Acts 21-22

Acts 21

¹And after parting from them, we put out to sea and came straight to Cos, and the day after to Rhodes, and from there to Patara:

²And as there was a ship going to Phoenicia, we went in it.

³And when we had come in view of Cyprus, going past it on our left, we went on to Syria, and came to land at Tyre: for there the goods which were in the ship had to be taken out.

⁴And meeting the disciples we were there for seven days: and they gave Paul orders through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

⁵And when these days came to an end, we went on our journey; and they all, with their wives and children, came with us on our way till we were out of the town: and after going on our knees in prayer by the sea,

⁶We said our last words to one another, and got into the ship, and they went back to their houses.

⁷And journeying by ship from Tyre we came to Ptolemais; and there we had talk with the brothers and were with them for one day.

⁸And on the day after, we went away and came to Caesarea, where we were guests in the house of Philip, the preacher, who was one of the seven.

⁹And he had four daughters, virgins, who were prophets.

¹⁰And while we were waiting there for some days, a certain prophet, named Agabus, came down from Judaea.

¹¹And he came to us, and took the band of Paul's clothing, and putting it round his feet and hands, said, The Holy Spirit says these words, So will the Jews do to the man who is the owner of this band, and they will give him up into the hands of the Gentiles.

¹²And hearing these things, we and those who were living in that place made request to him not to go to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul said, What are you doing, weeping and wounding my heart? for I am ready, not only to be a prisoner, but to be put to death at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁴And as he might not be moved we did no more, saying, Let the purpose of God be done.

¹⁵And after these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, taking a certain Mnason of Cyprus, one of the early disciples, in whose house we were to be living.

¹⁷And when we came to Jerusalem, the brothers were pleased to see us.

¹⁸And on the day after, Paul went with us to James, and all the rulers of the church were present.

¹⁹And when he had said how glad he was to see them, he gave them a detailed account of the things which God had done through his work among the Gentiles.

²⁰And hearing it, they gave praise to God; and they said to him, You see, brother, what thousands there are among the Jews, who have the faith; and they all have a great respect for the law:

²¹And they have had news of you, how you have been teaching all the Jews among the Gentiles to give up the law of Moses, and not to give circumcision to their children, and not to keep the old rules.

²²What then is the position? They will certainly get news that you have come.

²³Do this, then, which we say to you: We have four men who have taken an oath;

²⁴Go with these, and make yourself clean with them, and make the necessary payments for them, so that they may be free from their oath: and everyone will see that the statements made about you are not true, but that you put yourself under rule, and keep the law.

²⁵But as to the Gentiles who have the faith, we sent a letter, giving our decision that they were to keep themselves from offerings made to false gods, and from blood, and from the flesh of animals put to death in ways against the law, and from the evil desires of the body.

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and on the day after, making himself clean with them, he went into the Temple, giving out the statement that the days necessary for making them clean were complete, till the offering was made for every one of them.

²⁷And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the Temple, got the people together and put their hands on him,

²⁸Crying out, Men of Israel, come to our help: this is the man who is teaching all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place: and in addition, he has taken Greeks into the Temple, and made this holy place unclean.

²⁹For they had seen him before in the town with Trophimus of Ephesus, and had the idea that Paul had taken him with him into the Temple.

³⁰And all the town was moved, and the people came running together and put their hands on Paul, pulling him out of the Temple: and then the doors were shut.

³¹And while they were attempting to put him to death, news came to the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was out of control.

³²And straight away he took some armed men and went quickly down to them: and the Jews, seeing them, gave no more blows to Paul.

³³Then the chief captain came near and took him, and gave orders for him to be put in chains, questioning them as to who he was and what he had done.

³⁴And some said one thing and some another, among the people: and as he was not able to get a knowledge of the facts because of the noise, he gave orders for Paul to be taken into the army building.

³⁵And when he came on to the steps, he was lifted up by the armed men, because of the force of the people;

³⁶For a great mass of people came after them, crying out, Away with him!

³⁷And when Paul was about to be taken into the building, he said to the chief captain, May I say something to you? And he said, Have you a knowledge of Greek?

³⁸Are you by chance the Egyptian who, before this, got the people worked up against the government and took four thousand men of the Assassins out into the waste land?

³⁹But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, which is not an unimportant town: I make a request to you to let me say a word to the people.

⁴⁰And when he let him do so, Paul, from the steps, made a sign with his hand to the people, and when they were all quiet, he said to them in the Hebrew language,

Acts 22

¹My brothers and fathers, give ear to the story of my life which I now put before you.

²And, hearing him talking in the Hebrew language, they became the more quiet, and he said,

³I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia by birth, but I had my education in this town at the feet of Gamaliel, being trained in the keeping of every detail of the law of our fathers; given up to the cause of God with all my heart, as you are today.

⁴And I made attacks on this Way, even to death, taking men and women and putting them in prison.

⁵Of which the high priest will be a witness, and all the rulers, from whom I had letters to the brothers; and I went into Damascus, to take those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.

⁶And it came about that while I was on my journey, coming near to Damascus, about the middle of the day, suddenly I saw a great light from heaven shining round me.

⁷And when I went down on the earth, a voice came to my ears saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me so cruelly?

⁸And I, answering, said, Who are you; Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are attacking.

⁹And those who were with me saw the light, but the voice of him who was talking to me came not to their ears.

¹⁰And I said, What have I to do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Get up, and go into Damascus; and it will be made clear to you what you have to do.

¹¹And because I was unable to see because of the glory of that light, those who were with me took me by the hand, and so I came to Damascus.

¹²And one Ananias, a God-fearing man, who kept the law, and of whom all the Jews in that place had a high opinion,

¹³Came to my side and said, Brother Saul, let your eyes be open. And in that very hour I was able to see him.

¹⁴And he said, You have been marked out by the God of our fathers to have knowledge of his purpose, and to see the Upright One and to give ear to the words of his mouth.

¹⁵For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and of what has come to your ears.

¹⁶And now, why are you waiting? get up, and have baptism, for the washing away of your sins, giving worship to his name.

¹⁷And it came about that when I had come back to Jerusalem, while I was at prayer in the Temple, my senses became more than naturally clear,

¹⁸And I saw him saying to me, Go out of Jerusalem straight away because they will not give hearing to your witness about me.

¹⁹And I said, Lord, they themselves have knowledge that I went through the Synagogues putting in prison and whipping all those who had faith in you:

²⁰And when Stephen your witness was put to death, I was there, giving approval, and looking after the clothing of those who put him to death.

²¹And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

²²And they gave him a hearing as far as this word; then with loud voices they said, Away with this man from the earth; it is not right for him to be living.

²³And while they were crying out, and pulling off their clothing, and sending dust into the air,

²⁴The chief captain gave orders for him to be taken into the army building, saying that he would put him to the test by whipping, so that he might have knowledge of the reason why they were crying out so violently against him.

²⁵And when they had put leather bands round him, Paul said to the captain who was present, Is it the law for you to give blows to a man who is a Roman and has not been judged?

²⁶And hearing this, the man went to the chief captain and gave him an account of it, saying, What are you about to do? for this man is a Roman.

²⁷And the chief captain came to him and said, Give me an answer, are you a Roman? And he said, Yes.

²⁸And the chief captain said, I got Roman rights for myself at a great price. And Paul said, But I had them by birth.

²⁹Then those who were about to put him to the test went away: and the chief captain was in fear, seeing that he was a Roman, and that he had put chains on him.

³⁰But on the day after, desiring to have certain knowledge of what the Jews had to say against him, he made him free, and gave orders for the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to come together, and he took Paul and put him before them.