Acts 15:36-18:22
Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas
36Now after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in aevery city in which we proclaimed bthe word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37And Barnabas wanted to take aJohn, called Mark, along with them also. 38But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had adeserted them 1in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39And there was such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took aMark with him and sailed away to bCyprus. 40But Paul chose aSilas and left, being bcommitted by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41And he was traveling through aSyria and bCilicia, strengthening the churches.
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
16Now Paul also arrived at aDerbe and at bLystra. And behold, a disciple was there, named cTimothy, the son of a dJewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, 2and he was well spoken of by athe brothers who were in bLystra and cIconium. 3Paul wanted this man to 1go with him, and he atook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering athe decrees which had been decided upon by bthe apostles and celders who were in Jerusalem, for them to keep. 5So athe churches were being strengthened 1in the faith, and were babounding in number daily.
The Macedonian Vision
6And they passed through the 1,aPhrygian and bGalatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in 2,cAsia; 7and after they came to aMysia, they were trying to go into bBithynia, and the cSpirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8and passing by aMysia, they came down to bTroas. 9aAnd a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of bMacedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10And when he had seen athe vision, immediately bwe sought to 1go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to cproclaim the gospel to them.
Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
11So setting sail from aTroas, we ran ba straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; 12and from there to aPhilippi, which is a leading city of the district of bMacedonia, ca Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. 13And on athe Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and sitting down, we began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14And a woman named Lydia, from the city of aThyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, ba worshiper of God, was listening, whose heart the Lord copened to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul. 15And when she and aher household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
Paul and Silas in Prison
16Now it happened that as we were going to athe place of prayer, a servant-girl having ba spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are slaves of athe Most High God, who are proclaiming to you 1the way of salvation.” 18And she continued doing this for many days. But being greatly annoyed, Paul turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ain the name of Jesus Christ to leave her!” And it left at that very 1moment.
19But when her masters saw that their hope of aprofit had left, they seized bPaul and Silas and cdragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, 20and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, 21and aare proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being bRomans.” 22And the crowd joined together to attack them, and the chief magistrates, tearing their garments off of them, proceeded to order them to be abeaten with rods. 23And when they had inflicted them with many wounds, they threw them into prison, commanding athe jailer to guard them securely, 24who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in athe 1stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Converted
25But about midnight aPaul and Silas were praying and bsinging hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26And suddenly athere came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the jailhouse were shaken; and immediately ball the doors were opened and everyone’s cchains were unfastened. 27And when athe jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about bto kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before aPaul and Silas, 30and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, awhat must I do to be saved?” 31And they said, “aBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and byour house.” 32And they spoke the word of 1the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. 33And he took them athat very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. 34And he brought them into his house and set 1food before them, and rejoiced 2greatly with ahis whole household, because he had believed in God.
35Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” 36And athe jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go bin peace.” 37But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, amen who are Romans, they have thrown us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” 38And the policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. aThey were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept requesting them ato leave the city. 40And they went out of the prison and entered the house of aLydia, and when they saw bthe brothers, they 1encouraged them and left.
Paul and Silas in Thessalonica
17Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to aThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And aaccording to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three bSabbaths reasoned with them from cthe Scriptures, 31explaining and setting before them that the 2Christ ahad to suffer and brise again from the dead, and saying, “cThis Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is that 3Christ.” 4aAnd some of them were persuaded and joined bPaul and Silas, 1along with a great multitude of the cGod-fearing dGreeks and not a few of the eleading women. 5But athe Jews, becoming jealous, taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, and forming a mob, set the city in an uproar. And attacking the house of bJason, they were seeking to bring them out to the assembly. 6And when they did not find them, they began adragging Jason and some brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset 1,bthe world have come here also; 71and Jason ahas welcomed them, and they all act bcontrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8And they disturbed the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. 9And when they had received the bond from aJason and the others, they released them.
In Berea
10aAnd the brothers immediately sent bPaul and Silas away by night to cBerea, 1and when they arrived, they went into dthe synagogue of the Jews. 11Now these were more noble-minded than those in aThessalonica, 1for they received the word with 2great eagerness, 3examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12Therefore amany of them believed, along with not a few bprominent Greek cwomen and men. 13But when the Jews of aThessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in bBerea also, they came there as well, shaking up and disturbing the crowds. 14Then immediately athe brothers sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and bSilas and cTimothy remained there. 15Now athose who escorted Paul brought him as far as bAthens; and after receiving a command for cSilas and Timothy to dcome to him as soon as possible, they left.
In Athens
16Now while Paul was waiting for them at aAthens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17So he was reasoning ain the synagogue with the Jews and bthe God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. 18And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were 1conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would athis 2idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was proclaiming the good news of bJesus and the resurrection. 19And they atook him and brought him 1to the 2,bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what cthis new teaching is 3which you are speaking? 20“For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. So we want to know what these things mean.” 21(Now all the Athenians and the strangers avisiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.)
22So Paul stood in the midst of the 1Areopagus and said, “Men of aAthens, I observe that you are very breligious in all respects. 23“For while I was passing through and examining the aobjects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what byou worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24“aThe God who made the world and all things in it, since He is bLord of heaven and earth, does not cdwell in temples made with hands; 25nor is He served by human hands, aas though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26and aHe made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having bdetermined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, athough He is not far from each one of us; 28for ain Him we live and move and 1exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’ 29“Being then the offspring of God, we aought not to suppose that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the craft and thought of man. 30“Therefore having aoverlooked bthe times of ignorance, God is cnow commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, 31because He has fixed aa day in which bHe will judge 1,cthe world in righteousness 2through a Man whom He ddetermined, having furnished proof to all 3by eraising Him from the dead.”
32Now when they heard about athe resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you 1again concerning this.” 33In this way, Paul went out of their midst. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the aAreopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
In Corinth
18After these things he departed aAthens and went to bCorinth. 2And he found a Jew named aAquila, a native of bPontus, and his wife cPriscilla, who recently came from dItaly because eClaudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, 3and because he was of the same trade, he was staying with them and athey were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4And he was reasoning ain the synagogue every bSabbath and trying to persuade both cJews and Greeks.
5But when aSilas and Timothy bcame down from cMacedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly dbearing witness to the Jews that eJesus is the 1Christ. 6But when they resisted and blasphemed, he ashook out his garments and said to them, “Your bblood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go cto the Gentiles.” 7Then he left there and went to the house of a man named 1Titius Justus, a aGod-fearer, whose house was next to the synagogue. 8aAnd Crispus, bthe leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord cwith all his household, and many of the dCorinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized. 9And the Lord said to Paul in the night by aa vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent; 10for I am with you, and no man will lay a hand on you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.” 11And he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12But while Gallio was aproconsul of bAchaia, cthe Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before dthe judgment seat, 13saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to athe law.” 14But when Paul was about to aopen his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you; 15but if there are aquestions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I am not willing to be a judge of these matters.” 16And he drove them away from athe judgment seat. 17And they all took hold of aSosthenes, bthe leader of the synagogue, and began beating him in front of cthe judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things.
Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos
18And Paul, having remained many days longer, atook leave of bthe brothers and put out to sea for cSyria, and with him were dPriscilla and eAquila. In fCenchreae 1he ghad his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. 19And they arrived at aEphesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered bthe synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent, 21but ataking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again bif God wills,” he set sail from cEphesus.