continued to work with them. 39Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with each other about that, so they separated. Barnabas took Mark along with him and they got on a ship and went to Cyprus. 40Paul chose Silas, who had returned to Antioch, to work with him. The believers there asked the Lord God to graciously help Paul and Silas. Then the two of them departed from Antioch. 41Paul continued traveling with Silas through Syria and Cilicia provinces. In those places he was helping the congregations to trust strongly in the Lord Jesus.

16

Paul chose Timothy to work with him and Silas.

Acts 16:1-3

1Paul and Silas went to Derbe city and visited the believers there. Next they went to Lystra city. A believer whose name was Timothy lived there. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. 2The believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy, 3and Paul wanted to take Timothy with him when he went to other places, so he circumcised Timothy. He did that so that the Jews who lived in those places would accept Timothy, because they knew that his non-Jewish father had not allowed him to be circumcised {anyone to circumcise his son}.

Paul, Silas and Timothy told believers in Galatia what the church leaders had decided.

Acts 16:4-5

4So Timothy went with Paul and Silas and they traveled to many other towns. In each town they told the believers the rules that had been decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem {that the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had decided} that non-Jewish believers should obey.

5God was helping the believers in those towns to trust more strongly in the Lord Jesus, and every day more people became believers.

Because of a vision in Troas, Paul went to preach in Macedonia.

Acts 16:6-10

6Paul and his companions wanted/planned to enter Asia province and preach the message about Jesus there, but they were prevented by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit prevented them} from going there. So they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia provinces. 7They arrived at the border of Mysia province and they wanted to go north into Bithynia province. But again the Spirit of Jesus showed them that they should not go there. 8So they went through Mysia province and arrived at Troas, a port city. I, Luke, joined them there. 9That night God gave Paul a vision in which he saw a man who was a native of Macedonia province. He was standing some distance away, and he was earnestly calling to Paul, “Please come over here to Macedonia and help us!” 10The next morning we (exc) immediately got ready to go to Macedonia, because we believed that God had called us to go and preach the good message to the people there.

Paul’s company went from Troas to Philippi.

Acts 16:11-12

11So we (exc) got on a ship in Troas and sailed across the sea to Samothrace Island. We spent the night there, and the next day we sailed again across the sea and arrived at Neapolis port/town. 12Then we left Neapolis and went by land to Philippi. It was a very important city in Macedonia province, where many Roman citizens lived. We stayed in Philippi several days.

Paul preached the gospel and Lydia became a believer.

Acts 16:13-15

13On the first ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► after we(exc) arrived, we went outside the city gate down to the river. We had heard someone say that Jewish people gathered to pray there. When we arrived there, we saw some women who had gathered to pray. So we sat down and began to tell them the message about Jesus. 14A woman whose name was Lydia was one of those who were listening to Paul. She was a non-Jewish woman, from Thyatira city, who bought and sold expensive purple cloth. She had accepted what the Jews believe about God. The Lord God caused her to pay attention to the message that Paul preached, and she believed it. The members of her household also heard the good message and believed in Jesus [MTY]. 15After Paul and Silas baptized Lydia and the others who lived in her house [MTY] {After Lydia and the others who lived in her house were baptized}, she invited us to go and stay in her home. She said, “You (pl) know that I now believe in the Lord Jesus, so please come and stay in my house.” She persuaded us to do that, so we(exc) stayed there.

Paul expelled a demon from a slave girl, so officials imprisoned Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:16-24

16Another day, while we (exc) were going to the place where people regularly gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was enabling her to be a ventriloquist and to tell people what would happen to them. People paid a lot of money to the men who were her owners, in return for her telling them things that she said would happen to them. 17This young woman followed Paul and the rest of us. She continually shouted, “These men serve the God who is the greatest of all gods! They are telling you how ◄God can save you so that he will not punish you/to be saved►” 18She continued to do that for many days. Finally Paul became irritated. So he turned toward the young woman and rebuked the evil spirit that was in her. He said, “By the authority [MTY] of Jesus Christ, I command you (sg) to come out of this young woman!” Right away the evil spirit left her. 19And then her owners realized that she could no longer earn money for them because she could no longer predict what would happen to people, so they were angry. They grabbed Paul and Silas and forcefully took them to the public square, to the place where the government authorities and a lot of other people were gathered. 20The owners of the young woman brought Paul and Silas to the city officials and told them, “These men are Jews, and they are greatly troubling the people in [MTY] our city. 21They are teaching that we (inc) should follow customs that our laws do not allow us Romans to consider to be correct or to obey!” 22Many of the crowd joined those who were accusing Paul and Silas, and started beating them. Then the Roman authorities commanded soldiers to tear the shirts off Paul and Silas and to beat them with rods/sticks. 23So the soldiers beat Paul and Silas vigorously with rods. After that, they took them and shoved them into the prison. They told the jailer that he should lock them up securely. 24Because the officials had commanded him to do that, the jailer shoved Paul and Silas into the cell that was farthest inside. There, he made them sit down on the floor/ground and stretch out their legs. Then he fastened their ankles in grooves between two large wooden beams, so that Paul and Silas could not move their legs.

Paul and Silas helped the jailer and his household to become believers.

Acts 16:25-34

25About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying aloud and praising God by singing hymns. The other prisoners were listening attentively to them. 26Suddenly there was a very strong earthquake. It shook the entire jail [SYN] and its foundation [SYN]. The earthquake caused all the doors of the jail to open suddenly, and caused all the chains that fastened the prisoners to fall off. 27The jailer woke up and saw that the doors of the jail were open. He thought that the prisoners had escaped. So he pulled out his sword in order to kill himself, because he knew that the officials would kill him if the prisoners escaped. 28Paul saw the jailer and shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We (exc) prisoners are all here!” 29The jailer shouted to someone to bring torches/lanterns, and after they brought them, he rushed into the jail and knelt down in front of Paul and Silas. He was very afraid, so much so that he was trembling/shaking. 30Then he brought Paul and Silas out of the jail and asked: “Sirs, what do I need to do to be saved from being punished for my sins?” 31They answered, “Trust in what the Lord Jesus has done for you, and you will be saved {God will save you}, and the others who live in [MTY] your house will also be saved if they believe in Jesus.”

32-34Then the jailer took Paul and Silas into his house, washed their wounds, and gave them a meal. He woke up all the people in his house, and Paul and Silas told all of them the message about the Lord Jesus. They all believed in him. Immediately after that, the jailer and all his family were baptized {Paul and Silas baptized the jailer and all his family}. They were very happy, because now they all believed in God.

Paul and Silas encouraged the believers and then left Philippi.

Acts 16:35-40

35The next morning, the Roman officials commanded some police officers to go to the jail to say to the jailer, “Our bosses say, ‘Let those two prisoners go now!’” 36After the officers went and told that to the jailer, he went and told Paul, “The Roman authorities have sent a message (sg) saying that I should release you (sg) and Silas from prison. So you two can leave the jail now. Now you can go peacefully!” 37But Paul said to the police officers, “The authorities commanded men to beat us in front of a crowd before those authorities had learned if we (exc) had done anything wrong! Then they ordered men to shove us into jail! But that was not legal, because we (exc) are Roman citizens! And now they want [RHQ] to send us away secretly! We will not accept that! Those Roman officials must come themselves and tell us that they are sorry, and take us out of jail.” 38So the police officers went and told the city authorities what Paul had said. When those authorities heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid that someone would report to more important officials what they had done, and as a result they would be punished {those officials would punish them}. 39So the city authorities came to Paul and Silas and told them that they were sorry for what they had done to them. The authorities brought them out of the jail, and repeatedly asked them to leave the city soon. 40After Paul and Silas left the jail, they went to Lydia’s house. There they met with her and the other believers. They encouraged the believers to continue trusting in the Lord Jesus, and then the two apostles left Philippi.

17

In Thessalonica, Paul convinced many people that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 17:1-4

1Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia towns and arrived at Thessalonica city. There was a Jewish meeting place there. 2◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► Paul went into the meeting house, as he usually did. For three weeks he went there on each Jewish day of rest. Referring to the Scriptures about the Messiah, he spoke to the people who were there. 3He explained and showed that the prophets wrote that the Messiah needed to die and ◄to become alive again/to be raised from the dead afterwards►. He told them: “This man Jesus, whom I am telling you about, is our Messiah. He died and became alive again, just like the prophets predicted.” 4Some of the Jews there were persuaded by {believed} what Paul had said and began to associate with Paul and Silas. There were also many non-Jewish people there who worshipped God and many important women who also believed the message about Jesus, and they began to associate with Paul and Silas.

Some Jews there incited people to oppose Paul and Silas.

Acts 17:5-9

5But some leaders of the Jews there in Thessalonica became jealous because many people believed what Paul taught. So they went to the public square and persuaded some lazy men who were loitering there to follow them. In this way, the leaders of the Jews gathered a crowd and incited them to become noisy and start a riot against Paul and Silas. Those Jews and others ran to the house of a man named Jason. He was the man who had invited Paul and Silas to stay at his house. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas outside to where the crowd of people was waiting. 6They discovered that Paul and Silas were not there, but they found Jason and grabbed him. They dragged him and some of the other believers to where the city officials/authorities and many other people were gathered. The men who had brought Jason shouted, “Those two men have caused trouble [IDM] everywhere [HYP] they have gone. Now they have come to our city, 7and this fellow Jason invited them to stay at his house. All the people of this sect oppose what our Emperor has decreed. They say that another person, whose name is Jesus, is the real king!” 8When the crowd of people that had gathered and the city authorities heard that, they became very angry and excited. 9They wanted to put the believers in jail. But instead, the officials made Jason and the other believers pay a fine and told them that they would give the money back to them if Paul and Silas did not cause any more trouble. Then the authorities let Jason and those other believers go.

In Berea, Paul helped many Jews and non-Jews to believe in Jesus.

Acts 17:10-12

10So that same night, the believers sent Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica to Berea town. When Paul and Silas arrived there, they went to the Jewish meeting place, on a day when people had gathered there. 11The Jews in Thessalonica had not been very willing to listen to God’s message, but the Jews who lived in Berea were very willing to listen, so they listened very eagerly to the message about Jesus. Every day they read the Scriptures for themselves to find out if what Paul said about the Messiah was true. 12As a result, many of the Jewish people believed in Jesus, and also some of the important non-Jewish women and many non-Jewish men believed in him.

Jews from Thessalonica incited people to oppose Paul.

Acts 17:13-15

13But then the Jews in Thessalonica heard people tell them that Paul was in Berea and that he was preaching the message from God about Jesus. So they went to Berea and told people there that what Paul was teaching was not true. Thus, they caused many of those people to get angry at Paul. 14So several of the believers in Berea took Paul to the coast to go to another province. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. 15When Paul and the other men from Berea arrived at the coast, they got on a ship and went to Athens city. Then Paul said to the men who had come with him, “Tell Silas and Timothy to come to me here in Athens as soon as they can.” Then those men left Athens and returned to Berea.

In Athens, idols distressed Paul, so he talked to many people about Jesus.

Acts 17:16-17

16In Athens, Paul waited for Silas and Timothy to arrive. In the meantime, he walked around in the city. He became very distressed/disturbed because he saw that throughout [HYP] the city there were many idols. 17So he went to the Jewish meeting place and talked about Jesus with the Jews, and also with the Greeks who had accepted what the Jews believe. He also went to the public square/center every day and talked to the people whom he met there.

When Paul talked about Jesus, he perplexed some teachers.

Acts 17:18

18Paul met some teachers who liked to talk about what people should believe. People called some of them Epicureans and they called others Stoics. They told Paul what they believed, and they asked him what he believed. Then some of them said to one another, “This ignorant person is just talking nonsense [RHQ]!” Others said, “We(exc) think that he is teaching people about ◄foreign gods/ new gods that we (exc) have not heard about►.” They said that because Paul was telling them that Jesus had died and had become alive again afterwards. They had not heard that message before.

Athens Council members asked Paul to explain what he had been teaching.

Acts 17:19-21

19So they took Paul to the place where the city council met. When they arrived there, they said to Paul, “Please tell us, what is this new message that you (sg) are teaching people? 20You are teaching some things that startle us (exc), so we want to know what they mean.” 21They said that, because the people of Athens and also the people from other regions who lived there continually talked about what was new to them, or they listened to others tell what was new.

Paul told them about the God whom they did not know.

Acts 17:22-31

22Then Paul stood up before the men of the city council and said, “Citizens of Athens, I see that you ◄are very religious/think that it is very important to worship many gods►. 23I say that because, while I was walking along and observing the objects that represent different gods that you worship, I even saw an altar that had these words that someone had carved on it: THIS HONORS THE GOD THAT WE(exc) DO NOT KNOW. So now I will tell you about that God whom you worship but you do not know.

24He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Because he rules over all beings in heaven and on earth, he does not dwell in shrines that people have made. 25He does not need to have anything made for him by people [MTY] {to have people [MTY] make [MTY] anything for him}, because everything that exists belongs to him. He is the one who causes ◄us (inc)/all people► to live and breathe, and he gives us all the things that we(inc) need.

26In the beginning, God created one couple, and from them God produced all ◄the ethnic groups/the nations► that now live everywhere on the earth. He also decided where each ethnic group of people should live and how long they should live there. 27He wanted people to realize that they need him. Then maybe they would seek him and find him. God wants us to seek him, although he is really close [LIT] to each one of us. 28As someone has said, ‘It is only because he enables us that we (inc) live and move and do what we do.’ And, as some of your own poets have said, ‘We (inc) are God’s children.’

29Therefore, because we are God’s children and can communicate like God does, we (inc) should not think that he is anything like an image that people have made of gold or silver or stone which cannot communicate. Those images are designed and skillfully made {People design and make those images}, but they are not alive. 30During the times when people did not know what God wanted them to do, he did not immediately punish them for what they did. But now God commands all people everywhere to turn away from their evil behavior. 31He tells us that on a certain day that he has chosen he is going to judge all of us(inc) people in [MTY] the world. He has appointed a certain man to judge us, and that man will judge each of us fairly/justly. God has shown to all people that he has appointed that man to judge everyone, because God ◄caused him to become alive again after he had died/raised him from the dead►.”

Some Council members believed in Jesus.

Acts 17:32-34

32When the men of the council heard Paul say that ◄a man had become alive again after he had died/ someone had been raised from the dead►, some of them laughed scornfully. But others said, “We (exc) would like you (sg) to tell us more about this, some other time.” 33After they said that, Paul left the council meeting. 34However, some of the people there went along with Paul and became believers. Among those who believed in Jesus was a member of the council whose name was Dionysius. Also, an important woman whose name was Damaris and some other people who had heard Paul’s message also believed in Jesus.

18

In Corinth, Paul helped many people to become believers.

Acts 18:1-4

1After that, Paul left Athens city and went to Corinth city. 2There he met a Jew whose name was Aquila, who grew up in Pontus province. Aquila and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Rome, in Italy. They had previously left Rome because Claudius, the Roman Emperor, had ordered that all the Jews must leave Rome. Paul later went to see Aquila and Priscilla. 3Those two made tents to earn ◄money/a living►. Paul also made tents, so he stayed with them, and they all worked together. 4Every Sabbath, Paul went to the Jewish meeting place, where he spoke forcefully to both Jews and non-Jews. He repeatedly tried to persuade them that Jesus is the Messiah.

Paul helped many non-Jews become believers.

Acts 18:5-8

5Then Silas and Timothy arrived there from Macedonia province. After they arrived, Paul did not make tents anymore. He used all his time preaching the message about Jesus in the Jewish meeting place. He continued to tell the Jews that the Messiah they had been waiting for was Jesus. 6But the Jews began to oppose Paul and to say evil things about him. So he shook the dust from his clothes to show them that they were displeasing God. Then he said to them, “If God punishes you, it will be your [SYN] own fault [MTY], not mine! From now on I will go and preach to non-Jewish people!” 7So Paul left the Jewish meeting place and went into a house that was next to it, and preached there. Titius Justus, the owner of the house, was a non-Jewish man who had accepted what the Jews believe. 8After that, the ruler of the Jewish meeting place, whose name was Crispus, and all of his family [MTY] believed in the Lord Jesus. Many other people in Corinth who listened to Paul also believed in Jesus. Then they were baptized. But there were people who still opposed Paul and his preaching.

Jesus commanded Paul to continue speaking about him, so Paul did that.

Acts 18:9-11

9One night Paul had a vision in which the Lord Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid of those who oppose you. Instead, you should continue speaking to people about me. Do not stop, 10because I will help you, and no one will be able to harm you (sg) here. Keep telling people about me, because there are many in this city who will believe in me.” 11So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching people the message from God about Jesus.

Gallio refused to judge Paul.

Acts 18:12-17

12When Gallio was the Roman governor of Achaia province, the Jewish leaders [SYN] there got together and seized Paul. They took him before Gallio and accused him, 13saying, “This man is teaching people a false religion, leading them to worship God in ways that are contrary to our Jewish laws.” 14When Paul was about to speak [MTY] to defend himself, Gallio said to the Jews, “If this man had acted deceitfully or disobeyed any of our Roman laws, I would listen patiently to what you Jews want to tell me. 15However, you are merely arguing about words and names and your own Jewish laws, so you yourselves need to resolve this. I refuse to judge these things!” 16After Gallio had said that, he commanded some soldiers/guards that they expel those Jewish leaders from the courtroom. 17Then the mob outside grabbed the leader of the Jewish meeting place, Sosthenes because they considered that he was responsible for those accusations against Paul. They beat him, right there in front of the courthouse. But Gallio did nothing about it.

At Ephesus, Paul parted from Priscilla and Aquila.

Acts 18:18-21

18Paul stayed on with the believers in Corinth for ◄many days/some time►. Then he left the believers there, and went with Priscilla and her husband Aquila. They went down to Cenchrea, a port city. There Paul had his head shaved {someone shave his head} in order to partially complete a vow that he had taken. Then they got on a ship and sailed for Syria province. 19They arrived at Ephesus city, and Priscilla and Aquila stayed there.

Before Paul left Ephesus, he entered the Jewish meeting place and lectured to the Jews. 20They asked him to stay longer, but he refused. 21But, as he left, he told them, “I will come back, if God wills/desires me to do that.” Then, because he wanted to be in Jerusalem to finish completing his vow, he got on a ship that sailed from Ephesus.

Paul visited Jerusalem, then he went on to Antioch in Syria and then he returned to visit the believers throughout Galatia and Phrygia.

Acts 18:22-23

22When the ship arrived at Caesarea, Paul got off. He went up to Jerusalem and greeted the believers there. Then he went back down to Antioch city in Syria province.

23Paul spent some time with the believers there. Then he left Antioch and traveled to several towns that he had visited previously in Galatia and Phrygia provinces. He taught all of the believers more of the message from God about Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos about the gospel.

Acts 18:24-26

24While Paul was traveling in Galatia and Phrygia, a Jewish man whose name was Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria city. He spoke eloquently and he knew the Scriptures thoroughly. 25Other believers had taught him some things about how the Lord Jesus desires that people should conduct themselves, and he taught those things very enthusiastically to people. He had heard about some of the things that Jesus did and said, and he taught those facts accurately to people. However, he was teaching incompletely about Jesus, because he knew only what John the Baptizer had taught people whom he baptized. 26Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place, and he told the people there very confidently the things that he had learned. When Priscilla and Aquila heard what Apollos taught, they invited him to their home. There they explained more accurately to him the way that God gives people eternal life.

Apollos helped believers in Achaia.

Acts 18:27-28

27When Apollos decided that he would like to go to Achaia province, the believers in Ephesus told him that it would be good for him to do that. So they wrote a letter to the believers in Achaia saying that they should welcome Apollos. So Apollos got on a ship to go to Corinth. After he arrived, he greatly helped those whom God had kindly enabled to believe in Jesus. 28Apollos was vigorously arguing publicly with the leaders of the Jews while many other people listened. By quoting from the Scriptures, he proved to people that Jesus was the Messiah.

19

Paul helped some men to become real believers in Jesus.

Acts 19:1-7

1While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul left the places in Phrygia and Galatia provinces where he had been visiting, and traveled through Asia province back to Ephesus. He met some people who said that they were believers. 2He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed God’s message?” They answered, “No, we (exc) did not. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3So Paul asked, “So when you were baptized, what were you showing?” They replied, “We were showing that we (exc) believed what John the Baptizer taught.” 4Paul said, “John baptized people who turned away from their sinful behavior. He also told the people to believe in the one who would come after he had come, and that was Jesus.” 5So, when those men heard that, they were baptized to affirm that they believed [MTY] in the Lord Jesus. 6After that, Paul placed his hands on their heads one by one, and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon each of them. The Holy Spirit enabled them to speak in various languages [MTY] that they had not learned, and they also spoke messages that the Holy Spirit revealed to them. 7There were about twelve men whom Paul baptized and who received the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul helped many people in Asia province to hear the gospel.

Acts 19:8-10

8For three months after that, Paul entered the Jewish meeting place in Ephesus on each Sabbath/Jewish day of rest, and he spoke boldly. He convincingly taught the people about how God wanted to rule [MET] their lives. 9A few of the people in the meeting house believed the message about Jesus. But some of the people would not believe that message and did not want to continue to hear it. While many people were listening, they said many bad things about the way for people to receive eternal life about which Paul was preaching. So Paul left them and took the believers with him to meet in another place. He taught every day in a lecture hall that a man whose name was Tyrannus lectured in/owned. 10For two years Paul continued to teach people in that building. In this way, most of [HYP] the Jews and non-Jews who lived in Asia province heard the message about the Lord Jesus.

God enabled Paul to do amazing miracles.

Acts 19:11-12

11Also, God gave Paul the power [MTY] to do amazing miracles. 12If those who were sick could not come to Paul, handkerchiefs or aprons that Paul had touched would be taken and placed on the sick people {others would take and place on the sick people handkerchiefs or aprons that Paul had touched}. As a result, those sick people would become well, and evil spirits that troubled people would leave.

People honored Jesus’ name, after Jewish exorcists misused it and failed.

Acts 19:13-17

13There were also some Jews who traveled around to various places, and they commanded the evil spirits in those places to depart from people. Certain ones of those Jews once tried to command the evil spirits to come out of people by saying “I command you by the authority [MTY] of the Lord Jesus, the man about whom Paul preaches, to come out!” 14There were seven men who were doing that. They were sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew, who called himself a chief priest. 15But one day as they were doing that, the evil spirit refused to come out of that person. Instead, he said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know that he has authorized Paul to expel demons. ◄But no one has authorized you to do anything to me!/who authorized you to do anything to me?► [RHQ]” 16After saying that, suddenly the man who was controlled by the evil spirit jumped on the seven Jewish men, one after another, knocked all of them down, and beat each of them severely. He tore off their clothes and wounded them, causing them to bleed. So, greatly frightened, they all ran out of the house. 17All the people who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and non-Jews, heard what had happened. So they were afraid [MTY]. They honored the Lord Jesus [MTY] because they realized that he was very powerful.

Many believers confessed their former sins and burned their books of magic.

Acts 19:18-22

18At that time, while other believers were listening, many believers confessed the evil things that they had been doing. 19Several of those who had previously practiced sorcery gathered up their scrolls that told how to work magic and burned them in a public place. When people added up how much those scrolls had cost, they realized that altogether the amount was 50,000 valuable silver coins.

20As a result, many more people heard [MTY] the message about the Lord Jesus, and the message powerfully changed their lives.

21After those things had happened, Paul decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem, but he decided that first he would visit the believers in Macedonia and Achaia provinces again. Paul said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also go to Rome.” 22He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia. But Paul stayed a little longer in Ephesus city, in Asia province.

Demetrius made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis.

Acts 19:23-24

23Soon after that, some of the people there tried to make a lot of [LIT] trouble for the people who believed the way God revealed for us(inc) to receive eternal life. 24There was a man there whose name was Demetrius who made little images out of silver. They were models of the temple of a goddess whose name was Artemis. Demetrius and the other men who made those little images earned a lot of [LIT] money from selling those images.

Demetrius incited people to shout and to riot.

Acts 19:25-31

25Demetrius called a meeting of his workmen and also of others who made the little silver images. He said to them, “Men, you know that we (inc) earn a lot of money doing our kind of work. 26Also, you know that this fellow Paul has persuaded many people who live in Ephesus to no longer buy the images that we make. Now even the people from many other towns in our province no longer want to buy what we make. This fellow tells people that the gods that we have made and worship are not gods and that we should not worship them. 27If people continue to listen to him, soon they will ruin our business. Besides, they will no longer think that they should come to the temple of Artemis to worship her. People all over our Asia province and everywhere [HYP] else worship our great goddess Artemis. Soon people may no longer consider that Artemis is great!” 28All the men there were very angry at Paul when they heard what Demetrius said. They began to shout, “The goddess Artemis of us Ephesians is very great!” 29Many of the other people in the city heard the shouting and went and joined the crowd. They also became angry at Paul and began shouting. Several of the people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, two men from Macedonia who had been traveling with Paul. Then the whole crowd of people ran, dragging those men along with them, to the city stadium. 30Paul also wanted to go to the stadium and speak to the people, but the other believers would not let him go there. 31Also, some government officials of that province who were friends of Paul heard what was happening. So they sent someone to tell him urgently not to go into the stadium.

The crowd shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Acts 19:32-34

32The crowd of people in the stadium continued shouting. Some shouted one thing, and some shouted something else. But most of them did not even know what the meeting was about! 33One of the Jews there was named Alexander. Some of the Jews pushed him to the front of the stadium, so that he could speak to the crowd of people. So Alexander motioned with his hands to the crowd, wanting them to be quiet. He wanted to tell them that the Jews were not responsible for the riot. 34But many of the non-Jewish people knew that Alexander was a Jew. They also knew that the Jews did not worship the goddess Artemis. So the non-Jews there unitedly and repeatedly shouted for about two hours, “Great is the goddess Artemis whom we(inc) Ephesians worship!”

The city secretary quieted, warned and dismissed the crowd.

Acts 19:35-41

35Then the city secretary made the crowd stop shouting, and he said to them, “My fellow-citizens, everyone in the world knows [RHQ] that we(inc) people who live in Ephesus city guard the temple where we worship the great goddess Artemis. Also, everyone knows that we(inc) watch over the sacred image of our goddess that fell down from heaven! 36Of course everyone knows that, and no one can say that these things are not true. So you should be quiet now. Do not suddenly do anything ◄foolish/that will cause us trouble►. 37You should not have brought these two men here, because they have not done anything evil. They have not gone into our temples and taken things from there. And they have not spoken evil of our goddess. 38Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen want to accuse anyone about anything bad, they should do it in the right way. There are courts that you can go to when you want to accuse someone, and there are judges there who have been appointed by the government {whom the government has appointed}. You can accuse anyone there. 39But if you want to ask about something else, you should ask for other officials to resolve it when those officials legally assemble. 40And this is certainly not a legal meeting! Resolve this legally because, if we(inc) do not, I am afraid that the governor will hear about all this noise that you have made and will say that we (inc) were trying to rebel against the government. If he would ask me what you were all shouting about, I would not be able to give him an answer.” 41That is what the city secretary said to the crowd. Then he told them all to go home. So they left.

20

After being in Macedonia and Greece, Paul went to Troas.

Acts 20:1-6

1After the people at Ephesus had stopped rioting, Paul summoned the believers. He encouraged them to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. Soon after that, he told them goodbye and left to go to Macedonia province. 2After he arrived there, he visited each town where there were believers, and encouraged them. Then he arrived in Greece province, which is also called Achaia. 3He stayed there for three months. Then he planned to return to Syria by ship, but he heard that some of the Jews [SYN] in that area were planning to kill him as he traveled. So he decided instead to go by land, and he traveled again through Macedonia. 4The men who were going to travel with him to Jerusalem were Sopater, who was a son of Pyrrhus, who grew up in Berea town; Aristarchus and Secundus, who were from Thessalonica city; Gaius, who was from Derbe town; Timothy, who was from Galatia province; and Tychicus and Trophimus who were from Asia province. 5Those seven men went ahead of Paul and me, Luke, by ship from Macedonia, so they got to Troas before we did and waited for the two of us there. 6But we two(exc) traveled by land as far as Philippi city. After the Jewish festival when they eat unleavened bread, we got on a ship that was going from the port near Philippi to Troas city. After five days we (exc) arrived at Troas and we met the other men who had traveled there ahead of us. Then we all stayed in Troas for seven days.

At Troas, Paul encouraged believers by resurrecting Eutychus.

Acts 20:7-12

7◄On Sunday evening/On the evening of the first day of the week►, we (exc) and the other believers there gathered together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to eat other food [SYN]. Paul spoke to the believers. He continued teaching them until midnight, because he was planning to leave Troas the next day. 8Many oil lamps were burning in the upstairs room in which we (exc) had gathered, so the fumes caused some people to become sleepy. 9A young man whose name was Eutychus was there. He was seated on the sill of an open window on the third story of the house. As Paul continued talking for a long time, Eutychus became sleepier and sleepier. Finally, he was sound/really asleep. He fell out of the window from the third story down to the ground. Some of the believers went down immediately and picked him up. But he was dead. 10Paul also went down. He lay down and stretched out on top of the young man and put his arms around him. Then he said to the people who were standing around, “Do not worry, he is alive again now!” 11Then Paul, along with the others, went upstairs again and they ate the Lord’s Supper and other food [SYN]. Afterwards, Paul conversed with the believers until dawn. Then he left. 12The other people took the young man home, and were greatly encouraged because he was alive again.

Paul and his companions traveled from Troas to Miletus.

Acts 20:13-16

13We then went to the ship. Paul did not get on the ship with us in Troas, because he preferred to go more quickly overland to Assos town. The rest of us got on the ship and sailed for Assos. 14We (exc) met Paul in Assos. He got on the ship with us, and we sailed to Mitylene town. 15The day after we reached Mitylene, we sailed from there and arrived at a place near Kios Island. The day after that, we sailed to Samos Island. The next day we left Samos and sailed to Miletus town. 16Miletus was just south of Ephesus city. Paul had earlier decided that he would not get on a ship that would stop at Ephesus, because he did not want to spend several days in Asia province. If possible, he wanted to arrive in Jerusalem by the time of the Pentecost festival, and the time of that festival was near.

Paul reminded the Ephesian elders how he had conducted himself and had taught them.

Acts 20:17-21

17When the ship arrived at Miletus, Paul sent a messenger to Ephesus to ask the elders of the congregation to come to talk with him.

18When the elders arrived, Paul said to them, “You personally know how I conducted myself among you the entire time that I was with you, from the first day when I arrived here in Asia province until the day I left. 19You know how I was serving the Lord Jesus very humbly and how I sometimes wept about people. You also know how I suffered because the Jews [SYN] who were not believers often tried to harm me. 20You also know that, as I preached God’s message to you, I never left out anything that would help you. You know that I taught you God’s message when many people were present, and I also went to your homes and taught it there. 21I preached both to Jews and to non-Jews, telling them all that they must turn away from their sinful behavior. I also told them they should believe in our Lord Jesus.”

Paul told them that they would never see him again.

Acts 20:22-31

22“And now note this: I am going to Jerusalem, because God’s Spirit has clearly shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me while I am there. 23But I do know that in each city where I have stopped, the Holy Spirit has ◄told me/ caused the believers to tell me► that in Jerusalem people will put me in prison [PRS] and will cause me to suffer [PRS]. 24But I do not care even if people kill me, if first I am able to finish the work [MET] that the Lord Jesus has told me to do. He appointed me to tell people the good message that God saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve. 25I have preached to you the message about how God desires to rule people’s lives. But now I know that today is the last time that you fellow believers will see me [SYN]. 26So I want you all to understand that if anyone who has heard me preach dies without trusting in Jesus, it is not my fault [MTY], 27because I told you [LIT] everything [HYP] that God has planned for us (inc). 28You leaders must continue to believe and obey God’s message. You must also help all the other believers [MET] for whom the Holy Spirit has caused you to be responsible [MTY]. Watch over [MET] yourselves and the other believers as a shepherd watches over his sheep. God bought them with the blood that flowed from his Son’s body on the cross. 29I know very well that after I leave, people who teach [MET] false doctrines will come among you and will do great harm to the believers. They will be like fierce wolves that kill sheep. 30Even in your own group of believers there will be some who will deceive other believers by teaching them messages that are false. They will teach those messages so that some people will believe them and will become their followers. 31So watch out that none of you stops believing the true message about our Lord Jesus. Remember that day and night for about three years I repeatedly taught you that message, and warned you with tears in my eyes not to believe any other message.”

Paul entrusted them to God and to the message about God’s goodness.

Acts 20:32-35

32“Now as I leave you, I ask God to protect you and to keep you believing the message that he saves us(inc) by doing for us what we do not deserve. If you continue believing the message that I told you, you will become spiritually mature, and God will give you the blessings that he has promised to give to all of those who belong to him.

33As for myself, I have not desired anyone’s money [MTY] or fine clothing. 34You yourselves know that I have worked with my hands [MTY] to earn the money that my companions and I needed. 35In everything that I did, I showed you that we (inc) should work hard in order to have enough money to give some to those who are needy. We (inc) should remember that our Lord Jesus himself said, ‘You are happy when people give you what you need, but God will be happy with you when you give other people what they need.’”

Paul prayed with them and they sadly told him goodbye.

Acts 20:36-38

36When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of the elders and prayed. 37They all cried a lot, and they hugged Paul and kissed him. 38They were especially sad because he had said that they would never see him [SYN] again. Then they all went with him to the ship.

21

Paul, Luke and his other companions traveled from Miletus to Tyre.

Acts 21:1-3

1After we said goodbye to the elders from Ephesus, we got on the ship and sailed to Cos Island, where the ship stopped for the night. The next day we sailed from Cos to Rhodes Island, where the ship stopped again. The day after that we sailed to Patara town, where the ship stopped. This was on Patara Island. 2At Patara we left that ship, and someone told us that there was a ship that would be going to Phoenicia region. So we got on that ship, and it left. 3We sailed until we could see Cyprus Island. We passed to the south of the island and continued sailing until we arrived at Phoenicia region, in Syria province. We arrived at Tyre city. The ship was going to stay there several days, because its workers had to unload the cargo.

At Tyre, believers warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but he went on anyway.

Acts 21:4-6

4Someone told us where the believers in Tyre lived, so we (exc) went and stayed with them for seven days. Because God’s Spirit revealed to them ◄that people would cause Paul to suffer/Paul would suffer► in Jerusalem, they told Paul that he should not go there. 5But when it was time for the ship to leave again, we prepared to continue going to Jerusalem. When we left Tyre, all the believers, including their wives and children, went with us to the edge of the sea. We all knelt down there on the sand/shore and prayed. 6After we all said goodbye, Paul and we his companions got on the ship, and the other believers returned to their own homes.

Paul and his companions sailed from Tyre to Caesarea.

Acts 21:7-9

7After we (exc) left Tyre, we continued on that ship to Ptolemais city. There were believers there, and we greeted them and stayed with them that night. 8The next day we left Ptolemais and sailed to Caesarea city, where we stayed in the home of Philip, who spent his days telling others how to become disciples of Jesus. He was one of the seven men whom the believers in Jerusalem had chosen to care for the widows. 9He had four daughters who were not married. Each of them frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had revealed to them.

The believers could not persuade Paul from going on to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:10-14

10After we(exc) had been in Philip’s house for several days, a believer whose name was Agabus came down from Judea district and arrived in Caesarea. He frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had told him. 11Coming over to where we were, he took off Paul’s belt. Then he tied his own feet and hands with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The Jewish leaders [SYN] in Jerusalem will tie up the hands and feet of the owner of this belt, like this, and they will hand him over to non-Jewish people as a prisoner.’” 12When the rest of us heard that, we and other believers there repeatedly pled with Paul, “Please do not go up to Jerusalem!” 13But Paul replied, “◄Please stop crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] from going!/Why are you crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] from going?► [RHQ] I am willing to be put {for people to put me} in prison and also to be killed {for them to kill me} in Jerusalem because I serve [MTY] the Lord Jesus.” 14When we(exc) realized that he was determined to go to Jerusalem, we did not try any longer to persuade him not to go. We said, “May ◄the Lord God do what he wants/the Lord’s will be done►!”

Paul and other believers went from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:15-16

15After those days in Caesarea, we (exc) prepared our things and left to go by land up to Jerusalem. 16Some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. On the way to Jerusalem, we stayed one night in the house of a man whose name was Mnason. He was from Cyprus Island, and he had believed in Jesus when people were first beginning to hear the message about him.

Paul agreed with church leaders to perform a Jewish purifying ritual.

Acts 21:17-26

17When we arrived in Jerusalem, a group of the believers greeted us happily. 18The next day Paul and the rest of us went to speak with James, who was the leader of the congregation there. All of the other leaders/elders of the congregation in Jerusalem were also there. 19Paul greeted them, and then he reported all of the things that God had enabled him to do among the non-Jewish people. 20When they heard that, James and the other elders said, “Praise the Lord!” Then one of them said to Paul, “Brother/Friend, you (sg) know that there are very many thousands of us (inc) Jewish people here who have believed in the Lord Jesus. Also, you know that we (inc) all continue very carefully to obey the laws that Moses gave us. 21But our fellow Jewish believers have been told {have heard people say} that when you are among non-Jews, you tell the Jewish believers who live there that they should stop obeying the laws [MTY] ◄of Moses/ that Moses received from God►. People say that you tell those Jewish believers not to circumcise their sons and not to practice our other customs. We(exc) do not believe that this is true. 22But our fellow Jewish believers will certainly hear that you have arrived, and they will be angry with you. So you need to do something [RHQ] to show them that what they heard about you is not true. 23So you should do what we suggest to you. There are four men among us who have strongly promised to God about something. 24Go with these men to the Temple and ritually purify yourself along with them. Then, when it is time for them to offer the sacrifices for that ritual, pay for what they offer as sacrifices. After that, they can shave their heads to show that they have done what they promised to do. And when people see you in the courts of the Temple with those men, they will know that what they have been told {what people have told them} about you is not true. Instead, all of them will know that you obey all our Jewish laws and rituals. 25As for the non-Jewish believers, we elders here in Jerusalem have talked about which of our laws they should obey, and we (exc) wrote them a letter, telling them what we decided. We wrote that they should not eat meat that people have offered as a sacrifice to any idol, that they should not eat blood from animals, and that they should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them. We also told them that they should not have sex with someone to whom they are not married.” 26So Paul agreed to do what they asked, and the next day he took the four men, and together they ritually purified themselves. After that, Paul went to the Temple courts and told the priest what day they would finish purifying themselves ritually and when they would offer the animals as sacrifices for each of them.

Some Jews seized Paul in the Temple courts.

Acts 21:27-30

27-29When the seven days for purifying themselves were nearly finished, Paul returned to the Temple courtyard. Some Jews from Asia province saw him there, and they were very angry at him. On another day they had seen Paul walking around in Jerusalem with Trophimus, who was a non-Jew. Their laws did not permit non-Jews to be in the Temple, and they thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the Temple courtyard that day. So they called out to many other Jews who were in the Temple courtyard to help them seize [MTY] Paul. They shouted, “Fellow Israelites, come and help us punish this man! This is the one who is constantly teaching people wherever he goes that they should despise the Jewish people. He teaches people that they should no longer obey the laws of Moses nor respect this holy Temple. He has even brought non-Jews here into the court of our Temple, causing God to consider it no longer holy!” 30People throughout [MTY] the city heard that there was trouble at the Temple courtyard, and they came running there. They grabbed Paul and dragged him outside of the Temple area. The gates to the Temple courtyard were shut {The Temple guards shut the doors to the Temple courts} immediately, so that the people would not riot inside the Temple area.

Roman soldiers ran to where those Jews were trying to kill Paul.

Acts 21:31-32

31While they were trying to kill Paul, someone ran to the fort near the Temple and told the Roman commander that many [HYP] people [MTY] in Jerusalem were rioting at the Temple. 32The commander quickly took some officers and a large group of soldiers and ran to the Temple area where the crowd was. When the crowd of people who were yelling and beating Paul saw the commander and the soldiers coming, they stopped beating him.

After the commander arrested Paul, soldiers carried him towards the fort.

Acts 21:33-40

33The commander came to where Paul was and seized him. He commanded soldiers to fasten a chain to each of Paul’s arms. Then he asked the people in the crowd, “Who is this man, and what has he done?” 34Some of the many people there were shouting one thing, and some were shouting something else. Because they continued shouting so loudly, the commander could not understand what they were shouting. So he commanded that Paul be taken {the soldiers to take Paul} into the barracks so that he could question him there. 35The soldiers led Paul to the steps of the barracks, but many people continued to follow them, trying to kill Paul. So the commander told the soldiers to carry Paul up the steps into the barracks. 36The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”

37As Paul was about to be taken {the soldiers were about to take Paul} into the barracks, he said in Greek to the commander, “May I speak to you?” The commander said, “◄I am surprised that you can speak the Greek language!/Can you (sg) speak the Greek language?►” [RHQ] 38“◄I thought that you (sg) were that fellow/Are you not that fellow► from Egypt [RHQ] who wanted to rebel against the government not long ago, and who took 4,000 violent terrorists with him out into the desert, so that we could not catch him?” 39Paul answered, “No, I am not! I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus, which is an important [LIT] city in Cilicia province. I ask that you (sg) let me speak to the people.” 40Then the commander permitted Paul to speak. So Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand for the crowd to be quiet. And after the people in the crowd became quiet, Paul spoke to them in their own Hebrew language [MTY].

22

Paul defended his believing in Jesus, but the Jews wanted to kill him.

Acts 22:1-16

1Paul said, “Jewish elders and my other fellow Jews, listen to me now while I reply to those who are accusing me!” 2When the crowd of people heard Paul speaking to them in their own Hebrew language, they became even more quiet and really listened. Then Paul said to them, 3“I am a Jew, as are all of you. I was born in Tarsus city, in Cilicia province, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. When I was young, for many years I studied the laws that Moses gave to our ancestors. I was taught by the famous teacher Gamaliel [MTY] {The famous teacher Gamaliel taught [MTY] me}. I have carefully obeyed those laws, because I have wanted to obey God. I am sure that many of you also carefully obey those laws. 4That is why I previously persecuted those who believe the message that people call the Way that Jesus taught. I continually looked for ways to kill them. Whenever I found men or women who believed that message, I commanded that they should be seized and thrown {people to seize them and throw them} into jail. 5The suprrme priest knows this, and so do the other respected men who belong to our Jewish Council. They gave me letters to take to their fellow Jews in Damascus city. By means of those letters, they authorized me to go to there and find people who believed in Jesus. They had written in the letters that I was to bring those people as prisoners to Jerusalem, so that they would be punished here {the leaders here could punish them}.

So I went on my way to Damascus. 6About noon, my companions and I were getting near Damascus. Suddenly a bright light from the sky flashed all around me. 7The light was so bright that I fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me from up in the sky. The one who was speaking to me said, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you (sg) do things to harm me?’ 8I answered, ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth. I am the one whom you (sg) are harming by doing things to harm my followers.’ 9The men who were traveling with me saw the very bright light, and they heard a voice, but they did not understand what the voice said to me. 10Then I asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus! A man there will tell you (sg) all that I have planned for you to do.’ 11After that, I could not see, because the very bright light had caused me to become blind. So my companions took me by the hand and led me until we(exc) arrived in Damascus. 12A couple of days later, a man whose name was Ananias came to see me. He was a man who greatly respected God and carefully obeyed our Jewish laws. All the Jews living in Damascus said good things about him. 13He came and stood beside me and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ Instantly I could see! I saw Ananias standing there beside me. 14Then he said: ‘The God whom we(inc) worship and whom our ancestors worshipped has chosen you and will show you what he wants you to do. He has allowed you to see the righteous one, the Messiah, and you have heard him speaking to you. 15He wants you to tell people everywhere what you have seen and heard from him. 16So now ◄do not delay!/why delay?► [RHQ] Stand up, let me baptize you, and by praying to the Lord Jesus ask God to forgive you (sg) for your sins!’”

Paul told about the Lord’s commanding him to go to non-Jewish people.

Acts 22:17-22

17“Later, I returned to Jerusalem. One day I went to the Temple courtyard. While I was praying there, I saw a vision in which18I saw the Lord speaking to me. He said to me, ‘Do not stay here! Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not ◄believe/listen to► what you (sg) tell them about me!’ 19But I protested and said to him, ‘Lord, they know that I went to many of our meeting houses looking for people who believe in you. I was putting in jail those whom I found who believed in you, and I was even beating them. 20They remember that when Stephen was killed [MTY] {when people killed [MTY] Stephen} because he told people about you, I stood there watching it all and approving what they were doing. I even guarded the outer garments that those who were murdering him had thrown aside. So if I stay here, the fact that I have changed how I think about you will surely impress those leaders of our people.’ 21But the Lord said to me, ‘No, do not stay here! Leave Jerusalem, because I am going to send you (sg) far away from here to non-Jewish people!’” 22The people listened quietly to what Paul was saying until he mentioned the Lord sending him to non-Jewish people. Then they began shouting angrily, “Kill him! He does not deserve to live any longer!” They said that because they could not believe that God would save anyone except Jews.

Paul said that he was a Roman citizen, so soldiers did not flog him.

Acts 22:23-29

23While they continued shouting, “Kill him!” they took off their cloaks and threw dust into the air, which showed how angry they were. 24So the commander commanded that Paul be taken {soldiers to take Paul} into the barracks. He told the soldiers that they should strike Paul with a whip that had pieces of bone/metal on the end of it, in order to make him tell what he had done that made the Jews shout so angrily. So the soldiers took Paul into the barracks. 25Then they stretched his arms out and tied them so that they could whip him on his back. But Paul said to the officer who was standing nearby watching, “You(sg) should think carefully about this! You will certainly be [RHQ] acting unlawfully if you whip me, a Roman citizen whom no one has put on trial and condemned!” 26When the officer heard that, he went to the commander and reported it to him. He said to the commander, “This man is a Roman citizen ◄Surely you would not command us to whip him!/Do you really want us to whip him?► [RHQ]” 27The commander was surprised when he heard that. He himself went into the barracks and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you (sg) really a Roman citizen?” Paul answered, “Yes, I am.” 28Then the commander said, “I am also a Roman citizen. I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman citizen, so I did not need to pay anything.” 29The soldiers were about to whip Paul and to ask him questions about what he had done. But when they heard what Paul said, they left him immediately. The commander also became afraid, because he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had illegally commanded soldiers to tie up Paul’s hands.

The commander’s soldiers brought Paul to the Jewish Council.

Acts 22:30

30The commander still wanted to know exactly why the Jews were accusing Paul. So the next day he told the soldiers to take the chains off Paul. He also summoned the chief priests and the other Jewish Council members. Then he took Paul to where the Council was meeting and commanded him to stand before them.

23

Paul apologized for unknowingly denouncing the high priest.

Acts 23:1-5

1Paul looked straight at the Jewish council members and said: “My fellow Jews, all my life I have lived respecting our God, and I do not know of anything that I have done that I knew was wrong/evil.” 2When Ananias the supreme priest heard what Paul said, he commanded the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. 3Then Paul said to Ananias, “God will punish you (sg) for that, you hypocrite [MET]! You sit there and judge me, using the laws that God gave Moses. But you yourself disobey those laws, because you commanded me to be struck {these men to strike me} without having proved that I have done anything that is wrong!” 4The men who were standing near Paul rebuked him. They said, “Are not you (sg) afraid to insult God’s servant, our supreme priest?” 5Paul replied, “My fellow Jews, I am sorry that I said that. I did not know that the man who told one of you to hit me is the high priest. If I had known that, I would not have insulted our supreme priest, because I know that it is written {that Moses wrote} in our Jewish law, ‘Do not speak evil of any of your rulers!’”

The commander rescued Paul from the Council members.

Acts 23:6-10

6Paul realized that some of the Council members were Sadducees and others were Pharisees. So, in order to cause the Pharisees and Sadducees to argue among themselves instead of accusing him, he called out loudly in the Council hall, “My fellow Jews, I am a Pharisee, like my father was. I have been put {You have put me} on trial here because I confidently expect that some day God will ◄cause people who have died to become alive again/raise people from the dead►.” 7When he said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to argue with one another about whether people who have died will become alive again or not. 8The Sadducees believe that after people die, they will not become alive again. They also believe that there are no angels and no other kinds of spirits. But the Pharisees believe that all people who have died will one day become alive again. They also believe that there are angels and other kinds of spirits. 9So the Council members ◄were divided/did not agree with each other►, and they began shouting at one another as they argued. Some of the teachers of the laws that God gave Moses who were Pharisees stood up. One of them said, “We (exc) think that this man has done nothing wrong.” Another said, “Maybe an angel or some other spirit really spoke to him and what he says is true.” 10Then the Pharisees and Sadducees argued even more loudly with one another. As a result, the commander ◄was afraid/thought► that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he commanded soldiers to go down from the barracks and forcefully take Paul away from the Council members and bring him up into the barracks. So the soldiers did that.

The Lord revealed that Paul would tell people about him in Rome.

Acts 23:11

11That night, in a vision Paul saw the Lord Jesus come and stand near him. The Lord said to him, “Be courageous! You (sg) have told people here in Jerusalem about me, and you must tell people in Rome about me, too.”

Some Jews plotted to kill Paul.

Acts 23:12-15

12The next morning some of the Jews [MTY] who hated Paul met secretly and talked about how they could kill him. They promised themselves that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed him. They asked God to curse them if they did not do what they promised. 13There were more than 40 men who planned to do that. 14They went to the chief priests and Jewish elders and told them, “God has heard us promise/vow that we (exc) will not eat or drink anything until we (exc) have killed Paul. 15So we request that you go to the commander and ask him, on behalf of the whole Jewish Council, to bring Paul down to us from the barracks. Tell the commander that you want to question Paul some more. But we (exc) will be waiting to kill Paul while he is on the way here.”

Paul’s nephew warned that some Jews had plotted to kill Paul.

Acts 23:16-22

16But the son of Paul’s sister heard what they were planning to do, so he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17When Paul heard that, he called one of the officers and said to him, “Please take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something important.” 18So the officer took Paul’s nephew to the commander. The officer said to the commander, “That prisoner, Paul, called me and said, ‘Please take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something important.’ ” 19The commander took the young man by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, “What do you (sg) need to tell me?” 20The young man said, “There are some [SYN] Jews who have planned to ask you (sg) to bring Paul before their Council tomorrow. They will say that they want to ask him some more questions. But that is not true. 21Do not do what they ask you (sg) to do, because there are more than 40 Jewish men who will be hiding and waiting to attack Paul when he passes by on the way to the Council. They even promised/vowed to God that they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are ready to do it, and right now they are waiting for you (sg) to agree to do what they are asking you to do.” 22The commander said to Paul’s young nephew, “Do not tell anyone that you (sg) have told me about their plan.” Then he sent the young man away.

Many soldiers escorted Paul safely to Governor Felix at Caesarea.

Acts 23:23-35

23Then the commander called two of his officers and told them, “Get a group of 200 soldiers ready to travel. Take along 70 soldiers riding horses, and 200 other soldiers carrying spears. All of you must be ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight, to go down to Caesarea. 24And take along horses for Paul and those accompanying him to ride, and safely escort him to the palace of Governor Felix.” 25Then the commander wrote a letter to send to the governor. This is what he wrote: 26“I am Claudius Lysias writing to you. You, Felix, are our governor whom we (exc) respect, and I sincerely send you my greetings. 27I have sent you(sg) this man, Paul, because certain Jews seized him and were about to kill him. But I heard someone tell me that he is a Roman citizen, so I and my soldiers went and rescued him. 28I wanted to know what those Jews were saying that he had done wrong, so I took him to their Jewish Council. 29I listened while they asked this man questions and he answered them. The things they accused him about were entirely concerned with their Jewish laws. But Paul has not disobeyed any of our Roman laws. So our officials should not execute him or even put him in prison [MTY]. 30Someone told me that some [SYN] Jews were secretly planning to kill this man, so I immediately am sending him to you, so that you(sg) may give him a fair trial there. I have also commanded the Jews who have accused him to go there to Caesarea and tell you (sg) what they are accusing him about.”

31So the soldiers did what the commander commanded them, taking this letter with them. They got Paul and took him with them during the night down to Antipatris city. 32The next day, the foot soldiers returned to the barracks in Jerusalem, and the soldiers who rode horses went on with Paul. 33When the men escorting Paul arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor, and they delivered Paul to the governor. Then the horsemen returned to Jerusalem. 34The governor read the letter, and then he said to Paul, “What province are you (sg) from?” Paul answered, “I am from Cilicia province.” 35Then the governor said, “When the people who have accused you (sg) arrive, I will listen to what each of you says and then I will judge your case.” Then he commanded that Paul be guarded {soldiers to guard Paul} in the palace that King Herod the Great had built.

24

Paul defended himself, and the governor Felix promised to judge him.

Acts 24:1-9

1Five days later Ananias the high priest, having heard that Paul was now in Caesarea, went down there from Jerusalem, along with some other Jewish elders and a lawyer whose name was Tertullus. There they formally told the governor what Paul had done that they considered wrong. 2The governor commanded Paul to be brought {a soldier to bring Paul} in. When Paul arrived, Tertullus began to accuse him. He said to the governor, “Honorable Governor Felix, during the many years that you (sg) have ruled us, we (exc) have lived well/peacefully. By planning wisely, you have improved many things in this province. 3Therefore, sir, we (exc) always gratefully acknowledge everything that you have done for all of us, wherever you have done those things. 4But, so that I will not take up too much of your time, I earnestly request that you kindly listen to me very briefly. 5We (exc) have observed that this man, wherever he goes, causes trouble. Specifically, he causes all the Jews everywhere [HYP] to riot. Also, he leads the entire group whom people call ‘the followers of the Nazarene’, a false sect. 6He even tried to do things in the Temple in Jerusalem that would ◄defile it/make it unholy►. So we (exc) seized him. 7But Lysias, the commander at the Roman fort, came with his soldiers and forcefully took him away from us [SYN]. 8Lysias also commanded Paul’s accusers to come here and accuse Paul before you. If you question him yourself, you will be able to learn that all these things about which we are accusing him are true.” 9When the Jewish leaders who were listening heard that, they told the governor that what Tertullus had said was true.

Paul disproved what they had said, but admitted that he was a Christian.

Acts 24:10-21

10Then the governor motioned with his hand to Paul that he should speak. So Paul replied. He said, “Governor Felix, I know that you(sg) have judged this Jewish province for many years. Therefore I gladly defend myself, confident that you will listen to me and will judge me fairly. 11You (sg) can easily ascertain that ◄it has not been more than twelve days since/only twelve days ago► I went up went up to Jerusalem to worship God. That is not enough time to cause a lot of trouble. 12No one can claim legitimately that they saw me arguing with anyone at the Temple courts because I did not do that. No one can claim legitimately that they saw me causing people to riot in any Jewish meeting place, or causing trouble anywhere else in Jerusalem city, because I did not do that. 13So they cannot prove to you the things about which they are now accusing me. 14But I admit to you (sg) that this is true: I do worship the God that our ancestors worshipped. It is true that I follow the way that Jesus taught us. The Jewish leaders call that a false religion/teaching. I also believe everything that was written by Moses {that Moses wrote} in the laws that God gave him, and everything that was written by the other prophets {that the other prophets wrote} in their books [MTY]. 15I confidently expect, just like some of these men also expect, that some day God will cause everyone who has died to become alive again. He will ◄cause to become alive again/raise from the dead► both those who were righteous and those who were wicked. 16Because I am confidently waiting for that day, I always try to do what pleases God and what other people think is right. 17After I had been in other places for several years, I returned to Jerusalem. I went there to deliver some money to my fellow Jews who are poor, and to offer sacrifices to God. 18Some Jews saw me in the temple courts after I had completed the ritual by which a person is made {that makes a person} pure. There was no crowd with me, and I was not causing people to riot. 19But it was some other Jews who had come from Asia province who really caused people to riot. They should be here in front of you (sg) to accuse me, if they thought that I did something wrong. 20But if they do not want to do that (OR, But because they are not here), these Jewish men who are here should tell you (sg) what they think I did that was wrong, when I defended myself before their Council. 21They might say that one thing that I shouted as I stood before them was wrong. What I said was, ‘You are judging me today because I believe that God will ◄cause all people who have died to become alive again/raise all people from the dead►.’”

Governor Felix adjourned the trial.

Acts 24:22-23

22Felix already knew quite a lot about what people called ‘the way of Jesus’. But he did not let Paul or his accusers continue to speak. Instead, he said to them, “Later, when Commander Lysias comes down here, I will decide these matters that concern you all.” 23Then he told the officer who was guarding Paul to take Paul back to the prison and make sure that he was guarded all the time. But he said that Paul was not to be chained {that the officer was not to fasten chains on him}, and if his friends came to visit him, the officer should allow them to help Paul in any way that they wished.

Felix often talked to Paul, hoping that Paul would give him money.

Acts 24:24-27

24Several days later Felix and his wife Drusilla, who was a Jew, came back to Caesarea after having been away for a few days. Felix commanded Paul to be brought in {a soldier to bring Paul in}. Then Felix listened to what Paul said to him. Paul spoke about what Christians believe about the Messiah Jesus. 25Paul explained to them about what God requires people to do in order to please him. He also explained about God requiring people to control how they act. Paul also told him that there will be a time when God will judge people. Felix became alarmed after hearing those things. So he said to Paul, “That is all I want to hear now. When there is a time that is convenient I will ask you (sg) to come to me again.” 26Felix said that because he hoped that Paul would give him some money to allow Paul to get out of prison. So he repeatedly sent for Paul to come, and Paul repeatedly went and talked with him. But he did not give Felix any money, and Felix did not command his soldiers to release Paul from prison.

27Felix let Paul remain in prison, because he wanted to please the Jewish leaders and he knew that they did not want him to release Paul. But when two years had passed, Porcius Festus became governor in place of Felix.

25

Festus told the Jews to go and accuse Paul at Caesarea.

Acts 25:1-5

1Festus, who was now the governor of the province, arrived in Caesarea, and three days later he went up to Jerusalem. 2In Jerusalem, the chief priests and other Jewish leaders formally told Festus about the things that they said that Paul had done that were wrong. 3They urgently asked Festus to do something for them. They asked him to command soldiers to bring Paul to Jerusalem, so that Festus could put him on trial there. But they were planning that some of them would hide near the road and wait for Paul and kill him when he was traveling to Jerusalem. 4But Festus replied, “Paul is in Caesarea, and is being guarded {soldiers are guarding him} there. I myself will go down to Caesarea in a few days. 5Choose some of your leaders to go there with me. While they are there, they can accuse Paul of the wrong things that you say that he has done.”

Paul appealed to Caesar, so Festus agreed to that.

Acts 25:6-12

6After Festus had been in Jerusalem eight or ten days, he went back down to Caesarea. Several of the Jewish leaders also went there. The next day Festus commanded that Paul be brought {someone to bring Paul} to him in the assembly hall so that he could judge him. 7After Paul was brought to the assembly hall, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around him to accuse him. They told Festus that Paul had committed many crimes. But they could not prove that Paul had done the things about which they accused him. 8Then Paul spoke to defend himself. He said to Festus, “I have done nothing wrong against the laws of us (exc) Jews, and I have not disobeyed the rules concerning our Temple. I have also done nothing wrong against your government [MTY].” 9But Festus wanted to please the Jewish leaders, so he asked Paul, “Are you (sg) willing to go up to Jerusalem so that I can listen as these men accuse you there?” 10But Paul did not want to do that. So he said to Festus, “No, I am not willing to go to Jerusalem! I am now standing before you, and you (sg) are the judge whom the Roman Emperor [MTY] has authorized. This is the place where I should be judged {where you should judge me}. I have not wronged the Jewish people at all, as you know very well. 11If I had done something bad for which I should be executed {concerning which the law said that they should execute me}, I would not plead with them that they not kill me. But none of these things about which they accuse me is true, so no one can legally surrender me to these Jews. So I formally request that the emperor [MTY] should judge me at Rome.” 12Then after Festus conferred with the men who regularly advised him, he replied to Paul, “You (sg) have formally requested that I should send you to the emperor in Rome. So I will arrange for you to go there in order that he can judge you.”

Festus told King Agrippa about Paul.

Acts 25:13-22

13After several days, King Herod Agrippa arrived at Caesarea, along with his younger sister Bernice. They had come to formally welcome Festus as the new Governor of the province. 14King Agrippa and Bernice stayed many days in Caesarea. While they were there, Festus told Agrippa about Paul. He said to the king, “There is a man here whom Felix kept in prison while he was governor. He left him there when his time as governor ended. 15When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the other Jewish elders told me that this man had done many things against their laws. They asked me to condemn him to be executed {judge him so that people could kill him}. 16But I told them that when someone has been accused of a crime, we Romans do not immediately ◄condemn that person/declare that person to be guilty►. First, we command him to stand before the people who are accusing him and to say whether or not he has done those things. After that, the judge will decide what to do with him. 17So those Jews came here to Caesarea when I came. I did not delay. The day after we(exc) arrived, after I sat down at the place where I make decisions, I commanded that Paul be brought {soldiers to bring Paul} into the courtroom. 18The Jewish leaders did accuse him, but the things about which they accused him were not any of the evil crimes about which I thought they would accuse him. 19Instead, what they argued about with him were some teachings that some Jews believe and others do not believe. They argued about a man whose name was Jesus who had died, but the man they were accusing, whose name is Paul, kept saying, ‘Jesus is alive again.’ 20I did not know what questions to ask them, and I did not know how to judge concerning their dispute. So I asked Paul, ‘Are you (sg) willing to go back to Jerusalem and have the dispute between you and these Jews judged there {and let me judge there the dispute between you and these Jews}?’ 21But Paul answered, ‘No. I am not willing to go to Jerusalem!

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

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”

Festus asked King Agrippa to tell him what to write to Caesar about Paul.

Acts 25:23-27

23The next day Agrippa and Bernice came very ceremoniously to the assembly hall. Some Roman commanders and prominent men in Caesarea came with them. Then, Festus told an officer to bring Paul. So after the officer went to the prison and brought him, 24Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all the rest of you who are here, you see this man. Many [HYP] Jews in Jerusalem and also those here in Caesarea appealed to me, screaming that we (exc) should not let him live any longer. 25But when I asked them to tell me what he had done, and they told me, I found out that he had not done anything for which he should be executed {anyone should execute him}. However, he has asked that our emperor should judge his case, so I have decided to send him to Rome. 26But I do not know what specifically I should write to the emperor concerning him. That is why I have brought him here. I want you all to hear him speak, and I especially want you (sg), King Agrippa, to hear him. Then, after we (inc) have questioned him, I may know what I should write to the emperor about him. 27It seems to me that it would be unreasonable to send a prisoner to the emperor in Rome without my specifying the things about which people are accusing him.”

26

Paul requested that his hearers would listen to him.

Acts 26:1-3

1Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You (sg) are permitted now to speak to defend yourself.” Paul stretched out his hand ◄dramatically/to salute the king► and began to defend himself. He said, 2“King Agrippa, I consider that I am fortunate that today, while you (sg) listen, I can defend myself from all the things about which the Jewish leaders [SYN] are accusing me. 3I am really fortunate, because you (sg) know all about the customs of us Jews and the questions that we (exc) argue about. So I ask you, please listen patiently to what I say.”

Paul told about being a Pharisee who believed that God would resurrect people.

Acts 26:4-8

4“Many [HYP] of my fellow Jews know about how I have conducted my life, from the time I was a child. They know how I lived in the area where I was born and also later in Jerusalem. 5They have known for many years, and they could tell you, if they wanted to, that since I was very young I obeyed the customs of our religion very carefully, just like the other Pharisees do. 6Today I am being put on trial {they are putting me on trial} because I am confidently expecting that God will do what he promised our (exc) ancestors. 7Our twelve tribes are also confidently waiting for God to do for us what he promised, as they respectfully worship him, day and night. Respected king, I confidently expect that God will do what he promised, and they also believe that! But that is the reason that these Jewish leaders [SYN] are accusing me! 8They believe that God can cause those who have died to become alive again, so ◄why do any of you refuse to believe that he raised Jesus from the dead?/none of you should refuse to believe that he raised Jesus from the dead!► [RHQ]”

Paul told about how he had persecuted Christians.

Acts 26:9-11

9“Formerly I, too, was sure that I should do everything that I could to oppose Jesus [MTY], the man from Nazareth town. 10So that is what I did when I lived in Jerusalem. I put many of the believers in jail, as the chief priests there had authorized me to do. When the Jewish leaders wanted those Christians killed {someone to kill those Christians}, I voted for that. 11Many times I punished the believers whom I found in Jewish meeting places. By punishing them, I tried to force them to speak evil about Jesus. I was so angry with the followers of Jesus that I even traveled to other cities to find them and do things to harm them.”

Paul told how he had become a believer in Jesus.

Acts 26:12-18

12“One day, I was on my way to Damascus city to do that. The chief priests in Jerusalem had authorized and sent me to seize the believers there. 13My respected king, while I was going along the road, at about noon I saw a bright light in the sky. It was even brighter than the sun! It shone all around me, and also around the men who were traveling with me. 14We (exc) all fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me in my own Hebrew language [MTY]. He said ‘Saul, Saul, ◄stop causing me to suffer!/why are you causing me to suffer?► [RHQ] You (sg) are hurting yourself by trying to hurt me [MET], like an ox kicking against its owner’s goad.’ 15Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘I am Jesus. You (sg) are harming me by harming my followers. 16But instead of continuing to do that, stand up now! I have appeared to you (sg) to tell you that I have chosen you to serve me. You must tell people about what I am showing you as you are seeing me now, and about what I will show you when I will later appear to you. 17I will protect you from those who will try to harm you, both your own people and also those who are not Jewish. I am sending you to non-Jews 18to help them to realize [MTY] what is true and to stop believing what is false [MET]. I am sending you to them so that they may let God control them and not let Satan control them anymore. Then God will forgive their sins and will accept them as his people because they believe in me.’ That is what Jesus said to me.”

Paul said that he obeyed what Jesus commanded him from heaven.

Acts 26:19-20

19“So, King Agrippa, I fully obeyed [LIT] what the Lord Jesus told me to do when he spoke to me from heaven. 20First, I preached to the Jews in Damascus. Then I preached to the Jews in Jerusalem and throughout the rest of Judea province. After that, I also preached to non-Jews. I preached that they must turn away from their sinful behavior and turn their lives over to God. I told them that they must do things that would show that they had truly stopped their sinful behavior.”

Paul said that he proclaimed what the prophets had written about the Messiah.

Acts 26:21-23

21“It is because I preached this message that some [SYN] Jews seized me when I was in the Temple courtyard and tried to kill me. 22However, God has been helping me from that time, and he is still helping me today. So I stand here and I tell all of you people, those who are important and those who are not, who Jesus is. Everything that I say about him is what Moses and the other prophets wrote about long ago, things that they said would happen. 23They wrote that people would cause the Messiah to suffer and die. They also wrote that he would be the first person to become alive again, to proclaim the message that would be like light, that he would save both his own Jewish people and non-Jewish people.”

Paul talked to Festus and Agrippa, urging them to become believers in Jesus.

Acts 26:24-29

24Before Paul could say anything further to defend himself, Festus shouted: “Paul, you are crazy! You have studied too much, and it has made you insane!” 25But Paul answered, “Your Excellency, Festus, I am not raving insanely. On the contrary, what I am saying is true and sensible! 26King Agrippa knows the things that I have been talking about, and I can speak confidently to him about them. I am sure that he knows [LIT] these things, because people everywhere [IDM] have heard [LIT] about what happened to Jesus.” 27Then Paul asked, “King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets wrote? I know that you (sg) believe it.” 28Then Agrippa answered Paul, “◄I hope that you(sg) do not think that by the few things that you have just now said you can persuade me to become a Christian!/You do not think, do you, that by the few things that you have just now said you can persuade me to become a Christian?►” [RHQ] 29Paul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, it does not matter. I pray to God that you and also all of the others who are listening to me today will also believe in Jesus like I do, but I do not want you to become prisoners [MTY] like I am.”

The officials said that Paul was innocent but must go to Rome.

Acts 26:30-32

30Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others got up 31and left the room. While they were talking to one another they said to each other, “There is no reason why ◄the authorities/we► should execute this man, or that he should even be kept in prison [MTY].” 32Agrippa said to Festus, “If this man had not asked that the Emperor judge him, he could have been released {we(inc) could have released him}.”

27

Paul and other prisoners sailed from Caesarea to Crete.

Acts 27:1-8

1When the Governor and those who advised him decided that it was time for us (exc) to get on a ship and go to Italy, they put Paul and some other prisoners into the hands/care of an army captain whose name was Julius. He was the one who would guard us on the journey. Julius was an officer in charge of a group of 100 soldiers that people called ‘the Emperor Augustus Group’. 2So we got on a ship that had come from Adramyttium city in Asia province. The ship was going to return there, stopping at cities along the coast of Asia province. Aristarchus, a fellow believer who was from Thessalonica city in Macedonia province, went with us. 3The day after the ship sailed, we arrived at Sidon city. Julius kindly told Paul that he could go and see his friends who lived there, so that they could give him whatever he might need. So Paul visited the believers there. 4Then the ship left Sidon, but the winds were blowing against us (exc), so the ship went along the north side of Cyprus Island, the side that is sheltered from the wind. 5After that, we crossed over the sea close to the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia provinces. The ship arrived at Myra city, which is in Lycia province. We got off the ship there. 6In Myra, people told Julius that a ship was there that had come from Alexandria city and would soon sail to Italy. So he arranged for us to get on that ship, and we left. 7We sailed slowly for several days and finally arrived close to the coast of Asia province, near Cnidus town. After that, the wind was very strong and did not allow the ship to move straight ahead westward. So instead, we sailed southward along the side of Crete Island that is sheltered from the wind, and we passed near Cape Salmone. 8The wind was still strong, and it prevented the ship from moving ahead fast. So we moved slowly along the coast of Crete, and we arrived at a harbor that was called Fair Havens, near Lasea town.

Paul warned them not to travel on, but the ship’s officials decided to go on anyway.

Acts 27:9-20

9Much time had passed, so it would have been dangerous if we (exc) had traveled farther by ship because after that time of the year [MTY] the sea often became very stormy. So Paul said to the men on the ship, 10“Men, I perceive that if we(inc) travel by ship now, it will be disastrous for us. A storm may destroy the ship and the cargo, and possibly we will drown.” 11But the officer did not listen to what Paul said. Instead, he decided to do what the pilot of the ship and the owner of the ship advised. 12The harbor where the ship had stopped was not a good place to remain during the winter when the weather frequently becomes stormy. So most of the people on the ship decided that we(exc) should leave there, because they hoped that we could stay at Phoenix port during the winter, if we could possibly arrive there. That harbor was open to the sea in two directions, but the strong winds did not blow there. 13Then a gentle wind began to blow from the south, and the crew members thought that they could travel as they had decided to do. So they lifted the anchor up out of the sea, and the ship sailed westward along the southern shore of Crete Island. 14But after a while, a wind that was very strong blew across the island from the north side and hit the ship. That wind was called {People called that wind} “the Northeast Wind.” 15It blew strongly against the front of the ship. The result was that we could not keep going in the direction in which we had been going. So the sailors let the wind move the ship in the direction that the wind was blowing. 16The ship then passed a small island named Cauda. We passed along the side of the island that sheltered the ship from the wind. Then while the ship was moving along, the sailors lifted the lifeboat up out of the water and tied it on the deck. But the strong wind made it difficult even to do that. 17-18After the sailors hoisted/lifted the lifeboat onto the ship, they tied ropes around the ship’s hull to strengthen the ship. The sailors were afraid that, because the wind was pushing the ship, it might run onto the sandbanks off the coast of Libya to the south and get stuck there. So they lowered the largest sail so that the ship would move slower. Even so, the wind continued to move the ship along. The wind and the waves continued to toss the ship about roughly, so on the next day the sailors began to throw overboard the things that the ship was carrying. 19On the third day after the stormy wind had begun to blow, the sailors/we [MTY] threw overboard most of the sails, ropes, and poles, in order to make the ship lighter. 20The wind continued to blow very strongly, and the sky was full of dark clouds day and night. We could not see the sun or the stars for many days, so we could not determine where we were. And the wind continued to blow violently. So we (exc) finally thought that we would drown in the sea.

Paul told them that an angel from God said that they would all survive.

Acts 27:21-26

21None of us on the ship had eaten for many days. Then one day, Paul stood up in front of us and said, “Friends, you should have listened to me when I said that we (inc) should not sail from Crete. Then we would have been safe, and the ship and its cargo would be in good condition [LIT]. 22But now, I urge you, do not be afraid, because none of us will die. The storm will destroy the ship but not us. 23I know this, because last night God, the one to whom I belong and whom I serve, sent an angel who came and stood by me. 24The angel said to me, ‘Paul, do not be afraid! You (sg) must go to Rome and stand before the Emperor there so that he can judge you. I want you to know that God has made it clear to me that all those who are traveling by ship with you will also survive.’ 25So cheer up, my friends, because I believe that God will make this happen, exactly as the angel told me. 26However, the ship will crash on some island, and we (inc) will go ashore there.”

Paul thwarted some sailors who tried to sneak ashore in the lifeboat.

Acts 27:27-32

27On the fourteenth night after the storm had begun, the ship was still being blown {the wind was still blowing the ship} across the Adriatic sea. About midnight, the sailors sensed that the ship was getting close to land. 28So they lowered a weight on a rope to measure how deep the water was. When they pulled the rope up again, they measured it and saw that the water was ◄120 ft./37 meters► deep. They went a little farther and lowered the rope again. That time, they saw that the water was only about ◄90 ft./28 meters► deep. 29They were afraid that the ship might go onto some rocks, so they threw out four anchors from the ship’s stern/back and continued to wish/pray that it would soon be dawn so that they could see where the ship was going. 30Some of the sailors were planning to escape from the ship, so they lowered the lifeboat into the sea. In order that no one would know what they planned to do, they pretended that they wanted to lower some anchors from the ship’s front/bow. 31But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, “If the sailors do not stay in the ship, you have no hope of being saved.” 32So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.

Paul urged them to eat some food, so they did and then lightened the ship.

Acts 27:33-38

33Just before dawn, Paul urged everyone on the ship to eat some food. He said, “For the past 14 days you have been waiting and watching and not eating anything. 34So, now I urge you to eat some food. We (inc) need to do that in order to stay alive. I tell you to do that because I know that none of you will drown [IDM].” 35After Paul had said that, while everyone was watching, he took some bread and thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread and began to eat some of it. 36The rest of us became encouraged, so we (exc) all ate some food. 37Altogether there were 276 of us [SYN] on the ship. 38When everyone had eaten as much as they wanted, they threw the grain that the ship was carrying into the sea, and this made the ship lighter.

The waves began to break up the ship after it struck a shoal.

Acts 27:39-41

39At dawn, we(exc) could see land, but the sailors did not recognize the place. However, they could see that there was a bay and a wide area of sand at the water’s edge. They planned that, if it was possible, they would steer the ship onto the beach. 40So some of the sailors cut the anchor ropes and let the anchors fall into the sea. At the same time, other sailors untied the ropes that fastened the rudders, so that they could steer the ship again. Then the sailors raised the sail at the front/bow of the ship so that the wind would blow the ship forward, and the ship headed towards the shore. 41But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move, and big waves beat against the back of the ship and it began to break apart.

The officer saved Paul and commanded all to go to the shore, so they did that.

Acts 27:42-44

42The soldiers said to one another, “Let’s kill all the prisoners on the ship, so that they will not be able to swim away and escape.” They planned to do that because they were sure that officials would order them to be executed if they let the prisoners escape. 43But Julius, the army captain, wanted to save Paul, so he stopped the soldiers from doing what they planned to do. Instead, he commanded first that everyone who could swim should jump into the water and swim to land. 44Then he told the others to hold onto planks or pieces from the ship and go towards shore. We(exc) did what he said, and in that way all of us arrived safely on land.

28

The Maltese thought that Paul was a god because a snake did not harm him.

Acts 28:1-6

1After we (exc) had arrived safely on the shore, we learned that it was an island called Malta. 2The people who lived there received us kindly. They lit a fire and invited us to come and warm ourselves, because it was raining and it was cold. 3Paul gathered some sticks and put them on the fire. But among those sticks was a snake that had come out from the fire to escape from the heat, and it fastened itself on Paul’s hand. 4The islanders knew that the snake was poisonous, so when they saw it hanging from Paul’s hand, they said to each other, “Probably this man has murdered someone. Although he has escaped from being drowned, the god ◄who pays people back/who punishes people► for their [MTY] sins will cause him to die.” 5But Paul simply shook the snake off into the fire, and nothing happened to him. 6The people were expecting that Paul’s body would soon swell up or that he would suddenly fall down and die. But after they had waited a long time, they saw that the snake had not harmed him at all. So then the people changed their minds and said to one another, “This man is not a murderer! Probably he is a god!”

Paul healed many Maltese, so they supplied what he and the others needed.

Acts 28:7-10

7Near where the people had made the fire, there were some fields that belonged to a man whose name was Publius. He was the chief official on the island. He invited us to come and stay in his home. He took care of us for three days. 8At that time Publius’ father had a fever and dysentery, and he was lying in bed. So Paul visited him and prayed for him. Then Paul placed his hands on him and healed him. 9After Paul had done that, the other people on the island who were sick came to him and he healed them, too. 10They brought us gifts and showed in other ways that they greatly respected us. When we were ready to leave three months later, they brought us food and other things that we would need for the trip.

Paul and the others sailed to Puteoli, then went by land towards Rome.

Acts 28:11-14

11After we had stayed there three months, we got on a ship that was going to Italy and sailed away. The ship had been in a harbor on the island during the months when there are many storms. It had come from Alexandria city. On the front of the ship there were carved images of the twin gods whose names were Castor and Pollux. 12We sailed from the island and arrived at Syracuse city on Sicily island and stayed there three days. 13Then we traveled on by ship and arrived at Rhegium port in Italy. The next day, the wind was blowing from behind us, so we sailed along fast. The day after that, we reached Puteoli town, where we left the ship. 14In Puteoli we met some believers who invited us to stay with them for a week. After visiting them, we left there and started to travel by land to Rome.

Christians came out from Rome and escorted Paul into that city.

Acts 28:15-16

15A group of believers who lived in Rome had heard that we (exc) were coming. So they came out from Rome to meet us. Some of them met us at the town called ‘The Market on Appian Road’, and others met us at the town called ‘The Three Inns’. When Paul saw those believers, he thanked God and was encouraged. 16After we (exc) arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted {a Roman official who was responsible for guarding Paul permitted Paul} to live in a house by himself. But there was always a soldier there to guard him.

The Jewish leaders asked Paul to tell them about Christianity.

Acts 28:17-22

17After Paul had been there three days, he sent a message to the Jewish leaders to come and talk with him. So they came, and Paul said to them, “My fellow Jews, although I have not opposed our people nor spoken against the customs of our ancestors, our leaders in Jerusalem seized [MTY] me. But before they could kill me, a Roman commander rescued me and later sent me to Caesarea for Roman authorities/officials to put me on trial. 18The Roman authorities/officials questioned me and wanted to release me, because I had not done any bad thing for which I should be executed {they should kill me}. 19But when the Jewish leaders [SYN] there opposed what the Roman authorities wanted to do, I had to formally request that the Emperor judge me here in Rome. But my reason for doing that was not that I wanted to accuse our leaders about anything. 20So I have requested you to come here so that I can tell you why I am a prisoner. It is because I believe in [MTY] our Messiah, the one God long ago promised to send to us (inc) Jews.” 21Then the Jewish leaders said, “We (exc) have not received any letters from our fellow Jews in Judea about you. Also, none of our fellow Jews who have arrived here from Judea has said anything bad about you. 22But we (exc) want to hear what you (sg) think about this Christian sect/group, because we know that in many places [HYP] bad things are being said {people are saying bad things} about it.”

Paul told the Jews that non-Jews would believe the gospel.

Acts 28:23-31

23So they talked with Paul and decided that they would come back on another day to hear him. When that day arrived, those Jews came back to the place where Paul was staying, and they brought more Jews with them. Paul talked to them from morning until evening. He talked to them about how God wants to rule people’s lives [MET]. He tried to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah by reminding them what Moses and the other prophets had written [MTY]. 24Some of those Jews believed that what was said by Paul {what Paul said} about Jesus was true, but others did not believe that it was true. 25So they began to argue with one another. Paul realized that some of them did not want to listen to him, so when they were about to leave, he said, “The Holy Spirit said something to your/our(incl) ancestors. He spoke these words to Isaiah the prophet, and what he said is also true about you:

26Go to your fellow Israelites and tell them,

‘You repeatedly listen to the message of God, but you never understand what God is saying.

You repeatedly look at and see the things that God is doing,

but you never understand what they mean.

27God also said to the prophet,

These people do not understand, because they have become stubborn.

They have ears, but they do not understand what they hear,

and they have closed their eyes because they do not want to see.

If they wanted to obey what I say to them, they might understand what they see me doing and what they hear me saying.

Then they might turn from their sinful behavior and I would save them.’

28-29That is what God said to the prophet Isaiah about our ancestors. But you Jews today do not want to believe God’s message. Therefore, I am telling you that God has sent to the non-Jews this message about how he saves people, and they will listen and accept it!”

30For two whole years Paul stayed there in a house that he rented. Many people came to see him, and he received them all gladly and talked with them. 31He preached and taught people about how God could rule their lives [MET] and taught them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He did that without being afraid, and no one tried to stop him.