Acts of the Apostles (new translation by William Berg)

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES I gave my earlier discourse on everything, Theophilus, that Jesus had undertaken to do and to teach, up to the day when he laid commands on his chosen apostles through the holy spirit, and was taken up. There were many proofs of his showing himself, alive, to them after his suffering, since he was seen by them for forty days and went on speaking to them of the kingdom of God. He gathered them together and ordered them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the summons from my father that you’ve heard me talk about. “John baptized in water, but you will baptize in the holy spirit, in a day soon to come!” So when they’d come together, they started asking him, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel in our time?” “It’s not for you,” he answered them, “to know the times or the circumstances that the father determines by his own authority. “But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judaea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” With those words, and with them looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him away from their sight. There they were, gazing into the sky at his going, when suddenly two men appeared to them in white clothing, and said to them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? That Jesus who has been taken up from your midst into the sky will come back by the same way that you’ve seen him going into the sky.” They then returned to Jerusalem from what’s called the Mount of Olives, a place close to Jerusalem, no farther away than the 2000 paces permitted on the Sabbath. When they got home, they climbed to the upper floor where they’d settled — Peter, John, James and Andreas, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Shimon “the Zealous,” and Jude son of James. Those men all remained steadfast, of one accord in prayer, together with the women, with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren — the crowd of persons gathered in the same place numbered about a hundred twenty — and said, “Brothers! The scripture that the holy spirit pronounced through the mouth of David, concerning Judas who became the guide for those who would seize Jesus — that scripture must have been fulfilled, “since Judas was among our number, and had been allotted a place in this ministry. “Now, that fellow went and bought himself a piece of ground with the payment he got for his crime, and there he swelled up, and burst open, and all his insides spilled out. “That became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and finally they called that place, in their own dialect, Akeldamach, which means “Blood Ground.” “It’s written, you see, in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and, his bishoprick let another take. “Now one of those men who was with us all the time Master Jesus came and went before our eyes, “from the Master’s baptism by John up to the day he was taken up from among us — now one of those men must be made a joint witness with us to his resurrection!” So they proposed two: Joseph called Bar-Shaba (whose nickname was Justus, “the just”), and Matthias. Then they prayed: “Master, you who know the hearts of all, show us the one of these two whom you have chosen “to take the place in this ministry and apostolate that Judas abandoned to go to his own proper place.” They then cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, who was thus voted into the company of the eleven. Now, when they had reached the fiftieth day after Passover, they were all gathered together in the same place. Suddenly there came a noise from the sky, as if from a headlong blast of wind, that filled the entire house they were occupying, and they saw individual tongues looking like flames, and a flame settled on each one of them, and all were filled with the holy spirit and began to talk in whatever different languages the spirit was giving them to use for their declarations. Now, there were Jewish residents in Jerusalem who were devout men from every nation under heaven. When all these tongues were heard, a crowd gathered, confounded because each member of the crowd was hearing people speak his own language. They exclaimed in amazement, “Look, isn’t every one of those speakers a Galilean? “So how is it that each of us keeps hearing the language we were born with? “Parthians and Persians; Elamites; settlers in Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia; in Pontus and in Asia; “in Phrygia and Pamphylia; in Egypt and regions of Libya below Cyrene; Roman visitors — “both Jews and Jewish converts —; Cretans and Arabs — all of us hear them telling of God’s mighty works, and in our own languages!” All were astounded and at a loss, each asking the other, “What’s the meaning of this?” Others, however, making fun of the whole thing, kept saying, “Those people are just full of sweet wine!” Now Peter emerged together with the eleven, and raised his voice to declare to them, “My dear Jews and all who inhabit Jerusalem, let this be understood by you! Pay close attention to what I say: “These people are not, as you assume, drunk — it’s only the third hour of daylight — “but it’s what was foretold by the prophet Joel, “And it shall come to pass (in the last days, says God), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: “And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. “Men of Israel, hear these words: it was Jesus the Nazarene, the man whom God made known to you through the miracles, wonders and signs that God accomplished in your midst through him — as you yourselves know; “it was him, given over through the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, that you took and nailed up by using the hands of men who have no Torah; “it was him that God raised up, freeing him from the pains of death, since it was impossible for him to remain under the power of death. “He’s the one of whom David speaks: I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: “Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. “My dear brethren, may I speak freely to you about the patriarch David? He died and he was buried: his tomb is in your midst, right up to this day. “Now, he had the status of a prophet, and knew that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up one to sit upon his throne. “He spoke in foreknowledge of the Messiah King’s resurrection, of the fact that he was not left in hell, nor did his flesh see corruption. “That is the Jesus whom God resurrected; we are all witnesses to it. “Having been exalted by the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the holy spirit from the father, he has ‘poured out’ what you’re now seeing and hearing. “David did not ascend to heaven, but it is David who says, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, “Until I make thy foes thy footstool. “So let every household of Israel know for certain that God made this Jesus whom you crucified both Master and Messiah!” When they heard this, their hearts were pierced, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What, dear brethren, are we to do?” Peter’s response to them: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins in the name of Jesus the anointed King, and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. “The promise, you see, is for you and your children and for all who are far off, whom the Lord our God will summon. Peter gave further testimony through many other statements, and urged them with the words, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” Those then who received his word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were enrolled on that one day. They adhered firmly to the teaching of the apostles and to the fellowship, with the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul: many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All the faithful belonged to the same body of believers and held everything in common; they proceeded to sell off their possessions and resources, and distributed the money to all, as each one had need of it. Day by day in the temple they adhered firmly to their solidarity, and broke bread from house to house; it was with rejoicing and with simplicity of heart that they shared their keep, praising God and enjoying all people’s good will. The Master continued day by day to add people being saved to that same body of believers. Peter and John were ascending to the temple for the ninth-hour prayers, when a man, crippled from his mother’s womb, was being carried up there. Day after day people would set him down before the temple precinct at what was called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg for alms from those who were entering the precinct. When he saw Peter and John on the point of entering the precinct, he proceeded to ask for alms. Peter, whose attention, like John’s, was fixed on him, said, “Look at us!” He turned himself in their direction, expecting to get something from them. Said Peter, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I now give to you: in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, the Anointed One, walk!” Then he grasped the man firmly by the right arm and lifted him up. Immediately his feet and ankles became firm! Leaping to his feet, he began to walk about, and went with them into the temple precinct, walking and leaping and praising God. Then all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the precinct. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. With the beggar hanging onto Peter and John, the whole mob of astounded people caught up with them in the arcade called the Stoa of Solomon. Peter looked at the crowd and said to them, “Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? Why do you stare at us as if we had caused him to walk through our own power or piety? “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and renounced in front of Pilatus, who had decided to release him. “And while you renounced the holy and just man, you asked that a man who was a murderer be given to you as a favor! “But the one you killed was the bringer of life, and God raised him from the dead: we are witnesses to that. “Jesus’ name made this man, whom you see and know, strong again, and faith through Jesus gave this man, before the eyes of all of you, his full recovery. “Now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. “But that’s how God fulfilled the suffering of his anointed one, the suffering that he had foretold through the voice of all the prophets. “Therefore, repent! Reset your course toward washing away your sins, “so that the Lord may countenance the coming of periods of respite, and may send the Messiah King who has been made ready for you, namely Jesus, “whom heaven must hold until the times of universal renewal, of which God has spoken through the mouths of his holy prophets of old: “Moses, for one, said, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. “And all the prophets from Samuel and those after — as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. “You are the children of the prophets and of the testament that God left to your forefathers when he said to Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. “God, after raising up his servant, sent him to you first — him who blesses you by turning each of you away from your wickedness!” While they were talking to the people, the priests, the chief of the temple police, and the Sadducees interrupted the gathering. Those people were troubled because Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them and put them under guard until the next day (it was already evening). Many of those who had heard the word became believers; the number of men grew to five thousand. What happened was that, the next morning, their rulers, elders, and bible scholars met in Jerusalem — including Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and whoever was of the lineage of high priests. They set Peter and John before their assembly, and asked them, “In whose authority, or in whose name, did you do this?” Peter was then filled with the holy spirit, and answered them, “Rulers of the people! Elders! “If, for an act of kindness to a disabled person, we are being asked in what name or authority that person has been made whole, “let it be known to all of you, and to all of the people of Israel, that he stands in your presence as a healthy man in the name of Jesus the Anointed One, the Nazarene whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead. “That is the stone that was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. “Nor is salvation in any other, because no other name under heaven has been given among humans as being necessary for our salvation.” Observing how outspoken Peter and John were, and understanding that they were unschooled laymen, they marveled, and began to realize that they had been companions of Jesus. When they looked at the fellow who had been healed, who was standing with them, they were at a loss for words. After ordering them to leave the council chamber, they deliberated with each other, saying, “What are we to do with those people? It’s well known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem that an obvious miracle was performed through them, and we can’t deny it. “But to insure that the thing isn’t spread abroad to all the people, let’s make them afraid of ever again using that name with any person!” Then they summoned them and ordered them not to speak or to teach at all by using the name of Jesus. Peter and John, however, gave them this answer: “You all go ahead and decide whether it’s right before God to obey you rather than God; “as for us, we’re not able to stop talking of what we’ve seen and heard.” After threatening them further, the officials couldn’t come up with a way to punish them, so they let them go because of the people, who were all glorifying God for what had happened; after all, the man on whom that miraculous cure had been performed was more than forty years old! After their release, they came home to their own people and reported everything the high priests and elders had said to them. When the people had heard, they raised their voices to God with one heart, and said, “Lord and Master, you who hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, “you who have said, through the holy spirit of the mouth of your servant David, our father, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his anointed one. “For in fact, in this very city, against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, there gathered Herodes and Pontius Pilatus, together with Gentiles and Israelites, “to do whatever your hand and your plan had determined would be done. “And now, Lord, regard their threats, and grant your slaves complete freedom to speak your word, “while extending your hand so that healings and miracles and wonders may be performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus!” After they had made this plea, the spot where they were gathered was shaken; every one of them was filled with the holy spirit, and they began to speak the word of God with complete freedom. There was unity of heart and soul in the crowd of believers. Not one claimed that any possession belonged to him alone; instead, they held all things in common. The apostles continued to render testimony to the resurrection of Master Jesus with great vigor, and were all greatly favored. And in fact no one among the members was needy: people who held real estate, land or houses, would sell it and bring the money from the transactions to lay at the feet of the apostles, and the money was distributed to each member according to their need. Joseph, who was called Bar-nabas by the apostles (which means “Child of Consolation”) was a Levite born in Cyprus: he owned a field, sold it, and brought the money to lay at the feet of the apostles. But there was a man named Ananias who, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a lot and concealed some of the proceeds, with full knowledge of his wife. He brought only a portion of the money to lay at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, “Ananias, what made Satan put it into your heart to lie to the holy spirit, and to conceal some of the price of the property? “When the lot was still there, wasn’t it there for you? And when it was sold, wasn’t the money under your control? What made you put this business into your heart? It isn’t to humans, but to God that you’ve told the lie!” Ananias dropped dead while listening to these words! A great fear gripped all who heard. The younger ones got up, shrouded him, bore him out, and buried him. After about a three-hour interval, his wife came in, unaware of what had happened. Peter addressed her with the words, “Tell me, was it for such-and-such a price that you sold the land?” “Yes,” she said, “such-and-such.” And Peter said to her, “How could you and he agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Listen! It’s the footsteps of the men who’ve just buried your husband, and they’re about to take you out, too!” Immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last. The boys came in and found her dead, so bore her out and buried her beside her husband. A great fear gripped the whole assembly and all who heard of these events. Many miracles and wonders occurred through the hands of the apostles for the public to see, and all the people in the Stoa of Solomon were of one mind. None of the others would dare to be connected with them, and yet the public had nothing but praise for them. And in fact more and more believers in the Master — crowds of both men and women — were being added, to the point where they were bringing the disabled out into the open squares and putting them on recliners and pallets so that, when Peter passed by, his shadow, at least, might fall on one or the other of them. There gathered also multitudes from towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem, bringing in the disabled and those possessed by unclean spirits; all of them were being cured. The high priest was up in arms, and so was everyone in his party — that being the Sadducee faction. They were filled with jealousy; they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in the city jail. During the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail, brought them out, and told them, “Be on your way; in the temple precinct, get up and tell the people everything that can be told about this life of ours!” Obeying, they entered the temple precinct at dawn, and began to teach. Meanwhile, on his arrival, the high priest and those with him summoned the Sanhedrin and the whole Council of Elders of the Children of Israel, and sent word to the city jail that the apostles were to be brought in. When they got there, their servants found that they weren’t in the jail. They went back and reported, “We found the jail locked and secured on every side, with the guards standing at the gates; but when we opened up, we found no one inside!” Upon hearing those words, the captain of the temple guard and the high priests found themselves unable to imagine how all this would turn out. Finally someone came and announced to them, “Don’t look now, but the men you threw in jail are standing in the precinct teaching the people!” The captain and his underlings then went off and led the apostles away (not forcibly, for they were afraid of the people — afraid of getting stoned). They brought them in and put them before the Sanhedrin. The high priest interrogated them, telling them, “We gave you an express order not to teach in that name, but here you’ve been filling all Jerusalem with your teaching, and now you want to blame us for shedding that fellow’s blood!” Peter and the apostles responded, “Obedience is owed to God rather than to humans. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew by hanging him on a tree! “With his right hand, God raised him up to be a leader and saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of her sins. “It is we who give testimony to those assertions, together with the holy spirit that God has given to those who obey him. On hearing that, the officials were consumed with rage. They started to make plans to do away with the apostles. At that point, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel — a teacher of Torah held in honor by all the people — got up in the Sanhedrin. He ordered that the persons in question be put outside for a while, and addressed the officials: “Men of Israel, think twice about what you’re going to do with these men. “In former days, you recall, Theudas led a revolt, proclaiming himself to be someone; close to four hundred men had attached themselves to his party. He was slain, and all of his partisans were destroyed, their number reduced to zero. “Next Jude the Galilean, back in the days of the tax census, led a revolt and got people to rise up and follow him. He, too, was killed, and all of his partisans were scattered. “And in the present circumstances, I’m telling you, keep your distance from these people; let them go, because if this scheme or this activity emanates from humans, it will be destroyed anyway. “But if it’s from God, you won’t be able to destroy them. Don’t ever get caught fighting against God!” And they were persuaded by him. They summoned the apostles, had them whipped, ordered them not to preach in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles went rejoicing from their audience with the Sanhedrin, because they’d been found worthy to be mistreated for his name’s sake. All day long in the temple precinct, and then at home, they didn’t stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that the Messiah is Jesus. In those days, with the number of disciples growing, there arose a complaint on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews about the Hebrew-speaking Jews, to the effect that the widows among the Greek-speaking Jews were being overlooked in the daily distributions of the ministers. The twelve summoned the whole group of disciples and told them, “It’s not acceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to minister to the tables. “Brothers, look around for seven men from your number with good references, filled with the spirit and with wisdom, and we’ll appoint them to see to that need. “Then we can devote ourselves entirely to prayer and the ministry of the word.” That plan seemed right to their entire number, so they picked Stephen, a man full of faith and the holy spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a convert to Judaism from Antioch. They brought them before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was vastly increasing; in addition, a large group of priests were making themselves subject to the Faith. Stephen, full of grace and power, kept doing mighty wonders and miracles among the people. But some of the people from the so-called Freedmen’s Synagogue — from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia — rose up and got into a dispute with Stephen, but weren’t good enough to withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was arguing. At that point, they slipped in men who claimed, “We’ve heard Stephen saying blasphemous things against Moses and God!” They got the sympathy of the people, the elders, and the learned scribes; they then ambushed him, grabbed him, and brought him to the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses who said, “This man is constantly speaking against this holy place and against the Torah: “we’ve heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place! and he wants to change the way of life that Moses passed on to us!” And when all who were seated on the Sanhedrin turned to stare at him, they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel. “Is all this true?” said the high priest. Said Stephen: “Listen, brothers and fathers. The God of glory was seen by our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before settling in Haran, “And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. “So then he left Chaldaean country and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father’s death, God moved him to this land on which you are now settled, “and gave him no inherent claim to it, not even a foothold, but promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, though he had no child. “Here is what God said: that his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. “And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God, and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. “Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. Accordingly, he begat Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob did the same with the twelve patriarchs. “The patriarchs, being jealous of Joseph, sold him down to Egypt; but God was with him, “and delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. “Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction; our forefathers weren’t finding food or fodder. “When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers there for the first time. “The second time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was there for Pharaoh to see. “Then Joseph sent for Jacob his father, and for the all the relatives — seventy-five souls in all — “and Jacob came down to Egypt. He himself, and our forefathers, died there, “but were taken back to Shechem and buried in the tomb in Shechem that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor. “As the time of the promise was drawing near, the promise that God had pledged to Abraham, our population in Egypt had grown and expanded “to the moment when a different king ascended the throne, a king who was ignorant of Joseph. “This king devised a crafty scheme against our people, and tormented fathers into exposing their babies so that they wouldn’t survive. “It was at that time that Moses was born, a delight to God. For three months he was raised in his father’s house. “Though he was then exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter rescued him and brought him up to be her own child. “Moses was trained in the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was an able man, both in what he said and what he did. “As he was approaching his fortieth year, it came into his heart to make a visit to his brethren, the children of Israel. “Seeing one of them wronged, he came to his aid, and took revenge on behalf of the mistreated person by striking down the Egyptian. “Moses thought that his brethren would see that God was making him the agent of their safety, but they didn’t see it that way. “The next day, he turned up as they were fighting, and tried to bring about peace between them, saying, ‘My dear fellows, you are brothers! What’s the point of injuring one another?’ “The one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? “ ‘Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? ’ “When he heard those words, Moses ran away and became a foreign settler in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons. “When forty more years had passed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. “When Moses saw, he was amazed at the apparition. As he was approaching to get a closer look, there came the voice of the Lord: “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob! Moses fell to trembling, and didn’t dare look closer. “Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground. “I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. “It was this Moses, then, whom they denied, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? It was this Moses whom God had sent to be ruler and judge by the hand of the angel that had appeared to him in the bush. “It was this Moses who brought them out after performing wonders and miracles on Egyptian land, on the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. “It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. “ It was this Moses who came to be amid those assembled in the desert, together with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and our forefathers; it was he who received the words of life to pass on to us, “but our forefathers were unwilling to become obedient to him. Instead, they rejected him and turned with their hearts toward Egypt, “telling Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. “That was the time they made a calf and conducted a sacrifice for the idol, and became obsessed with their own handiwork. “God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the hosts of the night sky, as is written in the book of the Prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? “Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon! “Our forefathers had the Tent of Testimony with them in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses had commissioned them to make it, according to the model that Moses had seen. “Subsequently, our forefathers brought it in with Joshua during the conquest of the foreign nations that God had driven out before the face of our forefathers; it remained up to the time of David, “who found favor with God and asked that they find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob [early variant: for the God of Jacob]. “Solomon built the house for him. “But the most high God does not dwell in places made artificially. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? “Stiff necks! Uncircumcised hearts and ears! Always fighting the holy spirit — you’re just like your forefathers! “Which prophet did your forefathers not persecute? And you killed those who announced the coming of the just one, the just one whose betrayers and murderers you’ve now turned out to be! “You’ve taken the Torah, given through the agency of angels, and have not guarded it!” As they listened, their hearts began to be torn, and they were gnashing their teeth at him. Being then filled with the holy spirit, Stephen gazed into the sky and saw God’s glory, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Look, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” They gave a great cry, and covered their ears; then, with one impulsive effort, they threw themselves on him. Rushing him out of the city, they proceeded to stone him. The witnesses against him laid their outer garments at the feet of a young man called Saul. Then the witnesses began the stoning of Stephen, who prayed aloud, “Master Jesus, receive my spirit!” He fell to his knees and gave a great cry: “Master, don’t put this sin to their account!” Once he had spoken those words, his sleep came. Saul had been complicit in the killing of Stephen. Indeed, a major persecution of the Christian assembly in Jerusalem had broken out that very day. Everyone except the apostles had scattered to the villages of Judaea and Samaria. Meanwhile, devout men gathered up Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. Saul was conducting a purge of the assembly, invading house after house, dragging out both men and women and handing them over for imprisonment. Now, the ones who had scattered went about spreading the word of the gospel. As for Philip, he went down to a city of Samaria and preached the Messiah King to them. The crowds attended with unanimous enthusiasm to what Philip said as they both listened to him and saw the miracles he performed. In fact unclean spirits were coming out of many who had them, and with a great outcry; and many paralyzed and crippled people had been restored. So there came to be much rejoicing in that city. Previously, a man by the name of Shimon had been the resident magician, fascinating the folk of Samaria and claiming to be someone great; Everyone, young and old, flocked to him, thinking that this fellow was what’s called the Great Power, the power of God. They’d flocked to him because they’d been fascinated for quite some time with his magic. But when they’d become believers in Philip as he evangelized about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the anointed King, both men and women were coming to be baptized. Shimon himself became a believer. After his baptism he was a staunch supporter of Philip; he couldn’t help being fascinated as he observed the miracles and the great demonstrations of power. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria was receiving the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When those two arrived, they prayed for the people that they might receive the holy spirit, since it had not yet descended on any of them: they were only in the situation of being baptized in the name of Master Jesus. So they then laid their hands on them, and the people received the holy spirit. After Shimon had seen that the spirit was transmitted through the apostles’ laying on of hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give that power to me, too, so that anyone I lay my hands on can receive the holy spirit!” “To hell with your money, and with you!” said Peter to him. “You’ve been thinking you could buy the free gift of God with money! “You don’t have the least share, the least legacy in his word; your heart isn’t righteous in the sight of God! “Now repent of this wickedness of yours and beg the Master that your heart’s design will ultimately be forgiven “— for I see you wallowing in the gall of bitterness and caught in a net of wrongdoing!” Shimon answered, “You, then, pray for me to the Master that nothing of what you’ve said may happen to me!” So the apostles gave their testimony, preached the Master’s word, and turned back toward Jerusalem, meanwhile evangelizing many Samaritan villages. An angel of the Lord announced to Philip, “Get up and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (That’s a deserted road.) So he got up and went there. And on that very road was a eunuch nobleman belonging to Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of her entire treasury, and had come to worship in Jerusalem. He was on his way home, sitting in his chariot — and reading the prophet Isaiah! The spirit said to Philip, “Go up and hang onto that chariot.” Philip ran up to it, heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Tell me, do you understand what you’re reading?” “How could I,” answered the Ethiopian, “unless someone can guide me?” He then invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The content of the scripture he was reading was as follows: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. The eunuch looked up and asked Philip, “Tell me, please, about whom is the prophet saying this — about himself or about someone else?” Philip opened his mouth and, taking off from that scripture, preached to him the gospel of Jesus. And as they were going down the road, they came upon a body of water: “Look, water!” says the eunuch; “what’s to keep me from being baptized?” [Omitted in earliest MSS, but attested in Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, and other early writings: Philip told him, “If you believe with your whole heart, it can be done.” He responded, “I believe that Jesus the Anointed One is the son of God.”] And he ordered that the chariot stop. Both of them, Philip and the eunuch, got down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came back up from the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. And in fact the eunuch was no longer seeing him, so joyfully was he proceeding on his own way. As for Philip, he turned up in Ashdod, then passed along and evangelized all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Meanwhile Saul, still fuming with menace and murder for the Master’s disciples, approached the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus that would let Saul take as prisoners whomever he found, male or female, that belonged to the Way, and bring them to Jerusalem. His journey had taken him almost as far as Damascus, when it happened that a light from the sky flashed around him; he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Master?” said he. The voice answered, “I’m Jesus, the one you’re persecuting! “Get up now and go into the city, and you’ll be told what you need to do.” The men traveling with him stood dumbfounded: they were hearing the voice, but could see no one. Saul got back on his feet, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. They had to lead him by the hand into Damascus. He remained blind for three days, and ate and drank nothing. In Damascus there lived a disciple named Ananias. To him appeared the Master in a dream, and said, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Master!” said he. The Master to him: “Get up and go over to what they call Straight Street, and at the house of Jude ask for a man by the name of Saul, from Tarsus. You see, he’s praying for this; “he’s seen in a dream someone by the name of Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he can see.” Ananias answered, “Master, I’ve heard about this man from many people, about the harm he’s done to your holy ones in Jerusalem! “Now he has authority from the high priests to take everyone prisoner who calls upon your name!” But the Master said, “Be off with you! This man is my vessel of choice for bearing my name before Gentiles, emperors, and children of Israel. “Be off: I’m going to give him a taste of what he needs to endure for my name’s sake!” Ananias was off. He went into the house, laid his hands on him, and said, “Brother Saul! The Master — the one who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, Jesus — sent me so that you may see, and may be filled with the holy spirit.” Straightway something like flakes fell from his eyes. He could see! He got up and was baptized. He took something to eat, and recovered his strength. As it happened, he stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and straightway preached Jesus in the synagogues, proclaiming him as the son of God. Everyone who heard him was astounded, saying, “Isn’t he the fellow who in Jerusalem ravaged the group that calls upon that name, and hasn’t he come here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the high priests?” Saul, however, became more and more audacious, continuing to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by showing conclusively that the man Jesus is the Messiah. But after a considerable number of days had passed, the Jews got together and made plans to do away with him, and Saul was aware of their plotting. The very gates of the city were being patrolled day and night so that they might catch and kill him. His disciples, however, took him and let him down through the city wall at night, lowering him in a basket. After arriving in Jerusalem, he tried to attach himself to the disciples. And of course everyone was afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Barnabas, however, took him in hand and brought him to the apostles. Saul described to them how he had seen the Master on the road, and the fact that he had spoken with him, and how in Damascus he had preached openly in the name of Jesus. And so Saul began to come and go everywhere with the apostles in Jerusalem, preaching openly in the Master’s name. In addition, he talked and argued with the Greek-speaking Jews, who undertook an attempt to kill him. The brethren caught wind of it, however, and brought him down to Caesarea, then shipped him off to Tarsus. So now the assembly throughout Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria was enjoying peace, fortified and furthered by fear of the Lord, and was being filled with the encouragement of the holy spirit. As Peter was making visits to all the assemblies, he happened to come also to the holy ones who lived in Lod. There he found a person by the name of Aeneas who had been bedridden with paralysis since he was eight years old. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the anointed King has healed you; get up and make your bed!” Aeneas got up immediately. Everyone who lived in Lod and Sharon saw him, and they converted to the Master. In Jaffa there was a woman disciple named Tabitha (which means “gazelle”). She had many good works and almsgivings to her credit. It happened right at that time that she fell ill and died. The people washed her body and laid it out in the upstairs bedroom. Since Lod was not far from Jaffa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was in Lod, they sent two men to beg him, “Come over to us as soon as you can!” Peter got up and went back with them. When he arrived, they took him up to the bedroom. All the widows crowded around him, weeping and displaying the cloaks and shirts that Gazelle used to make when she was with them. Peter dismissed them all, fell to his knees, and prayed. Then turning toward the corpse, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, looked at Peter, and began to sit up. He gave her his hand and raised her up. Then he called the holy ones and the widows, and presented her to them, alive. This became known through all of Jaffa, and many became believers in the Master. It turned out that Peter stayed quite some time in Jaffa, at the house of Shimon, a tanner. There was a man in Caesarea by the name of Cornelius, a centurion from the unit called the Italian Cohort. Like his whole household, he was pious and god-fearing, doing many charitable works for the people, all the while offering prayers to God. One afternoon, around the ninth hour, he had a vivid dream of an angel coming to him and saying, “Cornelius!” He stared at the angel and was filled with fear. “What is it, my lord?” he asked. The angel replied, “Your prayers and your works of mercy have gone up and been recorded in the presence of God! “Your next step is to send men to Jaffa, to send for a certain Simon who is called Peter. “He is a guest of Shimon, a tanner, who has a house by the sea.” When the angel who had spoken to him was gone, he called two of his servants and a pious soldier from among those who were devoted to him. Having explained everything to them, he sent them off to Jaffa. The next day, when they were on their way and getting close to the city, Peter went up to the housetop at around the sixth hour to pray. But he became hungry and asked for a bite to eat. While people were preparing something, he went into a trance and thought he saw the sky opening, and something concave, like a huge sheet, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. In it were all the quadrupeds and creeping creatures of the earth, and all the winged creatures of the sky. And a voice arose telling him, “Up, Peter! Slaughter and eat!” “No way, Master!” said Peter; “I’ve never eaten anything untouchable or unclean!” Again for the second time the voice came to him: “Do not call untouchable what God has made clean!” This happened a third time, whereupon the sheet was taken back up into the sky. As Peter was trying to figure out what the vision he’d seen might mean, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius, having asked the way to Shimon’s house, stood there at the gate, calling out to learn if a Simon, called “Peter,” was a guest there. Peter was lost in thought about the vision, and the spirit had to tell him, “Look, men are asking for you! “Get up, go down and go with them. Don’t have any doubts. I’m the one who sent them.” Peter went down and told the men, “Here I am, the one you’re looking for. What brings you here?” “Cornelius the centurion,” they answered, “a kind and God-fearing man, a man of good repute with the whole Jewish nation, has been called by a holy angel to send for you, to bring you to his home and to listen to whatever you have to say.” So Peter invited them in and made them his guests. He got up the next day and left with them; some of the Jaffa brethren came with him. The day after that, they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them, having gathered together his relatives and closest friends. What happened was that, when Peter had come in, Cornelius met him by falling at his feet and worshipping. But Peter raised him with the words, “Get up! Like yourself, I’m only human!” Then, chatting with him, Peter entered to find quite a large gathering, which he addressed as follows: “You all know that it’s not sanctioned for a Jewish man to form a friendship or connection with a non-Jew. And yet God has shown me that it’s not sanctioned to call any human ‘untouchable’ or ‘unclean.’ “Thus, when I was sent for, I had no objection to coming. So now I’m asking, what led you to send for me?” Cornelius responded: “Four days ago (counting this portion of today) I was making my ninth-hour prayer at home, when suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me “and says, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charitable works have been recorded before God. “ ‘Now send to Jaffa and summon Simon, called Peter. He’s a guest in the house of Shimon the tanner, by the sea.’ “I immediately sent people to you, and you were good enough to come. So now we’re all here in God’s presence to hear every commandment that was given you by the Master.” Peter opened his mouth and said, Now I truly understand that God has no favorites, that, instead, all who fear him and practice loving kindness are received by him, regardless of their ethnicity. Ι understand the message that he sent to the children of Israel when he proclaimed the gospel of peace through the Anointed One Jesus, who is Master of all peoples! That message you know to be the story that spread down through all the land of Judah, starting out from Galilee, after the baptism preached by John — the story of Jesus of Nazareth, of how God anointed him with the holy spirit and with miraculous power — Jesus who went about giving help to, and healing, all who had fallen under the devil’s domination. God was with him. We can actually testify to all he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem itself; and yet it was he whom they hung up on wood, and killed. He is the one whom God raised on the third day and granted that he be made manifest, not to all the people, but to us who had been previously chosen by God as witnesses, we who ate and drank together with him after his resurrection from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to give testimony that he is designated by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets are witnesses to the fact that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still speaking those words, the holy spirit descended upon all who heard his message. The circumcised faithful who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the holy spirit was being poured out even onto Gentiles, for they started to hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God! Peter’s reaction was this: “Can anyone forbid water, and so keep baptism from these people who have already received the holy spirit just as we have?” He gave his order that they be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah. The people then asked him to stay for several days. The apostles and the brethren who were located in Judaea heard that even Gentiles had received God’s message. When Peter had returned to Jerusalem, the ones who were circumcised started to have their doubts about him, claiming, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and you ate with them!” Peter began at the beginning, setting things out for them as they had occurred, one after another: “In the city of Jaffa, I was praying and saw, in a trance, a vision — something concave, like a huge sheet, coming down from the sky, lowered by its four corners, and it came right to me! “Looking closely into it, I saw the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the reptiles, and the birds of the air. “I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Up, Peter! Slaughter and eat!’ “But I said, ‘No way, Master! Untouchable or unclean food has never come into my mouth!’ “For a second time the voice spoke from the heavens, answering, ‘Don’t you call “untouchable” what God has made clean!’ “That happened a third time, and then the whole thing was pulled back up into the sky. “Suddenly, lo and behold, three men stopped at the house where I was staying; they’d been sent from Caesarea, to me! “The spirit told me to go with them, and to go without any hesitation. These six brethren went with me as well, and we entered the house of the Gentile. “He described to us how he had seen the angel standing there in his house saying, ‘Send to Jaffa and summon Simon who is called Peter. “ ‘He will tell you the things in which you and your whole household will find salvation!’ “As I started to speak to the people there, the holy spirit came down upon them, just as it had come down upon us in the first place. “It reminded me of what the Master had said: John baptized in water, but you will baptize in the holy spirit. “Now, if God gave those Gentiles exactly the same gift as he gave us who believed in Master Jesus the Messiah, what power had I to stand in God’s way?” When they’d heard this, Peter’s critics calmed down and glorified God, saying, “Then God has given even the Gentiles the gift of repentance that brings eternal life!” Now, those who had scattered from the persecution in Stephen’s time got as far away as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they preached the word only to Jews. However, there were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch and also addressed Greeks as they preached the gospel of Master Jesus. The Master’s hand was with them; a great number became believers and converted to the Master. The account of their conversion reached the ears of the assembly in Jerusalem, who then sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch. When he arrived and witnessed God’s grace there, he rejoiced and called upon all to stand firm in their heart’s commitment to the Master. He was a good man, full of the holy spirit, full of faith; consequently, there was considerable growth in the Master’s number. Then he left for Tarsus to look for Saul. When he’d found him, he brought him to Antioch. They ended up spending an entire year there meeting with their assembly and teaching a considerable crowd, and their disciples there in Antioch were the first to go by the term “Christians.” It was then that prophets from Jerusalem arrived in Antioch. One of them, Agavus by name, got up in the assembly and foretold through the Spirit that a great famine was about to come upon the entire Empire. This in fact happened when Claudius became emperor. The disciples decided to send something, each of them according to his means, as a contribution to the brethren living in Judaea — which they actually accomplished by sending it to the elders through the agency of Barnabas and Saul. Around the same time, King Herodes set his hand to tormenting some of the members of the assembly. And so with the sword he did away with James the brother of John; and seeing that it was acceptable to the Jews, he undertook to seize Peter as well. (This was during the Festival of Unleavened Bread). He laid hold of him and imprisoned him, after committing four four-man units of soldiers to watch over him; he was planning to bring him up before the people after Passover. So now Peter was being constantly guarded in the prison; but there was constant prayer to God for him by the assembly. On the very night when Herodes was about to bring him up, Peter was asleep between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and guards at the gate were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. The angel gave Peter a kick in the ribs to awaken him, saying, “Get up right away!” The chains fell away from his wrists! The angel told him, “Put on your clothes and tie your sandals!” Peter did so. Then the angel tells him, “Put on your cloak and follow me!” Peter followed him out, and didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real; he thought he was having a dream. Passing right by the first guard and the second, they came to the iron gate that led out to the city. This opened to them all by itself! They stepped outside and went down an alleyway, whereupon the angel left him. Peter, after regaining his senses, exclaimed, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth his angel, and has removed me from Herodes’ clutches, contrary to all the Jewish people’s expectation!” After due consideration and reflection, Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John (whose Roman name was Mark), where a good number were assembled in prayer. When he’d knocked at the gate of the street entrance, a maid by the name of Rhoda went to answer the knock. When she’d recognized Peter’s voice, she was so happy she failed to open the gate, and instead ran in to announce that Peter was standing at the gate! “You must be crazy!”, they told her. But she kept insisting it was true. Then they said, “It’s someone with a message from him.” Peter, meanwhile, persisted in knocking. When they’d finally opened, they saw him and were astounded. He motioned them to keep quiet, and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Report this to James and the brethren,” he added, then departed for a different location. When day broke, there was no small uproar among the soldiers: What, then, had become of Peter? Herodes made a further search for him. Having no success, he interrogated the guards, then ordered them to be taken off to prison. Then he went down from Judaea to pass some time in Caesarea. He was having a bitter feud with the people of Tyre and Sidon. With one accord they now presented themselves to him and asked for peace (having bribed Blastus, the king’s chamberlain), since their country derived its food supply from the king’s country. On the appointed day, Herodes put on his royal raiment and, seated at the tribunal, delivered an oration in reply to them. “Ah, the words of a god, not human words!”, exclaimed his audience. In a flash, an angel of the Lord struck him down for not giving the credit to God. He breathed his last after being eaten alive by worms. God’s message was spreading and thriving. Barnabas and Saul came back to Antioch after accomplishing their mission to convey donations to Jerusalem, and brought John (Mark) along with them. In the Antioch assembly as it was then, the inspired interpreters and teachers were Barnabas, Simeon (called “The Black”), Lucius of Cyrene, Menachem (foster brother of Herodes Antipas the tetrarch), and Saul. In the midst of their conducting the Master’s service and fasting, the holy spirit spoke: “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for the work to which I’ve summoned them!” So then, after fasting and praying, the men laid their hands on the two of them and let them go. Barnabas and Paul had now been sent out by the holy spirit. They went straight to the seaport of Seleucia, and sailed away from there to Cyprus. Once they’d reached Salamis in Cyprus, they began to preach God’s message in the Jewish synagogues. (They also had John there to assist them.) They traveled through the entire island as far as Paphos, where they came upon a man who was a professional soothsayer, a Jewish pseudo-prophet named Bar-Joshua. He was employed by the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. Paulus summoned Barnabas and Saul and asked if he might hear the word of God. But “Elumas” (as people called Bar-Joshua — it means “Seer”) resisted them and attempted to turn the proconsul away from the Faith. However, Saul, whose Roman name was also Paulus, was filled with the holy spirit. He looked Bar-Joshua right in the eye and said, “You’re full of every kind of sleazy trick, you son of the devil, you enemy of all justice! Stop distorting the Master’s straightforward ways! “Now look out: the Master’s hand is upon you! You’re going to be blinded, you won’t see the light of day for a good long while!” Immediately a mist of darkness fell upon him, and he went around groping for people to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw that happen, he became a believer, being anyway in complete awe of the Master’s teaching. Those who accompanied the apostle Paulus (henceforth “Paul”) set sail from Paphos and arrived at Perge in Pamphylia. John, however, withdrew from them and returned to Jerusalem. The companions passed on from Perge to Pisidian Antiocheia, where they walked into the synagogue on the Sabbath and took a seat. After the reading from the Torah and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders passed this message to them: “Dear brethren, if there’s someone among you who has a word of good counsel for the congregation, do speak.” Paul got up and motioned for silence. Then he spoke: My dear Israelites, and all you who fear God, listen! The God of this people Israel chose your forefathers, and during the sojourn in the land of Egypt he exalted his people, then led them out of there with the power of his mighty arm, and for a period of forty years put up with them in the wilderness. Then he put down seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave his people their land to possess; all this covered about four hundred fifty years. After that, he gave them judges, up through Samuel the prophet. From then on they asked for a king, so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Then after setting him aside, God raised David to be their king; God confirmed him and even said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” And from his seed, in accord with his promise, he brought to Israel a saviour, Jesus, after John, in advance of Jesus’ personal manifestation, had preached the baptism of repentance to the whole people Israel. When John was close to completing his course, he used to say, “What do you take me for? I’m not the one! But look out, one is coming after me whose sandals I’m not fit to untie! My dear brethren, both you children of the family of Abraham and those among you who also fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent out. You see, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders didn’t recognize this saviour, and yet by judging him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found not a single reason for the death penalty, they asked Pilatus that he be destroyed. They thus brought everything to pass that had been written about him. After taking him down from the wood, they put him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead! He appeared over the course of many days to those who had gone up to Jerusalem with him from Galilee, and those are the ones who are his witnesses to the people. We, too, are preaching to you the gospel of the promise made to your forefathers, the promise that God has fulfilled for us their offspring by raising up Jesus, as is also written in the second psalm, “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” The promise that he raised him from the dead nevermore to return to decay — that promise he has made in these words, “I will give you the sure mercies of David,” for elsewhere he also says, “Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption!” Now of course David, who served God’s purpose in his own generation, went to sleep and was put away with his ancestors, and did see corruption, but the one whom God raised did not see corruption. Now let it be known by you, dear brethren, that, through this one, forgiveness of your sins has been proclaimed — forgiveness of all the sins from which you couldn’t have been vindicated in the law of Moses. In this one saviour, everyone who is a believer is vindicated! So look out that what has been spoken of in the Prophets doesn’t happen: “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you!” As Paul’s party was leaving, the people begged that this message might be preached to them again on a day between Sabbaths. After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and encouraged them to remain steadfast in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered to hear the Master’s message. The Jews, when they saw the crowds, were filled with envy and argued against what was being preached by Paul, slandering him. Allowing themselves to speak freely, Paul and Barnabas responded: “God’s word had to be preached first to you Jews. Since you’re rejecting it and are judging yourselves unworthy of the life of the age to come, you see why we’re turning now to the Gentiles! “After all, that’s what the Lord has commanded us to do: I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” As they heard that, the Gentiles were glad and began glorifying the Master’s message. As many as were destined for life in the age to come became believers. The Master’s message was spreading throughout the whole area. The Jews, however, stirred up the decent, God-fearing women and the civic leaders, and excited a vendetta against Paul and Barnabas. They succeeded in purging them from their borders. But those two just shook the dust from their feet at them, and proceeded to Iconium, and their disciples were filled with joy and the holy spirit. What happened in Iconium was that they came as usual into the synagogue of the Jews and preached, with the result that a great number of Jews and Greeks became believers. But the Jews who refused to listen aroused and poisoned the Gentiles’ hearts against the brethren. Now, the apostles spent a considerable amount of time preaching openly about the Master, who was confirming the message of his grace by letting miracles and marvels happen through their agency. But the population was split: some were with the Jews, others with the apostles. When a movement was started among both Gentiles and Jews, with the complicity of their officials, to do violence, including stoning, against the brethren, they caught wind of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and their environs. There they continued their evangelizing. Among the Lystrians was a man who couldn’t move his feet. Crippled from his mother’s womb, he had to sit; he’d never walked. This fellow heard Paul preaching. Paul, holding him in his sight, and seeing that he had faith in being saved, shouted loudly, “Get up, stand on your feet!” Up he sprang, and began to walk! The crowd, seeing what Paul had done, raised their voices, speaking in the Lycaonian dialect: “The gods have come down to us in the shape of humans!” They started calling Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes, since he was the one who led the preaching. Finally the priest of the Zeus whose temple stood before the city gates brought bulls and garlands to the gates, intending to perform a sacrifice together with the crowd. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard that, they ripped their garments and charged at the crowd, yelling, “You men, what are you doing? We too are humans with the same weaknesses as you have, and we’re trying to evangelize you into turning away from that sort of nonsense and toward a living god which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein — “he who in bygone generations has allowed all Gentiles to go their own way; “and yet, when conferring his benefits, he hasn’t left himself without testimony to his work: he’s given you rain from heaven, and seasons that bear fruit; he’s filled your hearts with food and festivity.” But even when using that approach, they were scarcely able to keep the crowd from sacrificing to them. However, Jews came from Antiocheia and Iconium, won over the crowd, and stoned Paul. They dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. The disciples formed a circle around him; he got to his feet and walked back into the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After preaching the gospel to that city, and after making disciples of quite a few, they turned back for Lystra, Iconium, and Antiocheia, confirming the souls of the disciples, urging them to be steadfast in the Faith, telling them that “We have to pass through many troubles to enter into the kingdom of God.” After appointing elders for each of their assemblies, they entrusted them to that Master in whom they had placed their faith. Having traveled through Pisidia, they arrived in Pamphylia. They preached the word in Perge, then dropped down to Attaleia, and from there sailed off to Antioch, the city from which they had been handed over to God’s grace for the work they had now finished. When they’d arrived, and had brought the assembly together, they reported all that God had accomplished with them — especially the fact that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles — and spent a good long while talking with the disciples. You see, people had come back from Judaea teaching the brethren that “If you haven’t been circumcised in keeping with the Mosaic custom, you can’t be saved.” For Paul and Barnabas, occasions now arose for quite a few contentious disputes with those people. The brethren determined that Paul, Barnabas, and others from their number should go back to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue. They were seen off by the assembly, and as they passed along the way through Phoenicia and Samaria they let people know in detail about their conversion of the Gentiles; this excited a great deal of joy among all the brethren. They reached Jerusalem, were welcomed by the assembly, the apostles, and the elders, and proceeded to report all that God had accomplished with them. Some of the believers who came from the Pharisee faction challenged them, claiming that they ought to circumcise Gentiles and command them to keep the law of Moses. So the apostles and elders met to look into that claim. A lively debate ensued. Finally Peter stood up and addressed them: “My dear brethren, you yourselves can confirm this: a long time ago, God selected among you and determined that it should be from my mouth that the Gentiles hear the message of the gospel, and become believers. “And God, who knows all hearts, has borne witness on their behalf when he has given them, just as he once gave us, the holy spirit. “He made no distinction between us and them, once he had made their hearts clean through the Faith. “So why do you now try the patience of God in an attempt to put a yoke upon the necks of our disciples, a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have ever had the strength to bear? “No, we believe we are saved the same way they are saved — through the grace of Master Jesus!” Then everyone stopped talking and started listening to Barnabas and Paul as they described the miracles and marvels that God had performed through them among the Gentiles. And when those two fell silent, James made the following comment: “Dear brothers, listen to me. “Simon has described how it was God himself who first determined to embrace in his own name a body of believers from among the Gentiles. “The words of the prophets confirm this where it is written, “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: “That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things “— things that are known down through the ages. “This is why I choose not to lay an extra burden on those of the Gentiles who are turning to God, “but instead to instruct them to abstain from meat polluted by phantom gods, from sexual promiscuity, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood “— these laws of Moses being the ones, after all, that are preached in the synagogues in every city and read aloud every Sabbath.” With that, the apostles and elders, together with the entire assembly, decided to choose two men from their number — Judah Bar-Shaba and Silas, who were leaders among the brethren — and send them to Antioch together with Paul and Barnabas, all having signed the following letter: The apostles and brother elders send greetings to the brothers and sisters who are among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Since we have heard that some of our number have been creating a disturbance by upsetting you with doctrines that we have not authorized, we have made a unanimous decision to choose men to send to you in the company of our beloved Barnabas and Paul, both men who have offered up their lives in the name of our Master Jesus the Anointed One. We have decided to send Judah and Silas; they can tell you all this in person. For the holy spirit has decided, and we have decided, not to impose on you any burden beyond the following requirements: abstinence from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals, and from sexual promiscuity. If you keep yourselves away from those things, you will be doing well. Fare well! So the men were sent off and got back to Antioch. After bringing the congregation together, they delivered the letter. When they read it, the people rejoiced at the encouraging directive. Judah and Silas, being themselves inspired interpreters as well, further encouraged and confirmed the brothers and sisters through their many utterances. After spending some time in Antioch, those two were sent back with wishes of peace from the brethren for those who had sent them. [Omitted from many MSS & testimonia: But Silas decided to remain there.] Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch teaching and preaching the gospel of the Master’s message, in company with many others. After a number of days, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers and sisters in each town where we preached the Master’s message, to see how they’re doing!” Barnabas wanted to take John (Mark) along, but Paul didn’t think it right to take the same fellow along who had deserted them in Pamphylia without joining them in the work. This led to an angry dispute, and they separated from one another, with Barnabas taking Marcus and sailing off to Cyprus. As for Paul, he recruited Silas and left, handed over by the brethren to the grace of the Master. He went along through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies. Paul reached Derbe and Lystra. It was in Lystra that he met a disciple by the name of Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; Timothy’s father, however, was Greek. Timothy came recommended by the brethren in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted him to come with him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in those parts; they all knew that he had a Greek father. As they journeyed from town to town, they transmitted the mandatory precepts and directives handed down from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. The assemblies were thus confirmed in the Faith, and their congregations grew from day to day by leaps and bounds. Paul and his company traveled through Phrygia and the territory of Galatia, having been held back by the holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. After getting as far as Mysia, they started to cross into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them. Bypassing Mysia, they descended into the Troad. Then Paul had a vision in his sleep: a man from Macedonia stood there beseeching him with the words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” Once he’d had the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had summoned us to evangelize its inhabitants. We embarked from the Troad and sailed straight for the island of Samothrace, and on the following day for Neapolis. From Neapolis we reached Philippi, a Roman colony in the outer reaches of Macedonia. We spent a number of days in that town. On the Sabbath day, we walked outside the city gate to a riverbank where we’d heard there was a prayer service. There we sat down and began preaching to a gathering of women. One woman named Lydia, a purple fabric dealer from the city of Thyatira who held God in reverence, was listening. The Master opened her heart to welcome the message preached by Paul. So she was baptized, along with her household, and she begged, “If you’ve really decided that I’m faithful to the Master, come to my house and stay over!” She wouldn’t let us say no. One day, on our way to the prayer service, we ran into a slave girl who was possessed by a prophetic spirit. As a fortune-teller, she was furnishing her masters with a sizeable income. She kept following Paul and the rest of us, yelling, “These people are slaves of the highest God! They’re declaring to us the way of salvation!” She persisted in doing that for many days. Paul finally got tired of it and, turning his attention to the spirit, said, “ I order you in the name of the Messiah King Jesus to come out of her!” It went away in that very moment. When her owners saw that their future financial hopes had also gone away, they had Paul and Silas arrested and dragged to the public officials in the town square. Once they had them before the praetors, “These fellows, these Jews,” they declared, “have been disturbing the peace of our city. “They’re advocating practices that we as Romans can neither accept nor engage in!” The crowd then also rose up against Paul and Silas. The praetors had them stripped of their outer garments and ordered them to be caned. Having inflicted many stripes on them, they threw them in prison, with an order to the warden to guard them securely. On receiving that order, he put them in the deepest dungeon and fastened their legs in the stocks. In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas, continuing to pray, were singing a hymn to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there came an earthquake, big enough to rock the foundations of the prison. All the doors flew open, and everyone’s bonds were loosened! When the warden woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword with the intention to commit suicide, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. Paul shouted out, “Don’t do yourself any harm! We’re all here!” The warden called for a torch and rushed in. Shaking all over, he fell before Paul and Silas; then, after leading them outside, he asked, “Masters, what must I do to be saved?” “Believe in the Master Jesus,” said they, “and you and your household will be saved.” They ended by telling him, together with everyone in his residence, about the Master’s message. The warden took charge of them and, despite the late hour of the night, washed their wounds. He himself was baptized on the spot, together with all who belonged to him. He brought Paul and Silas up into his residence and set a table for them. He, with his whole household, was ecstatic to have become a believer in God! At daylight the praetors sent the lictors with a message to the warden: “Let those fellows go.” The warden reported the message to Paul: “The praetors have sent word that you’re to be released! Now you can depart, and can go in peace.” Paul, however, told the lictors, “They gave us a public flogging without a trial, though we are Roman citizens, and threw us in prison. Now they want to get rid of us quietly? No way! Let them come and personally escort us out!” The lictors transmitted this message back to the praetors, who were alarmed to hear that they were Romans; they came and made conciliatory gestures to them, then escorted them out and requested that they depart from the city. Once out of prison, they went to Lydia’s house. After visiting and encouraging the brothers and sisters, they departed. They traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Following his usual practice, Paul walked into their midst on three different Sabbaths and held discussions with them based on scripture, bringing forth evidence that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise from the dead: “And he, the Jesus whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah.” Some of them were persuaded, and fell to Paul’s and Silas’s lot, along with a great number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few of the town’s leading women. The Jews were jealous and, after bringing in some low-life commoners and rounding up a crowd, began to create a public disturbance. Having converged on Jason’s house, they tried to bring Paul and Silas out before the mob. When they couldn’t find them, they proceeded to drag Jason and some brethren to the magistrates, shouting “Those who’ve been shaking up the entire civilized world have now appeared right here, “and Jason has taken them into his house! They’re all acting in opposition to Caesar’s policies, and are claiming that there is a different emperor, Jesus!” They thus rattled the crowd and the magistrates who were listening to this talk. Then the magistrates, after taking bail from Jason and the rest, released them. And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea by night; as soon as they arrived there, they made for the synagogue of the Jews. Those people were more decent than the people in Thessalonica: they welcomed the message with great eagerness, day by day examining scripture to see if it really said this. As a result, many of them became believers, along with not a few from among the more decent Greek women and men. As soon as the Jews from Thessalonica realized that the word of God was also being proclaimed by Paul in Beroea, they came and started to upset and alarm the crowds there as well. The brethren then immediately sent Paul off on his way to the seaport, with Silas and Timothy staying behind in Beroea. Those responsible for Paul escorted him to Athens, then left him, taking along with them his order for Silas and Timothy to join him there as soon as possible. In Athens, while Paul was awaiting their arrival, his spirit was being constantly provoked by the sight of such an idolatrous city. So he began to hold discussions — with Jews and God-fearing people in the synagogue, and on a daily basis with passers-by in the marketplace. There were even some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who would engage with him. “What could this wordpecker be trying to say?” said some; others said, “He seems to be a proselytizer of outlandish deities” (because he was preaching the gospel of Jesus and the resurrection). They took hold of him and brought him to the high court of inquiry, the Areopagus, and asked him, “Would it be possible for us to learn the nature of this new teaching that’s being spread by you? “After all, you’re introducing things that are foreign to our ears. Our desire, therefore, is to know what these ideas are all about!” The fact is that everyone in Athens, including the resident aliens, liked nothing better than to spend their spare time discussing or hearing about the latest idea. “My dear Athenians,” said Paul, standing before the Areopagus, “I consider you in all respects a most religious people. “For in my perusal and inspection of your holy places, I even came upon an altar that bears the inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. And that which you venerate without knowing what it is — that is what I proclaim to you! “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who reigns as lord of heaven and earth, does not inhabit hand-made temples, “nor is he in need of anything so as to be serviced by human hands; he himself is the giver of life, of breath, of all things to all! “From a single person, he created an entire race of humans to inhabit the entire face of the earth, after appointing fixed periods for when they should dwell there, and fixed boundaries for where they should dwell, “having created them to seek after God, to try at least to grope him, to stumble upon him — even though he’s not at all far from each and every one of us! “For In him we live, and move, and exist — as some of your own poets have said: We are descended from him. “Because we are descendants of God, it’s not appropriate for us to think that the divine is the same thing as gold, silver, or marble, which are shaped by artifice and conceived by humans. “God overlooked those times of ignorance, but now he’s giving the command to us humans: Everyone, everywhere, repent! “Accordingly, he has set a day on which he’s going to judge all humanity on the basis of justice and fairness, through the man whom he’s appointed: having raised that human from the dead, God has pledged his guarantee to all humans!” Upon hearing about resurrection from the dead, some scoffed, but others said, “We’ll hear more from you about this on another occasion.” And thus Paul left their assembly. However, some attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus; a woman named Damaris; and others in their company. After that, he vacated Athens and came to Corinth. There he came upon a Jew by the name of Aquila, of Pontic descent, recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla. They had left pursuant to the emperor Claudius’ order that all Jews vacate Rome. He approached them and started to live and work at their house, because Paul and Aquila belonged to the same guild — they were both tentmakers by trade. Paul was then holding discussions in the synagogue every Sabbath, and was trying to convince both Jews and Greeks. But by the time Silas and Timothy had come down from Macedonia, Paul was consumed with his preaching as he fervently testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Finally, when they lined up against him and blasphemed, Paul shook out his clothing at them and declared, “Your blood be upon your heads! I’m no longer responsible! From now on I’m going to the Gentiles!” He went from there over to the house of someone called Titius Justus, a man who held God in reverence, and who lived right next door to the synagogue. Now the leader of the synagogue, Crispus, became a believer in the Master, and with him his whole household; and many of the Corinthians who were listening to Paul began to believe and be baptized. One night, the Master said to Paul in a dream, “Don’t be afraid: speak and don’t be silent, “because I’m with you, and no one will raise a hand to harm you; in this city, my people are many!” So Paul stayed a year and a half teaching the word of God in their midst. When Gallio was proconsul of the province of Achaea, the Jews made a concerted attack against Paul, and haled him up to the proconsul’s tribunal. “He’s misleading people into worshipping God in a manner contrary to the Torah,” they claimed. Paul was about to open his mouth when Gallio addressed the Jews: “If, O Jews, there had been some crime or shameless villainy here, it would have been logical for me to go along with you. “If, however, the issue is about words and names and your own Law, see to it yourselves. I have no wish to be a judge of those matters.” Then he ordered them off the tribunal. At that point the mob grabbed Sosthenes, the new synagogue leader, and began to beat him up right in front of the tribunal; Gallio paid no attention to any of it. As for Paul, he waited a good number of days, then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and sailed off for Syria in the company of Priscilla and Aquila, having gotten his head shaved in the port of Cenchreae to fulfill a vow. And they did make safe harbor at Ephesus. Paul left them in the harbor and went by himself into the synagogue, where he held discussions with the Jews. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined, but in parting from them also said, “God willing, I’ll come your way again.” Then he sailed away from Ephesus. Arriving at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, then went down to Antioch. After having passed some time there, he left on a tour of the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, confirming all of the disciples there. A Jew by the name of Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth and a learned man (being an expert in scripture), also made safe harbor in Ephesus. He had been instructed in the Way of the Master; burning with the spirit, he was preaching and teaching accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. And Apollos began to speak openly in the synagogue. After hearing him, Priscilla and Aquila took him in hand and gave him a more accurate account of God’s way. Since he was desirous of a voyage to Achaea, the brethren encouraged it by writing the disciples there, telling them to welcome him. When he did come to them, he was of great assistance to those who had already received the grace to believe, so vigorously and thoroughly did he expose the fallacies of the Jews as he demonstrated publicly through scripture that Jesus was the Messiah King. While Apollos was at Corinth, it transpired that Paul, having passed through the inland regions, came to Ephesus and encountered some disciples. “After you became believers,” he asked them, “did you receive the holy spirit?” Their reply to him: “We haven’t even heard whether there is a holy spirit!” “So what were you baptized into?” he asked. “Into John’s baptism,” was their answer. “John baptized the baptism of repentance,” said Paul, “telling the people that they should believe in the one coming after him — that is, in Jesus.” After hearing Paul, they were baptized into the name of the Master Jesus. Then, when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy spirit came upon them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. They were around a dozen men in all. Paul frequented the synagogue and spoke openly, holding discussions for three months and trying to convince people about the kingdom of God. When some became obstinate and unconvinced, even speaking ill of the Way before the congregation, Paul separated himself and his disciples from them and continued discussions every day in Turannos’ school. This went on for almost two years, to the point where the whole population of the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, had heard the Master’s message. And God was working more than just occasional miracles at the hands of Paul. It even happened that people would bring home handkerchiefs or napkins that had touched Paul’s body, and lay them upon the sick, and the sicknesses would depart from them, or the evil spirits would get out of them. There were also a few Jews going around as exorcists who made an attempt to use the name of Master Jesus on those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” Indeed, the seven sons of the Jewish high priest Sceva were doing this when the evil spirit queried them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I’ve heard about, but who are you?” — whereupon the fellow who had the evil spirit in him leaped upon them, held them down, and overpowered them, each and every one, so that they had to run naked and bleeding from that house. This became known to the entire Jewish and Greek population of Ephesus. Everyone was awestruck, and the name of Master Jesus was glorified. More and more believers were coming forward to confess and report their former practices. Quite a few who had engaged in occult practices brought their magic scrolls together and burned them in front of everybody. They calculated their total value and came up with fifty thousand sestertii. Thus, with the Master’s power, his word was spreading and growing strong. When all this had come to pass, Paul was inspired to travel down through Macedonia and Achaea, and to undertake the voyage from there to Jerusalem. “And after I get there,” he remarked, “I ought to visit Rome as well!” First he sent two of his ministers, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, while he himself remained for a while in the province of Asia. Just at that time there arose a considerable commotion involving the Way. You see, a fellow by the name of Demetrius, a silversmith, was producing little Artemis-temples and thereby providing a good deal of work for the artisans. He gathered them together with workers in related fields and addressed them: “Gentlemen, you’re all aware that we do a lively business from this work. “You’ve observed and heard that not only in Ephesus, but through almost all the province of Asia, this fellow Paul has convinced and converted a sizeable crowd, telling them that gods who’ve been made artificially are not gods. “It’s not just this business we’re in that’s in danger of being called into question; even the temple of the great goddess Artemis is at risk of being reckoned as worthless, and she’s in danger of being deprived of her greatness, she whom all of Asia — indeed, all the world — reveres!” After hearing that and becoming full of anger, the men began to shout, “Great is the goddess of the Ephesians!” Then the city was filled with turmoil, and people rushed in a mob to the theater, dragging the Macedonians Gaius and Aristarchus with them, Paul’s fellow-travelers. Paul wanted to get into the throng, but the disciples wouldn’t let him. Even some who officiated in the imperial cult, who were also friendly to Paul, sent messages begging him not to present himself in the theater. Some were shouting one thing, and others another, because the assembly was in confusion, with most people ignorant of the reason for their gathering. When the Jews brought Alexander forward, people focused their attention on him out of the whole crowd. Then Alexander motioned for silence and started to make a defense before the people. But once they realized that he was a Jew, a single shout arose in unison from all and was kept up for two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Finally, the secretary of the assembly calls the crowd to order and begins to speak: “Citizens of Ephesus! After all, is there anyone alive who doesn’t know that the citizens of Ephesus are the temple-wardens of Artemis the great, and of her statue that fell from Zeus? “Since no one can deny that, there’s no reason for you to be upset or to rush headlong into anything. “Look, you’ve brought in these men who’ve committed no sacrilege or blasphemy against our goddess. “Now, if Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a case against anyone, there are court-days that are held, and there are proconsuls for them. Let people bring charges against one another! “If you’re pursuing anything beyond that, it will be resolved at the regular meeting of the assembly. “I tell you this because we’re dangerously close to being charged with sedition for what’s happening today, since there is no apparent cause, and we won’t be able to come up with a good explanation for this mob scene.” Having said that, he dismissed the assembly. When all the noise had stopped, Paul sent for the disciples and encouraged them, then said good-bye and left to make his way into Macedonia. After passing through that country and giving the people many words of encouragement, he went on down into Greece. After he’d been there three months, and was on the point of sailing to Syria, a plot against him by the Jews came up, so he made a decision to return via Macedonia. Among his companions were Pyrrhus’ son Sopater from Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. Those men went ahead and waited for us in Troas. As for us, we set sail from the port of Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but didn’t catch up to them in Troas for five more days. There we passed another seven days. On the day after the Sabbath, when we were gathered to break bread, Paul, who was going to depart the next day, held a discussion with the people; he kept on talking until midnight, but we had enough lamps in the attic where we’d gathered. One young man by the name of Eutychus, who was sitting on the window sill, kept dropping into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Finally overcome by sleep, he fell three stories down and was picked up dead. Paul ran down and fell upon him, then gathered him in his arms and announced, “Don’t raise the alarm; life is still in him!” Paul went back up, broke bread and, having had a bite to eat, gave a talk that lasted till dawn, and so departed. And they brought the boy back alive, which brought them no small measure of relief. As for us, we went ahead to the boat and cast off for Assos, where we were supposed to take Paul on board — which was how he’d arranged it, intending to go there himself on foot. As soon as he fell in with us at Assos, we took him aboard and went off to Mitylene. From there we sailed the next day and came within reach of Chios, and the day after came alongside Samos, and the day after that sailed into the port of Miletus. Paul, you see, had decided to sail past Ephesus so that there wouldn’t be occasion for him to waste time in the province of Asia: he was eager that the day of Pentecost might find him in Jerusalem, if possible. Nevertheless, from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the assembly. When they had come to him, he said to them, You know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I conducted myself with you that whole time, enslaved to the Master in all humility, with the tears and trials of the things that happened to me through the treachery of the Jews, and how I didn’t keep myself from conferring benefits by proclaiming to you and teaching you both in public and from house to house, bearing witness to Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and trust in our Master Jesus. And now here I am, bound in my spirit to go to Jerusalem, not knowing what awaits me in that city, knowing only that the holy spirit bears witness to me from city to city telling me that chains and pains are waiting for me! But I consider my life to be worthy of no account at all to me — just let me finish my course and the mission I’ve received from Master Jesus, which is to be a witness to the gospel of God’s grace. And now here I am, knowing that you’ll not see my face any more, all of you among whom I’ve gone preaching the kingdom! And so I testify to you on this day that I’m innocent of the blood of all, because I’ve not held back from proclaiming God’s entire plan to you. Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy spirit made you the guardians. Pasture the assembly of God that he has redeemed by shedding his own blood! I’m aware that after my departure a burden of wolves will come upon you, and they won’t spare the flock, and that even from among you yourselves, men will rise up spouting distorted doctrines to draw the disciples after them. So stay alert! Keep in mind that for three years, night and day, I didn’t stop, with tears in my eyes, warning each and every one of you! For now, I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, which has the ability to build you up and confer on you your inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. I’ve craved neither silver nor gold nor any raiment; you yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my needs and to those who’ve been with me. I’ve set you every example of how we have to work hard that way to meet the needs of those who are weak, and have to keep in mind the words of the Master, Jesus, when he himself said, “Giving is a happier thing than taking!” After saying those things, he got on his knees with all of them and prayed. Everyone shed a good many tears, and falling on Paul’s neck they kept kissing him, grieving especially at the remark he’d made that they were no longer going to behold his face. But they continued to escort him to the boat. When we had finally separated ourselves from them and set sail, we made a straight course for Cos, and the next day for Rhodes, and from Rhodes reached Patara. There we found a boat that was making the crossing to Phoenicia; we boarded and sailed off. Once we’d sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria, and disembarked at the port of Tyre, since the cargo was to be unloaded there. We stayed on there for seven days after locating the disciples, who were inspired to tell Paul not to get on a boat bound for Jerusalem. But when our time there was up, we set off on the voyage. All the men, women, and children escorted us out of the city. We knelt on the shore and prayed, then said good-bye to each other and got on board, while they went back to their own homes. By the end of our voyage from Tyre, we had reached Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers and sisters and spent a day with them. The day after, we set off for Caesarea, where we entered the home of the missionary Philip (who had been one of Stephen’s seven ministers) and stayed with him. Philip had four unmarried daughters who were good at prophecy, and since we were staying for several more days, a prophet by the name of Agavus also came down from Judaea: he came right over to us and picked up Paul’s belt, then bound his own feet and hands and said, “Here is what the holy spirit is saying: Thus in Jerusalem will the Jews bind the man who owns this belt, and will turn him over to Gentile hands! ” Hearing this, we and the local people begged Paul not to go back up to Jerusalem. Then came Paul’s answer: “What are you doing, crying and trying to break my resolve? After all, I stand ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the sake of Master Jesus’ name!” He was not to be persuaded. “The Master’s will be done,” we said, and held our peace. After those days had passed, we got ourselves ready and set out for Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea came with us, bringing with them one Mnason, a Cypriot and early disciple, at whose place we were to be lodged. When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly. The next day, Paul went in with us to James’s house. All the elders were there. After greeting them, Paul described each and every thing that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they’d heard, they glorified God, but at the same time told him, “Look around, brother Paul, and you’ll see that among the Jews here there are tens of thousands of believers, and all of them hold fast to the Torah. “About you, they’ve been given to understand that you’re teaching all the Jews that live in Gentile lands to break with Moses, telling them not to circumcise their boys and not to observe Jewish customs. “What’s next? Of course they’re going to hear that you’re in town. [Variant reading, Jerome: Of course a mob has to gather, because they’ll hear that you’re in town.] “So we’re telling you to do this: we have four men who’ve put themselves under a vow; “sponsor them and get yourself purified with them, then cover their expenses so that they can shave their heads, and then everyone will know that what they’ve been told about you just isn’t true, and that you yourself also keep in step with Torah. “As far as the Gentile believers are concerned, we’ve already sent them word of our decision that they abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from strangled animals, and from sexual promiscuity.” So then Paul sponsored the men, had himself purified with them the following day, and entered the temple, announcing a schedule for the completion of the days of their purification, and staying until an offering was made on behalf of each and every one of them. While the seven days of the vow were in the process of being fulfilled, the Jews from Asia, having spotted Paul in the temple, stirred up their whole crowd and laid hands on him, yelling, “Help, fellow Israelites! This is the guy who’s been teaching everyone everywhere things against our nation, against Torah, against this place! He’s gone so far as to bring heathen Hellenes into the temple, and so has profaned this holy place!” You see, they’d seen Trophimus the Ephesian with Paul, and were thinking that Paul had brought him into the temple. The whole city was in motion, with people running up from every direction; seizing Paul, they proceeded to drag him out of the temple, and the gates were closed immediately after. While they were trying to kill him, a report came up to the cohort commander that all of Jerusalem was in turmoil. He at once commandeered soldiers and centurion captains and ran out against the crowd. And they, as soon as they saw the commander, left off beating Paul. The commander then came up and took hold of him, ordered that he be bound with chains, and tried to find out who he was and what he’d done. That drew various responses from the crowd. When the commander, because of the uproar, was unable to learn the facts, he ordered Paul to be brought to the barracks. When, however, he came to the stairway, he had to be carried up by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd: a mob of people were following, shouting “Take him out!” As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul asked the commander, “Would it be possible for me to ask a favor of you?” “Ah, you know Greek!” said he; “So you’re not the Egyptian who some time ago staged an uprising and led the four-thousand-man band of assassins out into the desert?” Answered Paul, “No, I’m a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a not insignificant town. And I beg you, let me speak to the people.” With his permission, Paul got up on the stairs and motioned to the people for silence. When everyone was quiet, he gave the following speech in the Hebrew language: My dear brothers — and fathers —, listen to my defense that I can at last make before you — When they heard that he was addressing them in Hebrew, they kept all the more quiet. He went on to say, I’m a Jewish man, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this very city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict adherence to ancestral law, as zealously devoted to God as all of you are today. I persecuted to the death this new Way, binding and handing over to imprisonment both men and women: the high priest can back me up on that, along with the entire council of elders, by whom I was even given letters to their brethren in Damascus, and was setting out to bring those up there, as well, in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. It happened that around noon, as I was well on my way and getting close to Damascus, an unusually bright light from the sky suddenly flashed all around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Master?”, I answered. He told me, “I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you persecute.” The people with me beheld the light but didn’t hear the voice of him who was speaking to me. “What should I do, Master?”, I asked. The Master said to me, “Get up and go on to Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that you’re supposed to do.” Since I couldn’t see a thing after the brilliant glory of that light, I entered Damascus being led by the hands of my companions. A certain Ananias, a man of piety in keeping with Torah, and of good reputation with all the Jews who lived there, came to see me. He stood over me and said, “Brother Saul, open your eyes!” And in that very moment I looked and saw him! Then he said, “The God of our forefathers has appointed you to know his pleasure, and to see the One who is just and to hear the voice coming from his mouth: “you will give testimony for him to all people about what you have seen and heard. “So why delay? Get up, get yourself baptized: invoke his name and get your sins washed away!” After I’d gone back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, it happened that I was put into a trance, and saw Jesus telling me, “Hurry and get out of Jerusalem right away, because they’re not going to accept your testimony about me.” “Master,” said I, “they know that I used to go from synagogue to synagogue imprisoning and flogging those who believed in you. “And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself stood by and approved, and watched over the outer garments of those who were killing him.” “So go,” he said, “because I’m going to send you far away, to the Gentiles!” Those last words were as much as they were about to hear from Paul. They raised their voices, shouting “Wipe this type off the face of the earth! He’s not fit to live!” As they yelled, flung their cloaks around, and raised a cloud of dust, the commander gave the order for Paul to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with lashes until the commander might discover what he had said to cause such an uproar of reaction from the crowd. When they had stretched him out in the straps, Paul asked the centurion standing there, “Are you really permitted to whip someone who is a Roman, and who hasn’t been condemned?” When he heard that, the centurion went up to the commander and reported it, saying, “What are you thinking of doing? That fellow’s a Roman!” The commander came to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” “I am,” said Paul. The commander’s response: “Well, speaking for myself, I had to pay a lot of money for that citizenship!” “As for me,” rejoined Paul, “I was actually born a citizen!” So the men who were there to torture him left him immediately. And the commander was alarmed to discover that Paul was a Roman and that he had impounded him. The next day, wanting to find out exactly what he was being accused of by the Jews, he untied him and ordered the high priests and the entire Sanhedrin to meet. He led Paul in and stood him before them. Paul looked squarely at the Sanhedrin and spoke: “My dear brothers, I have in all good conscience dedicated my life to the service of God, right up to this moment.” The high priest Ananias ordered those standing next to him to slap his mouth, whereupon Paul said to him, “God is going to slap you, you whitewashed wall! Can you really sit there and judge me according to the Law, while you unlawfully have me slapped?” Those standing next to him said, “Are you trying to rebuke God’s high priest?” Paul’s response: “I had no idea, brothers, that he was a high priest! After all, it’s written that Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Now, Paul knew that the Sanhedrin was one part Sadducee and the other part Pharisee, so he shouted, “My dear brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees, and I am being judged about my hope and expectation of the resurrection from the dead!” When he said that, it generated contention between the Pharisees and Sadducees, so the membership was divided. The Sadducees, you see, believe that there is no such thing as resurrection or angels or spirits, while the Pharisees accept all of that. A great shouting match arose. Some of the bible scholars on the Pharisee side contended, “We’re finding no guilt in this person. If a spirit, or an angel, has spoken to him, well then …” Amid this major contention, the cohort commander was afraid that Paul might be cut to pieces by them, so he ordered his troops to come down, snatch him from their midst, and bring him to the barracks. That night, the Master stood over him and said, “Take heart! As you’ve been testifying about me in Jerusalem, so you have to testify also in Rome!” When day broke, the Jews held a secret meeting and put themselves under a curse if they ate or drank anything before they should kill Paul. There were more than forty who entered into this conspiracy. They approached the high priests and elders and said, “We’ve put ourselves under a curse if we touch any nourishment before we kill Paul. “Now, here’s what you do: in concert with the Sanhedrin, demand that the cohort commander bring Paul back to you, saying you want to examine his case in more detail. We’re ready to kill him before he gets close!” Paul’s sister’s son heard of the ambush and went up to the barracks. Going in, he reported it to Paul. Paul summoned one of the centurions and said, “Bring this young man to the commander; he has something to report to him.” The centurion then took him and brought him to the commander, announcing that “The prisoner Paul summoned me and asked that I bring this boy to you, as he has something to tell you.” The commander took him by the hand and withdrew to a private place, then asked, “Now what is it you have to report to me?” Said the boy: “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul back to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, allegedly to make a more thorough inquiry about him. “You shouldn’t do what they say: more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him; they’ve pledged themselves not to eat or drink until they’ve killed him. Even as we speak, they stand ready, expecting you to say yes.” Now the commander dismissed the boy, ordering him, “Don’t tell anyone that you’ve revealed this to me!” Next, he summoned two of his centurions and said, “Outfit two hundred soldiers for a march to Caesarea, with seventy cavalry and two hundred guards armed with spears. Leave at the third hour of the night; “provide horses as mounts for Paul to get him safely through to Governor Felix.” The commander wrote a letter containing the following text: Claudius Lysias to his excellency Felix, the Governor: greetings! This man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. With our troops I came to his rescue, after discovering that he was a Roman. Since I wished to understand the reason for their accusing him, I brought him before their Sanhedrin. I found that he was being accused regarding questions of their own law, and was guilty of no crime worthy of death or imprisonment. However, since it was revealed to me that there would be treachery on their part against the man, I have sent him to you, and have ordered his accusers, as well, to state their case against him in your court. So the soldiers picked up Paul and brought him to Antipatris by night, as they were ordered. They let the cavalry ride off with him the next day, while they returned to their barracks. The cavalry entered Caesarea, handed the letter over to the governor, and presented him with Paul. The governor read the letter, then inquired what province Paul was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I shall give you a thorough hearing when your accusers are present as well.” He ordered that Paul be guarded in Herodes’ praetorium. Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and one Tertullus, a lawyer. They presented their case against Paul to the governor: when Paul had been called in, Tertullus began the prosecution with the words, “Through you we enjoy complete tranquillity, along with reforms that are taking place in our nation through your providence; “this we acknowledge with all gratitude everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix! “But to avoid keeping you here too long, I would ask that for a short time you devote your fair attention to what we have to say. “We identified this man as a pest, stirring up dissention among all the world’s Jews as chief spokesman for the Nazarene faction. “He even tried to profane our temple, and we arrested him [omitted in earliest MSS: and wanted to try him according to our own Law, “but the cohort commander Lysias came up and took him by force out of our hands ]. “When you’ve examined him yourself, you’ll be able to discover from him the facts about all these things we’re accusing him of.” The Jewish witnesses were brought forward to assert the truth of the allegations. When the governor nodded for him to speak, Paul responded: “Since I know that you’ve held your judgeship over this Jewish people for a good number of years, I feel very comfortable making this defense with regard to my own affairs. “You can confirm that not more than twelve days have passed since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. “My accusers didn’t find me engaging anyone in discussion in the temple; they didn’t find me inciting a mob either in the synagogues or in public; “nor can they furnish you with evidence for what they are only now accusing me of. “I promise you that in the Way that they characterize as a ‘faction,’ I so worship the God of our fathers as to be a believer in everything that’s in keeping with Torah, and that’s been written in the prophets. “I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, namely that there’s going to be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. “With that expectation, I too practice keeping my conscience continually free from guilt before God and my fellow humans. “Now, after a good number of years I’ve arrived here to deliver charitable contributions and offerings to my people, “in the course of which my accusers have found me standing purified in the temple — not out with a crowd or with rioters. “Now, there’ve been Jews from the province of Asia who should have appeared before you and made accusations, if they had anything against me. “— either that, or let these people themselves tell the crime they identified when I stood before the Sanhedrin. “Or let them talk about the one remark that I shouted at the Sanhedrin when I stood before them: It is about the resurrection from the dead that I stand today in judgment before you! ” However, Felix adjourned the proceedings, declaring that “When commander Lysias comes down, and I’ve learned more details about this ‘Way,’ I’ll make determinations in your case.” He instructed the centurion to put Paul under guard with minimal detention, and with no obstacles for his own people to minister to him. Felix came to the praetorium a few days later with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and heard what he had to say about the Faith in Jesus the anointed King. As Paul was talking about loving kindness, self-control, and the day of judgment to come, Felix reacted with extreme nervousness and said, “Be on your way for now; when I get time later, I’ll call for you,” hoping at the same time that he would be given money by Paul — which is why he sent for him rather frequently and went on holding conversations with him. When his two years were up, Felix had a successor — Porcius Festus. Still willing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Three days after taking office as governor, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. There the high priests and Jewish leaders presented him with their brief against Paul. They begged him (asking the favor to Paul’s detriment) to remand Paul to Jerusalem, since they were contriving an ambush to kill him along the way. Festus replied that Paul’s place of custody was Caesarea, where he himself would soon be going. “Those among you who are so empowered,” says he, “should come down with me and prosecute him, if in fact the man is guilty of anything.” He spent no more than eight or ten days in their company. The day following his return to Caesarea, having seated himself at the tribunal, he ordered Paul to be brought in. When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many heavy charges against him, charges they couldn’t manage to prove. Paul’s defense was simply this: “I have committed no crime against the Law of the Jews, or against the temple, or against Caesar.” Festus, however, wanting to curry favor with the Jews, responded by asking Paul, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges in my court up there?” But Paul replied, “I’m standing at Caesar’s tribunal, and here I should be tried. I’ve committed no offense against Jews, as you yourself are well aware. “Now, if I’m in the wrong and am guilty of doing something punishable by death, I don’t refuse the death penalty. If, on the other hand, the crimes these men are accusing me of amount to nothing, then no one has the right to let me be convicted by them. I appeal to Caesar!” Then Festus, after conferring with his council, responded, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you shall go!” A few days later, Herodes’ son King Agrippa and his sister Bernice arrived in Caesarea after having sent salutations to Festus. As they were there for several days, Festus happened to relate the Paul affair to the king, telling him that “He was a man left behind in prison by Felix; “the high priests and elders of the Jews made representations about him when I was in Jerusalem, and were asking for a judgment against him. “I answered them that it wasn’t Roman to convict any person until the accused has the accusers before him in person, and gets the opportunity to defend himself against the charge. “When they’d come here with me, I made no further delay, but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day, and ordered the man to be brought in. “When the accusers took their positions around him, they proceeded to bring none of the criminal charges that I was expecting. “Instead, they held disputations with him about their own religious practices and about a certain Jesus who is dead, whom Paul was claiming to be alive. “Not knowing how to handle a dispute about those things, I asked whether he might prefer to go to Jerusalem and be tried on those matters there. “But when Paul lodged his appeal that he be held for the Augustan court of inquiry, I ordered that his confinement continue until I should send him to Caesar.” Said Agrippa to Festus, “I myself was also wanting to hear this man!” “You shall hear him tomorrow,” says Festus. The next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived with much ostentation. When they had entered the place of audience together with cohort commanders and the highest-ranking citizens, Festus gave the order, and Paul was brought in. Says Festus, “O King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen convened with us, behold the man concerning whom the whole Jewish population, both in Jerusalem and here, have besought me, crying out that he must live no longer! “As I’ve understood it, he’s done nothing worthy of death, but now that he’s appealed to the Augustan court, I’ve decided to send him there. “I’m not sure exactly what to write to the emperor concerning him, which is why I’ve brought him before you and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, once we’ve conducted this examination, I may have something to write, “because it doesn’t make sense to me to send him as a prisoner without also indicating the charges against him.” Said Agrippa to Paul, “You have permission to speak about yourself.” Paul then motioned for silence and began to make his defense: In regard to all that I’m charged with by Jews, King Agrippa, I count myself fortunate to be able to defend myself before you, because you’re especially familiar with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I therefore ask that you give me a patient hearing! Now, all Jews know about my way of life from boyhood onward — as it was at first among my own people, and then in Jerusalem — because they already know my family tradition, if they’re willing to admit it: I lived in conformance to the strictest faction in our religion, as a Pharisee. And now I stand on trial for my hope in the promise that was made by God to our forefathers, the promise which our Twelve Tribes, serving God night and day, eagerly hope to attain. It’s concerning that hope that I’m being prosecuted by Jews, O King! What’s to be judged incredible by you all, if God raises the dead? All right — I once thought that I ought to engage in many activities in opposition to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. I did just that in Jerusalem: I shut many of the holy ones up in prison, with permission of the high priests; when they were being killed, I cast my vote against them; and in one synagogue after another, as a way to get them punished, I would often force them to say something profane. I was obsessed with them; I would persecute them even in cities outside Jerusalem. I was travelling to Damascus on such a mission, with the authority and permission of the high priests, when on the way at midday I saw, O King, a light from the sky, a light beyond the brilliance of the sun, shining around me and my fellow travelers. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew tongue, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Kicking against the goads must be hard on you!” I said, “Who are you, Master?” and the Master said, “I am Jesus whom you persecute! “But get up now and stand on your feet: I’ve shown myself to you to get you ready to be a minister and witness to what you’ve seen of me and to what I’m going to have you see of me. “I’ll deliver you from both Jews and Gentiles as I send you into their midst “to open their eyes, so that they turn away from darkness toward the light, from the power of Satan back to God, so that through faith in me they obtain forgiveness of their sins and an allotted place among the blessed ones.” Since then, King Agrippa, I haven’t been unfaithful to that heavenly vision, but have proclaimed — first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, and then throughout the land of Judea, and finally to the Gentiles — repentance and a return to God through the performance of works commensurate with repentance. Because I was doing that, the Jews grabbed me in the temple and were trying to do me in, but with God’s help now I still stand to this day as a witness to both the humble and the exalted, telling no more and no less than what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen — assuming that the Anointed One was capable of suffering, and that he was to be the first to be raised from the dead and to announce the light to Jew and Gentile alike. With Paul defending himself this way, Festus makes a loud remark: “Paul, have you lost your mind? You read too much, and it’s driven you out of your senses!” “No, most excellent Festus,” answers Paul, “I haven’t lost my mind; I’m making plain statements of fact and good sense. “His majesty is familiar with these things, and I’m speaking freely and openly to him. I can’t believe that anything I’ve said is escaping him; after all, it’s not something that’s been brought about in a dark corner. “King Agrippa, you believe the prophets, don’t you? I’m sure you believe!” Agrippa to Paul: “You’re having me believe you’ll make a Christian of me in short order!” “Let me pray to God that, in both short and long order, not only you, but everyone who’s hearing me today, becomes such as I am — minus these chains!” The king, the governor, Bernice, and those who had been sitting with them rose and spoke with one another as they left the room, saying, “That fellow’s been engaging in nothing deserving of death or chains!” Said Agrippa to Festus, “That fellow could have been released if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.” When the decision was made for our sailing off to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Augustan cohort. We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was to call at ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and set sail; accompanying us was Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day, we disembarked at Sidon, and Julius was kind enough to Paul to let him be taken to the house of friends, where he was cared for. Again casting off from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were opposing us. After navigating the waters by Cilicia and Pamphylia, we disembarked at Myra in Lycia. When the centurion had found an Alexandrian ship there that was bound for Italy, he put us on board. After several days of slow going, we barely reached Cnidus, the wind being unfavorable to us. Having sought the shelter of Crete by Cape Salmone, we struggled along its coast and came to a port called Fair Harbors, near which lay the town of Lasaea. By now, a considerable amount of time had been consumed; it was already past the Autumn Fast, and sailing was dangerous. Paul gave them this warning: “Men, as I see it, our sailing on is going to mean loss and damage not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives!” The centurion, however, paid more attention to the helmsman and the captain than to the words of Paul. Since that harbor was not fit for wintering, the majority cast their vote for sailing on from there, to see if they might be able to get to Phoenix (a Cretan harbor facing toward both the southwest wind and the northwest wind) to spend the winter. A gentle south wind blew and they thought they had what they’d been hoping for, so they put out to sea and kept on a course close by Crete. Not long after, however, a typhoon-like wind rushed down from the mainland, a wind called “Euraquilo” (“northeaster”). When the ship was caught up in it and unable to face about, we gave in to the wind and let the ship be carried along. We ran under the lee of a small island called Cauda and barely managed to grab the lifeboat, which the crew put on board, then used support bracing to undergird the ship. The crew were afraid of being grounded on Syrtis, so they slackened the sail and had the ship carried along like that. We were still battered badly by the storm, so they began to toss cargo overboard, piece by piece. On the third day of this, they even threw off the ship’s furnishings with their own hands. With no sight of either sun or stars for several more days, and the storm persisting with still considerable violence, we were finally stripped of every hope of being saved; by and large, people had stopped eating. At that point Paul got up in front of them and said, “Well, men, you ought to have done as I told you when I said not to cast off from Crete, and to spare yourselves this loss and damage. “But even now I can advise you not to lose heart: there won’t be a single life lost among you — except that of the ship itself! “This very night, you see, an angel of the God to whom I belong, and whom I worship, appeared to me “and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul! You’re supposed to appear before Caesar, and what’s more, God has granted you as a favor the lives of all those sailing with you!’ “So take heart, men! I trust to God that it will turn out the way he’s promised me; “we just need to be cast up on some island.” And indeed, when the fourteenth night had fallen, as we were still drifting about in the Adriatic, the sailors sensed around midnight that landfall was near. Sounding the depths, they counted twenty fathoms, and taking another reading a little further on, they counted fifteen. Afraid of being shipwrecked on jagged rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern and started to pray for day to break. The sailors, however, were trying to escape from the ship: they let the lifeboat down to the water, with the excuse that they were going to extend anchors from the prow. Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, “If those fellows don’t stay on board, there’s no way for you to be saved!” The soldiers then cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it drift away. Up to the time when day was about to break, Paul had been pleading with everyone to take something to eat. “Today,” he said, “is the fourteenth day you’ve been keeping yourselves in suspense without eating. You haven’t taken in a thing! “I’m therefore begging you to partake of some food: it’s there to save your lives! I assure you, not a hair will be lost from anyone’s head!” After saying that, and taking a piece of bread, he gave thanks to God in front of everyone, then broke it and began to eat. They all felt reassured, and started to partake of the food themselves. We were a total of two hundred seventy-six souls on board that ship. After the people had satisfied themselves with food, they lightened the load on the ship by throwing the food provisions into the sea. When daylight came, the crew didn’t recognize the land, but could make out an inlet with a beach, where they made plans to run the ship aground if they could. After hoisting the anchors, they let the sea take over; at the same time, they unfastened the rudder-locks and, raising the foresail to the prevailing wind, made for the beach. They ran the ship onto a sand bar and stuck it fast; the prow was firmly planted and remained intact, but the stern was being shattered by the violence of the waves. The soldiers had decided to kill the prisoners, lest anyone escape by swimming away, but the centurion, wanting to keep Paul safe, thwarted their plan, instead ordering those who could swim to jump overboard and be the first to reach dry land, while the rest should go, some on timbers, others on anything available from the ship. That way, it turned out that everyone reached land in safety. Once we were safe, we discovered that the island’s name was Malta. The natives extended unusual kindness to us: because of the constant rainfall and cold, they built a fire and took us all in. Paul had gathered a bundle of firewood and laid it on the fire, when a viper, escaping the heat, fastened itself to his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they declared to one another, “That fellow’s a murderer, no doubt about it! He’s been saved from the sea, but justice hasn’t allowed him to live!” Now Paul just shook the thing off into the fire, and suffered no harm at all. The natives, meanwhile, were expecting that he would soon swell up, or suddenly drop dead. They continued for a long time in this expectation, all the while observing that nothing unusual happened to him. Ultimately they changed their tune and declared him to be a god. Among the estates in that area was one that belonged to the island’s deputy governor, Publius by name, who received us and became our kind host for three days. It turned out that Publius’ father was in bed, afflicted with fevers and dysentery. Paul visited him, prayed, laid his hands on him, and cured him. When that happened, everyone else on the island who was sick came to see him, and was healed. They bestowed many honors on us and loaded us with necessary items when we were ready for departure. We did set sail three months later in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered on the island. It bore the emblem of the Dioscuri. We docked at the port of Syracuse and lay by for three days, whereafter we weighed anchor and got as far as Rhegium. A south wind came up a day later, and we made it to Puteoli in two days. We found brethren there, and were invited to spend seven days with them. And so it was that we came to Rome. The brethren there had heard about us, and came as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. When we’d arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to live on his own, with only a soldier to guard him. Three days later, he undertook to call together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he declared to them, “My dear brothers, I, who have done nothing contrary to the Jewish people or their ancestral customs, was handed over from Jerusalem as a prisoner into the hands of the Romans, “who, after an investigation, wanted to release me because they found me guilty of no capital crime. “The Jews were opposed to that, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar — though not with the intention of accusing my people of anything: “hence my calling you here, to see and speak with you; after all, I wear this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel!” To him they said, “We’ve received no letters about you from Judaea, nor has any brother arrived with unfavorable news or talk about you. “We beg of you to let us hear your opinions, because as far as this faction of yours is concerned, we’re aware that everywhere things are being said against it.” After scheduling a day for him, more of them came to meet him at his lodging. He explained it all to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them about Jesus, using the Law of Moses, as well as the prophets, from morning to evening. Some were persuaded by what he said, others didn’t believe. With no general agreement among them, they began to disperse, after Paul had delivered one final statement: “The holy spirit spoke well through the prophet Isaiah to your forefathers, “saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: “For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. “So be aware that this salvation from God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” [Omitted in all but the Byzantine text: When Paul had said that, they left, with much discussion among them.] For an entire two years he lived there at his own expense, and received all who made their way to him, preaching God’s kingdom and teaching the story of Jesus the anointed King, unhindered and with all openness.