Acts
17
1
After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2
Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures,
3
explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ."
4
Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5
But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly.
6
When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, "These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too,
7
and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting against Caesar's decrees, saying there is another king named Jesus!"
8
They caused confusion among the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.
9
After the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them.
10
The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once, during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.
11
These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so.
12
Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.
13
But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.
14
Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.
15
Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.
16
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols.
17
So he was addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace every day those who happened to be there.
18
Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were asking, "What does this foolish babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods." (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)
19
So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?
20
For you are bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what they mean."
21
(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new.)
22
So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.
23
For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an unknown god.' Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.
24
The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,
25
nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.
26
From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,
27
so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28
For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.'
29
So since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.
30
Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,
31
because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead."
32
Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, "We will hear you again about this."
33
So Paul left the Areopagus.
34
But some people joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
18
1
After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.
2
There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them,
3
and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade).
4
He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them.
5
Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
6
When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!"
7
Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8
Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized.
9
The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent,
10
because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city."
11
So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12
Now while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews attacked Paul together and brought him before the judgment seat,
13
saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God in a way contrary to the law!"
14
But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, I would have been justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews,
15
but since it concerns points of disagreement about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things!"
16
Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat.
17
So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and began to beat him in front of the judgment seat. Yet none of these things were of any concern to Gallio.
18
Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because he had made a vow.
19
When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind there, but he himself went into the synagogue and addressed the Jews.
20
When they asked him to stay longer, he would not consent,
21
but said farewell to them and added, "I will come back to you again if God wills." Then he set sail from Ephesus,
22
and when he arrived at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem and then went down to Antioch.
23
After he spent some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
24
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures.
25
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
26
He began to speak out fearlessly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.
27
When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,
28
for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
19
1
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul went through the inland regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples there
2
and said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
3
So Paul said, "Into what then were you baptized?" "Into John's baptism," they replied.
4
Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus."
5
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,
6
and when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.
7
(Now there were about twelve men in all.)
8
So Paul entered the synagogue and spoke out fearlessly for three months, addressing and convincing them about the kingdom of God.
9
But when some were stubborn and refused to believe, reviling the Way before the congregation, he left them and took the disciples with him, addressing them every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
10
This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
11
God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands,
12
so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
13
But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, "I sternly warn you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."
14
(Now seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.)
15
But the evil spirit replied to them, "I know about Jesus and I am acquainted with Paul, but who are you?"
16
Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.
17
This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; fear came over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.
18
Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and making their deeds known.
19
Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins.
20
In this way the word of the Lord continued to grow in power and to prevail.
21
Now after all these things had taken place, Paul resolved to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. He said, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."
22
So after sending two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, he himself stayed on for a while in the province of Asia.
23
At that time a great disturbance took place concerning the Way.
24
For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought a great deal of business to the craftsmen.
25
He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.
26
And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd, not only in Ephesus but in practically all of the province of Asia, by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.
27
There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness."
28
When they heard this they became enraged and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
29
The city was filled with the uproar, and the crowd rushed to the theater together, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonians who were Paul's traveling companions.
30
But when Paul wanted to enter the public assembly, the disciples would not let him.
31
Even some of the provincial authorities who were his friends sent a message to him, urging him not to venture into the theater.
32
So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met together.
33
Some of the crowd concluded it was about Alexander because the Jews had pushed him to the front. Alexander, gesturing with his hand, was wanting to make a defense before the public assembly.
34
But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for about two hours.
35
After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?
36
So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless.
37
For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
38
If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges against one another there.
39
But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly.
40
For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering."
41
After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
20
1
After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left to go to Macedonia.
2
After he had gone through those regions and spoken many words of encouragement to the believers there, he came to Greece,
3
where he stayed for three months. Because the Jews had made a plot against him as he was intending to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.
4
Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.
5
These had gone on ahead and were waiting for us in Troas.
6
We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and within five days we came to the others in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
7
On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight.
8
(Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.)
9
A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak for a long time. Fast asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.
10
But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, put his arms around him, and said, "Do not be distressed, for he is still alive!"
11
Then Paul went back upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he talked with them a long time, until dawn. Then he left.
12
They took the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.
13
We went on ahead to the ship and put out to sea for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way. He himself was intending to go there by land.
14
When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene.
15
We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus.
16
For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so as not to spend time in the province of Asia, for he was hurrying to arrive in Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
17
From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him.
18
When they arrived, he said to them, "You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,
19
serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews.
20
You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house,
21
testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
22
And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there,
23
except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.
24
But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God's grace.
25
"And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again.
26
Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all.
27
For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.
28
Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
29
I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
30
Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them.
31
Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.
32
And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
33
I have desired no one's silver or gold or clothing.
34
You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me.
35
By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
36
When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed.
37
They all began to weep loudly, and hugged Paul and kissed him,
38
especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
Text used with permission – http://bible.org/
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Put together by Psalm107.
Created on Mar 6, 2021.
Created on Mar 6, 2021.
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