Bible Reading Plan – Day 326

₁We said goodbye to them and left. After sailing straight across, we came to Cos; the next day we reached Rhodes, and from there we went on to Patara. ₂There we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away. ₃We came to where we could see Cyprus, and then sailed south of it on to Syria. We went ashore at Tyre, where the ship was going to unload its cargo. ₄There we found some believers and stayed with them a week. By the power of the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ₅But when our time with them was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, together with their wives and children, went with us out of the city to the beach, where we all knelt and prayed. ₆Then we said goodbye to one another, and we went on board the ship while they went back home.

₇We continued our voyage, sailing from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day. ₈On the following day we left and arrived in Caesarea. There we stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen as helpers in Jerusalem. ₉He had four unmarried daughters who proclaimed God's message. ₁₀We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea. ₁₁He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied up his own feet and hands with it, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: The owner of this belt will be tied up in this way by the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles.”

₁₂When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. ₁₃But he answered, “What are you doing, crying like this and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”

₁₄We could not convince him, so we gave up and said, “May the Lord's will be done.”

₁₅After spending some time there, we got our things ready and left for Jerusalem. ₁₆Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and took us to the house of the man we were going to stay with — Mnason, from Cyprus, who had been a believer since the early days.

₁₇When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly. ₁₈The next day Paul went with us to see James; and all the church elders were present. ₁₉Paul greeted them and gave a complete report of everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his work. ₂₀After hearing him, they all praised God. Then they said, “Brother Paul, you can see how many thousands of Jews have become believers, and how devoted they all are to the Law. ₂₁They have been told that you have been teaching all the Jews who live in Gentile countries to abandon the Law of Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or follow the Jewish customs. ₂₂They are sure to hear that you have arrived. What should be done, then? ₂₃This is what we want you to do. There are four men here who have taken a vow. ₂₄Go along with them and join them in the ceremony of purification and pay their expenses; then they will be able to shave their heads. In this way everyone will know that there is no truth in any of the things that they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in accordance with the Law of Moses. ₂₅But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent them a letter telling them we decided that they must not eat any food that has been offered to idols, or any blood, or any animal that has been strangled, and that they must keep themselves from sexual immorality.”

₂₆So Paul took the men and the next day performed the ceremony of purification with them. Then he went into the Temple and gave notice of how many days it would be until the end of the period of purification, when a sacrifice would be offered for each one of them.

₂₇But just when the seven days were about to come to an end, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized Paul. ₂₈“Men of Israel!” they shouted. “Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some Gentiles into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” ₂₉(They said this because they had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with Paul in the city, and they thought that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)

₃₀Confusion spread through the whole city, and the people all ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple. At once the Temple doors were closed. ₃₁The mob was trying to kill Paul, when a report was sent up to the commander of the Roman troops that all Jerusalem was rioting. ₃₂At once the commander took some officers and soldiers and rushed down to the crowd. When the people saw him with the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ₃₃The commander went over to Paul, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked, “Who is this man, and what has he done?” ₃₄Some in the crowd shouted one thing, others something else. There was such confusion that the commander could not find out exactly what had happened, so he ordered his men to take Paul up into the fort. ₃₅They got as far as the steps with him, and then the soldiers had to carry him because the mob was so wild. ₃₆They were all coming after him and screaming, “Kill him!”

₃₇As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the fort, he spoke to the commander: “May I say something to you?”

“You speak Greek, do you?” the commander asked. ₃₈“Then you are not that Egyptian fellow who some time ago started a revolution and led 4,000 armed terrorists out into the desert?”

₃₉Paul answered, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people.”

₄₀The commander gave him permission, so Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand for the people to be silent. When they were quiet, Paul spoke to them in Hebrew:

₁“My fellow-Jews, listen to me as I make my defence before you!” ₂When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even quieter; and Paul went on:

₃“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today. ₄I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison. ₅The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow-Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.

₆“As I was travelling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly round me. ₇I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’ ₈‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,’ he said to me. ₉The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ₁₀I asked, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ and the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.’ ₁₁I was blind because of the bright light, and so my companions took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.

₁₂“In that city was a man named Ananias, a religious man who obeyed our Law and was highly respected by all the Jews living there. ₁₃He came to me, stood by me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ At that very moment I saw again and looked at him. ₁₄He said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see his righteous Servant, and to hear him speaking with his own voice. ₁₅For you will be a witness for him to tell everyone what you have seen and heard. ₁₆And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him.’

₁₇“I went back to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the Temple, I had a vision, ₁₈in which I saw the Lord, as he said to me, ‘Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your witness about me.’ ₁₉‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that I went to the synagogues and arrested and beat those who believe in you. ₂₀And when your witness Stephen was put to death, I myself was there, approving of his murder and taking care of the cloaks of his murderers.’ ₂₁‘Go,’ the Lord said to me, ‘for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

₂₂The people listened to Paul until he said this; but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, “Away with him! Kill him! He's not fit to live!” ₂₃They were screaming, waving their clothes, and throwing dust up in the air. ₂₄The Roman commander ordered his men to take Paul into the fort, and he told them to whip him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like this against him. ₂₅But when they had tied him up to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried for any crime?”

₂₆When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked him, “What are you doing? That man is a Roman citizen!”

₂₇So the commander went to Paul and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” answered Paul.

₂₈The commander said, “I became one by paying a large amount of money.”

“But I am one by birth,” Paul answered.

₂₉At once the men who were going to question Paul drew back from him; and the commander was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.

₃₀The commander wanted to find out for certain what the Jews were accusing Paul of; so the next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

₁Paul looked straight at the Council and said, “My fellow-Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day.” ₂The High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing close to Paul to strike him on the mouth. ₃Paul said to him, “God will certainly strike you — you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the Law, yet you break the Law by ordering them to strike me!”

₄The men close to Paul said to him, “You are insulting God's High Priest!”

₅Paul answered, “My fellow-Israelites, I did not know that he was the High Priest. The scripture says, ‘You must not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’ ”

₆When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, “Fellow-Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!”

₇As soon as he said this, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to quarrel, and the group was divided. ₈(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.) ₉The shouting became louder, and some of the teachers of the Law who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly: “We cannot find anything wrong with this man! Perhaps a spirit or an angel really did speak to him!”

₁₀The argument became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces. So he ordered his soldiers to go down into the group, get Paul away from them, and take him into the fort.

₁₁That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Don't be afraid! You have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem, and you must also do the same in Rome.”

₁₂The next morning some Jews met together and made a plan. They took a vow that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. ₁₃There were more than forty who planned this together. ₁₄Then they went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have taken a solemn vow together not to eat a thing until we have killed Paul. ₁₅Now then, you and the Council send word to the Roman commander to bring Paul down to you, pretending that you want to get more accurate information about him. But we will be ready to kill him before he ever gets here.”

₁₆But the son of Paul's sister heard about the plot; so he went to the fort and told Paul. ₁₇Then Paul called one of the officers and said to him, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” ₁₈The officer took him, led him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to say to you.”

₁₉The commander took him by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, “What have you got to tell me?”

₂₀He said, “The Jewish authorities have agreed to ask you tomorrow to take Paul down to the Council, pretending that the Council wants to get more accurate information about him. ₂₁But don't listen to them, because there are more than forty men who will be hiding and waiting for him. They have taken a vow not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are now ready to do it and are waiting for your decision.”

₂₂The commander said, “Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” And he sent the young man away.

₂₃Then the commander called two of his officers and said, “Get 200 soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, together with seventy horsemen and 200 spearmen, and be ready to leave by nine o'clock tonight. ₂₄Provide some horses for Paul to ride and get him safely through to the governor Felix.” ₂₅Then the commander wrote a letter that went like this:

₃₁The soldiers carried out their orders. They got Paul and took him that night as far as Antipatris. ₃₂The next day the foot soldiers returned to the fort and left the horsemen to go on with him. ₃₃They took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and handed Paul over to him. ₃₄The governor read the letter and asked Paul what province he was from. When he found out that he was from Cilicia, ₃₅he said, “I will hear you when your accusers arrive.” Then he gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in the governor's headquarters.