en_t4t/45-ACT.usfm

\id ACT - Translation 4 Translators 1
\ide 65001 - Unicode (UTF-8)
\h ACTS
\toc1 Acts
\toc2 Acts
\toc3 Act
\mt2 The account of the first Christians, which we call the book of
\mt1 Acts
\c 1
\s1 Acts 1:1-3
\s1 Luke referred to the Gospel he had written to Theophilus.
\p
\v 1 \add Dear\add* Theophilus,
\p In my first book \add that I wrote for you\add*, I wrote about many of the things that Jesus did and taught
\v 2 until the day on which he was taken {\add God\add* took him} up \add to heaven\add*. Before \add he went to heaven\add*, saying what the Holy Spirit \add told him\add*, he told the apostles whom he had chosen \add the things that he wanted them to know\add*.
\v 3 After he had suffered \add and died on the cross\add*, \add he became alive again\add*. As he appeared to them \add often\add* during \add the next\add* forty days, the apostles saw him many times. He proved to them in many ways that he was alive again. He talked \add with them\add* about \add how\add* God would rule [MET] \add the lives of people who accepted him as their king\add*.
\s1 Jesus commanded his apostles to wait for the Holy Spirit.
\sr Acts 1:4-5
\p
\v 4 \add One time\add* while he was with them, he told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem \add yet\add*. Instead, wait \add here\add* until my Father sends \add his Spirit\add* [MTY] \add to you\add*, as he promised \add to do\add*. You have heard me speak \add to you\add* about that.
\v 5 John baptized people in water \add because they said that they wanted to change their lives\add*, but after a few days [LIT] \add God\add* will put the Holy Spirit within you \add to truly change your lives\add*.”
\s1 Jesus said that they would tell about him everywhere, and then he ascended to heaven.
\sr Acts 1:6-9
\p
\v 6 One day when the \add apostles\add* met together \add with Jesus\add*, they asked him, “Lord, will you \add (sg)\add* now become the King [MET] over \add us\add* Israelite people \add like King David, who ruled long ago\add*?” (OR, “Lord, will you \add (sg)\add* now \add defeat the Romans and\add* restore the kingdom \add to us\add* Israelite people?”)
\v 7 He replied to them, “You do not \add need\add* to know the time \add periods\add* and days \add when that will happen\add*. My Father alone has decided \add when he will make me king\add*.
\v 8 But \add you do need to know that\add* the Holy Spirit will make you \add spiritually\add* strong when he comes to live in you. Then you will \add powerfully\add* tell people about me in Jerusalem and in all \add the other places in\add* Judea \add district\add*, in Samaria \add district\add*, and in places far away all over [IDM] the world.”
\v 9 After he said that, he was taken {\add God\add* took him} up \add to heaven\add*, while they were watching. \add He went up into\add* a cloud [PRS], which prevented them from seeing him \add anymore\add*.
\s1 Angels told the apostles that Jesus would return later.
\sr Acts 1:10-11
\p
\v 10 While \add the apostles\add* were \add still\add* staring towards the sky as he was going up, suddenly two men who were wearing white clothes stood beside them. \add They were angels\add*.
\v 11 One \add of\add* them said, “You men from Galilee \add district\add*, ◄you do not need to stand \add here any longer\add* looking up at the sky!/why do you still stand \add here\add* looking up at the sky?► [RHQ] \add Some day\add* this same Jesus, whom \add God\add* took from you up to heaven, will come back \add to earth\add*. He will return in the same manner as you \add just now\add* saw him when he went up to heaven, \add but he will not return now\add*.”
\s1 The apostles and other believers often prayed together.
\sr Acts 1:12-14
\p
\v 12 Then \add after the two angels left\add*, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from Olive \add Tree\add* Hill, which was about ◄a half mile/one kilometer► [MTY] from Jerusalem.

\v 13 When they entered \add the city\add*, they went upstairs to the room \add in the house\add* where they were staying. \add Those who were there included\add* Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, \add another\add* James \add the son\add* of Alphaeus, Simon who belonged to the group that wanted to expel the Romans, and Judas \add the son\add* of \add another man named\add* James. \v 14 All these apostles agreed concerning the things about which they continually were praying \add together. Others who prayed with them\add* included the women \add who had accompanied Jesus\add*, Mary who was Jesus' mother, and his \add younger\add* brothers.
\s1 Peter told them why someone must replace Judas.
\sr Acts 1:15-17
\p

\v 15 During those days Peter stood up among his fellow believers. There were \add at that place\add* a group of about 120 of \add Jesus' followers\add*. Peter said, \v 16 “My fellow believers, \add there are words that King\add* David wrote [MTY] in the Scriptures long ago that needed to be fulfilled {to happen \add as he said they would\add*}. The Holy Spirit, \add who knew that Judas would be the one who would fulfill those words\add*, told David what to write.

\v 17 \add Although\add* Judas had been chosen {\add Jesus\add* had chosen Judas}, along with \add the rest of\add* us \add (exc)\add* to serve \add as an apostle\add*, Judas was the person who led to Jesus the people who seized him.” 
\s1 How Judas died. 
\sr Acts 1:18-19 
\p \v 18 \add The Jewish leaders\add* gave Judas money when he \add promised to\add* treacherously/wickedly \add betray Jesus. Later Judas returned that money to them\add*. When Judas \add hanged himself\add*, his body fell down \add to the ground\add*. His abdomen burst open, and all his intestines spilled out. \add So\add* the \add Jewish leaders\add* bought a field \add using\add* that money.

\v 19 All the people who reside in Jerusalem heard \add about that\add*, so they called that field in their own \add Aramaic\add* language, Akeldama, which means ❛Field of Blood❜, \add because it was where someone bled and died\add*. 
\s1 Peter quoted from the Psalms about Judas. 
\sr Acts 1:20 
\p \v 20 \add Peter also said\add*, “\add I perceive that what happened to Judas is like what the writer of\add* Psalms \add desired to happen\add*: ‘May his house become deserted, and may there be no one to live in it.’ (OR, ‘\add Judge him, Lord, so that neither he nor\add* anyone \add else\add* may live in his house!)’ And it seems that \add these other words that David wrote also refer to Judas:\add* ‘Let someone else take over his work as a leader.’”
\s1 Peter concluded that they needed to choose a man to replace Judas.
\sr Acts 1:21-22
\p
\v 21 “So it is necessary \add for us apostles\add* to choose a man \add to replace Judas. He must be one who\add* accompanied [MTY] us all the time when the Lord Jesus was with us.
\v 22 \add That would be\add* from \add the time when\add* John \add the Baptizer\add* baptized \add Jesus\add* until the day when Jesus was taken {when \add God\add* took Jesus} from us up \add to heaven\add*. He must be one who saw Jesus alive again \add after he died\add*.”
\s1 Jesus' followers prayed and then chose Matthias to replace Judas.
\sr Acts 1:23-26
\p
\v 23 So the \add apostles and other believers\add* suggested \add the names of two men who qualified. One man was\add* Joseph, who was called {whom people called} Barsabbas (OR, Joseph Barsabbas) who \add also\add* had the \add Roman\add* name Justus. The other man was Matthias.
\v 24-25 Then they prayed like this: “Lord \add Jesus\add*, Judas stopped being an apostle. \add He died and\add* went to the place where he \add deserved to be\add* [EUP]. \add So we(exc) need to choose someone\add* to replace \add Judas in order\add* that he can serve \add you(sg) by becoming\add* an apostle. You \add (sg)\add* know what everyone is really like. So \add please\add* show us which of these two men you have chosen.”
\v 26 Then they cast lots \add to choose between the two of\add* them, and the lot fell for Matthias. (OR, Then \add one of\add* the \add apostles\add* shook \add in a container\add* small objects/stones \add that\add* they \add had marked to determine which man God had chosen\add*. And the small object/stone \add that they had marked\add* for Matthias fell \add out of the container\add*). So Matthias was considered {they considered Matthias} \add to be an apostle\add* along with the \add other\add* eleven apostles.
\c 2
\s1 The Holy Spirit came and enabled the disciples to speak other languages.
\sr Acts 2:1-4
\p
\v 1 On the day when \add the Jews were celebrating\add* Pentecost \add festival\add*, the \add believers\add* were all together in one place \add in Jerusalem\add*.
\v 2 Suddenly \add they heard\add* a noise \add coming\add* from the sky \add that sounded\add* like a strong wind. Everyone in the entire house where they were sitting heard the noise.
\v 3 Then they saw \add what looked\add* like flames of fire. These flames separated \add from one another\add*, and \add one of them\add* came down on \add the head of\add* each of the believers.
\v 4 Then all of the believers were ◄completely controlled/empowered► by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit ◄completely controlled/empowered► all of the believers}, and he enabled them to begin speaking other languages [MTY] \add that they had not learned\add*.
\s1 Jews from many places were amazed to hear their native languages spoken by the believers.
\sr Acts 2:5-13
\p
\v 5 At that time \add many\add* Jews were staying in Jerusalem \add to celebrate Pentecost festival. They were people who\add* always tried to obey \add the Jewish\add* laws. \add They had come\add* from many different [HYP] countries.
\v 6 When they heard that \add loud\add* noise \add like a wind\add*, a crowd came together \add to the place where the believers were\add*. The crowd ◄was amazed/did not know what to think►, because each of them was hearing \add one of\add* the believers speaking in that person's own language.
\v 7 They were completely amazed, and they said \add to each other\add*, “All these men who are speaking have [RHQ] \add always\add* resided in Galilee \add district, so they would not know our languages\add*.
\v 8 ◄\add We(inc) do not understand\add* how these men can speak our own native languages!/How can these men speak our own native languages?► [RHQ] \add But\add* all of us hear them \add doing that\add*
\v 9 \add Some of us are from the regions of\add* Parthia and Media and Elam, and \add others of us\add* reside \add in the regions of\add* Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia.
\v 10 There are some from Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the regions in Libya \add that are\add* near Cyrene \add city\add*. \add There are others of us\add* who are \add here\add* visiting \add Jerusalem\add* from Rome.
\v 11 \add They include native\add* Jews as well as non-Jews who have accepted what we Jews believe. And others of us are from Crete \add Island\add* and from \add the region of\add* Arabia. \add So how is it that these people\add* are speaking our languages [MTY], telling us \add about\add* ◄the great/the mighty things► \add that\add* God has done?”
\v 12 All \add those people\add* were amazed, and did not know what to think \add about what was happening\add*. So they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
\v 13 But \add some\add* of them ◄made fun of/laughed at► \add those who believed in Jesus\add*. They said, “\add These people are talking like this because\add* they have drunk too much new wine!”
\s1 Peter said that the prophet Joel foretold what the Holy Spirit would do.
\sr Acts 2:14-21
\p
\v 14 So Peter stood up with the \add other\add* eleven \add apostles\add* and spoke loudly to the \add crowd of\add* people, saying, “\add My\add* fellow Jews and you \add others\add* who are staying in Jerusalem, listen to me, all of you, and I will explain to you what is happening!
\v 15 \add Some of \add* you think that \add we(exc) are drunk \add*, but we are not drunk. It is \add only \add* nine o'clock in the morning, \add and people here never get drunk this early\add* in the day! \v 16 Instead, \add what has happened to us is\add* the \add miraculous\add* thing that the prophet Joel wrote about \add long ago\add*. \add Joel wrote\add*:
\p God says,
\v 17 ‘During the last/final days \add before I judge all people\add*, I will give my Spirit abundantly/generously to people [SYN] everywhere. \add As a result\add*, your sons and daughters will tell \add people\add* messages from me, the young men among you will see visions \add from me\add*, and the old men among you will have dreams \add that I will give them\add*.
\v 18 During those days I will abundantly/generously give my Spirit \add even\add* to men and women believers \add who are\add* my slaves/servants, so they can tell \add people\add* messages from me.
\v 19 I will cause amazing things to happen in the sky, and I will do miracles on the earth that will show \add that I am powerful\add*. \add Here\add* on the earth [CHI] I \add will cause wars with\add* blood, fire and thick/dark smoke \add everywhere\add*.
\v 20 \add In the sky\add* the sun will \add appear\add* dark \add to people\add* and the moon \add will appear\add* red \add to them. Those things will happen\add* before the important and splendid/amazing day [MTY] \add when I\add*, the Lord \add God, will come to judge everyone\add*.
\v 21 \add Before that time\add*, all those who ask \add me\add* [MTY] \add to save them from the guilt of their sins\add* will be saved {\add I\add*, the Lord, will save all those who ask \add me\add* [MTY] \add to save them from the guilt of their sins\add*.}’”
\s1 Peter said, “You killed Jesus but God caused him to live again.”
\sr Acts 2:22-24
\p
\v 22 \add Peter continued \add*, “ \add My fellow \add* Israelites, listen to me! \add When \add* Jesus from Nazareth \add town lived \add* among you, God proved to you \add that he had sent him \add* by enabling him to do many amazing miracles. You yourselves know \add that this is true \add*. 
\v 23 \add Even though you knew that\add*, you turned this man \add Jesus\add* over to his enemies. \add However\add*, God had already planned for that, and he knew all about it. Then you urged men [SYN] who do not obey \add God's\add* law to kill Jesus. They did that by nailing him to a cross. \v 24 He suffered terribly \add when he died, but God caused him to become alive again\add*. God did not let him continue to be dead, because it was not possible for him [PRS] to remain dead.” \s1 David foretold that the Messiah would rejoice about becoming alive again. \sr Acts 2:25-28 \p 
\v 25 “\add Long ago King\add* David wrote \add what\add* the Messiah \add said\add*, 
\p I knew \add that\add* you, Lord \add God, would always\add* be near me. You are right beside [MTY] me, so I will not be afraid of \add those who want to harm me\add*. \v 26 Because of that I [SYN] joyfully praise \add you, O God\add*. And I am completely confident that \add you(sg) will\add* ◄\add cause my body\add* to become alive \add again\add*/\add raise me from the dead\add*►.
\v 27 You will not allow my spirit to remain in the place where the dead are. You will not \add even\add* let my body decay, \add because\add* I am devoted to you and always obey \add you\add*.
\v 28 You have told me \add that you will cause my body\add* to become alive \add again\add*. You will make me very happy \add because\add* you will be with me \add forever\add*.”
\s1 Peter explained that David wrote that the Messiah would become alive again.
\sr Acts 2:29-31
\p
\v 29 \add Peter\add* continued, “My fellow Jews, I can tell you confidently that \add our royal\add* ancestor, \add King\add* David, died, and that his \add body\add* was buried {that \add people\add* buried his \add body\add*}. And the place \add where they\add* buried his body is \add still\add* here today.
\v 30 So \add we(inc) know that David was not speaking those words about himself. But\add* because he was a prophet, \add he spoke about the Messiah\add*. David knew that God had strongly promised him that he would cause one of his descendants to become king [MTY] like David was king. (OR, to \add be the Messiah who would\add* rule \add God's people\add* like David had ruled \add them\add*.)
\v 31 David knew beforehand \add what God would do\add*, so he \add was able to\add* say that God would cause the Messiah to live again \add after he died\add*. He said that God would not let the Messiah remain in the place of the dead, nor let his body decay.”
\s1 Peter said, “Jesus has abundantly given us the Holy Spirit, shown by what you see and hear.”
\sr Acts 2:32-35
\p
\v 32 “\add After\add* this \add man\add* Jesus \add had died\add*, God caused him to become alive \add again\add*. All of us(exc), \add his followers\add*, have seen \add and tell people\add* that Jesus has become alive again.
\v 33 God has greatly honored Jesus \add by causing him to rule\add* right beside him [MTY] \add in heaven\add*. Jesus has received the Holy Spirit from \add God\add* his Father, \add just like\add* God promised. \add So\add* Jesus has generously/abundantly given us the Holy Spirit, \add and he has shown that by\add* what you are seeing and hearing.
\v 34 \add We(inc) know that David was not speaking about himself\add* because David did not go up into heaven \add as Jesus did\add*. \add Besides that\add*, David himself said \add this about the Messiah\add*:
\q The Lord \add God\add* said to my Lord \add the Messiah\add*, ‘Reign here beside me,
\v 35 while I completely defeat [MTY] your enemies.’”
\s1 Peter said, “Know surely that God has made this Jesus both Lord and Messiah.”
\sr Acts 2:36
\p
\v 36 \add Peter concluded\add*, “So I \add want you and\add* all \add other\add* Israelites [MTY] to acknowledge that God has caused this Jesus to be both \add our\add* Lord/Ruler and the Messiah. \add But God considers that\add* you are the ones who nailed Jesus to a cross.”
\s1 Peter told them to repent, and said that believers would baptize them.
\sr Acts 2:37-40
\p
\v 37 When the people heard what \add Peter said \add*, they felt very guilty [IDM]. So they asked him and the other apostles, “Fellow-countrymen, what should we \add (exc)\add* do \add so that God will forgive us \add*?” \p \v 38 Peter \add answered\add* them, “Each of you should turn away from your sinful behavior. Then \add we(exc)\add* will baptize you, if \add you now believe\add* in Jesus Christ. Then \add God\add* will give you the Holy Spirit.
\v 39 \add God\add* has promised \add to do that\add* [MTY] for you and your descendants, and for all \add others who believe in him\add*, even those who \add live\add* far away \add from here\add*. The Lord our God \add will give his Spirit\add* to everyone whom he invites \add to become his people\add*!”
\v 40 Peter spoke much more \add and\add* spoke strongly/forcefully to them. He pleaded with them, “\add Ask God\add* to save you \add so that he will not punish you when he punishes\add* these evil people \add who have rejected Jesus\add*!”
\s1 Many people became believers and joined the other believers.
\sr Acts 2:41-42
\p
\v 41 So the people who believed Peter's message were baptized. There were about three thousand [SYN] \add who \add* joined the group \add of believers \add* that day. 
\v 42 They continually obeyed what the apostles taught, and they very frequently met together \add with the other believers\add*. And they continually ate \add together and celebrated the Lord's Supper\add*, and continually prayed \add together\add*. 
\s1 The apostles performed miracles, all the believers shared everything, and the Lord helped them. 
\sr Acts 2:43-47 
\p \v 43 All the people [SYN] \add who were in Jerusalem\add* were greatly reverencing \add God because\add* the apostles were frequently doing many kinds of miraculous things.
\v 44 All of those who believed \add in Jesus\add* were united \add and regularly met\add* together. They were also sharing everything that they had with one another.
\v 45 \add From time to time some of\add* them sold \add some of\add* their land and \add some of the other\add* things that they owned, and they would give \add some of\add* the money \add from what they sold\add* to others \add among them\add*, according to what they needed.
\v 46 Every day they continued meeting together in the temple \add area\add*. And every day they gladly and generously shared their food [SYN] \add with each other\add*, as they ate together \add and celebrated the Lord's Supper\add* in their houses.
\v 47 \add As they did so\add*, they were praising God, and all the \add other\add* people \add in Jerusalem\add* were \add thinking\add* favorably about them. \add As those things were happening\add*, every day the Lord \add Jesus\add* increased the number of people who were being saved {whom he was saving} \add from the guilt of their sins\add*.
\c 3
\s1 Peter healed a lame man, so the people were amazed.
\sr Acts 3:1-8
\p

\v 1 \add One day\add* Peter and John were going to the Temple \add courtyard\add*. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, which was the time when people prayed \add there publicly\add*. \v 2 There was a man there who had been lame from the time he was born. He \add was sitting by\add* the gate called Beautiful \add Gate\add*, at the entrance to the Temple \add area\add*. People put him there every day, so that he could ask those who were entering \add or leaving\add* the temple courtyard to give him some money.
\p

\v 3 As Peter and John were about to enter \add the Temple courtyard\add*, the lame man saw them and asked them several times to give him some money. (OR, The lame man said to them several times, “Please give me some money!”) \v 4 As Peter and John looked directly at him, Peter said to him, “Look at us!”
\v 5 So he looked directly at them, expecting to get some \add money\add* from them.
\v 6 Then Peter said to him, “I do not have any money [MTY], but what I \add can do\add*, I will \add do\add* for you. Jesus Christ, \add who was\add* from Nazareth \add town\add*, has authorized [MTY] me \add to heal you! So get up and\add* walk!”
\v 7 Then Peter grasped the man's right hand and helped him to stand up. Immediately the man's feet and ankles became strong.
\v 8 He jumped up and began to walk! Then he entered the Temple \add area\add* with them, walking and leaping and praising God!
\s1 The people were amazed.
\sr Acts 3:9-10
\p

\v 9 All the people \add there\add* saw that man walking and praising God. \v 10 They recognized that he was the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate in the Temple \add courtyard\add* and ask \add people\add* for money! So all the people there were greatly amazed at what had happened to him.

\v 11 As the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were so surprised \add that they did not know what to think\add* So they ran to the two apostles at the place \add in the Temple courtyard\add* that is called {that \add people\add* call} Solomon's Porch. 
\s1 Peter explained that Jesus healed the man, and they should repent. 
\sr Acts 3:12-16 
\p \v 12 When Peter saw that, he said to the crowd, “Fellow Israelites, ◄you should not be surprised about what has happened to this man!/why are you so surprised about what has happened to this man?► [RHQ] And you should not stare at us, either! You seem to [RHQ] think that the two of us enabled this man to walk because we \add (exc)\add* ourselves are powerful or because we please God very much!
\v 13 \add So I will tell you what is really happening\add*. Our ancestors, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worshipped God. And now he has greatly honored Jesus, who always served him. Your \add leaders\add* brought Jesus \add to the governor, Pilate\add*, so that \add his soldiers would kill him\add*. And \add God considers that\add* in front of Pilate you \add were the ones who rejected\add* Jesus \add as your king\add*, after Pilate had decided that he should release Jesus.
\v 14 \add Although Jesus\add* always did what was right/just and good, you rejected him. \add Pilate wanted to release him, but\add* you urgently asked Pilate to release ◄a murderer/someone who had killed people►!
\v 15 \add God considers that\add* you killed \add Jesus\add*, the one who gives people \add eternal\add* life. But God has greatly honored him ◄by causing him to become alive again after he died/by raising him from the dead►. Many of us saw \add him after that, and now\add* we \add (exc)\add* are telling \add you\add* about it.

\v 16 It is because \add we two\add* trusted in what Jesus [MTY, PRS] \add could do, that he\add* made this man, whom you see and know, strong again. Yes, it is because we \add (exc)\add* trusted in Jesus that he has completely healed this man for all of you to see.” 
\s1 Peter told the people to repent. 
\sr Acts 3:17-26 
\p \v 17 “Now, my fellow-countrymen, I know that you and your leaders did that \add to Jesus\add* because you \add and they\add* did not know \add that he was the Messiah\add*.
\v 18 However, \add your putting him to death\add* was what God had predicted that people would do. \add Long ago\add* he told all the prophets [MTY] to write \add what people would do to the Messiah. They wrote\add* that the Messiah, whom God \add would send\add*, would suffer \add and die\add*.
\v 19 So, turn away from your sinful behavior and ask God \add to help you\add* do what pleases \add him\add*, in order that he may completely forgive you for your sins.
\v 20 \add If you do that\add*, there will be times \add when you will know that\add* the Lord \add God is\add* helping \add you\add*. And some day he will \add again\add* send back \add to earth\add* the Messiah, whom he appointed for you. That person is Jesus.
\v 21 Jesus must stay in heaven until the time when God will cause all that he has created to become new. Long ago God promised \add to do that, and\add* he chose holy prophets to tell \add that to people\add*.

\v 22 For \add example, the prophet\add* Moses said \add this about the Messiah\add*: ‘The Lord ◄your God/the God whom you \add worship\add*► will cause someone to become a prophet to tell you \add God's message. God will send him\add* as \add he sent\add* me, \add and he will be\add* from among your own people. You must listen to everything that this prophet tells you \add and obey him\add* [SYN]. \v 23 \add Those who\add* do not listen to \add that prophet and obey\add* him will no longer belong to God's people, and \add God\add* will get rid of them’.”

\v 24 \add Peter continued\add*, “All the prophets have told \add about what would happen during\add* the time [MTY] \add in which we(inc) are living. \add Those prophets include\add* Samuel \add and all the others who\add* later also spoke \add about these events\add* before they happened. \v 25 You \add as well as we(exc)\add* are the people \add to whom God sent the Messiah, as\add* the prophets said [MTY] \add that he would\add*. And when God strongly promised \add to bless\add* our ancestors, he also surely promised to bless you. He said to Abraham \add concerning the Messiah\add*, ‘\add I\add* will bless all people on the earth as a result of \add what\add* your descendant \add will do\add*.’”
\v 26 \add Peter concluded\add*, “\add So\add* when God sent \add to the earth\add* ◄Jesus, the one who always obeys him/his servant Jesus►, he sent him first to you \add Israelites\add* to bless you. \add God will\add* enable you to stop doing what is wicked \add and to start doing what pleases him\add*.”
\c 4
\s1 Jewish leaders arrested Peter and John, but many people became believers.
\sr Acts 4:1-4
\p
\v 1 \add Meanwhile, in the temple courtyard, there were some\add* priests, the officer who was in charge of the temple police, and \add also some\add* [SYN] Sadducee \add sect members\add*. These men came to Peter and John while the two of them were speaking to the people.

\v 2 These men were very angry, because the \add two\add* apostles were teaching the people \add about Jesus\add*. What they were telling the people was that because ◄\add God caused Jesus to become alive again/God raised\add* Jesus \add from the dead\add*►, \add God\add* would cause other people who had died to become alive again. \v 3 So those officials seized Peter and John. Then they put them in jail. \add They had to wait\add* until the next day \add to question Peter and John\add*, because it was already evening \add and it was contrary to their Jewish law to question people at night\add*.
\v 4 However, many people who had heard the message \add from Peter\add* believed \add in Jesus\add*. (OR, But many people had \add already\add* believed \add in Jesus, because\add* they had heard the message \add from Peter\add*.) So the number of men \add who believed in Jesus\add* increased to about five thousand.
\s1 Jewish leaders questioned Peter and John about healing the lame man.
\sr Acts 4:5-7
\p
\v 5 The next day \add the high priest summoned\add* the \add other\add* chief priests, the teachers of the \add Jewish\add* laws, and the other members \add of the Jewish Council, and they\add* gathered together \add in one place\add* in Jerusalem.
\v 6 Annas, \add the former\add* high priest, Caiaphas \add who was the new high priest\add*, \add two other former high priests whose names were\add* John and Alexander, and other men who were related to the high priest \add were there\add*.
\v 7 They \add commanded guards to\add* bring Peter and John into the courtroom [MTY] and have them stand in front of them. \add Then one of\add* the leaders questioned \add the two of\add* them, saying, “Who \add do you two claim\add* gave you the power \add to heal this man\add*? And who authorized [MTY] you to do this [DOU]?”
\s1 Peter told them that Jesus healed the man and only Jesus could save people.
\sr Acts 4:8-12
\p
\v 8 So as the Holy Spirit completely controlled Peter, he said to them, “You \add fellow Israelites\add* who rule us and \add all of you other\add* elders, \add listen\add*
\v 9 Today you are questioning us concerning our performing a good deed for a man who was crippled, and you asked us how he became healed.
\v 10 So \add we(exc) want\add* you and all \add of our other\add* fellow Israelites to know this: It is because Jesus the Messiah [MTY] from Nazareth healed him that this man is able to stand before you. \add God considers that\add* it was you who nailed Jesus to a cross, but God caused him to become alive again.
\v 11 \add In the Psalms this was written about the Messiah:\add*
\q He is \add like\add* [MET] the stone that was rejected by the builders {that the builders rejected}.
\q But that stone became the most important stone in the building \add that they were building\add*.
\p \add Jesus is that stone, and\add* you \add are those builders who threw away the stone that was the most important one\add*.
\v 12 So he alone can save us [MTY]. \add God\add* has sent only one person [MTY] into the world who can save us \add from the guilt of our sins, and that person is Jesus!\add*”
\s1 The Jewish leaders realized that Peter and John had been associating with Jesus.
\sr Acts 4:13-14
\p
\v 13 The \add Jewish leaders\add* realized that Peter and John ◄were not afraid \add of them\add*/spoke boldly►. They also learned that the two men were ordinary people who had not studied in schools. So the leaders were amazed, and they realized that these men had associated with Jesus.
\v 14 They also saw the man who had been healed standing there with \add the two of\add* them, so they were not able to say anything \add to oppose Peter and John\add*.
\s1 The Jewish leaders commanded the two apostles to stop teaching people about Jesus.
\sr Acts 4:15-18
\p
\v 15 So the \add Jewish leaders\add* commanded \add guards\add* to take Peter, John, and the man outside of the room \add where those leaders were meeting. After they did so\add*, the leaders talked with each other \add about Peter and John\add*.

\v 16 \add Being frustrated, one after another\add*, they said, “◄There is really nothing that we can do to \add punish\add* these \add two\add* men!/How can we \add (inc)\add* do anything to \add punish\add* these \add two\add* men?► [RHQ] Almost everyone [HYP] who is living in Jerusalem knows that they have done an amazing miracle, so we cannot tell people that it did not happen! \v 17 However, \add we\add* must not allow other people to hear about \add this miracle\add*. So we must tell these men that \add we will punish them if they\add* continue to tell other people about this [MTY] man \add who they say gave them the power to do it\add*.”
\v 18 So the Jewish leaders \add commanded guards\add* to bring the two apostles \add into that room again. After they did so\add*, they \add commanded\add* them both that they should never speak about Jesus, and they should not teach \add anyone about him\add* [MTY] \add again\add*.
\s1 Peter and John said that they needed to continue speaking about Jesus.
\sr Acts 4:19-20
\p
\v 19 But Peter and John replied, “Would God think that it is right \add for us two\add* to obey you and not \add to obey\add* him? \add We(exc) will let\add* you decide \add what you think is proper\add*.
\v 20 \add But as for us, we cannot obey you\add*. We will not stop telling people about the things that we \add (exc)\add* have seen \add Jesus do\add* and what we have heard \add him teach\add*.”
\s1 The Jewish leaders threatened to punish Peter and John and then released them.
\sr Acts 4:21-22
\p

\v 21-22 Then the \add Jewish leaders\add* again told \add Peter and John\add* not to disobey them. But all the people \add there\add* were praising God about what had happened \add to the lame man. The leaders knew that only God could have enabled Peter and John\add* to miraculously heal the man, because the man was more than forty years old \add and he was lame when his mother bore him. They also knew that the people would become angry if they punished the two apostles\add*. So, because they could not decide how to punish Peter and John, \add they finally\add* let them go. 
\s1 The believers talked to God about those who opposed him and them. 
\sr Acts 4:23-28 
\p \v 23 After Peter and John had been released, they went to the other believers and reported all that the chief priests and \add other Jewish\add* elders had said to them.
\v 24 When they heard that, they \add all\add* agreed as they prayed to God, and \add one of\add* them prayed, “O Lord! You \add (sg)\add* made the sky, the earth and the oceans, and everything in them.
\v 25 The Holy Spirit caused our ancestor, \add King \add* David [MTY], who served you, to write these words: \pi1 \add It is ridiculous \add* [RHQ] that the non-Jews became angry and the Israelite people planned uselessly \add to oppose God \add*. \pi1 
\v 26 The kings of the world prepared to fight \add God's Ruler\add*, and the \add other\add* rulers assembled together \add with them\add* to oppose the Lord \add God\add* and the one whom he had appointed \add to be the Messiah\add*. 
\p 
\v 27 \add Lord, we know that what you(sg) said long ago was true\add*, because \add King\add* Herod and the \add governor\add*, Pontius Pilate, and many other people, both non-Jews and Israelites, assembled together \add here\add* in this city. \add They\add* planned \add to kill\add* Jesus, who devotedly served you \add and\add* whom you appointed [MTY] \add to be the Messiah\add*. \v 28 \add Because\add* you \add (sg)\add* are all-powerful, those people did \add only\add* what you [SYN] allowed \add them to do\add*. It was what you decided long ago would happen.”
\s1 The believers asked God to help them speak boldly to people about Jesus.
\sr Acts 4:29-30
\p
\v 29 “So now, Lord, listen to what they are saying about punishing us! Help us who serve you \add (sg)\add* to very boldly speak messages from you \add (sg) about Jesus\add*
\v 30 \add Also\add*, by your power [MTY] miraculously heal \add sick people\add* and do other amazing miracles [SYN] that show people your power! Ask Jesus, who always serves you, \add to give us the authority\add* [MTY] \add to do such miracles!\add*”
\s1 God shook the place where they were, and his Spirit enabled them to speak his words boldly.
\sr Acts 4:31
\p
\v 31 When the believers had finished praying, the place where they were meeting shook. All of them were ◄completely controlled/empowered► by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit ◄completely controlled/empowered► all of them}, with the result that they began to speak boldly the words that God \add told them to speak\add*.
\s1 The believers shared everything, and the apostles told others about Jesus.
\sr Acts 4:32-35
\p
\v 32 The group of people who had believed \add in Jesus\add* were completely agreed about what they thought and what they wanted/desired. Not one of them claimed that he \add alone\add* owned anything. Instead, they shared with one another everything that they had.
\v 33 The apostles continued to tell others, very powerfully, \add that God\add* had ◄caused the Lord Jesus to become alive again/raised the Lord Jesus from the dead►. \add People knew that God\add* was graciously helping all the believers.
\v 34 \add Some of\add* the believers who owned land or houses would occasionally sell \add some of\add* their property. Then they would bring \add the money for what they sold\add*
\v 35 and they would present it to the apostles [MTY]. Then \add the apostles\add* would give money to any \add believer\add* who needed \add it\add*. So no one among the believers was lacking anything.
\s1 Joseph Barnabas sold a field and brought the money to the apostles.
\sr Acts 4:36-37
\p
\v 36 \add For example, there was\add* Joseph. \add He was\add* a descendant of Levi \add and he was born\add* on Cyprus \add Island\add*. The apostles called him Barnabas; \add in the Jewish language\add* that name means a person who [IDM] always encourages \add others\add*.
\v 37 He sold one of his fields, and brought the money to the apostles \add for them to distribute to other believers\add*.
\c 5
\s1 Ananias pretended to give the apostles all the money from selling a field.
\sr Acts 5:1-2
\p
\v 1 But there was one of \add the believers\add* whose name was Ananias, and whose wife's name was Sapphira. He \add also\add* sold some land.
\v 2 He kept for himself some of the money \add he had received for the land\add*, and his wife knew that he had done that. Then he brought the rest of the money and presented it to the apostles [MTY].
\s1 People were terrified when they saw or heard that Ananias had died.
\sr Acts 5:3-6
\p
\v 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, you \add (sg)\add* let Satan completely control you [MTY] so that you \add (sg) tried to\add* deceive the Holy Spirit \add and us(exc)\add*. ◄That was \add terrible!/Why did you do such a terrible thing\add*?► [RHQ] \add You\add* have kept for yourself some of the money you \add (sg)\add* received for \add selling\add* the land, \add pretending that you(sg) were giving us all of it\add*.
\v 4 Before you \add (sg)\add* sold that land, you truly owned [RHQ] it. And after you sold it, you could [RHQ] certainly still have used the money any way you wanted \add to\add*. So why did you \add (sg) ever\add* think [RHQ] about doing this \add wicked\add* thing? You were not \add merely trying to\add* deceive us! No, \add you tried to deceive\add* God \add himself!\add*”
\v 5 When Ananias heard that, \add immediately\add* he fell down dead. So all \add who were there\add* who heard \add about Ananias' death\add* became terrified [PRS].

\v 6 Some young men came in, wrapped his \add body in a sheet\add*, and carried it out \add and\add* buried it. 
\s1 Sapphira also died because she lied, and some men buried her beside her husband. 
\sr Acts 5:7-11 
\p \v 7 About three hours later, his wife came in, \add but\add* she did not know what had happened.
\v 8 \add As\add* Peter \add showed her the money\add* that \add Ananias had brought\add*, he asked her, “Tell me, is this the amount \add of money you two received for\add* the land you sold?” She said, “Yes, that's \add what we(exc) received\add*.”
\v 9 So Peter said to her, “\add You both did a terrible thing!\add* You two agreed [RHQ] to try to determine if you could do that without the Spirit of the Lord \add God\add* revealing \add to anyone that you two tried to deceive them!\add* Listen! \add Do you(sg) hear the\add* footsteps [SYN] of the men who buried your husband? They are right outside this door, and they will carry your \add corpse\add* out \add to bury it, too\add*!”
\v 10 Immediately Sapphira fell down dead at Peter's feet. Then the young men came in. When they saw that she was dead, they carried her \add body\add* out and buried it beside her husband's \add body\add*.
\p
\v 11 So all the believers \add in Jerusalem\add* became greatly frightened [PRS] \add because of what God had done to Ananias and Sapphira. And\add* all \add the others\add* who heard \add people tell about\add* those things also \add became greatly frightened\add*.
\s1 The apostles healed many people, and many people believed in Jesus.
\sr Acts 5:12-16
\p
\v 12 \add God was enabling\add* the apostles to do many amazing miracles among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly \add in the temple courtyard\add* at \add the place called\add* Solomon's Porch.
\v 13 All of the other people \add who had not yet believed in Jesus\add* were afraid to associate with the believers, \add because they knew that if they did anything evil, God would punish them, as well as revealing it to the believers\add*. However, those people continued to greatly respect the believers.
\v 14 Many more men and women started believing in the Lord \add Jesus\add*, and they joined the \add group of\add* believers.
\v 15 \add The apostles were doing amazing miracles\add*, so \add people\add* were bringing those who were sick into the streets and laying them on stretchers and mats, in order that \add when\add* Peter came by \add he would touch them, or\add* at least his shadow might come upon some of them \add and heal them\add*.
\v 16 Crowds of people were also coming \add to the apostles\add* from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing their sick \add relatives/friends\add* and those who were being tormented/troubled by evil spirits {whom evil spirits were tormenting/troubling}, and \add God\add* healed all of them.
\s1 Jewish leaders jailed the apostles, but an angel freed them to teach people.
\sr Acts 5:17-21a
\p
\v 17 Then the high priest and all who were with him, who were members of the \add local\add* Sadducee \add sect in Jerusalem\add*, became very jealous \add of the apostles, because many people were accepting the apostles' message\add*.
\v 18 So they commanded the Temple guards to seize the apostles and put them in the public jail.
\v 19 \add The guards did that\add*, but during the night an angel from the Lord \add God\add* opened the jail doors and brought the apostles outside! \add The guards were not aware of what the angel had done\add*.
\v 20 Then the angel said \add to the apostles\add*, “Go to the Temple \add courtyard\add*, stand there, and tell the people all about \add how God can give them eternal\add* life!”
\v 21 So having heard this, about dawn they entered the Temple \add courtyard\add* and began to teach the people again \add about Jesus\add*.
\s1 The Jewish leaders were perplexed because the apostles were not in jail.
\sr Acts 5:21b-24
\p Meanwhile, the high priest and those who were with him summoned the other Jewish Council members. Altogether they made up the entire Council of Israel. \add After they all gathered together\add*, they sent \add guards\add* to the jail to bring in the apostles.
\v 22 But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that the apostles were not there. So they returned to the Council, and \add one of\add* them reported,
\v 23 “We \add (exc)\add* saw that the jail \add doors\add* were very securely locked, and the guards were standing at the doors. But when we opened \add the doors and went in to get those men\add*, none \add of them was\add* inside \add the jail\add*!”
\v 24 When the captain of the temple guards and the chief priests heard that, they became greatly perplexed, \add wondering\add* what might result from all this.
\s1 After finding them, the leaders brought the apostles back to question them.
\sr Acts 5:25-26
\p
\v 25 Then someone came \add from the Temple courtyard\add* and \add excitedly\add* reported to them, “Listen \add to this! Right now\add* the men whom you put in jail are standing in the Temple \add courtyard\add* and they are teaching the people \add about Jesus\add*!”
\v 26 So the captain \add of the Temple guards\add* went \add to the Temple courtyard\add* with the officers, and they brought the apostles \add back to the Council room. But they\add* did not treat them roughly, because they were afraid that the people would \add kill them by\add* throwing stones at them \add if they hurt the apostles\add*.
\s1 Peter and the other apostles said that they must obey God.
\sr Acts 5:27-33
\p
\v 27 After \add the captain and his officers\add* had brought \add the apostles to the Council room\add*, they commanded them to stand in front of the Council members, and the high priest questioned them.
\v 28 He said to them \add accusingly\add*, “We \add (exc)\add* strongly commanded you not to teach people about that man [MTY] \add Jesus\add* But \add you have disobeyed us, and\add* you have taught people all over Jerusalem \add about him!\add* Furthermore, you are trying to make it seem that we \add (exc)\add* are the ones who are guilty [MTY] for that man's death!”
\v 29 But Peter, \add speaking for himself\add* and the other apostles, replied, “We \add (exc)\add* have to obey \add what\add* God \add commands us to do\add*, not what \add you\add* people \add tell us to do\add*
\v 30 God considers that you are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors \add worshipped\add*, ◄caused Jesus to become alive again after he died/raised Jesus from the dead►.
\v 31 God has greatly honored Jesus. \add He has taken him up to heaven! He has authorized him\add* to be the one who will save us and to rule \add over our lives! God did this\add* so that he might enable \add us\add* Israelites [MTY] to turn away from \add our\add* sinful behavior and \add that he might\add* forgive \add us for our sins\add*.
\v 32 We \add (exc)\add* tell people about these things \add that we know happened to Jesus\add*, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to \add us\add* who obey him, is also confirming \add that these things are true\add*.”
\v 33 When the Council members heard those words, they became very angry \add with the apostles\add*, and they wanted to kill them.
\s1 After beating the apostles, they followed Gamaliel's advice and released them.
\sr Acts 5:34-40
\p
\v 34 But \add there was a Council member\add* named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, and one who taught people the \add Jewish\add* laws, and all the \add Jewish\add* people respected him. He stood up in the Council and told \add guards\add* to take the apostles out \add of the room\add* for a short time.

\v 35 \add After the guards had taken the apostles out\add*, he said to the other Council members, “Fellow Israelites, you need to think carefully about what you are planning to do to these men, \add and I will tell you why\add*. \v 36 Some years ago \add a man named\add* Theudas rebelled \add against the Roman government\add*. He told people that he was an important person, and about four hundred men joined \add him. But he was killed\add* {\add soldiers\add* killed him} and all those who had been accompanying him were scattered. \add So they\add* were not able to do anything \add that they had planned\add*.
\v 37 After that, during the time when they were ◄writing down names of the people/taking the census► \add in order to tax people, a man named\add* Judas from Galilee \add province\add* rebelled \add against the Roman government\add*. He persuaded some people to accompany him. But \add soldiers\add* killed him, too, and all those who had accompanied him went off in different directions.
\v 38 So now I say \add this\add* to you: Do not harm these men! Release them! I say this because if \add this is just something\add* that humans have planned, they will not be able to do it. They will fail, \add like Theudas and Judas did\add*
\v 39 But, if God \add has commanded them to do it\add*, you will not be able to prevent them \add from doing it, because\add* you will find out that you are opposing God!” The other members of the Council accepted what Gamaliel said.
\v 40 They told the \add temple guards to bring the apostles and beat/flog them. So the guards\add* brought them \add into the Council room\add* and beat/flogged them. Then the Council members commanded them not to speak to people about [MTY] Jesus, and they released the apostles.
\s1 The apostles rejoiced and continued to tell others about Jesus.
\sr Acts 5:41-42
\p

\v 41 So the apostles left the Council. They were rejoicing, because \add they knew God\add* had honored them \add by letting people\add* disgrace them because they were followers [MTY] of Jesus. \v 42 And every day \add the apostles went to\add* the temple \add area\add* and to various \add people's\add* houses, \add and\add* they continued [LIT] teaching \add people\add* and telling \add them\add* that Jesus is the Messiah.
\c 6
\s1 The believers neglected the Greek-speaking widows.
\sr Acts 6:1
\p
\v 1 During that time, many more people were becoming believers. \add Some of them were from other countries and spoke only the Greek language, but most of them had always lived in Israel and spoke the Hebrew language\add*. Those who spoke Greek began to complain about those who spoke Hebrew. They were saying. “When \add you Hebrew-speaking believers\add* distribute \add food or money\add* to widows every day, you are not giving fair amounts to the widows who speak Greek!”
\s1 The apostles told the other believers to choose men to care for those widows.
\sr Acts 6:2-4
\p
\v 2 So, \add after the \add* twelve \add apostles had heard what they were complaining about\add*, they summoned all the \add other \add* believers \add in Jerusalem to meet \add* together. Then the apostles said \add to those other believers\add*, “We \add (exc)\add* would not be doing right if we stopped \add preaching and teaching \add* God's message \add about Jesus \add* in order to distribute food [MTY] \add and money to the widows \add*! 
\v 3 So, fellow believers, carefully choose seven from among you, men whom \add you\add* know that the Spirit \add of God\add* controls completely and who are very wise. Then we \add (exc)\add* will appoint them to do this work, 
\v 4 and we \add (exc)\add* will devote our time to pray and to preach and teach the message \add about Jesus\add*.” 
\s1 The apostles appointed seven men to care for the widows' needs. 
\sr Acts 6:5-6 
\p \v 5 What the apostles recommended pleased all of the \add other\add* believers. So they chose Stephen. He was a man who strongly believed \add in God\add* and whom the Holy Spirit controlled completely. \add They also chose\add* Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas who was from Antioch \add city\add*. Nicolas had accepted the Jewish religion \add before he had believed in Jesus\add*.
\v 6 They brought these \add seven\add* men to the apostles. Then after the apostles prayed \add for those men\add*, they placed their hands on \add the heads of each one of\add* them \add to appoint them to do that work\add*.
\s1 The number of people who were becoming believers increased greatly.
\sr Acts 6:7
\p
\v 7 So \add the believers\add* continued to tell many people the message from God. ◄The number of people in Jerusalem who believed \add in Jesus\add* was increasing greatly./More and more people in Jerusalem were believing in Jesus.► \add Among them\add* were many \add Jewish\add* priests who were believing the message \add about Jesus\add*.
\s1 People opposed Stephen, but could not refute his arguments.
\sr Acts 6:8-10
\p
\v 8 God was enabling Stephen to do many things by God's power. He was doing many amazing miracles among the \add Jewish\add* people.
\v 9 However, some people opposed Stephen. They were Jews from a group \add that regularly met together in a Jewish meeting place that was\add* {\add that people\add*} called the Freedmen's Meeting Place. \add Those people were from\add* Cyrene and Alexandria \add cities\add* and \add also\add* from Cilicia and Asia \add provinces\add*. They all began to argue with Stephen.
\v 10 But they were not able ◄to refute \add what he said/to prove that what he said was wrong\add*►, \add because God's\add* Spirit enabled him to speak very wisely.
\s1 People persuaded some men to falsely accuse Stephen.
\sr Acts 6:11-14
\p
\v 11 Then that group secretly persuaded \add some \add* men to \add falsely accuse Stephen. saying\add*, “We \add (exc)\add* heard him say bad things about Moses and God.” \v 12 So, \add by saying that\add*, they made the \add other Jewish\add* people angry \add at Stephen, including\add* the elders and the teachers of the \add Jewish\add* laws. Then \add they all\add* seized Stephen and took him to the Jewish Council.

\v 13 They \add also\add* brought in some other men who accused Stephen falsely \add about several things\add*. They said, “This fellow continually says bad things about this holy Temple and about the laws \add that Moses received from God\add*. \v 14 Specifically, we \add (exc)\add* have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth \add town\add* will destroy this Temple and will tell us to obey different customs than Moses \add taught our ancestors\add*.”
\s1 The people saw Stephen's face shining like the face of an angel.
\sr Acts 6:15
\p
\v 15 When all \add the people\add* who were sitting in the Council \add room heard that, and as they\add* all stared at Stephen, they saw that his face was \add shining\add* [SIM] like the face of an angel.
\c 7
\s1 Stephen started to answer the high priest's accusations by talking about Abraham.
\sr Acts 7:1-4
\p
\v 1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are the things that \add these people are saying about you(sg)\add* true?”
\v 2 Stephen replied, “Fellow Jews and respected leaders, \add please\add* listen to me! The glorious God \add whom we(inc) worship\add* appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still \add living\add* in Mesopotamia \add region\add*, before he moved to Haran \add town\add*.
\v 3 God said to him, ‘Leave this land where you \add (sg)\add* and your relatives \add are living\add*, and go into the land to which I will lead you.’
\v 4 So Abraham left that land, \add which was also called\add* Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran \add town\add* and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you \add and I\add* are now living.”
\s1 God promised to give the land to Abraham and his descendants.
\sr Acts 7:5
\p
\v 5 “\add At that time\add* God did not give Abraham any \add land here\add*, not even a small plot of \add this\add* land that would belong to him. God promised that he would \add later\add* give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would \add always\add* belong \add to them. However\add*, at that time Abraham did not have any children \add who would\add* ◄\add inherit it/receive it after he died\add*►.”
\s1 God told Abraham that later on he would deliver his descendants from Egypt.
\sr Acts 7:6-7
\p
\v 6 “\add Later\add* God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They \add will live there\add* for four hundred years, and \add during that time their leaders\add* will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves.’
\v 7 But God \add also\add* said, ‘I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. Then, after that, your descendants will leave \add that land\add* and they will \add come and\add* worship me in this land.’”
\s1 God commanded the ceremony of circumcision for Abraham and his descendants.
\sr Acts 7:8
\p
\v 8 “Then God commanded Abraham that \add every male in his household and all of his male descendants\add* should be circumcised \add to show that they all belonged to God\add* and that they would obey what he had told Abraham to do. Later Abraham's son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. \add Later\add* Isaac's son, Jacob, was born, and Isaac \add similarly circumcised\add* him. And Jacob \add similarly circumcised\add* his twelve sons. They are the twelve men \add from whom we(inc) Jews have all descended\add*.”
\s1 God helped Joseph, so Pharaoh appointed him to govern Egypt.
\sr Acts 7:9-10
\p
\v 9 “\add You know that\add* Jacob's \add older\add* sons became jealous \add because their father favored their younger brother\add* Joseph. So they sold him \add to merchants/traders who took him\add* [MTY] to Egypt. There he became a slave \add of an official who lived there\add*. But God \add helped\add* Joseph.
\v 10 He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise; and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule \add over\add* Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh's property [MTY].”
\s1 There was a famine in Canaan, so Jacob's family moved to Egypt.
\sr Acts 7:11-15a
\p
\v 11 “\add While Joseph was doing that work\add*, there was a time ◄when there was very little food/of famine► throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. \add At that time\add* Jacob and his sons \add in Canaan\add* also could not find \add enough\add* food.
\v 12 When Jacob heard \add people report that\add* there was grain/food \add that people could buy\add* in Egypt, he sent Joseph's older brothers \add to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home\add*.
\v 13 When Joseph's brothers went to Egypt the second time, \add they again bought grain from Joseph\add*. But this time \add he\add* told them who he was. \add And\add* people told Pharaoh that Joseph's people were Hebrews \add and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers\add*.
\v 14 Then after Joseph sent \add his brothers back home, they\add* told their father Jacob \add that Joseph wanted\add* him and his entire family to come \add to Egypt. At that time\add* ◄\add Jacob's family consisted of\add* seventy-five people/there were seventy-five people in Jacob's family► [SYN].
\v 15 \add So when\add* Jacob \add heard that, he and all his family\add* went to \add live in\add* Egypt.”
\s1 When Jacob and his sons died, people buried them in Canaan.
\sr Acts 7:15b-16
\p “\add Later on\add*, Jacob died \add there\add*, and our \add other\add* ancestors, \add his sons, also died there\add*.
\v 16 \add But\add* the bodies \add of Jacob and Joseph\add* were brought {\add they\add* brought the bodies \add of Jacob and Joseph\add*} \add back to our land\add*, and \add Jacob's body\add* was buried {they buried \add Jacob's body\add*} \add in the tomb that Abraham had bought, and they buried Joseph's body\add* in Shechem in the ground that \add Jacob\add* had bought from Hamor's sons.”
\s1 An Egyptian king who did not know about Joseph began to oppress the Israelites.
\sr Acts 7:17-19
\p
\v 17 “Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for \add God to rescue them\add* from Egypt, \add as\add* he had promised Abraham that he would do.
\v 18 Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph, \add long before that time, had greatly helped the people of Egypt\add* [MTY].
\v 19 That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He \add even commanded\add* them to leave their baby \add boys\add* outside \add their homes\add* so that they would die.”
\s1 Moses, who grew up as an Egyptian, spoke and acted powerfully.
\sr Acts 7:20-22
\p
\v 20 “During that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful [LIT] \add child\add*. So his parents \add secretly\add* cared for him in their house for three months.
\v 21 Then they had to put him outside \add the house, but\add* Pharaoh's daughter \add found him and\add* adopted him and cared for him as \add though he were\add* her own son.
\v 22 Moses was taught {\add The Egyptian teachers\add* taught Moses} many kinds of wise things [HYP] that the people in Egypt knew, and \add when he grew up\add*, he spoke powerfully and did things powerfully.”
\s1 Moses killed an Egyptian, so he had to flee to Midian.
\sr Acts 7:23-29
\p
\v 23 “\add One day\add* when Moses was about forty years old, he decided that he would \add go and\add* see his fellow Israelites. \add So he went to the place where they worked\add*.
\v 24 He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israelites. So he went over to help [MTY] the Israelite man who was being hurt/beat {whom \add the Egyptian\add* was hurting/beating}, and he ◄got revenge on/paid back► the Israelite man by killing the Egyptian \add who was hurting/beating him\add*.
\v 25 Moses was thinking that his fellow Israelites would understand that God had sent him to free them \add from being slaves\add*. But they did not understand that.
\v 26 The next day, Moses saw two Israelite men fighting \add each other\add*. He tried to make them stop fighting by saying to them, ‘Men, you two are fellow \add Israelites! So\add* ◄stop hurting each other!/why are you hurting each other?► [RHQ]’
\v 27 But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘◄No one appointed you \add (sg)\add* to rule and judge us \add (exc)\add*!/Do you \add (sg)\add* think someone appointed you \add (sg)\add* to rule and judge us \add (exc)\add*?► [RHQ]
\v 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
\v 29 When Moses heard that, \add he thought to himself, ‘Obviously, people know what I have done, and someone will kill me.’ He was afraid, so\add* he fled \add from Egypt\add* to Midian land. He lived there \add for some years\add*. He \add got married, and he and his wife\add* had two sons.”
\s1 God commanded Moses to rescue the Jewish people from Egypt.
\sr Acts 7:30-34
\p
\v 30 “\add One day\add* forty years later, \add the Lord God appeared as\add* an angel to Moses. He appeared in a bush that was burning in the desert near Sinai Mountain.
\v 31 When Moses saw that, he was greatly surprised, \add because the bush was not burning up\add*. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord \add God\add* say \add to him\add*,
\v 32 ‘I \add am\add* the God \add whom\add* your ancestors \add worshipped\add*. I \add am\add* the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob \add worship\add*.’ Moses \add was so afraid that he\add* began to shake. He was afraid to look \add at the bush any longer\add*.
\v 33 Then the Lord \add God\add* said to him, ‘Take your sandals off \add to show that you(sg) reverence me\add*. Because I \add am here\add*, the place where you are standing is holy/sacred.
\v 34 I have surely seen how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan \add because those people continually oppress them\add*. So I have come down to rescue them \add from Egypt\add*. Now get ready, because I am going to send you \add back\add* to Egypt \add to do that\add*.’”
\s1 God sent Moses to lead Israel and tell them of the Prophet who would come.
\sr Acts 7:35-38
\p
\v 35 “This Moses \add is the one who had tried to help our Israelite people, but\add* whom they rejected \add by saying\add*, ‘No one [RHQ] appointed you to rule and judge \add us!’\add* Moses \add is the one whom\add* God \add himself\add* sent to rule them and to free them \add from being slaves. He is the one whom\add* an angel in the bush \add commanded to do that\add*.
\v 36 Moses \add is the one who\add* led our ancestors out \add from Egypt\add*. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and during the forty years \add that the Israelite people lived\add* in the desert.
\v 37 This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will appoint a prophet for you from among your own people. \add He will speak words from God\add*, just like I \add speak his words to you\add*.’
\v 38 This man \add Moses\add* was \add our people's leader\add* when they gathered together in the desert. It is Moses to whom \add God sent\add* the angel on Mount Sinai to \add give him our laws\add*, and \add he was the one who told\add* our \add other\add* ancestors \add what the angel had said\add*. He was the one who received \add from God\add* words that tell us how to live \add eternally, and Moses\add* passed \add them\add* on to us.”
\s1 Israel rejected Moses, so God rejected them and said that he would punish them.
\sr Acts 7:39-43
\p
\v 39 “\add However\add*, our ancestors did not want to obey \add Moses\add*. Instead, \add while he was still on the mountain\add*, they rejected him \add as their leader\add* and decided that they wanted to return to Egypt.
\v 40 So they told \add his older brother\add* Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us \add back to Egypt\add* As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we \add (exc)\add* do not know what has happened to him!’
\v 41 So, they made an image \add out of gold that looked like\add* a calf. Then they sacrificed \add animals and offered other things\add* to \add honor\add* that idol, and they sang and danced to honor the idol that they themselves had made.
\v 42 So God rejected them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote that God said,
\q You Israelite \add people\add* [MTY], when you \add repeatedly\add* killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those forty years \add that you were\add* in the desert, ◄you \add most certainly\add* were not offering them to me!/what makes you think that you were offering them to me?► [RHQ]
\v 43 \add On the contrary\add*, you carried \add with you from place to place\add* the tent \add that contained the idol\add* representing \add the god\add* Molech \add that you worshipped\add*. You also \add carried with you\add* the image of the star \add called\add* Rephan. \add Those\add* were idols that you had made, \add and you\add* worshipped \add them instead of me\add*. So I will \add cause you to\add* be taken away {\add people to\add* take you} \add from your own country. You will be taken\add* {\add They will take you\add*} \add far from your homes to regions\add* even farther than Babylon \add country\add*.”
\s1 The Israelite people worshipped God at the tent Moses built and later in the temple that Solomon built.
\sr Acts 7:44-47
\p
\v 44 “While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshipped God at the tent that showed \add that he was there with them\add*. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses \add to make it. It was\add* exactly like the model that Moses had seen \add when he was up on the mountain\add*.
\v 45 \add Later on\add*, other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them \add into this land\add*. That was during the time that they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people \add who previously lived here\add* to leave. So the Israelites were able to possess this land. \add The tent remained in this land and was still here\add* when \add King\add* David ruled.
\v 46 David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where \add he and\add* all of our Israelite people could worship God.
\v 47 But \add instead, God let David's son\add* Solomon build a house \add where people could worship\add* God.”
\s1 People can worship God anywhere, not only at certain places.
\sr Acts 7:48-50
\p
\v 48 “However, \add we(inc) know that\add* God is greater than everything, and he does not live in \add houses that\add* people [SYN] have made. It is like the prophet \add Isaiah\add* wrote. He wrote \add these words that God had spoken:\add*
\q
\v 49-50 Heaven is ◄my throne/the place from which I rule the entire universe►, and the earth is ◄my footstool/\add merely like\add* a stool on which I may rest my feet►. I myself [SYN] have made everything \add both in heaven and on the earth\add*. So you \add human beings\add*, ◄\add you\add* really cannot build a house that would be \add adequate\add* for me!/do you think you can build a house that would be \add appropriate\add* for me?► [RHQ] You cannot [RHQ] make a place good enough for me \add to live in!\add*”
\s1 Stephen said that those who were listening to him were opposing God.
\sr Acts 7:51-53
\p
\v 51 “You people are extremely stubborn [MET], not wanting to obey God or listen [MTY] \add to him!\add* You are exactly like your ancestors! You always resist the Holy Spirit \add as they did\add*
\v 52 Your ancestors caused [RHQ] every prophet to suffer, \add including Moses\add*. They even killed those who long ago announced \add that the Messiah\add* would come, the one who always did what pleased God. \add And the Messiah has come! He is the one whom\add* you \add recently\add* turned over \add to his enemies\add* and \add insisted that\add* they kill him!
\v 53 You \add are the people\add* who have received God's laws. \add Those were laws\add* that God caused angels to give \add to our ancestors\add*. However, \add incredibly\add*, you have not obeyed them!”
\s1 All the people there became very angry with Stephen.
\sr Acts 7:54
\p
\v 54 When the Jewish Council members \add and others there\add* heard all that \add Stephen said\add*, they became very angry. They were grinding their teeth \add together because they were so angry\add* at him!
\s1 After Stephen said that he could see Jesus standing beside God in heaven, they stoned him.
\sr Acts 7:55-59
\p
\v 55 But the Holy Spirit completely controlled Stephen. He looked up into heaven and saw a dazzling light from God, and \add he saw\add* Jesus standing at God's right side.
\v 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open, and I \add see\add* the one who came from heaven standing at God's right side!”
\p
\v 57 \add When the Jewish Council members and others heard that\add*, they shouted loudly. They put their hands over their ears \add so that they could not hear him, and immediately\add* they all rushed at him.
\v 58 They dragged him outside the city \add of Jerusalem\add* and started to throw stones at him. The people who were accusing him \add took off\add* their outer garments \add in order to throw stones more easily, and\add* they put their clothes \add on the ground\add* next to a young man whose name was Saul, \add so that he could guard them\add*.
\v 59 While they continued to throw stones at Stephen, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
\s1 He asked the Lord to forgive them and he died. The disciples fled, some men buried Stephen, and Saul harassed believers. But the believers preached about Jesus wherever they were scattered.
\sr Acts 7:60—8:3
\p
\v 60 Then Stephen fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not punish them (OR, forgive them) [LIT] for this sin!” After he had said that, he died.
\c 8
\p
\v 1-2 Then some men who revered God buried Stephen's body in a tomb, and they mourned greatly and loudly for him.
\p On that same day \add people\add* started severely persecuting the believers \add who were living\add* in Jerusalem. So most \add of the believers\add* fled \add to other places\add* throughout Judea and Samaria \add provinces\add*. The apostles were the only \add believers who remained in Jerusalem\add*.

\v 3 While the people were killing Stephen, Saul was there approving of their killing Stephen. So Saul \add also\add* began trying to destroy the group of believers. He entered houses one by one, he dragged away men and women \add who believed in Jesus\add*, and then he \add arranged for\add* them to be put in prison. 
\s1 Many Samaritans heeded Philip's words and rejoiced. 
\sr Acts 8:4-8 
\p \v 4 The believers who had left Jerusalem went to different places, where they continued preaching the message about Jesus.
\v 5 \add One of those believers whose name was\add* Philip went down \add from Jerusalem\add* to a city in Samaria \add province\add*. There he was telling \add the people that Jesus is\add* [MTY] the Messiah.
\v 6 Many people there heard Philip \add speak\add* and saw the miraculous things that he was doing. So they all ◄paid close attention to/listened carefully to► his words.
\v 7 For \add example, when Philip commanded\add* evil spirits who controlled many people \add that they should come out of them\add*, they came out, while those spirits screamed. Also, many people who were paralyzed and \add many others\add* who were lame were healed.
\v 8 So \add many people\add* [MTY] in that city greatly rejoiced.
\s1 Philip baptized many Samaritans, including a sorcerer.
\sr Acts 8:9-13
\p
\v 9 There was a man in that city whose name was Simon. He had been practicing sorcery for a long time and he had been amazing the people in Samaria \add province by doing that\add*. He continually claimed that he was a great/important person.
\v 10 All the people there, both ordinary and important people, listened to him. \add Various ones of\add* them were saying, “This man works in extremely powerful ways \add because\add* God has caused him to be a great \add person\add*.”
\v 11 They continued to listen to him carefully, because for a long time he had astonished them by practicing sorcery.
\v 12 But then they believed Philip's \add message\add* when he preached to them about \add how\add* God desires to rule [MET] \add the lives of people who believe in him\add*, and about Jesus being the Messiah [MTY]. Both the men and the women who believed in Jesus were baptized. {\add Philip\add* was baptizing both the men and the women \add who had come to believe in Jesus\add*}.
\v 13 Simon himself believed \add Philip's message\add* and, after he was baptized {after \add Philip\add* baptized him}, he began to constantly accompany Philip. Simon was continually amazed because he often saw \add Philip\add* doing many kinds of miraculous things.
\s1 Samaritan believers received the power of the Holy Spirit.
\sr Acts 8:14-17
\p
\v 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that \add many people\add* [PRS] \add throughout\add* Samaria \add district\add* had believed the message from God \add about Jesus\add*, they sent Peter and John there.
\v 15 When Peter and John arrived in Samaria, they prayed for those \add new believers\add* in order that the Holy Spirit's \add power\add* would come to them.
\v 16 \add Peter and John realized that\add* the Holy Spirit had not yet begun to empower any of them. They had been baptized {\add Philip\add* had baptized them} \add because they had believed\add* in [MTY] the Lord Jesus, \add but they did not know about the Holy Spirit\add*.
\v 17 \add Then Peter and John\add* placed their hands on \add the heads of\add* each person, and they received the \add power of\add* [MTY] the Holy Spirit.
\s1 Peter denounced Simon the sorcerer.
\sr Acts 8:18-24
\p
\v 18 Simon saw \add things that convinced him\add* that \add God\add* had given the Spirit's \add power to people\add* as a result of the apostles placing their hands on them. So he offered \add to give\add* money to the apostles,
\v 19 saying, “Enable me also to do what \add you are doing\add*, so that everyone on whom I place/put my hands may receive the Holy Spirit's \add power\add*.”
\v 20 But Peter said to him, “May you \add (sg)\add* and your money go to hell, because you \add mistakenly\add* think that you can buy \add from us\add* what God \add alone\add* gives to \add people\add*
\v 21 \add God\add* has not authorized you to have any part of this ministry of giving \add the Holy Spirit's power\add*, because he knows that you are not thinking rightly! (OR, because he knows that you are thinking completely wrongly.)
\v 22 So stop thinking wickedly \add like\add* that, and plead that the Lord, if he is willing, will forgive you \add for what\add* you \add wickedly\add* thought/planned \add to do\add*
\v 23 \add Turn away from your evil ways\add*, because I perceive that you \add (sg)\add* are extremely envious of \add us\add*, and you \add are\add* a slave of your \add continual desire to do evil! God will certainly punish you severely!\add*”
\v 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord \add God\add* that \add he\add* will not do to me what you just said!”
\s1 Peter and John preached to many Samaritans.
\sr Acts 8:25
\p
\v 25 After \add Peter and John\add* told \add people there\add* what they knew personally \add about the\add* Lord \add Jesus\add* and declared to them the message about Jesus, they both returned to Jerusalem. \add Along the way\add* they preached the good message \add about Jesus to people\add* in many villages in Samaria \add province\add*.
\s1 Philip met an Ethiopian official.
\sr Acts 8:26-28
\p
\v 26 \add One day\add* an angel whom the Lord \add God\add* had sent commanded Philip, “Get ready and go south along the road that extends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” \add That was\add* a road in a desert area.
\v 27 So Philip got ready and went \add along that road\add*. Suddenly he met a man from Ethiopia \add country. He was\add* an important official who took care of all the funds for the queen \add of\add* Ethiopia. \add In his language people called their queen\add* Candace. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship \add God\add*,
\v 28 and he was returning \add home\add* and was seated \add riding\add* in his chariot. \add As he was riding\add*, he was reading \add out loud from\add* what the prophet Isaiah \add had written\add* [MTY] \add long ago\add*.
\s1 The official could not understand what he was reading.
\sr Acts 8:29-31
\p
\v 29 \add God's\add* Spirit told Philip, “Go near to that chariot and keep walking close to \add the man who is riding in\add* it!”
\v 30 So Philip ran \add to the chariot and kept running close to it\add*. Then he heard the official reading what the prophet Isaiah \add had written\add*. He asked the man, “Do you \add (sg)\add* understand what you are reading?”
\v 31 He answered Philip, “\add No!\add* ◄I cannot possibly \add understand it\add* if \add there is\add* no one to explain it to me!/How can I \add understand it\add* if \add there is\add* no one to explain it to me?► [RHQ]”
\s1 Philip preached about Jesus to the official.
\sr Acts 8:31b-35
\p Then the man said to Philip, “Please come up \add and\add* sit beside me.” \add So Philip did that\add*.
\v 32 The part of the Scriptures that the official was reading was this:
\q He will \add be silent when\add* they lead him away to kill him
\q \add like when people lead\add* a sheep \add away to kill it\add*.
\q As a young sheep is silent when its wool is being cut off {someone cuts off its wool}, \add similarly\add* he will not protest [MTY] \add when people cause him to suffer\add*.
\q
\v 33 When he will be humiliated by being accused falsely {people will humiliate him \add by accusing him falsely\add*},
\q \add the rulers\add* ◄will not consider him innocent/will consider him guilty►.
\q No one will possibly be able to tell about his descendants, because he will be killed {people will kill him} without him having \add any descendants\add* on the earth.
\p

\v 34 The official asked Philip \add about these words that he was reading\add*, “Tell me, who was the prophet writing about? \add Was he writing\add* about himself or about someone else?” 
\v 35 So Philip began \add to explain\add* that Scripture passage. He told him the good message about [MTY] Jesus. \add So the official understood and believed in Jesus\add*. 
\s1 Philip baptized the official. Then the Spirit took Philip away. 
\sr Acts 8:36-39 
\p \v 36-37 While they were traveling along the road, they came to \add a place where there was a pond of\add* water \add near the road\add*. Then the official said \add to Philip\add*, “Look, \add there is a pond of\add* water! ◄I would like you to baptize me, because I do not know of anything that would prevent me from being baptized {prevent \add you\add* from baptizing me.}/Do you know of anything that would prevent me from being baptized {prevent \add you\add* from baptizing me}?► [RHQ]”
\v 38 So the official told \add the driver\add* to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the official went down into the \add pond of\add* water, and \add Philip\add* baptized him.
\v 39 When they came up out of the water, suddenly God's Spirit took Philip away. The official never saw Philip again. But \add although he never saw Philip again\add*, the official continued going along the road, very happy \add that God had saved him\add*.
\s1 Philip preached in towns from Azotus to Caesarea.
\sr Acts 8:40
\p
\v 40 Philip then realized \add that the Spirit had miraculously taken him to\add* Azotus \add town\add*. While he traveled around \add in that region\add*, he continued proclaiming the message \add about Jesus\add* in all the towns \add between Azotus and Caesarea. And he was still proclaiming\add* it when he finally arrived in Caesarea \add city\add*.
\c 9
\s1 Saul asked the high priest to authorize him to arrest believers.
\sr Acts 9:1-2
\p
\v 1 Meanwhile, Saul angrily continued to say, “I will kill those who believe that \add Jesus is\add* the Lord!” He went to the high priest \add in Jerusalem\add*
\v 2 and requested him \add to write\add* letters \add introducing him\add* to \add the leaders of\add* [MTY] the Jewish meeting places in Damascus \add city. The letters asked them to authorize Saul\add* to seize any men or women who followed the way \add that Jesus had taught\add*, and to take them as prisoners to Jerusalem \add so that the Jewish leaders could judge and punish them\add*.
\s1 While Saul was traveling to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and blinded him.
\sr Acts 9:3-8
\p

\v 3 Saul took those letters, and while he \add and those with him\add* traveled toward Damascus. As they were approaching the city, suddenly a \add brilliant\add* light from heaven shone around Saul. \v 4 \add Immediately\add* he fell down to the ground. Then he heard the voice \add of the Lord\add* say to him, “Saul, Saul, ◄stop causing me to suffer!/why are you causing me to suffer?► [RHQ]”
\v 5 Saul asked him, “Lord, who are you?” He replied, “I am Jesus, \add and\add* you \add (sg)\add* are causing me to suffer \add by hurting my followers!\add*
\v 6 Now instead \add of continuing to do that\add*, stand up and go into the city! \add Someone there\add* will tell you \add (sg)\add* what I \add want\add* you to do.”
\v 7 The men who were traveling with Saul \add became so frightened that they\add* could not say anything. \add They just\add* stood there. They only heard the sound \add when the Lord spoke\add*, but they did not see anyone.
\v 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see anything. So the men \add with him\add* took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
\v 9 For the next three days Saul could not see \add anything\add*, and he did not eat or drink anything.
\s1 Saul could see again after Ananias had put his hands on him.
\sr Acts 9:9-19
\p
\v 10 In Damascus there was \add a Jew\add* named Ananias who believed in Jesus. While \add Ananias was seeing\add* a vision, the Lord \add Jesus\add* said to him, “Ananias!” He replied, “Lord, I \add am listening\add*.”
\v 11 The Lord Jesus told him, “Go to Straight Street to the house that belongs to Judas. Ask \add someone there if you(sg) can talk to\add* a man named Saul from Tarsus \add city\add*, because, surprisingly, at this moment he is praying \add to me\add*.
\v 12 \add Saul has seen\add* a vision in which a man named Ananias entered \add the house where he was staying\add* and put his hands on him in order that he might see again.”
\v 13 But Ananias \add protested\add*, saying, “But Lord, many people have told me about this man! He has done many evil things to the people in Jerusalem who \add believe in\add* you!

\v 14 And the chief priests have authorized him to come here \add to Damascus\add* in order to seize all of us who believe in you \add (sg)\add* [MTY] \add and take us to Jerusalem\add*!” 
\v 15 But the Lord \add Jesus\add* told Ananias, “Go to \add Saul! Do what I say\add*, because I have chosen him to serve me in order that he might speak about me [MTY] both to non-Jewish people and \add their\add* kings and to the Israeli people. \v 16 I myself will tell him that he must often suffer greatly because of \add telling people about\add* me [MTY].”

\v 17 So Ananias went, and \add after he found\add* the house \add where Saul was\add*, he entered it. Then, \add as soon as he met Saul\add*, he put his hands on him, and he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus \add himself\add* commanded me to come \add to you\add*. He is the \add same\add* one who appeared to you \add (sg)\add* while you were traveling along the road. \add He sent me to you\add* in order that you might see again and that you might be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit {that the Holy Spirit might completely control you}.” \v 18 Instantly, things like \add fish\add* scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. Then he stood up and was baptized {\add Ananias\add* baptized him} \add immediately\add*.

\v 19 After Saul ate some food, he felt strong again. Saul stayed with the \add other\add* believers in Damascus for several days. 
\s1 People there were astonished that Saul had believed in Jesus. 
\sr Acts 9:20-22 
\p 
\v 20 Right away Saul began to preach \add to people about Jesus\add* in the Jewish meeting places \add in Damascus. He told them\add* that Jesus is ◄the Son of/the man who is also► God. 
\v 21 And all the people who heard him \add preach\add* were amazed. \add Various ones of\add* them were saying, “◄\add We(inc) can hardly believe that\add* this is the \add same man\add* who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem!/Is this really the \add same man\add* who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem?► [RHQ, MTY] And we \add (inc)\add* know that he has [RHQ] come here to seize us and take us to the chief priests \add in Jerusalem\add*!” \v 22 But \add God\add* enabled Saul \add to preach to many people even\add* more convincingly. He was proving \add from the Scriptures\add* that Jesus is the Messiah. So the Jewish leaders in Damascus could not think of anything ◄to refute \add what he said/to prove that what he said was not true\add*►.
\s1 Saul escaped from those who plotted to kill him.
\sr Acts 9:23-25
\p
\v 23 Some time later, \add after Saul had left Damascus and then returned\add*, the Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] \add there\add* plotted to kill him.
\v 24 \add During each\add* day and night those Jews were continually watching \add the people passing through\add* the city gates, in order that \add when they saw Saul\add* they might kill him. However, someone told Saul what they planned to do.
\v 25 So some of those whom he had helped \add to believe in Jesus\add* took him \add one\add* night \add to the high stone wall that surrounded the city\add*. They \add used ropes to\add* lower him in a \add large\add* basket through an opening in the wall. \add So he escaped from Damascus\add*.
\s1 Barnabas introduced Saul to other believers in Jerusalem.
\sr Acts 9:26-28
\p
\v 26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he began trying to associate with other believers. However, \add almost\add* all of them continued to be afraid of him, because they did not believe that he had become a believer.
\v 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He explained to the apostles how, \add while Saul was traveling\add* along the road \add to Damascus\add*, he had seen the Lord \add Jesus\add* and how the Lord had spoken to him \add there. He\add* also told them how Saul had preached boldly about Jesus [MTY] \add to people\add* in Damascus. \add The apostles believed Barnabas and told the other believers about that\add*.
\v 28 So Saul began to associate with the apostles \add and other believers\add* throughout Jerusalem, and he spoke boldly \add to people\add* about [MTY] the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 The believers sent Saul to Tarsus because some Jews tried to kill him.
\sr Acts 9:29-30
\p
\v 29 Saul was \add also\add* speaking \add about Jesus\add* with Jews who spoke Greek, and he was debating with them. But they were continually trying \add to think\add* ◄\add of a way\add* to kill him/of \add how they could\add* kill him►.

\v 30 When the \add other\add* believers heard that \add those Jews were planning to kill him, some of\add* the believers took Saul down to Caesarea \add city. There\add* they arranged for him to go \add by ship\add* to Tarsus, \add his hometown\add*. 
\s1 The church in Israel had peace and many people believed. 
\sr Acts 9:31 
\p \v 31 So the groups of believers throughout \add the entire regions of\add* Judea, Galilee, and Samaria lived peacefully \add because no one was persecuting them anymore\add*. The Holy Spirit was strengthening them \add spiritually\add* and encouraging them. They were continuing to reverence/honor the Lord \add Jesus, and the Holy Spirit\add* was enabling many other people \add to become believers\add*.
\s1 Because Peter healed Aeneas, many people believed in Jesus.
\sr Acts 9:32-35
\p
\v 32 While Peter was traveling throughout those \add regions, once\add* he went to \add the coastal plain to visit\add* the believers \add who lived\add* in Lydda \add town\add*.
\v 33 There he met a man whose name was Aeneas. Aeneas had not been able to get up from \add his\add* bed for eight years, because he was paralyzed.
\v 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you \add (sg) right now\add* Get up and roll up your mat!” Right away Aeneas stood up.
\v 35 Most of the people who lived in Lydda and on Sharon \add Plain\add* saw Aeneas \add after the Lord had healed him\add*, so they believed in the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 Dorcas died.
\sr Acts 9:36-37
\p
\v 36 In Joppa \add town\add* there was a believer whose name was Tabitha. \add Her name\add* in the \add Greek\add* language was Dorcas. \add Both of these names mean gazelle/deer/antelope\add*. That woman was continually doing good deeds \add for others. Specifically\add*, she was helping poor people \add by giving them things that they needed\add*.
\v 37 During the time \add that Peter was in Lydda\add*, she became sick and died. \add Some women there\add* washed her body \add according to the Jewish custom so that the people could bury it\add*. Then they \add covered her body with cloth and\add* placed it in an upstairs room \add in her house\add*.
\s1 Peter resurrected Dorcas.
\sr Acts 9:38-43
\p

\v 38 Lydda was near Joppa, so when the believers heard that Peter was \add still\add* in Lydda, they sent two men to \add go\add* to Peter. \add When they arrived where Peter was\add*, they repeatedly urged/begged him, “Please come immediately with us \add to Joppa\add*!” 
\v 39 So \add right away\add* Peter got ready and went with them. When they arrived \add at the house in Joppa\add*, the two men took Peter to the upstairs room \add where Dorcas' body was lying\add*. All the widows \add there\add*crowded around Peter. They were crying and showing him the cloaks and \add other\add* garments that Dorcas had made for people while she was still alive. 
\v 40 But Peter sent them all out of the room. Then he got down on his knees and prayed. Then, turning toward Tabitha's body, he said, “Tabitha, stand up!” \add Immediately\add* she opened her eyes and, when she saw Peter, she sat up. 
\v 41 He grasped one of her hands and helped her to stand up. After he had summoned the believers and \add especially\add* the widows \add among them to come back in\add*, he showed them that Tabitha was alive \add again\add*. \v 42 \add Soon\add* people everywhere in Joppa knew about that miracle, and as a result many people believed in the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\v 43 Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a man named Simon who made leather \add from animal skins\add*.
\c 10
\s1 Obeying an angel, Cornelius sent men to summon Peter.
\sr Acts 10:1-8
\p
\v 1 \add There was\add* a man \add who lived\add* in Caesarea \add city\add* whose name was Cornelius. He was an officer who commanded 100 men in a large group of \add Roman\add* soldiers from Italy.
\v 2 He always tried to do what would please God; he and his entire household [MTY] \add were non-Jews who\add* habitually worshipped God. He sometimes gave money to help poor \add Jewish\add* people, and he prayed to God regularly.
\p
\v 3 \add One day\add* at about three o'clock in the afternoon \add Cornelius saw\add* a vision. He clearly saw an angel whom God \add had sent\add*. The angel came into \add his room\add* and said to him, “Cornelius!”
\v 4 Cornelius stared at the angel and became terrified. Then he asked \add fearfully\add*, “Sir, what do you \add (sg)\add* want?” The angel answered him, “You \add (sg)\add* have pleased God because you have been praying \add regularly to him\add* and you often give money to \add help\add* poor people. \add Those things have been\add* like a sacrifice \add to God\add*.
\v 5 So now command some men to go to Joppa \add city\add* and \add tell them to\add* bring back a man named Simon whose other name is Peter.
\v 6 He is staying with a man, \add also\add* named Simon, who makes leather. His house is near the ocean.”
\v 7 When the angel who spoke to Cornelius had gone, Cornelius summoned two of his household servants and a soldier who served him, one who also worshipped God.
\v 8 He explained to them everything \add that the angel had said. Then\add* he told them to go to Joppa \add to ask Peter to come to Caesarea\add*.
\s1 Peter's vision.
\sr Acts 10:9-16
\p
\v 9 About noon the next day those \add three men\add* were traveling \add along the road\add* and were coming near \add Joppa. As they were approaching Joppa\add*, Peter went up on the \add flat\add* housetop to pray.
\v 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat. While someone was preparing the food, \add Peter\add* saw \add this\add* vision:
\v 11 ◄He saw heaven open/He saw an opening in the sky► and something like a large sheet was being lowered \add to the ground\add*. \add It was tied at\add* its four corners \add with ropes\add*.
\v 12 Inside the sheet were all kinds of creatures. \add These included animals and birds that the Mosaic laws forbade Jews to eat\add*. Some had four feet, others crawled on the ground, and others were wild birds.
\v 13 Then \add he heard\add* God [SYN] say to him, “Peter, stand up, kill \add and cook some of these\add* and eat \add their meat\add*!”
\v 14 But Peter replied, “Lord, surely you \add (sg)\add* do not \add really want me to do that\add*! I have never eaten any \add meat\add* that \add our Jewish law says\add* is unacceptable to God or \add something that we(exc)\add* must not eat!”
\v 15 \add Then Peter heard\add* [MTY] God talk to him a second time. He said, “\add I am\add* God, \add so\add* if I have made something acceptable \add to eat\add*, do not say that it is not acceptable \add to eat\add*!”
\v 16 \add This happened\add* three \add times, so Peter knew that he had to think carefully about what it might mean\add*. Immediately \add after God had said that the third time\add*, ◄\add the\add* sheet \add with the animals and birds\add* was the pulled back into heaven/\add someone\add* pulled the sheet \add with the animals and birds\add* up into the sky again►.
\s1 The Holy Spirit commanded Peter to go with the non-Jewish men.
\sr Acts 10:17-23a
\p
\v 17 While Peter was trying to understand what that vision meant, the men who had been sent by Cornelius {whom Cornelius had sent} \add arrived in Joppa. They asked people how to get to\add* Simon's house. \add So they found his house\add* and were standing outside the gate.
\v 18 They called and were asking if a man named Simon, whose other name was Peter, was staying there.
\v 19 While Peter was still trying to understand \add what\add* the vision \add meant\add*, \add God's\add* Spirit said to him, “Three men \add are here who\add* want to see you.
\v 20 So get up and go downstairs and go with them! Do not think that you \add (sg)\add* should not go with them \add because of their being non-Jews\add*, because I have sent them \add here\add*!”
\v 21 So Peter went down to the men and said to them, “\add Greetings!\add* I am \add the man\add* you are looking for. Why have you come?”
\v 22 One of them replied, “Cornelius, who is a \add Roman\add* army officer, \add sent us here\add*. He is a righteous man who worships God, and all of the Jewish people [HYP] \add who know about him\add* say that he is a very good man. An angel ◄who was sent from God/whom God sent► said to him, ‘Tell some men to \add go to Joppa to see Simon Peter and\add* bring him here, so that you \add (sg)\add* can hear what he has to say.’”
\v 23 So Peter \add said that he would go with them, and then he\add* invited them into \add the house\add* and told them that they could stay \add there that night\add*.
\s1 Peter went with the men and met Cornelius.
\sr Acts 10:23b-26
\p The next day Peter got ready and went with the men. Several of the believers from Joppa went with him.
\v 24 The day after that, they arrived in Caesarea \add city \add*. Cornelius was waiting for them. He had also invited his relatives and close friends \add to come to his house, so they were there, too \add*.
\v 25 When Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and bowed low in front of him to worship him.
\v 26 But Peter \add grasped Cornelius by the hand and\add* lifted him to his feet. He said, “Stand up! \add Do not reverence/worship me\add* I myself am only human, \add like you\add*!”
\s1 Peter asked why they had sent for him.
\sr Acts 10:27-29
\p
\v 27 While he was talking to Cornelius, Peter \add and the others\add* entered \add a large room inside the house\add*. Peter saw that many people had gathered together \add there\add*.
\v 28 Then Peter said to them, “You all know that any \add of us\add* Jews think we are disobeying \add our Jewish\add* laws if we \add (exc)\add* associate with a non-Jewish person or \add if we even\add* visit him. However, God has shown me \add in a vision\add* that I should not say about anyone that God will not accept him.
\v 29 So when you sent \add some men\add* to ask me to come \add here\add*, I came \add right away. I\add* did not say that I could not go \add with non-Jewish people. So, please tell me\add*, why have you asked me to come \add here\add*?”
\s1 Cornelius told about his vision.
\sr Acts 10:30-33
\p
\v 30 Cornelius replied, “About this time four days ago I was praying \add to God\add* in my house, \add as I regularly do\add* at three o'clock in the afternoon. Suddenly a man whose clothes \add shone\add* brightly stood in front of me,
\v 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, when you \add (sg)\add* have prayed, you have been heard by God {God has heard \add when\add* you \add (sg)\add* have prayed \add to him\add*}. He has also noticed that you have \add often\add* given money to \add help\add* poor people, \add and he is pleased with that\add*.
\v 32 So now, send \add messengers to go\add* to Joppa city, \add in order\add* to ask Simon whose other name is Peter to come \add here\add*. He is staying near the ocean in a house that belongs to \add another\add* man named Simon, who makes leather. \add When Simon Peter comes, he will tell you a message from God\add*.’
\v 33 So I immediately sent \add some men who asked\add* you \add (sg) to come here\add*, and I \add certainly\add* thank you for coming. Now we \add (exc)\add* all are gathered \add here, knowing that\add* God is with us, in order to hear all the things that the Lord \add God\add* has commanded you \add to say. So please speak to us\add*.”
\s1 Peter reminded them of what they knew about Jesus.
\sr Acts 10:34-38
\p
\v 34 So Peter began to speak [MTY] to them. He said, “\add Now\add* I understand that it is true that God does not favor only certain groups \add of people\add*.
\v 35 Instead, from every group of people he accepts \add everyone who\add* honors him and who does what pleases him.
\v 36 \add You know\add* the message that God sent to \add us\add* Israelites. \add He\add* proclaimed \add to us the good news that he\add* would cause \add people\add* to have peace \add with him\add* because of what Jesus Christ \add has done\add*. This \add Jesus is Lord not only over us Israelites. He\add* is \add also the\add* Lord \add who rules\add* over all \add people\add*.
\v 37 You know what \add he\add* did throughout the land of Judea, beginning in Galilee. He began \add to do those things\add* after John had been proclaiming \add to people that they should turn away from their sinful behavior before\add* he baptized them.
\v 38 You know that God gave [MTY] his Holy Spirit to Jesus, \add the Man\add* from Nazareth \add town\add*, and gave him the power \add to do miracles. You also know\add* how Jesus went to many places, always doing good deeds and healing \add people. Specifically\add*, he was continually healing all the people whom the devil was causing to suffer. \add Jesus was able to do those things\add* because God was always helping him.”
\s1 Peter said that God would forgive the sins of all who believe in Jesus.
\sr Acts 10:39-43
\p
\v 39 “We \add apostles\add* tell people about all the things that \add we saw Jesus\add* do in Jerusalem and in the \add rest of\add* Israel. \add The leaders in Jerusalem\add* had him killed by being nailed to a cross.
\v 40 However, God caused him to become alive again on the third day \add after he had died\add*. God \add also\add* enabled \add some of us(exc)\add* to see him \add so that we would know that he was alive again\add*.
\v 41 God \add did\add* not \add let\add* all the \add Jewish\add* people see him. Instead, he had chosen us \add apostles\add* beforehand to see \add Jesus after he became alive again\add* and to tell others \add about him\add*. We \add apostles are the people\add* who ate meals with him ◄after he had become alive \add again\add*/after he had risen from the dead►.
\v 42 God commanded us to preach to the people and tell them that Jesus is the one whom he has appointed to judge \add everyone some day. He will judge all \add* those who will \add still \add* be living and all those who will have died \add by that time \add*. \v 43 All of the prophets \add who wrote about the Messiah long ago\add* told \add people\add* about him. \add They wrote\add* that if people believe in the Messiah [MTY], God would forgive \add them for\add* their sins, because of what \add the Messiah would do\add* for them.”
\s1 The Holy Spirit came down on the non-Jewish believers.
\sr Acts 10:44-48
\p
\v 44 While Peter was still speaking those words, suddenly the Holy Spirit ◄came down on/began to control► all \add those non-Jewish people\add* who were listening to the message.
\v 45 The Jewish believers who had come with Peter \add from Joppa\add* were amazed that \add God\add* had generously given the Holy Spirit to the non-Jewish people, too.
\v 46 \add The Jewish believers knew that God had done that\add* because they were hearing those people speaking languages [MTY] \add that they had not learned\add* and telling how great God is.
\v 47 Then Peter said \add to the other Jewish believers who were there\add*, “\add God\add* has given them the Holy Spirit just like \add he gave him\add* to us \add Jewish believers\add*, so ◄surely all of you would agree that \add we(exc)\add* should baptize these people!/would any of you forbid that these people should be baptized?► [RHQ]”
\v 48 Then Peter told those \add non-Jewish\add* people that they should be baptized \add to show that they had believed\add* [MTY] in the \add Lord\add* Jesus Christ. \add So they baptized all of them. After they were baptized\add*, they requested that Peter stay \add with them\add* several days. \add So Peter and the other Jewish believers did that\add*.
\c 11
\s1 Some Jewish believers criticized Peter.
\sr Acts 11:1-3
\p
\v 1 The apostles and \add other\add* believers who lived in various towns in Judea \add province\add* heard people say that \add some\add* non-Jewish people had believed the message \add from\add* God \add about Jesus\add*.
\v 2 So when Peter \add and the six other believers\add* returned \add from Caesarea\add* to Jerusalem, \add some\add* Jewish believers criticized Peter, \add because they thought that Jews should not associate with non-Jews\add* [MTY].
\v 3 They said to him, “Not only was it wrong for you(sg) to visit non-Jewish people, you \add even\add* ate with them!”
\s1 Peter told about his vision.
\sr Acts 11:4-10
\p
\v 4 So Peter began to explain exactly \add what had happened concerning Cornelius\add*.
\v 5 He said, “I was praying \add by myself\add* in Joppa \add town\add* and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw that something like a large sheet was being lowered from heaven. \add It was tied with ropes\add* at its four corners, and it came down to where I was.
\v 6 As I was looking intently into it, I saw some tame animals \add but also animals that our laws forbid us to eat, including\add* wild animals, snakes, and wild birds.

\v 7 Then I heard God [MTY] commanding me, ‘Peter, get up, kill \add some of these\add*, and \add cook and\add* eat \add their meat\add*!’ \v 8 But I replied, ‘Lord, \add you(sg)\add* surely do not \add really want me to do that\add*, because I have never eaten [MTY] meat \add from any animal\add* that \add our laws say\add* that we \add (exc)\add* must not eat [SYN]!’
\v 9 God spoke from heaven \add to me\add* a second time, ‘\add I am\add* God, \add so\add* if I have made something acceptable \add to eat\add*, do not say that it is not acceptable \add to eat\add*!’
\v 10 Then \add after that happened three times, the sheet with\add* all \add those animals and birds\add* was pulled up into heaven again.”
\s1 Peter said that the Holy Spirit came to be with the non-Jewish believers. Peter accepted those non-Jews as fellow believers.
\sr Acts 11:11-17
\p
\v 11 “At that exact moment, three men who had been {whom \add Cornelius\add* had} sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying.
\v 12 \add God's\add* Spirit told me that I should be willing to go with them \add even though they were not Jews\add*. These six \add Jewish\add* believers \add from Joppa\add* went with me \add to Caesarea\add*, and then we \add (exc)\add* went into that \add non-Jewish\add* man's house.
\v 13 He told us that he had seen an angel standing in his house. The angel told him, ‘Tell some \add men\add* to go to Joppa and bring back Simon whose other name is Peter.
\v 14 He will tell you \add (sg)\add* how you and everyone [MTY] else in your house will be saved {how \add God\add* will save you and everyone [MTY] else in your house}.’
\v 15 After I started to speak, the Holy Spirit \add suddenly\add* came down on them, just like he had first [MTY] come on us \add during the Pentecost festival\add*.
\v 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John caused people to be baptized in water, but \add God\add* will cause the Holy Spirit \add to enter you and change your lives.’\add*
\v 17 God gave those non-Jews the same Holy Spirit that he had given to us \add (inc)\add* after we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, ◄\add I\add* could not \add possibly\add* tell God that he did wrong \add when he gave them the Holy Spirit!\add*/how could I \add tell\add* God that he did wrong \add when he gave them the Holy Spirit\add*?► [RHQ] \add He was showing that he had received them!\add*”
\s1 They praised God that he also saves non-Jewish people.
\sr Acts 11:18
\p
\v 18 After \add those Jewish believers\add* heard what Peter said, they stopped criticizing \add him. Instead\add*, they praised God, saying, “Then it is \add clear to us that\add* God has also accepted the non-Jews so that they will have eternal life, if they turn from their sinful behavior \add and believe in Jesus\add*.”
\s1 Many non-Jews in Antioch believed in the Lord Jesus.
\sr Acts 11:19-21
\p
\v 19 After \add people had killed\add* Stephen, many of the believers left \add Jerusalem and went\add* to other places because people were causing them to suffer \add there in Jerusalem. Some of\add* them went to Phoenicia \add region\add*, some went to Cyprus \add Island\add*, and others went to Antioch \add city in Syria province. In those places\add* they were continually telling people the message \add about Jesus\add*, but they told only other Jewish people.
\v 20 Some of the believers were men from Cyprus \add Island\add* and Cyrene \add city in north Africa\add*. They went to Antioch \add city\add*, and \add although they told other Jews about\add* the Lord Jesus, they also told non-Jewish people \add there\add*.
\v 21 The Lord \add God\add* [MTY] was powerfully enabling those \add believers to preach effectively. As a result\add*, very many \add non-Jewish\add* people believed \add their message and\add* trusted in the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 Barnabas encouraged the believers at Antioch.
\sr Acts 11:22-24
\p
\v 22 The group of believers in Jerusalem heard [MTY] \add people say that many people in Antioch were believing in Jesus. So\add* the \add leaders\add* of the congregation in \add Jerusalem\add* asked Barnabas to go to Antioch.
\v 23 When he got \add there\add*, he realized that God had acted kindly toward \add the believers. So\add* he was very happy, and he continually encouraged all of the \add believers\add* to continue to trust completely in the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\v 24 Barnabas was a good man \add whom\add* the Holy Spirit completely controlled, one who trusted \add God\add* completely. \add Because of what Barnabas did\add*, many people \add there\add* believed in the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 Barnabas and Saul taught many believers at Antioch.
\sr Acts 11:25-26
\p
\v 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus \add city in Cilicia province to try\add* to find Saul.
\v 26 After he found him, Barnabas brought him \add back to\add* Antioch \add to help teach the believers. So during\add* a whole year \add Barnabas and Saul\add* met \add regularly\add* with the congregation \add there\add* and taught many of them \add about Jesus. It was\add* at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians {\add that people\add* first called the believers Christians}.
\s1 Believers in Antioch helped needy believers in Judea.
\sr Acts 11:27-30
\p
\v 27 During the time \add that Barnabas and Saul were\add* at Antioch, some \add believers who were\add* prophets arrived there from Jerusalem.
\v 28 One of them, whose name was Agabus, stood up \add in order to speak\add*. \add God's\add* Spirit enabled him to prophesy ◄that there would soon be a famine in many countries/that \add people\add* in many countries [HYP] would soon \add suffer because they\add* would not have enough \add food\add* to eat►. (That famine happened when Claudius was the \add Roman Emperor\add*.)
\v 29 When the believers \add there heard what Agabus said\add*, they decided that they would send \add money\add* to help the believers who lived in Judea \add province\add*. Each \add of them decided to give as much money\add* as he was able \add to give\add*.
\v 30 They sent \add the money\add* with Barnabas and Saul to the leaders of the congregation \add in Jerusalem\add*.
\c 12
\s1 Herod had James killed and Peter put in prison.
\sr Acts 12:1-4
\p
\v 1 It was about this time that King Herod \add Agrippa sent soldiers\add* [MTY] who seized \add and put in prison\add* some of the \add leaders\add* of the congregation \add in Jerusalem. He did that\add* because he wanted to make the believers suffer.
\v 2 He commanded \add a soldier\add* to cut off the head of \add the apostle\add* James, the \add older\add* brother of \add the apostle\add* John.
\v 3 When Herod realized that he had pleased the \add leaders of the\add* Jewish people by \add doing that\add*, he commanded \add soldiers\add* to arrest Peter \add in order to kill him\add*, too. This happened during the festival \add when the Jewish people ate\add* bread \add that\add* did not have yeast.
\v 4 After \add they\add* seized Peter, they put him in prison. They arranged for four groups of soldiers to guard Peter. Each \add group\add* had four soldiers. \add Every three hours a different group began to guard him while the others rested\add*. Herod wanted to bring Peter out \add of prison and judge him\add* in front of the \add Jewish\add* people after the Passover \add Festival was finished. He then planned to command soldiers to execute Peter\add*.
\s1 An angel freed Peter from prison.
\sr Acts 12:5-11
\p
\v 5 So \add for several days\add* Peter was kept {they kept Peter} in prison. But the \add other believers\add* in the congregation at \add Jerusalem\add* were praying earnestly to God \add that he would help\add* Peter.
\v 6 The night \add before\add* Herod planned to bring Peter out \add from prison to have him executed\add* publicly, Peter was sleeping \add in the prison\add* between two soldiers, with two chains binding his arms \add to the arms of the soldiers. Two other\add* soldiers were guarding the prison doors.
\v 7 Suddenly an angel \add from\add* the Lord \add God\add* stood \add beside Peter\add*, and a \add bright\add* light shone in his cell. The angel poked Peter in the side and woke him up and said, “Get up quickly!” \add While Peter was getting up\add*, the chains fell off from his wrists. \add However, the soldiers were not aware of what was happening\add*.
\v 8 Then the angel said to Peter, “Put on your clothes and sandals!” So Peter did. Then the angel said to him, “Fasten your belt/girdle \add around you(sg)\add* and put on your sandals!” So Peter did that. Then the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me!”
\v 9 So, \add after Peter put on his cloak and sandals\add*, he followed \add the angel\add* out \add of the prison cell\add*, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought \add that he\add* was seeing a vision.
\v 10 Peter and the angel walked by the soldiers who were guarding the two doors, \add but the soldiers did not see them. Then\add* they came to the iron gate that \add led\add* out into the city. The gate opened by itself, and Peter and the angel walked out \add of the prison\add*. After they had walked \add a ways\add* along one street, the angel suddenly disappeared.
\v 11 Then Peter \add finally\add* realized that \add what had happened to him was not a vision, but\add* it had really happened. So he said \add to himself\add*, “Now I really know that the Lord \add God\add* sent an angel \add to help me\add*. He rescued me from what Herod planned to do [MTY] \add to me\add* and \add also\add* from all the things that the Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] expected \add that Herod would do to me\add*.”
\s1 Peter reported to the other believers.
\sr Acts 12:12-17
\p
\v 12 When Peter realized \add that God had rescued him\add*, he went to Mary's house. She was the mother of John whose other name was Mark. Many \add believers\add* had assembled there, and they were praying \add that God would help Peter somehow\add*.
\v 13 When Peter knocked at the outer entrance, a servant girl named Rhoda came to find out \add who was outside the door\add*.
\v 14 \add When Peter answered her\add*, she recognized his voice, but she was so happy \add and excited\add* that she did not open the door! Instead, she ran back \add into the house\add*. She \add excitedly\add* announced \add to the other believers\add* that Peter was standing outside the door.
\v 15 But \add one of\add* them said to her, “You \add (sg)\add* are crazy!” But she continued saying that it was \add really true. Then\add* they repeatedly said, “\add No\add*, \add it cannot be Peter\add*. It is \add probably\add* the angel \add who was guarding\add* him \add who has come\add* (OR, It is the angel \add who has guarded/protected\add* him, \add and he has come to tell us that\add* Peter \add has died\add*.)”
\v 16 But Peter continued knocking \add on the door. So when someone finally\add* opened the door, they saw that it was Peter, and they were completely amazed!
\v 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet. Then he told them exactly how the Lord \add God\add* had led him out of the prison. He \add also\add* said, “Tell James, the \add leader\add* of our \add congregation\add*, and our \add other\add* fellow believers what has happened.” Then \add Peter left and\add* went away to another town.
\s1 Herod commanded soldiers to execute the guards.
\sr Acts 12:18-19
\p
\v 18 The next morning the soldiers \add who had been guarding\add* Peter became terribly distressed, \add because they did not know\add* what had happened to him.
\v 19 Then Herod \add heard about it\add*. So he \add commanded soldiers\add* to search for Peter, but they did not find him. Then he questioned the soldiers \add who had been guarding Peter\add*, and asked them, “\add How did Peter get away when you were there guarding him?\add*” \add But they could not explain it. So\add* he commanded them to be led away \add to be executed\add* {\add other soldiers\add* to lead them away \add to execute them\add*}. \add Afterwards\add*, Herod went from Judea \add province\add* down to Caesarea \add city\add*, where he stayed \add for some time\add*.
\s1 An angel caused Herod to die.
\sr Acts 12:20-23
\p
\v 20 King Herod had been furiously angry with the people \add who lived\add* in Tyre and Sidon \add cities. Then\add* one day some men \add who represented them\add* came unitedly \add to Caesarea in order to meet with\add* Herod. They persuaded Blastus, who was one of Herod's important officials, to tell \add Herod\add* that the people \add in their cities\add* wanted to make peace \add with him. They wanted to be able to trade with the people that Herod ruled\add*, because they needed to buy food from those regions. \add Herod had commanded the people in the areas he ruled to stop selling food to the people in those cities\add*.
\v 21 On the day that Herod had planned to \add meet with them\add*, he put on ◄very expensive clothes that showed that he was king/his royal robes►. Then he sat on his ◄throne/chair from which he ruled \add people\add*►, and \add formally\add* addressed \add all\add* the people \add who had gathered there\add*.
\v 22 Those who \add were listening to him\add* shouted repeatedly, “\add This man who\add* is speaking is a god, not a man!”
\v 23 So, because Herod \add let the people praise him\add* instead of praising God, immediately an angel \add from\add* the Lord \add God\add* caused Herod to become seriously ill. \add Many\add* worms ate his intestines, and \add soon\add* he died \add very painfully\add*.
\s1 Many people heard God's message and became believers. Barnabas and Saul returned to Antioch from Jerusalem.
\sr Acts 12:24-25
\p
\v 24 \add The believers\add* continued telling God's message to people in many places, and ◄\add the number of people who believed in Jesus\add* was continually increasing/there were continually more and more people who were believing in Jesus►.
\p
\v 25 When Barnabas and Saul finished \add delivering the money to help the Jewish believers in Judea\add*, they left Jerusalem and returned \add to Antioch city, in Syria province\add*. They took John, whose other name was Mark, with them.
\c 13
\s1 The Holy Spirit commanded Barnabas and Saul to go on a mission.
\sr Acts 13:1-3
\p
\v 1 Among \add the people in\add* the congregation at Antioch \add in Syria province\add* there were ◄prophets/those who spoke messages from God► and those who taught \add people about Jesus. They were\add* Barnabas; Simeon, who was also called Niger/Blackman; Lucius, from Cyrene \add city\add*; Manaen, who had grown up with \add King\add* Herod \add Antipas\add*; and Saul.
\v 2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said \add to them\add*, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul to \add serve\add* me and to \add go and do\add* the work that I have chosen them \add to do\add*!”

\v 3 So they continued ◄to fast/to abstain from eating food► and pray. Then having put their hands on Barnabas and Saul and \add praying that God would help them\add*, they sent them off \add to do what the Holy Spirit had commanded\add*. 
\s1 Barnabas and Saul preached the gospel in Jewish meetings place on Cyprus. 
\sr Acts 13:4-5 
\p \v 4 Barnabas and Saul, guided by the Holy Spirit, went down \add from Antioch\add* to Seleucia \add port\add*. From there they went by ship to Salamis \add port on Cyprus Island\add*.
\v 5 While they were in Salamis, \add they went\add* to the Jewish meeting places. There they proclaimed the message from God \add about Jesus\add*. John \add Mark went with them and\add* was helping them.
\s1 Saul-Paul denounced a sorcerer, and an official believed in Jesus.
\sr Acts 13:6-12
\p
\v 6 \add The three of\add* them went across the entire island to Paphos \add city\add*. There they met a magician whose name was Bar-Jesus. He was a Jew who falsely \add claimed\add* ◄to be a prophet/to speak messages from God►.

\v 7 He often accompanied the governor \add of the island\add*, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent \add someone\add* to ask Barnabas and Saul to come to him, because he wanted to hear God's message. \add So Barnabas and Saul came and told him about Jesus\add*. \v 8 However, the magician, whose name was Elymas \add in the Greek language\add*, was opposing them. He repeatedly tried to persuade the governor not to believe \add in Jesus\add*.
\v 9 Then Saul, who now called himself Paul, empowered by the Holy Spirit, looked intently at the magician and said,

\v 10 “You \add (sg)\add* are serving the devil and you oppose everything that is good! You are always lying \add to people\add* and doing \add other\add* evil things to them. ◄You must stop saying that the truth about the Lord \add God is a lot of lies!\add*/When will you stop changing what is true about the Lord \add God and saying\add* what is not true about him?► [RHQ] 
\v 11 Right now the Lord \add God\add* [MTY] is going to punish you! You will become blind and not \add even\add* be able to see light for \add some\add* time.” At once he became \add blind, as though he was\add* in a dark mist, and he groped about, searching for someone \add to hold him by the\add* hand and lead him. \v 12 When the governor saw what had happened \add to Elymas\add*, he believed \add in the Lord Jesus\add*. He was amazed by \add what Paul and Barnabas\add* were teaching about the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 The leaders of the Jewish meeting place in Antioch asked Paul and Barnabas to speak to them.
\sr Acts 13:13-15
\p
\v 13 \add After that\add*, Paul and the two men with him went by ship from Paphos to Perga \add port\add* in Pamphylia \add province. At Perga\add* John \add Mark\add* left them and returned to \add his home in\add* Jerusalem.
\v 14 Then Paul and Barnabas traveled \add by land\add* from Perga and arrived in Antioch \add city\add* near Pisidia \add district in Galatia province\add*. ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► they entered the synagogue/the Jewish meeting place and sat down.
\v 15 \add Someone\add* read \add aloud\add* from what \add Moses had written. Then someone read from what the other\add* prophets \add had written\add* [MTY]. Then the leaders of the Jewish meeting place gave \add someone this\add* note \add to take\add* to Paul and Barnabas: “Fellow Jews, if \add one of\add* you wants to speak to the people \add here\add* to encourage them, please speak \add to us(exc) now\add*.”
\s1 Paul said that God helped Israel and gave them the land of Canaan.
\sr Acts 13:16-20
\p

\v 16 So Paul stood up and motioned with his right hand \add so that the people would listen to him\add*. Then he said, “Fellow Israelis and you \add non-Jewish people\add* who \add also\add* worship God, \add please\add* listen \add to me\add*\v 17 God, whom we \add (inc)\add* Israelites worship, chose our ancestors \add to be his people\add*, and he caused them to become very numerous while they were foreigners living in Egypt. \add Then after many years\add*, God helped them [MTY] powerfully and led them out of there.
\v 18 \add Even though they repeatedly disobeyed him, he\add* cared for them for about forty years \add while they were\add* in the desert.
\v 19 He \add enabled the Israelites\add* to conquer seven tribal groups \add who were then living\add* in Canaan \add region\add*, and he gave their land to us Israelites for us to possess.
\v 20 \add Our ancestors began to possess Canaan\add* about 450 years after \add their ancestors had arrived in Egypt\add*.”
\s1 Paul told about God's removing Saul and appointing David to be Israel's king.
\sr Acts 13:20b-22
\p “After that, God appointed leaders \add to rule the Israelite people. Those leaders continued to rule our people\add* until the time when the prophet Samuel \add ruled them\add*.
\v 21 Then, \add while Samuel was still their leader\add*, the people demanded that he \add appoint\add* a king \add to rule them. So\add* God appointed Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, \add to be their king\add*. He \add ruled them\add* for forty years.
\v 22 After God had rejected Saul \add from being king\add*, he appointed David to be their king. God said about him, ‘I have observed that David, son of Jesse, is exactly the kind of man that I desire [IDM]. He will do \add everything that\add* I want \add him to do\add*.’”
\s1 Paul said that God sent David's descendant, Jesus, to Israel to save them.
\sr Acts 13:23-25
\p
\v 23 “From \add among\add* David's descendants, God brought one of them, Jesus, to \add us\add* Israelite people to save us, just like he had told \add David and our other ancestors\add* that he would do.
\v 24 Before Jesus began his work, John \add the Baptizer\add* preached to all of our Israelite people \add who came to him. He told them\add* that they should turn away from their sinful behavior \add and ask God to forgive them. Then he\add* would baptize them.
\v 25 When John was about to finish the work \add that God gave him to do\add*, he frequently said \add to the people\add*, ‘Do you think [RHQ] that I am \add the Messiah whom God promised to send\add*? No, I am not. But listen! The Messiah will \add soon\add* come. \add He is so much greater than I am that\add* I am not \add even\add* important enough to be his slave [MET].’”
\s1 Paul said that God resurrected Jesus and caused many people to see him.
\sr Acts 13:26-31
\p
\v 26 “Fellow Israelis, you who are descendants of Abraham, and \add you non-Jewish people who\add* also worship God, \add please listen! It is\add* to \add all of\add* us that \add God\add* has sent the message about \add how he\add* saves people.
\v 27 The people who were living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not realize that this man \add Jesus was the one whom God had sent to save them\add*. Although messages from [MTY] the prophets have been read \add aloud\add* {someone has read \add aloud\add* messages from [MTY] the prophets} every ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►, they did not understand \add what the prophets wrote about the Messiah. So\add* the \add Jewish leaders\add* condemned Jesus \add to die\add*, which was just like the prophets predicted.
\v 28 \add Many people accused Jesus of doing wicked things\add*, but they could not prove that he had done anything for which he deserved to die. They insistently asked Pilate \add the governor\add* to command that Jesus be executed {to command soldiers to execute Jesus}. \add So Pilate did what they asked him to do\add*.
\v 29 They did \add to Jesus\add* all the things that \add the prophets long ago had\add* written \add that people would do to\add* him. \add They killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross. Then\add* his body was taken {\add some people took\add* his body} down from the cross and placed it in a tomb.
\v 30 However, God ◄raised him from the dead/caused him to live again after he had died►
\v 31 and for many days he \add repeatedly\add* appeared to \add his followers\add* who had come along with him from Galilee \add province\add* to Jerusalem. Those \add who saw him\add* are telling the \add Jewish\add* people about him now.”
\s1 Paul said that God had done what he had promised that he would do by resurrecting Jesus.
\sr Acts 13:32-37
\p
\v 32 “\add Right\add* now we \add two\add* are proclaiming to you this good message. We want to tell you that God has fulfilled what he promised to \add our Jewish\add* ancestors!
\v 33 He has now done that for us \add (inc) who are\add* their descendants, \add and also for you who are not Jews\add*, by causing Jesus to live again. That is just like what \add David\add* wrote in the second Psalm that \add God said when he was sending his Son\add*,
\q You \add (sg)\add* are my Son;
\q Today I have shown everyone \add that I really am\add* your Father.
\p
\v 34 \add God\add* has ◄raised \add the Messiah\add* from the dead/caused \add the Messiah\add* to live again after he had died► and will never let him die again. \add Concerning that, God\add* said \add to our Jewish ancestors\add*, ‘I will surely help you, as I \add promised\add* David \add that I would do\add*.’
\v 35 So \add in writing\add* another \add Psalm, David\add* said this \add to God about the Messiah\add*: ‘Because I am devoted to you and always obey \add you, when I die\add* you \add (sg)\add* will not let my body decay.’
\v 36 While David was living, he did what God wanted him to do. And when he died [EUP], his \add body\add* was buried, \add as\add* his ancestors' \add bodies had been buried\add*, and his body decayed. \add So he could not have been speaking about himself in this Psalm\add*.
\v 37 \add Instead, he was speaking about Jesus. Jesus also died\add*, but God ◄raised him from the dead/caused him to live again►, and \add therefore\add* his body did not decay.”
\s1 Paul informed them that God would forgive their sins if they believed in Jesus.
\sr Acts 13:38-41
\p
\v 38-39 “Therefore, \add my\add* fellow Israelis \add and other friends\add*, it is important for you to know that \add we(exc)\add* are declaring to you \add that God\add* can forgive you for your sins as a result of \add what\add* Jesus \add has done\add*. Because of \add what\add* Jesus \add has done\add*, \add God\add* considers that everyone who believes \add in Jesus\add* is no longer guilty (OR, the record has been erased {\add God\add* has erased the record}) concerning everything that they \add have done that displeased God. But\add* when \add God\add* does \add that for you\add*, it is not as a result of \add your obeying\add* the laws \add that\add* Moses \add wrote\add*.
\v 40 Therefore be careful that \add God\add* does not judge you [MTY], as one of the prophets said [MTY] that God would do!
\v 41 \add The prophet wrote that God said:\add*
\q You who ridicule \add me\add*, you will \add certainly\add* be astonished \add when you see what I am doing\add*, and \add then\add* you will be destroyed. You will be astonished because I will do something \add terrible to you\add* while you are living. You would not believe \add that I would do that\add* even though someone told you!”
\s1 People asked Paul and Barnabas to speak to them again the next Jewish day of rest.
\sr Acts 13:42-43
\p
\v 42 After Paul \add finished speaking\add*, while he and Barnabas were leaving the Jewish meeting place, \add many of\add* the people there repeatedly requested that on the next ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► \add the two of them\add* should speak to them \add again\add* about those things \add that Paul had just told them\add*.
\v 43 After they began to leave \add the meeting\add*, many \add of them\add* went along with Paul and Barnabas. They consisted of Jews and also of non-Jews who had accepted the things that the Jews believe. Paul and Barnabas continued talking to them, and were urging them to continue \add believing the message that\add* God kindly \add forgives people's sins because of what Jesus did\add*.
\s1 Many non-Jews believed in Jesus and told others about him.
\sr Acts 13:44-49
\p
\v 44 On the next Jewish rest day, most of the \add people in Antioch came to\add* the Jewish meeting place to hear \add Paul and Barnabas\add* speak about the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\v 45 But \add the leaders of\add* [SYN] the Jews became extremely jealous, because they saw that large crowds of \add non-Jewish people were coming to hear Paul and Barnabas. So\add* they began to contradict the things that Paul was saying \add and also\add* to insult \add him\add*.
\v 46 Then, speaking very boldly, Paul and Barnabas said \add to those Jewish leaders\add*, “\add We two\add* had to speak the message from God \add about Jesus\add* to you \add Jews\add* first \add before we proclaim it to non-Jews, because God commanded us to do that. But\add* you are rejecting God's message. \add By doing that\add*, you have shown that you are not worthy ◄to have eternal life/to live eternally \add with God\add*►. \add Therefore\add*, we are leaving \add you, and now we\add* will go to the non-Jewish people \add to tell them the message from God\add*.
\v 47 \add We are doing that also\add* because the Lord \add God\add* has commanded us \add to do it\add*. He said to us,
\q ‘I have appointed you \add to reveal things about me\add* to non-Jewish people [MET] that will be \add like\add* a light to them. \add I have appointed\add* you to tell people everywhere [MTY] in the world \add about the one who came\add* to save \add them\add*.’”
\p
\v 48 While the non-Jewish people were listening \add to those words\add*, they began to rejoice, and they repeatedly said that the message about the Lord \add Jesus\add* was wonderful. And all of the non-Jewish people whom \add God\add* had chosen ◄to have eternal \add life/to live eternally with God\add*► believed \add the message about the Lord Jesus\add*.
\v 49 \add At that time, many of the believers\add* traveled around throughout that region. As they did that, they were proclaiming the message about the Lord \add Jesus\add* [MTY].
\s1 People expelled the apostles, but the believers continued on.
\sr Acts 13:50-52
\p
\v 50 However, \add some leaders of\add* [SYN] the Jews incited the most important men in the city and \add some\add* important/influential women who had accepted what the Jews believe to oppose \add Paul and Barnabas. So those non-Jewish people\add* incited \add other people also\add* to persecute Paul and Barnabas. As a result they expelled the two men from their region.
\v 51 So, \add as the two apostles were leaving, they\add* shook the dust from their feet \add to show those Jewish leaders that God had rejected them and would punish them. They left Antioch city\add* and went to Iconium \add city\add*.
\v 52 Meanwhile the believers \add in Antioch\add* continued to rejoice greatly, and they continued to be completely controlled by the Holy Spirit.
\c 14
\s1 Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel and performed miracles in Iconium.
\sr Acts 14:1-3
\p
\v 1 At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish meeting place and spoke very convincingly \add about the Lord Jesus\add*. As a result, many Jews and also non-Jews believed \add in Jesus\add*.
\v 2 But \add some of\add* the Jews refused to believe \add that message, and\add* told the non-Jews not to believe it. They told the non-Jewish people that the message \add about Jesus\add* was not true. As a result, \add some of\add* the non-Jews became angry towards the believers \add there\add*.
\v 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord, and the Lord Jesus enabled them to do many miracles. In this way he showed \add people\add* that the message about how the Lord saves us in a way that we do not deserve is true.
\s1 Before people could attack the apostles, they escaped to Lystra and Derbe.
\sr Acts 14:4-7
\p
\v 4 The people \add who lived \add* in \add Iconium \add* city strongly disagreed with each other \add concerning the message about Jesus \add*. Some of them agreed with the Jews [SYN] \add who did not believe that message \add*. Others agreed with Paul and Barnabas. \v 5 Then the non-Jewish people and the Jewish \add leaders \add* [SYN] \add who opposed those two\add* talked among themselves about how they could mistreat them. Some of the important men in that city agreed to help them. Together, they decided that they would \add kill Paul and Barnabas by \add* throwing stones at them. \v 6 But Paul and Barnabas heard about that, so they quickly went away to Lycaonia \add district. They went\add* to Lystra and Derbe \add towns in that district\add* and to the area surrounding \add those towns\add*.

\v 7 \add While they were\add* in that area, they continually told people the message \add about the Lord Jesus\add*. 
\s1 God enabled Paul to heal a lame man. 
\sr Acts 14:8-10 
\p \v 8 \add Once while Paul was preaching to people\add* in Lystra, a man was sitting there who was crippled in his legs. When \add his mother\add* bore him he had crippled legs, so he was never able to walk.
\v 9 He listened as Paul was speaking \add about the Lord Jesus\add*. Paul looked directly at him and could see \add in the man's face\add* that he believed that \add the Lord Jesus\add* could make him well.
\v 10 So Paul called out \add to him\add*, “Stand up!” \add When the man heard that\add*, he \add immediately\add* jumped up and began to walk \add normally\add*.
\s1 The apostles stopped the people from worshipping them.
\sr Acts 14:11-18
\p
\v 11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done, \add they thought that Paul and Barnabas \add*◄\add were/must be\add*► \add the gods that they worshipped\add*. So they shouted \add excitedly\add* in their \add own\add* Lycaonia language, “\add Look! These people are\add* the gods \add that we(inc) worship! They \add*have made themselves look like people and have come down \add from the sky/heaven to help us\add*!”
\v 12 They began to say that Barnabas was \add probably the chief god, whose name was \add*Zeus. And \add they began to say that\add* Paul was Hermes, \add the messenger/spokesman for the other gods. They mistakenly thought that\add* because Paul was the one who had been speaking.
\v 13 Just outside \add the gates of\add* the city there was a temple \add where the people worshipped Zeus. The priest who was there heard what Paul and Barnabas had done, so he came\add* to the city gate, where many people had already gathered. He brought \add two \add*bulls with wreaths \add of flowers around their necks\add*. The priest and the other people wanted to kill the bulls \add as part of a ceremony\add* to worship Paul and Barnabas.
\v 14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard about that, \add and understood that the people thought that they were gods and wanted to sacrifice the bulls to worship them\add*, they \add were very distressed\add*, so they tore their own clothes. They rushed among the people, shouting,
\v 15 “Men, ◄you must not kill those bulls \add to worship us(dl)!\add*/why are you doing this?► [RHQ] \add We are not gods!\add* We are just human beings like you! We have come to tell you some good news! \add We have come to tell you about \add*the God who is all-powerful. He wants you to stop worshipping other gods, because they cannot help you. This true God made the heaven/sky and the earth and the oceans and everything in it.
\v 16 In the past, all of you non-Jewish people \add worshipped whatever gods that you wanted to\add*. God let you worship them, \add because you did not know him\add*.
\v 17 But he has shown us [LIT] \add that\add* he acts kindly \add toward us(inc)\add*. He is the one who causes it to rain and causes crops to grow. He is the one who gives you plenty of food, and makes you very happy.”
\v 18 The people heard what \add Paul\add* said, but they still thought that they should sacrifice those bulls to worship Paul and Barnabas. \add But finally, the people decided not to do it\add*.
\s1 Some Jews incited people to stone Paul at Lystra.
\sr Acts 14:19-20a
\p
\v 19 \add However\add*, after that, some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded many of the people of Lystra \add that the message Paul had been telling them\add* was not true. The people \add who believed what those Jews said became angry with Paul. They let the Jews\add* throw stones at him \add until he fell down, unconscious\add*. They \add all\add* thought that he was dead, so they dragged him outside the city \add and left him lying there\add*. But some of the believers \add in Lystra had followed them outside the city\add*.
\v 20 They came and stood around Paul, \add where he was lying on the ground\add*. And Paul \add became conscious! He\add* stood up and went back into the city \add with the believers\add*.
\s1 The apostles revisited believers and appointed leaders.
\sr Acts 14:20b-23
\p The next day, Paul and Barnabas \add left Lystra town and\add* traveled to Derbe \add town\add*.
\v 21 They \add stayed there several days and they kept telling\add* the people the good message \add about Jesus\add*. Many people became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas \add started on their way back. They\add* went again to Lystra. \add Then they went from there\add* to Iconium, and \add then they went\add* to Antioch \add in Pisidia province\add*.
\v 22 \add In each town\add*, they helped the believers [SYN] to become strong \add spiritually\add*, and they urged them to keep on trusting in \add the Lord Jesus\add*. They told \add the believers\add*, “It is necessary that \add we endure\add* people often persecuting us \add (inc)\add* before we enter the place where God will rule \add over us forever\add*.”
\v 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed leaders for each congregation. \add And before Paul and Barnabas left each town, they gathered the believers together and spent some time\add* praying and ◄fasting/not eating any food►. Then Paul and Barnabas entrusted the \add leaders and other believers\add* to the Lord \add Jesus\add*, in whom they had believed, \add in order that he would care for them\add*.
\s1 Paul and Barnabas reported to the believers at Syrian Antioch.
\sr Acts 14:24-28
\p
\v 24 After Paul and Barnabas had traveled through Pisidia \add district\add*, they went \add south\add* to Pamphylia \add district\add*.
\v 25 \add In that district\add*, they \add arrived\add* at Perga \add town and\add* preached God's message \add about the Lord Jesus to the people there. Then\add* they went down \add to the seacoast\add* at Attalia \add town\add*.
\v 26 There they got on a ship and went back to Antioch \add city in Syria province\add*. That was the place where Paul and Barnabas had been appointed {where \add believers\add* had sent Paul and Barnabas} to go \add to other places\add* and preach. \add Antioch was the place where the believers\add* had asked God to kindly help Paul and Barnabas in the work that they had now completed.
\v 27 When they arrived in Antioch, they called the believers together. Then Paul and Barnabas told them all that God had helped them to do. \add Specifically, they told them how God\add* had enabled [IDM] \add many\add* non-Jewish people to believe \add in Jesus\add*.
\v 28 Then Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch with the \add other\add* believers for several months.
\c 15
\s1 Some Jewish believers said that God will save only people who are circumcised.
\sr Acts 15:1-2
\p
\v 1 \add Then\add* some \add Jewish\add* believers went down from Judea \add province\add* to Antioch. They started teaching the \add non-Jewish\add* believers \add there, and said\add*, “\add You\add* ◄\add must\add* be circumcised/must have God's mark put on you► \add to indicate you belong to God\add*, as Moses \add commanded\add* in the laws that \add he received from God\add*. If you do not do that, you will not be saved {\add God\add* will not save you}.”
\v 2 Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with those Jews and started arguing \add with them. So the believers at Antioch\add* appointed Paul and Barnabas and some of the other believers to go to Jerusalem, in order that they would/could discuss this matter with the apostles and \add other spiritual\add* leaders.
\s1 Paul and Barnabas reported what God had enabled them to do.
\sr Acts 15:3-4
\p
\v 3 After Paul, Barnabas, and the others were given things for their trip by the congregation \add at Antioch\add* {After the congregation \add at Antioch\add* gave Paul, Barnabas, and the others things for their trip}, they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria \add provinces. When they stopped at different places in those provinces\add*, they reported \add to the believers\add* that \add many\add* non-Jews \add in Antioch\add* had become believers. As a result, all the believers \add in those places\add* rejoiced greatly.
\v 4 And when Paul, Barnabas, and the others arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the apostles, the \add other\add* elders, and the \add other members of the\add* congregation \add there\add* {the apostles, the \add other\add* elders, and the \add other members of the\add* congregation \add there\add* welcomed them}. Then Paul and Barnabas reported the things that God had enabled them to do \add among non-Jewish people\add*.
\s1 Some Jewish believers said that non-Jewish believers must obey Moses' laws.
\sr Acts 15:5
\p
\v 5 But some of the \add Jewish\add* believers who belonged to the Pharisee sect stood up \add among the other believers and\add* said to them, “The non-Jews \add who have believed in Jesus\add* must be circumcised, and they must be told to obey the laws \add that God gave to\add* Moses.”
\s1 Peter told about non-Jews becoming believers when he preached to them.
\sr Acts 15:6-11
\p
\v 6 Then the apostles and \add the other\add* elders met together in order to talk about this matter.
\v 7 After they had discussed it for a long time, Peter stood up and spoke to them. He said, “Fellow believers, you \add all\add* know that a long time ago God chose me from among you \add other apostles, in order that\add* the non-Jewish people might \add also\add* hear me [SYN] tell \add them\add* the good message \add about the Lord Jesus\add*, so that they could hear \add it\add* and believe \add in him. So Paul and Barnabas are not the first ones to tell non-Jews about Jesus\add*.

\v 8 God knows \add and judges\add* people according to what they think, \add not according to who their ancestors were\add*. By sending the Holy Spirit to \add the non-Jews\add*, just like \add he had\add* also done for us \add (inc)\add* Jews, he showed \add me and others\add* that he had accepted them \add also to be his people\add*. 
\v 9 \add God\add* saved us \add Jews\add* and those \add non-Jews\add* similarly, making them clean spiritually simply as a result of their believing \add in the Lord Jesus. That was exactly how he has forgiven us\add*. \v 10 \add You are wanting to force the non-Jewish believers to obey our Jewish rituals and laws \add*—laws that God has shown that he does not require them to obey [MET]. \add Your doing that is like\add* putting a heavy burden on their necks! So then, ◄stop making God angry by doing that!/why are you making God angry by doing that?► [RHQ] Our ancestors and we \add (inc) Jews\add* have never been able to bear \add the burden of obeying those laws!\add*
\v 11 But we \add (inc) know that it is not because\add* we \add (inc) try to obey those laws that God saves us(inc) Jews. On the contrary\add*, we \add (inc)\add* know that it is because of what the Lord Jesus did for us \add (inc)\add* that we did not deserve that we \add (inc)\add* are saved {that \add God\add* saves us} \add from the guilt of our sins. God saves us Jews\add* exactly like \add he saves\add* those \add non-Jews who believe in the Lord Jesus\add*.”
\s1 Barnabas and Paul reported what God had helped them to do among the non-Jews.
\sr Acts 15:12
\p
\v 12 All the people \add there\add* became silent \add after Peter had spoken\add*. Then they \add all\add* listened to Barnabas and Paul, \add as the two of\add* them told about the many great miracles that God had enabled them to do among the non-Jewish people, \add miracles that showed that God had accepted the non-Jews\add*.
\s1 James recommended what they should tell the non-Jewish believers.
\sr Acts 15:13-21
\p

\v 13 When Barnabas and Paul had finished speaking, James, \add the leader of the group of believers there in Jerusalem\add*, spoke to all of them. \add He said\add*, “Fellow believers, listen to me. \v 14 Simon \add Peter\add* has told you how God previously blessed the non-Jews. God did that by choosing from among them a people who would belong to him [MTY].

\v 15 \add These\add* words that \add God spoke\add*, words that were written by \add one of\add* the prophets {that one of the prophets wrote} \add long ago\add*, agree with that, 
\pi1 \add some day\add* \v 16 Later on I will return and I will re-establish the kingdom [MET] that David \add ruled\add* and that has been {that \add people\add* have} destroyed. My \add doing that will be like\add* rebuilding \add a house\add* that has been {that \add people\add* have} torn down.
\v 17 I will do that in order that all other people might seek \add me\add*, the Lord \add God. I will do that in order that\add* all the non-Jews whom I have called \add to belong\add* to me [MTY] might seek me. \add You can be certain that this will happen because I\add* the Lord \add God\add*, who will do those things, have spoken \add these words\add*.
\v 18 I \add caused my people to know about them\add* long ago.”
\p
\v 19 \add James continued by saying\add*, “Therefore I have decided \add that we(inc)\add* should stop bothering the non-Jewish people who are turning \add away from their sins and turning\add* to God. \add That is, we should stop demanding that they obey\add* all \add our laws\add* and rituals.

\v 20 Instead, we should write \add a letter\add* to them \add requiring only four things: They should\add* not eat \add meat/food that people\add* have offered to idols, they should not have sex with someone to whom they are not married, they should not \add eat meat from animals that have been killed by\add* being strangled {\add people have strangled\add*}, and \add they should not eat\add* the blood \add of animals\add*. \v 21 In many cities, for a very long time people have been proclaiming \add the laws that\add* Moses \add wrote\add* [MTY], \add laws prohibiting those things\add*. And every ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► \add those laws\add* are read {someone reads \add those laws\add*} in the Jewish meeting places. \add So if the non-Jews want to know more about those laws, they can find out in our meeting houses\add*.”
\s1 The church leaders sent messengers with a letter to non-Jewish believers.
\sr Acts 15:22-29
\p
\v 22 The apostles and the \add other\add* elders, along with all the \add other\add* members of the congregation, accepted \add what James had said\add*. Then they decided that they should choose men from among themselves and that they should send them, along with Paul and Barnabas, to Antioch, to \add let the believers there know what the leaders\add* at Jerusalem had decided. So they chose Judas, who was also called Barsabbas, and Silas, who were leaders among the believers \add at Jerusalem\add*.
\v 23 Then they wrote the following letter \add that they asked Judas and Silas to take to the believers at Antioch\add*: “\add We(exc)\add* apostles and \add other\add* leaders who are your fellow believers \add send our greetings to you as we write this to you\add* non-Jewish believers \add who live\add* in Antioch and \add other places in\add* Syria and Cilicia \add provinces\add*.
\v 24 People have told us that some men from among us went \add to you\add*, although we had not told \add them to do that\add*. They troubled/distressed you [SYN] \add by telling you things\add* that confused your thinking.
\v 25 So \add while we(exc) met together here\add*, we decided to choose some men and ask them to go to you, along with Barnabas and Paul, whom we \add (exc)\add* love very much.
\v 26 Those two have put their lives in danger because of their \add serving\add* our Lord [MTY] Jesus Christ.
\v 27 We \add (exc) have also chosen\add* Judas and Silas to go to you. They will tell you the same things \add that we are writing\add*.
\v 28 The Holy Spirit and \add also\add* we decided that you should not be required {that we should not require you} to obey a lot of burdensome \add Jewish\add* laws. Instead, \add we\add* only \add require you to obey\add* the following instructions,
\q1
\v 29 You should not eat food that people have sacrificed to idols.
\q1 You should not eat blood from animals, and you should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them.
\q1 Also, you should not have sex with someone to whom you are not married.
\p Those things \add especially offend Jewish believers. So if\add* you avoid doing them, you will be doing what is right. That is all/Goodbye.”
\s1 The letter and messengers encouraged the believers at Antioch.
\sr Acts 15:30-32
\p

\v 30 The \add four\add* men whom \add they\add* had chosen went \add from Jerusalem\add* to Antioch \add city. When\add* all the believers \add there\add* had assembled together, \add Judas and Silas\add* gave the letter to them. \v 31 When the believers there read the letter, they rejoiced, \add because its message\add* encouraged them.

\v 32 \add Just like Paul and Barnabas were\add* ◄\add prophets/men who spoke messages from God\add*►, Judas and Silas were also prophets. They spoke for a long time and encouraged the believers \add there\add*, and helped them to trust more strongly \add in the Lord Jesus\add*. 
\s1 Paul and Barnabas continued to teach and preach in Antioch. 
\sr Acts 15:33-35 
\p \v 33-34 After \add Judas and Silas \add* had stayed in Antioch for some time \add and were ready to return to Jerusalem \add*, the believers \add there\add* wished them well, and the believers \add prayed that God \add* would protect \add them as they traveled. So the two men \add* started to go back to the leaders \add in Jerusalem \add* who had asked them to go \add to Antioch \add*.\f + \fqa just before they left\fqa*, Silas decided to stay there \fqa in Antioch\fqa*.” Each translator should choose between this text and the implied information that we have given in verse 40. Each should choose the way to translate that seems the most preferable.\f* \v 35 However, Paul and Barnabas continued to stay in Antioch. \add While they were there\add*, they, along with many others, were teaching \add people\add* and preaching to them the message about the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 Paul and Barnabas separated, and Paul chose Silas.
\sr Acts 15:36-41
\p
\v 36 After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let's go back and visit the fellow believers in every city where we \add previously\add* proclaimed the message about the Lord \add Jesus. In that way, we will know\add* how \add well\add* they are continuing \add to believe in the Lord Jesus\add*.”
\v 37 Barnabas \add agreed with Paul, and said that he\add* wanted to take John, whose other name was Mark, along with them \add again\add*.
\v 38 However, Paul \add told Barnabas that he\add* thought that it would not be good to take Mark \add with them, because\add* Mark had deserted them when they were previously in Pamphylia \add region\add*, and had not continued to work with them.

\v 39 Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed \add with each other about that\add*, so they separated. Barnabas took Mark \add along with him and they got\add* on a ship and went to Cyprus \add Island\add*. \v 40 Paul chose Silas, \add who had returned to Antioch, to work with him\add*. The believers \add there\add* asked the Lord \add God\add* to graciously help \add Paul and Silas. Then\add* the two of them departed \add from Antioch\add*.
\v 41 Paul continued traveling \add with Silas\add* through Syria and Cilicia \add provinces\add*. In those places he was helping the congregations to trust strongly \add in the Lord Jesus\add*.
\c 16
\s1 Paul chose Timothy to work with him and Silas.
\sr Acts 16:1-3
\p
\v 1 Paul \add and Silas \add*went to Derbe \add city and visited the believers there\add*. Next \add they went to\add* Lystra \add city\add*. A believer whose name was Timothy lived there. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.
\v 2 The believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy,
\v 3 and Paul wanted to take Timothy with him \add when he went\add* to other places, so he circumcised Timothy. \add He did that so that\add* the Jews who lived in those places \add would accept Timothy\add*, because they knew that his non-Jewish father \add had not allowed him to be circumcised\add* {\add anyone to circumcise his son\add*}.
\s1 Paul, Silas and Timothy told believers in Galatia what the church leaders had decided.
\sr Acts 16:4-5
\p
\v 4 \add So Timothy went with Paul and Silas\add* and they traveled to many other towns. \add In each town\add* they told \add the\add* believers the rules that had been decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem {that the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had decided} that \add non-Jewish \add*believers should obey.
\p
\v 5 \add God was helping\add* the believers in those towns to trust more strongly \add in the Lord Jesus\add*, and every day more people became believers.
\s1 Because of a vision in Troas, Paul went to preach in Macedonia.
\sr Acts 16:6-10
\p
\v 6 Paul and his companions wanted/planned to enter Asia \add province \add*and preach the message \add about Jesus\add* there, but they were prevented by the Holy Spirit {the Holy Spirit prevented them} \add from going there. So\add* they traveled through Phrygia and Galatia \add provinces\add*.
\v 7 They arrived at the border of Mysia \add province\add* and they wanted to go \add north \add*into Bithynia \add province\add*. But \add again\add* the Spirit of Jesus showed them that they should not \add go there\add*.
\v 8 So they went through Mysia \add province\add* and arrived at Troas, a \add port city. I, Luke, joined them there\add*.
\v 9 That night \add God gave \add*Paul a vision in which he saw a man \add who was a native\add* of Macedonia \add province\add*. He was standing \add some distance away\add*, and he was earnestly calling to Paul, “\add Please\add* come over \add here\add* to Macedonia and help us!”
\v 10 \add The next morning\add* we \add (exc)\add* immediately got ready to go to Macedonia, because we believed that God had called us to \add go and\add* preach the good message to the people there.
\s1 Paul's company went from Troas to Philippi.
\sr Acts 16:11-12
\p
\v 11 So we \add (exc)\add* got on a ship in Troas and sailed across \add the sea \add*to Samothrace \add Island. We spent the night there\add*, and the next day \add we sailed again across the sea and arrived\add* at Neapolis \add port/town\add*.
\v 12 Then we \add left Neapolis and\add* went \add by land\add* to Philippi. It was a very important city in Macedonia \add province, where many\add* Roman citizens lived. We stayed in Philippi several days.
\s1 Paul preached the gospel and Lydia became a believer.
\sr Acts 16:13-15
\p
\v 13 On the first ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► \add after we(exc) arrived\add*, we went outside the city gate \add down\add* to the river. We had heard \add someone say\add* that \add Jewish\add* people gathered to pray there. \add When we arrived there, we saw\add* some women who had gathered \add to pray\add*. So we sat down and began to tell them \add the message about Jesus\add*.
\v 14 A woman whose name was Lydia was one of those who were listening \add to Paul. She was a non-Jewish woman\add*, from Thyatira \add city, who bought and\add* sold \add expensive\add* purple cloth. She had accepted what the Jews believe about God. The Lord \add God\add* caused her to pay attention to the message that Paul preached, and she believed it. \add The members of her household also heard the good message and believed in Jesus\add* [MTY].
\v 15 After \add Paul and Silas\add* baptized Lydia and the others who lived in her house [MTY] {After Lydia and the others who lived in her house were baptized}, she invited us to \add go and stay in\add* her home. She said, “You \add (pl)\add* know that I \add now\add* believe in the Lord \add Jesus\add*, so \add please\add* come and stay in my house.” She persuaded us \add to do that, so we(exc) stayed there\add*.
\s1 Paul expelled a demon from a slave girl, so officials imprisoned Paul and Silas.
\sr Acts 16:16-24
\p
\v 16 Another day, while we \add (exc)\add* were going to the place where people regularly gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was enabling her to be a ventriloquist and to tell people what would happen \add to them\add*. People paid a lot of money to \add the men who were\add* her owners, in return for her telling them things that \add she said\add* would happen \add to them\add*.
\v 17 This young woman followed Paul and the rest of us. She continually shouted, “These men serve the God who is the greatest \add of all gods\add* They are telling you how ◄\add God\add* can save you \add so that he will not punish you/to be\add* saved►”
\v 18 She continued to do that for many days. Finally Paul became irritated. So he turned \add toward the young woman\add* and rebuked the evil spirit \add that was in her. He said\add*, “By the authority [MTY] of Jesus Christ, I command you \add (sg)\add* to come out of this young woman!” Right away the evil spirit left her.
\v 19 And then her owners realized that she could no longer earn money for them \add because she could no longer predict what would happen to people, so they were angry\add*. They grabbed Paul and Silas and forcefully took them to the public square, to \add the place where\add* the government authorities and \add a lot of other people were gathered\add*.
\v 20 The owners \add of the young woman\add* brought them to the city officials and told them, “These men are Jews, and they are greatly troubling \add the people in\add* [MTY] our city.
\v 21 They are teaching that we \add (inc)\add* should follow customs that our laws do not allow us Romans to consider \add to be correct\add* or to obey!”
\v 22 Many of the crowd joined \add those who were accusing\add* Paul and Silas, and started beating them. Then the \add Roman\add* authorities commanded \add soldiers\add* to tear the shirts off Paul and Silas and to beat them \add with rods/sticks\add*.
\v 23 \add So the soldiers\add* beat Paul and Silas vigorously \add with rods\add*. After that, they \add took them and\add* shoved them into the prison. They told the jailer that he should lock them up securely.
\v 24 \add Because the officials\add* had \add commanded\add* him \add to do that\add*, the jailer shoved Paul and Silas into the cell that was farthest inside. \add There, he made them sit down on the floor/ground and stretch out their legs\add*. Then he fastened their ankles in \add grooves\add* between two large wooden beams, \add so that Paul and Silas could not move their legs\add*.
\s1 Paul and Silas helped the jailer and his household to become believers.
\sr Acts 16:25-34
\p
\v 25 About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying \add aloud\add* and praising God by singing hymns. The \add other\add* prisoners were listening attentively to them.
\v 26 Suddenly there was a very strong earthquake. It shook the entire jail [SYN] and its foundation [SYN]. \add The earthquake caused\add* all the doors \add of the jail\add* to open suddenly, and \add caused\add* all the chains that fastened the prisoners to fall off.
\v 27 The jailer woke up and saw that the doors of the jail were open. He thought that the prisoners had escaped. So he pulled out his sword in order to kill himself, \add because he knew that the officials would kill him if the prisoners escaped\add*.
\v 28 Paul \add saw the jailer and\add* shouted to him, “Do not harm yourself! We \add (exc) prisoners\add* are all here!”
\v 29 The jailer shouted \add to someone\add* to bring torches/lanterns, \add and after they brought them\add*, he rushed into the jail and knelt down in front of Paul and Silas. \add He was very much afraid, so\add* much so that he was trembling/shaking.
\v 30 Then he brought Paul and Silas out \add of the jail\add* and asked: “Sirs, what do I need to do to be saved \add from being punished for my sins\add*?”
\v 31 \add They answered\add*, “Trust in \add what\add* the Lord Jesus \add has done for you\add*, and you will be saved {\add God\add* will save you}, and the others who live in [MTY] your house will \add also\add* be saved \add if they believe in Jesus\add*.”
\p
\v 32-34 Then the jailer took Paul and Silas into his house, washed their wounds, and gave them a meal. \add He woke up all the people in his house and\add* Paul and Silas told all of them the message about the Lord \add Jesus. They all believed in him\add*. Immediately \add after that, the jailer and all his family were baptized\add* {\add Paul and Silas\add* baptized the jailer and all his family}. They were very happy, because now they all believed in God.
\s1 Paul and Silas encouraged the believers and then left Philippi.
\sr Acts 16:35-40
\p
\v 35 The next morning, the \add Roman\add* officials commanded \add some\add* police officers \add to go to the jail to say to the jailer\add*, “\add Our bosses\add* say, ‘Let those \add two\add* prisoners go \add now\add*!’”
\v 36 \add After the officers went and told that to\add* the jailer, he \add went and\add* told Paul, “The \add Roman\add* authorities have sent a message \add (sg)\add* saying that I should release you \add (sg)\add* and Silas \add from prison\add*. So you \add two\add* can leave \add the jail\add* now. Now you can go peacefully!”
\v 37 But Paul said to the police officers, “The authorities \add commanded men to\add* beat us in front of a crowd before \add those authorities\add* had learned if we \add (exc)\add* had done anything wrong! Then they \add ordered men to\add* shove us into jail! \add But that was not legal, because\add* we \add (exc)\add* are Roman citizens! And now they want [RHQ] to send us away secretly! We will not accept that! Those \add Roman\add* officials must come themselves and \add tell us that they are sorry\add*, and take us out \add of jail\add*.”
\v 38 So the police officers \add went and\add* told the city authorities \add what Paul had said\add*. When those authorities heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid \add that someone would report to more important officials what they had done, and as a result they would be punished\add* {\add those officials would punish them\add*}.
\v 39 So the city authorities came to Paul and Silas and told them that they were sorry for what they had done to them. The authorities brought them out of the jail, and repeatedly asked them to leave the city \add soon\add*.
\v 40 After Paul and Silas left the jail, they went to Lydia's house. There they met with her and the \add other\add* believers. They encouraged the believers \add to continue trusting in the Lord Jesus\add*, and then the two apostles left \add Philippi\add*.
\c 17
\s1 In Thessalonica, Paul convinced many people that Jesus is the Messiah.
\sr Acts 17:1-4
\p
\v 1 Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia \add towns\add* and arrived at Thessalonica \add city\add*. There was a Jewish meeting place there.
\v 2 ◄On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day► Paul went into the meeting house, as he usually did. For three weeks \add he went there\add* on each Jewish day of rest. Referring to the Scriptures \add about the Messiah\add*, he spoke to the people who were there.
\v 3 He explained and showed that \add the prophets wrote that\add* the Messiah needed to die and ◄to become alive again/to be raised from the dead \add afterwards\add*►. He told them: “This man Jesus, whom I am telling you about, is our Messiah. \add He died and became alive again, just like the prophets predicted\add*.”
\v 4 Some of the Jews \add there\add* were persuaded by {believed} \add what Paul had said\add* and began to associate with Paul and Silas. There were also many non-Jewish people there who worshipped God and many important women \add who also believed the message about Jesus\add*, and they began to associate with Paul and Silas.
\s1 Some Jews there incited people to oppose Paul and Silas.
\sr Acts 17:5-9
\p
\v 5 But \add some leaders of\add* the Jews there in Thessalonica became jealous \add because many people believed what Paul taught\add*. So they went to the public square and persuaded some lazy men \add who were loitering there\add* to follow them. \add In this way, the leaders of\add* the Jews gathered a crowd and incited them to become noisy and start a riot \add against Paul and Silas\add*. Those \add Jews and others\add* ran to the house of \add a man named\add* Jason. \add He was the man who had invited Paul and Silas to stay at his house\add*. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas outside to where the crowd \add of people was waiting\add*.
\v 6 They discovered that Paul and Silas were not there, but they found Jason \add and grabbed him\add*. They dragged him and some of the \add other\add* believers to where the city officials/authorities and \add many other people were gathered\add*. The men \add who had brought Jason\add* shouted, “Those \add two\add* men have caused trouble [IDM] everywhere [HYP] \add they have gone\add*. Now they have come to our city,
\v 7 and \add this fellow\add* Jason invited them to stay at his house. All the people \add of this sect\add* oppose what our Emperor has decreed. They say that another person, whose name is Jesus, is \add the real\add* king!”
\v 8 When the crowd of people \add that had gathered\add* and the city authorities heard that, they became very angry and excited.
\v 9 \add They wanted to put the believers in jail. But instead\add*, the officials made Jason and the other \add believers\add* pay a fine and told them that they \add would give the money back to them if Paul and Silas did not cause any more trouble\add*. Then the authorities let Jason and those other believers go.
\s1 In Berea, Paul helped many Jews and non-Jews to believe in Jesus.
\sr Acts 17:10-12
\p
\v 10 \add So\add* that same night, the believers sent Paul and Silas \add out of Thessalonica\add* to Berea \add town\add*. When Paul and Silas arrived there, they went to the Jewish meeting place, \add on a day when people had gathered there\add*.
\v 11 The \add Jews\add* in Thessalonica had not been very willing to listen to God's message, but the \add Jews\add* who lived in Berea were very willing to listen, so they listened very eagerly to the message \add about Jesus\add*. Every day they read the Scriptures \add for themselves\add* to find out if what Paul said \add about the Messiah\add* was true.
\v 12 As a result, many of the Jewish people believed \add in Jesus\add*, and also some of the important non-Jewish women and many non-Jewish men \add believed in him\add*.
\s1 Jews from Thessalonica incited people to oppose Paul.
\sr Acts 17:13-15
\p
\v 13 But then the Jews in Thessalonica heard \add people tell them\add* that Paul \add was\add* in Berea and that he was preaching the message from God \add about Jesus\add*. So they went to Berea and \add told people there that what Paul was teaching was not true. Thus\add*, they caused many of those people to get angry \add at Paul\add*.
\v 14 So \add several of\add* the believers \add in Berea\add* took Paul to the coast \add to go to another province\add*. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea.
\v 15 When Paul and the other men \add arrived at the coast, they got on a ship and\add* went to Athens \add city\add*. Then Paul said \add to the men who had come with him\add*, “Tell Silas and Timothy to come to me \add here in Athens\add* as soon as they can.” Then those men left \add Athens and returned to Berea\add*.
\s1 In Athens, idols distressed Paul, so he talked to many people about Jesus.
\sr Acts 17:16-17
\p
\v 16 In Athens, Paul waited for Silas and Timothy \add to arrive. In the meantime, he walked around in the city. He\add* became very distressed/disturbed because he saw that throughout [HYP] the city there were many idols.
\v 17 So he went to the Jewish meeting place and talked \add about Jesus\add* with the Jews, and also with the Greeks who had accepted what the Jews believe. He also went to the public square/center every day and talked to the people \add whom he met\add* there.
\s1 When Paul talked about Jesus, he perplexed some teachers.
\sr Acts 17:18
\p
\v 18 Paul met some teachers who liked to talk about what people should believe. \add People called\add* some of them Epicureans and \add they called\add* others Stoics. They told Paul \add what they believed\add*, and they asked him \add what he believed. Then\add* some of them said \add to one another\add*, “This ignorant person is just talking nonsense [RHQ]!” Others said, “\add We(exc) think\add* that he is teaching people about ◄foreign gods/\add new\add* gods that we \add (exc)\add* have not heard about►.” They said that because Paul was telling them that Jesus \add had died and\add* had become alive again \add afterwards. They had not heard that message before\add*.
\s1 Athens Council members asked Paul to explain what he had been teaching.
\sr Acts 17:19-21
\p
\v 19 So they took him to the place where the city council met. \add When they arrived\add* there, they said to Paul, “\add Please\add* tell us, what is this new message that you \add (sg)\add* are teaching people?
\v 20 You are teaching some things that startle us \add (exc)\add*, so we want to know what they mean.”
\v 21 \add They said that, because\add* the people of Athens and also the people from other regions who lived there continually talked about what was new \add to them\add*, or they listened to \add others tell\add* what was new.
\s1 Paul told them about the God whom they did not know.
\sr Acts 17:22-31
\p
\v 22 Then Paul stood up before the men of the city council and said, “Citizens of Athens, I see that you ◄are very religious/think that it is very important to worship many gods►.
\v 23 I \add say that\add* because, while I was walking along and observing the objects \add that represent different gods that\add* you worship, I even saw an altar that had these words \add that someone had\add* carved \add on it: THIS HONORS\add* THE GOD \add THAT WE(exc)\add* DO NOT KNOW. So now I will tell you about \add that God\add* whom you worship but you do not know.
\p
\v 24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Because he rules over all \add beings in\add* heaven and \add on\add* earth, he does not dwell in shrines that people have made.
\v 25 He does not need to have anything made for him by people [MTY] {to have people [MTY] make [MTY] anything for him}, because everything that exists belongs to him. He is the one who causes ◄us \add (inc)\add*/all people► to live and breathe, and \add he gives us\add* all the things \add that we(inc) need\add*.
\p
\v 26 \add In the beginning\add*, God created one couple, and from them God produced all ◄the ethnic groups/the nations► that now live everywhere on the earth. He also decided where each ethnic group of people should live and how long they should live \add there\add*.
\v 27 He wanted people to realize that they need him. Then maybe they would seek him and find him. \add God wants us to seek him\add*, although he is \add really\add* close [LIT] to each one of us.
\v 28 As someone has said, ‘\add It is only\add* because he enables us that we \add (inc)\add* live and move and do \add what we do\add*.’ And, as some of your own poets have said, ‘We \add (inc)\add* are God's children.’
\p
\v 29 Therefore, because we are God's children \add and can communicate like God does\add*, we \add (inc)\add* should not think that he is anything like an image \add that people have made\add* of gold or silver or stone \add which cannot communicate\add*. Those images are designed and skillfully made {People design and make those images}, \add but they are not alive\add*.
\v 30 During the times when people did not know \add what God wanted them to do\add*, he did not \add immediately\add* punish \add them for what they did\add*. But now God commands all people everywhere to turn away from their evil behavior.
\v 31 \add He tells us\add* that on a certain day that he has chosen he is going to judge \add all of us(inc) people in\add* [MTY] the world. He has appointed a \add certain\add* man to judge \add us, and that man will judge each of us\add* fairly/justly. God has shown to all \add people that he has appointed that man to judge everyone\add*, because God ◄caused him to become alive again after he had died/raised him from the dead►.”
\s1 Some Council members believed in Jesus.
\sr Acts 17:32-34
\p
\v 32 When the men of the council heard \add Paul say\add* that ◄\add a man\add* had become alive again after he had died/\add someone\add* had been raised from the dead►, some of them laughed scornfully. But others said, “We \add (exc)\add* would like you \add (sg)\add* to tell us more about this, some other time.”
\v 33 After they said that, Paul departed from the council \add meeting\add*.
\v 34 However, some of the people there went along with Paul and became believers. Among those \add who believed in Jesus\add* was a member of the council whose \add name was\add* Dionysius. Also, an \add important\add* woman whose name was Damaris and some other people \add who had heard Paul's message also believed in Jesus\add*.
\c 18
\s1 In Corinth, Paul helped many people to become believers.
\sr Acts 18:1-4
\p
\v 1 After that, Paul left Athens \add city\add* and went to Corinth \add city\add*.
\v 2 There he met a Jew whose name was Aquila, who grew up in Pontus \add province\add*. Aquila and his wife Priscilla had recently come from \add Rome, in\add* Italy. \add They had previously left Rome\add* because Claudius, \add the Roman Emperor\add*, had ordered that all the Jews must leave Rome. Paul went to see Aquila and Priscilla.
\v 3 Those two made tents \add to earn\add* ◄\add money/a living\add*►. Paul also made tents, so he stayed with them and they all worked together.
\v 4 Every Sabbath, Paul \add went\add* to the Jewish meeting place, where he spoke forcefully to both Jews and non-Jews. He repeatedly tried to persuade them \add that Jesus is the Messiah\add*.
\s1 Paul helped many non-Jews become believers.
\sr Acts 18:5-8
\p
\v 5 Then Silas and Timothy arrived there from Macedonia province. After they arrived, Paul \add did not make tents anymore. He\add* used all his time preaching \add the message about Jesus in the Jewish meeting place\add*. He continued to tell the Jews \add that\add* the Messiah they knew about was Jesus.
\v 6 But the Jews began to oppose Paul and to say evil things about him. So he shook \add the dust from\add* his clothes \add to show them that they were displeasing God. Then\add* he said to them, “If God punishes you, it will be your [SYN] own fault [MTY], not mine! From now on I will go \add and preach\add* to non-Jewish people!”
\v 7 So Paul left \add the worship house\add* and went into a house that was next to it, \add and preached there\add*. Titius Justus, the owner of the house, was a non-Jewish man who had accepted what the Jews believe.
\v 8 \add After that\add*, the ruler of the Jewish meeting place, \add whose name was\add* Crispus, and all of his family [MTY] believed in the Lord \add Jesus\add*. Many other people in Corinth who listened \add to Paul\add* also believed \add in Jesus\add*. Then they were baptized. \add But there were people who still opposed Paul and his preaching\add*.
\s1 Jesus commanded Paul to continue speaking about him, so Paul did that.
\sr Acts 18:9-11
\p
\v 9 One night Paul had a vision in which the Lord \add Jesus\add* said to him, “Do not be afraid \add of those who oppose you\add*. Instead, you should continue speaking \add to people about me\add*. Do not stop,
\v 10 because I \add will help\add* you and no one will be able to harm you \add (sg) here. Keep telling them about me\add*, because there are many people in this city who will \add believe in\add* me.”
\v 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching the people the message from God \add about Jesus\add*.
\s1 Gallio refused to judge Paul.
\sr Acts 18:12-17
\p
\v 12 When Gallio was the \add Roman\add* governor of Achaia \add province\add*, the Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] there got together and seized Paul. They took him before the governor \add and accused him\add*,
\v 13 saying, “This man is teaching people \add a false religion, leading them\add* to worship God in ways that are contrary to our \add Jewish\add* laws.”
\v 14 When Paul was about to speak [MTY] \add to defend himself\add*, Gallio said to the Jews, “If this man had acted deceitfully or disobeyed \add any of our Roman\add* laws, I would listen \add patiently\add* to what you Jews \add want to tell me\add*.
\v 15 However, you are merely arguing about words and names and your own \add Jewish\add* laws, so you yourselves need to resolve this. I refuse to judge these things!”
\v 16 After Gallio \add had said that\add*, he \add commanded some soldiers/guards\add* that \add they\add* expel those \add Jewish leaders\add* from the courtroom.
\v 17 Then \add the mob\add* grabbed the leader of the Jewish meeting place, Sosthenes. They beat him, right there in front of the courthouse. But Gallio did nothing about it.
\s1 At Ephesus, Paul parted from Priscilla and Aquila.
\sr Acts 18:18-21
\p
\v 18 Paul stayed on with the believers in Corinth for ◄many days/some time►. Then he left the believers there, and went with Priscilla and \add her husband\add* Aquila. They went down to Cenchrea, \add a port city\add*. There Paul had his head shaved {\add someone\add* shave his head} in order to partially complete a vow that he had taken. Then they got on a ship and sailed for Syria \add province\add*.
\v 19 They arrived at Ephesus \add city\add*, and Priscilla and Aquila stayed there.
\p \add Before Paul left Ephesus\add*, he entered the Jewish meeting place and lectured to the Jews.
\v 20 They asked him to stay longer, but he refused.
\v 21 But, as he left, he told them, “I will come back, if God wills/desires \add me to do that\add*.” Then, \add because he wanted to be in Jerusalem to finish completing that vow\add*, he got on \add a ship that\add* sailed from Ephesus.
\s1 Paul visited Jerusalem, then he went on to Antioch in Syria and then he returned to visit the believers throughout Galatia and Phrygia.
\sr Acts 18:22-23
\p
\v 22 When the ship arrived at Caesarea, \add a port city\add*, Paul \add got off. He\add* went up \add to Jerusalem\add* and greeted the believers there. Then he went back down to Antioch \add city in Syria province\add*.
\p
\v 23 Paul spent some time \add with the believers\add* there. Then he left Antioch and traveled to several towns \add that he had visited previously\add* in Galatia and Phrygia \add provinces\add*. He taught all of the believers more \add of the message from God about Jesus\add*.
\s1 Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos about the gospel.
\sr Acts 18:24-26
\p
\v 24 \add While Paul was traveling in Galatia and Phrygia\add*, a Jewish man whose name was Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria \add city\add*. He \add spoke eloquently\add* and he knew the Scriptures thoroughly.
\v 25 \add Other believers\add* had taught him \add some things\add* about how the Lord \add Jesus desires that people\add* should conduct themselves, and he taught those things very enthusiastically \add to people. He had heard\add* some of the things that Jesus did and said, and he taught those facts accurately \add to people. However, he was teaching incompletely about Jesus, because\add* he knew only what John \add the Baptizer had taught people whom he\add* baptized.
\v 26 Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place, and he told the people there very confidently the things that he had learned. When Priscilla and Aquila heard what he taught, they invited him \add to their home\add*. There they explained more accurately to him the way \add that\add* God \add gives people eternal life\add*.
\s1 Apollos helped believers in Achaia.
\sr Acts 18:27-28
\p
\v 27 When Apollos decided that he would like to go to Achaia \add province\add*, the believers in Ephesus told him that it would be good for him to do that. So they wrote a letter to the believers \add in Achaia saying that they\add* should welcome Apollos. \add So Apollos got on a ship and went to Corinth\add*. After he arrived, he greatly helped those whom \add God\add* had kindly enabled to believe \add in Jesus\add*.
\v 28 Apollos was vigorously arguing publicly with \add the leaders of\add* the Jews while many other people listened. \add By quoting\add* from the Scriptures, he proved to them that Jesus was the Messiah.
\c 19
\s1 Paul helped some men to become real believers in Jesus.
\sr Acts 19:1-7
\p
\v 1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul \add left the places in Phrygia and Galatia\add* provinces where he had been visiting, and traveled through \add Asia province\add* back to Ephesus. He met some people \add who said that they\add* were believers.
\v 2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed \add God's message\add*?” They answered, “No, we \add (exc) did not\add*. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
\v 3 So Paul asked, “So when you were baptized, what \add were you showing\add*?” They replied, “\add We were showing\add* that we \add (exc)\add* believed what John \add the Baptizer\add* taught.”
\v 4 Paul said, “John baptized people who turned away from their sinful behavior. He \add also\add* told the people to believe in the one who would come after he \add had come\add*, and that was Jesus.”
\v 5 So, when those men heard that, they were baptized \add to affirm that they believed\add* [MTY] in the Lord Jesus.
\v 6 After that, Paul placed his hands on their heads \add one by one\add*, and the \add power of the\add* Holy Spirit came upon \add each of\add* them. The \add Holy Spirit\add* enabled them to speak in various languages [MTY] \add that they had not learned\add*, and they also spoke messages \add that the Holy Spirit\add* revealed to them.
\v 7 There were about twelve men \add whom Paul baptized and who received the power of the Holy Spirit\add*.
\s1 Paul helped many people in Asia province to hear the gospel.
\sr Acts 19:8-10
\p
\v 8 For three months after that, Paul entered the Jewish meeting place \add in Ephesus on each\add* Sabbath/Jewish day of rest, and he spoke boldly. He convincingly taught \add the people\add* about how God wanted to rule [MET] \add their lives\add*.
\v 9 \add A few of the people in the meeting house believed the message about Jesus\add*. But some of the people would not believe that message and did not want to \add continue to\add* hear it. While many people were listening, they said many bad things about the way \add for people to receive eternal life about which Paul was preaching\add*. So Paul left them and took the believers with him \add to meet in another place\add*. He taught every day in a lecture hall \add that a man whose name was\add* Tyrannus \add lectured in/owned\add*.
\v 10 For two years Paul continued to teach people in that building. In this way, most of [HYP] the Jews and non-Jews who lived in Asia \add province\add* heard the message about the Lord \add Jesus\add*.
\s1 God enabled Paul to do amazing miracles.
\sr Acts 19:11-12
\p
\v 11 Also, God gave Paul the power [MTY] to do amazing miracles.
\v 12 \add If those who were sick could not come to Paul, handkerchiefs or aprons that Paul had touched would be taken and\add* placed on the sick people {\add others\add* would take \add and place on\add* the sick people handkerchiefs or aprons that Paul had touched}. As a result, those sick people would people become well, and evil spirits that troubled people would leave.
\s1 People honored Jesus' name, after Jewish exorcists misused it and failed.
\sr Acts 19:13-17
\p
\v 13 There were also some Jews who traveled around \add to\add* various places, \add and\add* they commanded the evil spirits in those places to depart \add from them. Certain ones of those Jews once\add* tried to command the evil spirits to come out of people by saying “I command you by the authority [MTY] of the Lord Jesus, the man about whom Paul preaches, to come out!”
\v 14 There were seven men who were doing that. They were sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew, \add who called himself\add* a chief priest.
\v 15 But \add one day as they were doing that\add*, the evil spirit \add refused to come out of that person. Instead, he\add* said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know \add that he has authorized\add* Paul \add to expel demons\add*. ◄But no one has authorized you \add to do anything to me!\add*/who authorized you \add to do anything to me\add*?► [RHQ]”
\v 16 \add After saying that, suddenly\add* the man who was controlled by the evil spirit jumped on the seven Jewish men, \add one after another\add*, knocked all of them down, and beat each of them severely. He tore off their clothes and wounded them, causing them to bleed. So, \add greatly frightened, they all\add* ran out of the house.
\v 17 All the people who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and non-Jews, heard what had happened. So they were afraid [MTY]. They honored the Lord Jesus [MTY] \add because they realized that he was very powerful\add*.
\s1 Many believers confessed their former sins and burned their books of magic.
\sr Acts 19:18-22
\p
\v 18 \add At that time\add*, while other believers were listening, many believers confessed the evil things that they had been doing.
\v 19 Several of those who had \add previously\add* practiced sorcery gathered up their scrolls \add that told how to work\add* magic and burned them in a public place. When people added up how much those scrolls had cost, they realized that altogether the amount was fifty thousand valuable silver coins.
\p
\v 20 As a result, many more people heard [MTY] the message about the Lord \add Jesus\add*, and the message powerfully \add changed their lives\add*.
\p
\v 21 After those things had happened, Paul decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem, but he decided that \add first\add* he would visit \add the believers in\add* Macedonia and Achaia \add provinces again\add*. Paul said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also go to Rome.”
\v 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, ahead to Macedonia. But Paul stayed a little longer \add in Ephesus city\add*, in Asia \add province\add*.
\s1 Demetrius made silver shrines of the goddess Artemis.
\sr Acts 19:23-24
\p
\v 23 \add Soon after that\add*, some of the people there tried to make a lot of [LIT] trouble for the people who believed the way \add God revealed for us(inc) to receive eternal life\add*.
\v 24 There was a man there whose name was Demetrius who made little images out of silver. \add They were models\add* of the temple of \add a goddess whose name was\add* Artemis. Demetrius and the other men \add who made those little images\add* earned a lot of [LIT] money \add from selling those images\add*.
\s1 Demetrius incited people to shout and to riot.
\sr Acts 19:25-31
\p
\v 25 Demetrius called a meeting of his workmen and also of others who made the little silver images. He said to them, “Men, you know that we \add (inc)\add* earn a lot of money doing our kind of work.
\v 26 Also, you know that \add this fellow\add* Paul has persuaded many people who live in Ephesus \add to no longer buy the images that we make. Now even the people from\add* many other towns in our province \add no longer want to buy what we make\add*. This fellow tells people that the gods that we have made \add and worship\add* are not gods \add and that we should not worship them\add*.
\v 27 \add If people continue to listen to him\add*, soon they will ruin our business. Besides, they will no longer think that they should \add come to\add* the temple of Artemis \add to worship her. People\add* all over our Asia \add province\add* and everywhere [HYP] else worship \add our great\add* goddess \add Artemis. Soon people\add* may no longer consider that Artemis is great!”
\v 28 All the men there were very angry \add at Paul\add* when they heard what Demetrius said. They began to shout, “The goddess Artemis of us Ephesians is very great!”
\v 29 Many of the other people in the city heard the shouting and went \add and joined the crowd. They also became angry at Paul\add* and began shouting. \add Several of\add* the people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, two men \add from Macedonia\add* who had been traveling with Paul. \add Then the whole crowd of people ran, dragging those men along with them\add*, to the city stadium.
\v 30 Paul also wanted to go \add to the stadium and speak to\add* the people, but the other believers would not let him go there.
\v 31 Also, some government officials of that province who were friends of Paul \add heard what was happening\add*. So they sent someone to tell him \add urgently\add* not to go into the stadium.
\s1 The crowd shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
\sr Acts 19:32-34
\p
\v 32 The crowd of people \add in the stadium\add* continued shouting. Some shouted one thing, and some shouted something else. But most of them did not even know what the meeting was about!
\v 33 One of the \add Jews there was named Alexander. Some of\add* the Jews pushed him to the front of the stadium, \add so that he could speak to the crowd of people\add*. So Alexander motioned with his hands to the crowd, \add wanting them to be quiet\add*. He wanted to tell them that \add the Jews\add* were not responsible \add for the riot\add*.
\v 34 But \add many of the non-Jewish people\add* knew that Alexander was a Jew. \add They also knew that the Jews did not worship the goddess Artemis. So the non-Jews there\add* unitedly \add and\add* repeatedly shouted for about two hours, “Great is \add the goddess\add* Artemis \add whom we(inc)\add* Ephesians \add worship\add*!”
\s1 The city secretary quieted, warned and dismissed the crowd.
\sr Acts 19:35-41
\p
\v 35 Then the city secretary made the crowd stop shouting, and he said to them, “My fellow-citizens, everyone in the world knows [RHQ] that \add we(inc) people who live in\add* Ephesus \add city\add* guard the temple \add where we worship\add* the great \add goddess\add* Artemis. Also, \add everyone knows that we(inc) watch over\add* the \add sacred\add* image \add of our goddess\add* that fell down from heaven!
\v 36 Of course everyone knows that, and no one can say that these things are not true. So you should be quiet now. Do not suddenly do anything ◄foolish/that will cause us trouble►.
\v 37 You \add should not\add* have brought these \add two\add* men \add here, because they have not done anything evil\add*. They have not gone into our temples and taken things \add from there\add*. And they have not spoken evil of our goddess.
\v 38 Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow-workmen want to accuse anyone \add about anything bad, they should do it in the right way\add*. There are courts \add that you can go to when you want to accuse someone\add*, and there are judges \add there who have been appointed by the government\add* {\add whom the government has appointed\add*}. You can accuse \add anyone there\add*.
\v 39 But if you want to ask about something else, \add you should ask\add* for \add other officials to\add* resolve it when \add those\add* officials legally assemble.
\v 40 \add And this is certainly not a legal meeting! Resolve this legally\add* because, if \add we(inc) do\add* not, I am afraid \add that the governor\add* will hear about all this noise \add that you have made\add* and will say that we \add (inc)\add* were trying to rebel \add against the government\add*. If he would ask me what you were all shouting about, I would not be able to give him an answer.”
\v 41 That is what the city secretary said \add to the crowd\add*. Then he told them all to go \add home. So they left\add*.
\c 20
\s1 After being in Macedonia and Greece, Paul went to Troas.
\sr Acts 20:1-6
\p
\v 1 After the people at Ephesus had stopped rioting, Paul summoned the believers. He encouraged them \add to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. Soon\add* after that, he told them “Goodbye” and left to go to Macedonia \add province\add*.
\v 2 \add After he arrived\add* there, he visited \add each town where there were believers\add* and encouraged them. Then he arrived in Greece \add province\add*, \add which is also called Achaia\add*.
\v 3 He stayed there for three months. Then he planned to return to Syria by ship, but \add he heard that\add* some of the Jews [SYN] \add in that area\add* were planning to kill him \add as he traveled. So\add* he decided instead to go \add by land, and he traveled\add* again through Macedonia.
\v 4 The men who were going to travel with him \add to Jerusalem were\add* Sopater, \add who was\add* a son of Pyrrhus, who grew up in Berea \add town;\add* Aristarchus and Secundus, who were from Thessalonica \add city;\add* Gaius, \add who was\add* from Derbe \add town;\add* Timothy, \add who was from Galatia province;\add* and Tychicus and Trophimus who were from Asia \add province\add*.
\v 5 Those \add seven\add* men went ahead of \add Paul and me, Luke, by ship from Macedonia, so\add* they got to Troas \add before we did and\add* waited for \add the two of\add* us there.
\v 6 \add But we two(exc) traveled by land as far as\add* Philippi \add city\add*. After the Jewish festival \add when they eat\add* unleavened bread, we got on a ship \add that was going from\add* the port near \add Philippi to Troas city\add*. After five days we \add (exc)\add* arrived at Troas and we met the other men who had traveled there \add ahead of us\add*. Then we \add all\add* stayed in Troas for seven days.
\s1 At Troas, Paul encouraged believers by resurrecting Eutychus.
\sr Acts 20:7-12
\p
\v 7 ◄On Sunday evening/On the evening of the first day of the week►, we \add (exc) and the other believers there\add* gathered together to celebrate the Lord's Supper \add and to eat other food\add* [SYN]. Paul spoke to the believers. He continued teaching them until midnight, because he was planning to leave \add Troas\add* the next day.
\v 8 Many \add oil\add* lamps were burning in the upstairs room in which we \add (exc)\add* had gathered, \add so the fumes caused some people to become sleepy\add*.
\v 9 A young man whose name was Eutychus was there. He was seated on \add the sill of\add* an \add open\add* window \add on the third story of the house\add*. As Paul continued talking for a long time, Eutychus became sleepier and sleepier. Finally, he was sound/really asleep. He fell \add out of the window\add* from the third story down \add to the ground. Some of the believers went down\add* immediately and picked him up. \add But he was\add* dead.
\v 10 Paul \add also\add* went down. He lay down and stretched out on top of the young man and put his arms around him. Then he said \add to the people who were standing around\add*, “Do not worry, he is alive \add again now!\add*”
\v 11 Then Paul, \add along with the others\add*, went upstairs again and they ate the Lord's Supper and other food [SYN]. Afterwards, Paul conversed with the believers until dawn. Then he left.
\v 12 The \add other\add* people took the young man \add home\add*, and were greatly encouraged because he was alive \add again\add*.
\s1 Paul and his companions traveled from Troas to Miletus.
\sr Acts 20:13-16
\p
\v 13 We then went to the ship. Paul did not get on the ship \add with us in Troas\add*, because he preferred to go \add more quickly\add* overland to Assos \add town\add*. The rest of us got on the ship and sailed for Assos.
\v 14 We \add (exc)\add* met Paul in Assos. He got on \add the ship\add* with us, and we sailed to Mitylene \add town\add*.
\v 15 The day after \add we reached Mitylene\add*, we \add sailed from there and\add* arrived \add at a place\add* near Kios \add Island\add*. The day after that, we sailed to Samos \add Island\add*. The next day we \add left Samos and\add* sailed to Miletus \add town\add*.
\v 16 \add Miletus was just south of Ephesus city\add*. Paul had \add earlier\add* decided that he would not get on a ship that would stop at Ephesus, because he did not want to spend \add several\add* days in Asia \add province\add*. If possible, he wanted to arrive in Jerusalem by the \add time of the\add* Pentecost festival, \add and the time of that festival was near\add*.
\s1 Paul reminded the Ephesian elders how he had conducted himself and had taught them.
\sr Acts 20:17-21
\p
\v 17 \add When the ship arrived at\add* Miletus, Paul sent \add a messenger\add* to Ephesus to ask the elders of the congregation to come to talk with him.
\p
\v 18 When the elders arrived, Paul said to them, “You personally know how I \add conducted myself among you the entire time\add* that I was with you, from the first day when I arrived \add here\add* in Asia \add province until the day I left\add*.
\v 19 \add You know how\add* I was serving the Lord \add Jesus\add* very humbly and how I sometimes wept \add about people. You also know how\add* I suffered because the Jews [SYN] \add who were not believers often\add* tried \add to harm me\add*.
\v 20 You also know that, as I preached \add God's message\add* to you, I never left out anything that would help you. You know that I taught you \add God's message\add* when many people were present, and I \add also went to your\add* homes and taught it there.
\v 21 I preached both to Jews and to non-Jews, telling them \add all\add* that they must turn away from their sinful behavior. \add I also told them they should\add* believe in our Lord Jesus.”
\s1 Paul told them that they would never see him again.
\sr Acts 20:22-31
\p
\v 22 “And now note this: I am going to Jerusalem, because \add God's\add* Spirit has clearly shown me that I must go there. I do not know what will happen to me \add while I am there\add*.
\v 23 But I do know that in each city \add where I have stopped\add*, the Holy Spirit has ◄told me/\add caused the believers to\add* tell me► that \add in Jerusalem\add* people will put me in prison [PRS] and will cause me to suffer [PRS].
\v 24 But I do not care even if people kill me, if first I am able to finish the work [MET] that the Lord Jesus has told me \add to do. He appointed me\add* to tell people the good message that God \add saves us\add* by doing for us what we do not deserve.
\v 25 I have preached to you the message about how God desires to rule \add people's lives\add*. But now I know that today is the last time that you fellow believers will see me [SYN].
\v 26 So I want you all to understand that if anyone \add who has heard me preach\add* dies \add without trusting in Jesus\add*, it is not my fault [MTY],
\v 27 because I told you [LIT] everything [HYP] that God has planned for us \add (inc)\add*.
\v 28 \add You leaders\add* must continue to believe and obey \add God's message. You must also help\add* all the other believers [MET] for whom the Holy Spirit has caused you to be responsible [MTY]. Watch over [MET] yourselves and the other believers \add as\add* a shepherd \add watches over his sheep\add*. God bought them with the blood \add that flowed from\add* his \add Son's body on the cross\add*.
\v 29 I know \add very well\add* that after I leave, \add people who teach\add* [MET] \add false doctrines\add* will come among you and will do great harm to the believers. \add They will be like\add* fierce wolves \add that kill the sheep\add*.
\v 30 Even in your own group of believers there will be some who will deceive \add other\add* believers by teaching them messages that are false. They will teach those messages so that some people \add will believe them and\add* will become their followers.
\v 31 So watch out \add that none of you stops believing the true message about our Lord Jesus\add* Remember that day and night for \add about\add* three years I repeatedly taught you that message, and warned you with tears \add in my eyes not to believe any other message\add*.”
\s1 Paul entrusted them to God and to the message about God's goodness.
\sr Acts 20:32-35
\p
\v 32 “\add Now as I leave you\add* I ask God to protect you and to keep you believing the message \add that he saves us(inc)\add* by doing for us what we do not deserve. \add If you continue believing\add* the message \add that I told you\add*, you will become \add spiritually mature\add*, and God will give you the blessings that he has promised to give to all of those who belong to him.
\p
\v 33 \add As for myself\add*, I have not desired anyone's money [MTY] or \add fine\add* clothing.
\v 34 You yourselves know that I have worked \add with my hands\add* [MTY] to earn the money that my companions and I needed.
\v 35 In everything that I did, I showed you that we \add (inc)\add* should work hard in order \add to have enough money\add* to give some to those who are needy. We \add (inc)\add* should remember that our Lord Jesus himself said, ‘You are happy when people give you what you need, but God will be happy with you when you give other people what they need.’”
\s1 Paul prayed with them and they sadly bade him farewell.
\sr Acts 20:36-38
\p
\v 36 When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of the elders and prayed.
\v 37 They all cried a lot, and they hugged Paul and kissed him.
\v 38 They were especially sad because he had said that they would never see him [SYN] again. Then they \add all\add* went with him to the ship.
\c 21
\s1 Paul, Luke and his other companions traveled from Miletus to Tyre.
\sr Acts 21:1-3
\p
\v 1 \add After\add* we said goodbye to the elders \add from Ephesus\add*, we \add got on the ship and\add* traveled on the water to Cos \add Island, where the ship stopped for the night\add*. The next day we went \add in the ship\add* from Cos to Rhodes \add Island, where the ship stopped again. The day after\add* that we went to Patara \add town, where the ship stopped. This was on Patara Island\add*.
\v 2 \add At Patara we left that ship, and someone told us that\add* there was a ship that would be going to Phoenicia \add region. So\add* we got on that ship, and it left.
\v 3 \add We traveled over the sea until\add* we could see Cyprus \add Island\add*. We passed to the south of the island and continued sailing until we arrived at \add Phoenicia region, in\add* Syria \add province\add*. We arrived at Tyre \add city. The ship was going to stay there several days, because its workers\add* had to unload the cargo.
\s1 At Tyre, believers warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but he went on.
\sr Acts 21:4-6
\p
\v 4 \add Someone told us\add* where the believers in Tyre lived, so we \add (exc) went and\add* stayed with them for seven days. Because \add God's\add* Spirit revealed to them ◄\add that people would cause Paul to suffer/Paul would suffer\add*► \add in Jerusalem\add*, they told Paul that he should not go there.
\v 5 But when it was time \add for the ship to leave again\add*, we \add prepared to\add* continue going \add to Jerusalem\add*. When we left \add Tyre\add*, all the men and their wives and children went with us \add to the edge of the sea\add*. We all knelt down there on the sand/shore and prayed.
\v 6 After we all said goodbye, Paul and we \add his companions\add* got on the ship, and the \add other\add* believers returned to their own homes.
\s1 Paul and his companions sailed from Tyre to Caesarea.
\sr Acts 21:7-9
\p
\v 7 After we \add (exc)\add* left Tyre, we continued on \add that ship\add* to Ptolemais \add city\add*. There were believers there, and we greeted them and stayed with them that night.
\v 8 The next day we left \add Ptolemais\add* and sailed to Caesarea \add city\add*, where we stayed in the home of Philip, who \add spent his days\add* telling others how to become disciples of Jesus. He was one of the seven \add men whom the believers in Jerusalem had chosen to care for the widows\add*.
\v 9 He had four daughters who were not married. Each of them \add frequently\add* spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had revealed to them.
\s1 The believers could not persuade Paul from going on to Jerusalem.
\sr Acts 21:10-14
\p
\v 10 After \add we(exc) had been in Philip's house for\add* several days, a believer whose name was Agabus came down from Judea \add district\add* and arrived \add in Caesarea\add*. He \add frequently\add* spoke messages that the Holy Spirit had told him.
\v 11 Coming over to where we were, he took off Paul's belt. Then he tied his own feet and hands with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] in Jerusalem will tie up \add the hands and feet of\add* the owner of this belt, like this, and they will put him in the hands of non-Jewish people \add as a prisoner\add*.’”
\v 12 When \add the rest of\add* us heard that, we and \add other\add* believers there repeatedly pled with Paul, “Please do not go up to Jerusalem!”
\v 13 But Paul replied, “◄Please stop crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] \add from going!\add*/Why are you crying and trying to discourage me [IDM] \add from going\add*?► [RHQ] I am willing to be put {\add for people\add* to put me} in prison and also to be killed {\add for them\add* to kill me} in Jerusalem because I \add serve\add* [MTY] the Lord Jesus.”
\v 14 When \add we(exc) realized that\add* he was determined \add to go to Jerusalem\add*, we did not try \add any longer\add* to persuade him \add not to go\add*. We said, “May ◄the Lord \add God\add* do what he wants/the Lord's will be done►!”
\s1 Paul and other believers went from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
\sr Acts 21:15-16
\p
\v 15 After those days \add in Caesarea\add*, we \add (exc)\add* prepared \add our things\add* and \add left to\add* go \add by land\add* up to Jerusalem.
\v 16 Some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. They took us to stay in the house of \add a man whose name was\add* Mnason. He was from Cyprus \add Island\add*, and he had believed \add in Jesus\add* when people were first beginning to hear the message \add about him\add*.
\s1 Paul agreed with church leaders to perform a Jewish purifying ritual.
\sr Acts 21:17-26
\p
\v 17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, \add a group of\add* the believers greeted us happily.
\v 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to speak with James, \add who was the leader of the congregation there\add*. All of the \add other\add* leaders/elders \add of the congregation in Jerusalem\add* were also there.
\v 19 Paul greeted them, and then he reported all of the things that God had enabled him to do among the non-Jewish people.
\v 20 When they heard that, James and the other elders said, “Praise the Lord!” Then \add one of\add* them said to Paul, “Brother/Friend, you \add (sg)\add* know that there are very many thousands of us \add (inc)\add* Jewish people \add here\add* who have believed \add in the Lord Jesus\add*. Also, you know that we \add (inc)\add* all continue very carefully to obey the laws \add that Moses gave us\add*.
\v 21 \add But our fellow Jewish believers\add* have been told {have heard \add people say\add*} that when you are among non-Jews, you tell the Jewish believers who live there that they should stop obeying \add the laws\add* [MTY] ◄\add of\add* Moses/\add that\add* Moses \add received from God\add*►. \add People say that\add* you tell \add those Jewish believers\add* not to circumcise their sons and not to practice our \add other\add* customs. \add We(exc) do not believe that this is true\add*.
\v 22 But our fellow \add Jewish\add* believers will certainly hear that you have arrived, \add and they will be angry with you\add*. So \add you\add* need to do something [RHQ] \add to show them that what they heard about you is not true\add*.
\v 23 So you should do what we suggest to you. There are four men among us who have strongly promised \add to God\add* about \add something\add*.
\v 24 Go with these men \add to the Temple\add* and \add ritually\add* purify yourself along with them. Then, \add when it is time for them to offer the sacrifices for that ritual\add*, pay for what they offer \add as sacrifices\add*. After that, they can shave their heads \add to show that they have done what they promised to do. And when people see you in the courts of the Temple with those men\add*, they will know that what they have been told {what people have told them} about you is not true. Instead, all of them will know that you obey all our Jewish laws \add and rituals\add*.
\v 25 As for the non-Jewish believers, \add we elders here in Jerusalem have talked\add* about \add which of our laws\add* they \add should obey, and\add* we \add (exc)\add* wrote them \add a letter, telling them\add* what we decided. \add We wrote\add* that they should not eat meat that people have offered as a sacrifice to any idol, \add that they should not eat\add* blood \add from animals\add* and that \add they should not eat\add* meat from animals \add that people have killed by\add* strangling \add them. We also told them that\add* they should not have sex with someone to whom they are not married.”
\v 26 So Paul \add agreed to do what they asked\add*, and the next day he took the \add four\add* men, and together they ritually purified themselves. After that, Paul went to the Temple \add courts and\add* told \add the priest\add* what day they would \add finish\add* purifying themselves \add ritually\add* and when \add they\add* would offer \add the animals as sacrifices\add* for each of them.
\s1 Some Jews seized Paul in the Temple courts.
\sr Acts 21:27-30
\p
\v 27-29 When the seven days \add for purifying themselves\add* were nearly finished, Paul \add returned\add* to the Temple \add courtyard\add*. Some Jews from Asia \add province\add* saw him there, \add and they were very angry at him\add*. On another day they had seen Paul \add walking around\add* in Jerusalem with Trophimus, who was a non-Jew. Their laws did not permit non-Jews to be in the Temple, and they thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the Temple \add courtyard that day. So\add* they called out to many other Jews \add who were in the Temple courtyard\add* to \add help them\add* seize [MTY] Paul. They shouted, “Fellow Israelites, come and help \add us to punish this\add* man! This is the one who is \add constantly\add* teaching people wherever \add he goes that they\add* should despise the \add Jewish\add* people. \add He teaches people that they should no longer obey\add* the laws \add of Moses\add* nor respect this holy \add Temple\add*. He has even brought non-Jews here into \add the court of\add* our Temple, causing God to consider it no longer holy!”
\v 30 \add People\add* throughout [MTY] the city heard that there was trouble \add at the Temple courtyard\add*, and they came running there. They grabbed Paul and dragged him outside of the Temple \add area\add*. The gates \add to the Temple courtyard were shut\add* {\add The Temple guards\add* shut the doors \add to the Temple courts\add*} immediately, \add so that the people would not riot inside the Temple area\add*.
\s1 Roman soldiers ran to where those Jews were trying to kill Paul.
\sr Acts 21:31-32
\p
\v 31 While they were trying to kill Paul, someone \add ran to the fort near the Temple\add* and told the Roman commander that many [HYP] people [MTY] in Jerusalem were rioting \add at the Temple\add*.
\v 32 The commander quickly took some officers and \add a large group of\add* soldiers and ran to \add the Temple area where\add* the crowd was. When the crowd of people \add who were yelling and beating Paul\add* saw the commander and the soldiers \add coming\add*, they stopped beating him.
\s1 After the commander arrested Paul, soldiers carried him towards the fort.
\sr Acts 21:33-40
\p
\v 33 The commander came to \add where Paul was and\add* seized him. He \add commanded soldiers\add* to fasten a chain to \add each of\add* Paul's \add arms\add*. Then he asked \add the people in the crowd\add*, “Who is this man, and what has he done?”
\v 34 Some of the many people there were shouting one thing, \add and\add* some were shouting something else. Because they continued shouting so loudly, the commander could not understand \add what they were shouting. So\add* he \add commanded\add* that Paul be taken {\add the soldiers\add* to take Paul} into the barracks \add so that he could question him there\add*.
\v 35 \add The soldiers\add* led Paul to the steps \add of the barracks\add*, but many people continued to follow them, trying to kill \add Paul. So the commander told\add* the soldiers to carry Paul \add up the steps into the barracks\add*.
\v 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”
\p
\v 37 As Paul was about to be taken {\add the soldiers\add* were about to take Paul} into the barracks, he said \add in Greek\add* to the commander, “May I speak to you?” The commander said, “◄I am surprised that you can speak the Greek \add language\add*!/Can you \add (sg)\add* speak the Greek \add language\add*?►” [RHQ]
\v 38 “◄I \add thought\add* that you \add (sg)\add* were that fellow/Are you not that fellow► from Egypt [RHQ] who wanted to rebel \add against the government not long ago\add*, and who took four thousand violent terrorists \add with him\add* out into the desert, \add so that we could not catch him\add*?”
\v 39 Paul answered, “\add No, I am not!\add* I am a Jew. I \add was born\add* in Tarsus, which is an important [LIT] city in Cilicia \add province\add*. I request that you \add (sg)\add* let me speak to the people.”
\v 40 Then the commander permitted Paul \add to speak. So\add* Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand \add for the crowd to be quiet. And after\add* the people in the crowd became quiet, Paul spoke to them in \add their own\add* Hebrew language [MTY].
\c 22
\s1 Paul defended his believing in Jesus, but the Jews wanted to kill him.
\sr Acts 22:1-16
\p
\v 1 Paul said, “\add Jewish\add* elders and my other fellow Jews, listen to me now while I reply to \add those who are accusing me\add*!”
\v 2 When the crowd of people heard Paul speaking to them in \add their own\add* Hebrew language, they became even more quiet and really listened. Then Paul said to them,
\v 3 “I am a Jew, \add as are all of you\add*. I was born in Tarsus \add city\add*, in Cilicia \add province\add*, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. \add When I was young, for many years\add* I studied the laws \add that Moses gave to our ancestors\add*. I was taught by \add the famous teacher\add* Gamaliel [MTY] {\add The famous teacher\add* Gamaliel taught [MTY] me}. \add I have\add* carefully \add obeyed those laws, because\add* I have wanted to obey God. I \add am sure that\add* many of you also carefully obey \add those laws\add*.
\v 4 \add That is why\add* I previously persecuted those who believe the message \add that people call\add* the Way \add that Jesus taught. I continually looked for ways\add* to kill \add them. Whenever I found\add* men or women \add who believed that message\add*, I \add commanded that\add* they should be seized and thrown {\add people to\add* seize them and throw them} into jail.
\v 5 The high priest knows this, and so do the \add other respected men who belong to our Jewish\add* Council. They gave me letters to \add take to\add* their fellow Jews in Damascus \add city. By means of those letters, they authorized me to\add* go to there and find people who believed in \add Jesus. They had written in the letters that I was to bring those people\add* as prisoners to Jerusalem, so that they would be punished here {\add the leaders here\add* could punish them}.
\p \add So I went on my way to Damascus\add*.
\v 6 About noon, I and my companions were getting near Damascus. Suddenly a bright light from the sky flashed all around me.
\v 7 \add The light was so bright that\add* I fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice \add of someone\add* speaking to me \add from up in the sky. The one who was speaking to me said\add*, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you \add (sg)\add* do things to harm me?’
\v 8 I answered, ‘Who are you, Sir?’ He replied, ‘I am Jesus from Nazareth. I \add am the one\add* whom you \add (sg)\add* are harming \add by doing things to harm my followers\add*.’
\v 9 The men who were \add traveling\add* with me saw the \add very bright\add* light, \add and they heard a voice\add*, but they did not understand what the voice said to me.
\v 10 Then I asked, ‘Lord, what \add do you want\add* me to do?’ The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus! \add A man\add* there will tell you \add (sg)\add* all that I have planned for you to do.’
\v 11 \add After that, I could not see\add*, because the \add very bright\add* light had caused me to become blind. So my companions took me by the hand and led me until \add we(exc) arrived\add* in Damascus.
\v 12 \add A couple of days\add* later, a man whose name was Ananias came to \add see\add* me. He was a man who \add greatly respected God and\add* carefully obeyed \add our Jewish\add* laws. All the Jews living in Damascus said good things about him.
\v 13 He came and stood beside me and said to me, ‘\add My\add* friend Saul, see \add again\add*!’ Instantly I could see! I saw him \add standing there beside me\add*.
\v 14 Then he said: ‘The God whom \add we(inc) worship and\add* whom our ancestors \add worshipped\add* has chosen you and will show you what he wants \add you to do. He has allowed you\add* to see the righteous one, \add the Messiah\add*, and you have heard him speaking \add to you\add*.
\v 15 He wants you to tell people everywhere what you have seen and heard \add from him\add*.
\v 16 So now ◄do not delay!/why delay?► [RHQ] Stand up, let \add me\add* baptize you, and by praying to the Lord \add Jesus ask God\add* to forgive you \add (sg)\add* for your sins!’”
\s1 Paul told about the Lord's commanding him to go to non-Jewish people.
\sr Acts 22:17-22
\p
\v 17 “Later, I returned to Jerusalem. \add One day\add* I went to the Temple courtyard. While I was praying there, I saw a vision \add in which\add*
\v 18 I saw the Lord speaking to me. He said to me, ‘\add Do not stay here!\add* Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people \add here\add* will not ◄believe/listen to► what you \add (sg)\add* tell \add them\add* about me!’
\v 19 But I \add protested and\add* said to him, ‘Lord, they know that I went to many of our meeting houses looking for people who believe in you. I was putting in jail those \add whom I found\add* who believed in you, and I was even beating them.
\v 20 \add They remember that\add* when Stephen was killed [MTY] {when people killed [MTY] Stephen} because he told people about you, I stood there \add watching it all\add* and approving \add what they were doing\add*. I \add even\add* guarded the outer garments that those who were murdering him \add had thrown aside So if I stay here, the fact that I have changed how I think about you will surely impress those leaders of our people\add*.’
\v 21 But the Lord said to me, ‘No, \add do not stay here\add* Leave \add Jerusalem, because\add* I am going to send you \add (sg)\add* far away \add from here\add* to non-Jewish people!’”
\v 22 The people listened \add quietly\add* to what Paul was saying until \add he mentioned the Lord sending him to non-Jewish people\add*. Then they began shouting \add angrily\add*, “Kill him! \add He does not deserve to live any longer\add*!” \add They said that because they could not believe that God would save anyone except Jews\add*.
\s1 Paul said that he was a Roman citizen, so soldiers did not flog him.
\sr Acts 22:23-29
\p
\v 23 While they continued shouting, \add “Kill him!”\add* they took off their cloaks and threw dust into the air, \add which showed how angry they were\add*.
\v 24 So the commander \add commanded\add* that Paul be taken {\add soldiers\add* to take Paul} into the barracks. He told \add the soldiers\add* that they should strike Paul with a whip \add that had pieces of bone/metal on the end of it\add*, in order to make him tell what he had done that made the Jews shout so angrily. \add So the soldiers took Paul into the barracks\add*.
\v 25 Then they stretched his arms out \add and tied them\add* so that they could whip him \add on his back. But\add* Paul said to the officer who was standing nearby \add watching\add*, “\add You(sg) should think carefully about this!\add* You will certainly be [RHQ] acting unlawfully if you whip me, a Roman \add citizen whom\add* no \add one has put on trial and\add* condemned!”
\v 26 When the officer heard that, he went to the commander and reported it to him. He said \add to the commander\add*, “This man is a Roman \add citizen\add* ◄Surely you would not \add command us to whip him\add*!/Do you really want \add us to whip him\add*?► [RHQ]”
\v 27 The commander \add was surprised when he heard that. He himself\add* went \add into the barracks\add* and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you \add (sg) really\add* a Roman \add citizen\add*?” Paul answered, “Yes, I \add am\add*.”
\v 28 Then the commander said, “\add I am also a Roman citizen\add*. I paid a lot of money to become a \add Roman\add* citizen.” Paul said, “But I was born a \add Roman\add* citizen, \add so I did not need to pay anything\add*.”
\v 29 The soldiers \add were about to whip Paul and to ask him questions about what he had done. But when they heard what Paul said, they\add* left him immediately. The commander also became afraid, because he realized that Paul was a Roman \add citizen\add* and that he had \add illegally commanded soldiers to\add* tie up Paul's \add hands\add*.
\s1 The commander's soldiers brought Paul to the Jewish Council.
\sr Acts 22:30
\p
\v 30 \add The commander still\add* wanted to know exactly why the Jews were accusing Paul. So the next day he \add told the soldiers to\add* take the chains off Paul. He also summoned the chief priests and the \add other Jewish\add* Council \add members\add*. Then he took Paul \add to where the Council was meeting\add* and \add commanded\add* him to stand before them.
\c 23
\s1 Paul apologized for unknowingly denouncing the high priest.
\sr Acts 23:1-5
\p
\v 1 Paul looked straight at the Jewish council members and said: “My fellow Jews, all my life I have lived respecting our God, and I do not know of anything that I have done that I knew was wrong/evil.”
\v 2 When Ananias the high priest \add heard what Paul said\add*, he commanded the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth.
\v 3 Then Paul said to Ananias, “God will punish you \add (sg) for that\add*, you hypocrite [MET]! You sit there and judge me, using the laws that \add God gave Moses\add*. But you \add yourself\add* disobey those laws, because you commanded me to be struck {\add these men\add* to strike me} \add without having proved that I have done anything that is wrong!\add*”
\v 4 The men who were standing near Paul \add rebuked him. They\add* said, “Are not you \add (sg)\add* afraid to insult God's \add servant, our\add* high priest?”
\v 5 Paul replied, “My fellow Jews, I \add am sorry that I said that\add*. I did not know that the man \add who told one of you to hit me\add* is the high priest. \add If I had known that, I would not have insulted our high priest\add*, because I \add know that\add* it is written {\add that Moses\add* wrote} \add in our Jewish law\add*, ‘Do not speak evil of any of your rulers!’”
\s1 The commander rescued Paul from the Council members.
\sr Acts 23:6-10
\p
\v 6 Paul realized that some of the \add Council members\add* were Sadducees and others were Pharisees. So, \add in order to cause the Pharisees and Sadducees to argue among themselves instead of accusing him\add*, he called out loudly in the Council \add hall\add*, “My fellow Jews, I am a Pharisee, like my father was. I have been put {\add You\add* have put me} on trial \add here\add* because I confidently expect that \add some day God\add* will ◄cause people who have died to become alive again/raise people from the dead►.”
\v 7 When he said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to argue with one another \add about whether people who have died will become alive again or not\add*.
\v 8 The Sadducees believe that after people die, they will not become alive again. They also believe that there are no angels and no \add other kinds of\add* spirits. But the Pharisees believe \add that all people who have died will one day become alive again. They also believe\add* that there are \add angels and other kinds of spirits\add*.
\v 9 So they ◄were divided/did not agree with each other►, and they began shouting at one another \add as they argued\add*. Some of the teachers of the laws that \add God gave Moses\add* who were Pharisees stood up. One of them said, “We \add (exc)\add* think that this man has done nothing wrong.” Another said, “Maybe an angel or some \add other\add* spirit \add really\add* spoke to him \add and what he says is true\add*.”
\v 10 Then the \add Pharisees and Sadducees\add* argued even more loudly \add with one another\add*. As a result, the commander ◄was afraid/thought► that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he \add commanded\add* soldiers to go down \add from the barracks\add* and forcefully take Paul away from the Council members and bring him up into the barracks. \add So the soldiers did that\add*.
\s1 The Lord revealed that Paul would tell people about him in Rome.
\sr Acts 23:11
\p
\v 11 That night, \add in a vision Paul saw\add* the Lord \add Jesus come and\add* stand near him. The Lord said \add to him\add*, “Be courageous! You \add (sg)\add* have told people \add here\add* in Jerusalem about me, and you must tell people in Rome \add about me\add*, too.”
\s1 Some Jews plotted to kill Paul.
\sr Acts 23:12-15
\p
\v 12 The next morning \add some\add* of the Jews [MTY] \add who hated Paul\add* met secretly and talked \add about how they could kill him\add*. They promised \add themselves\add* that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed him. They asked God to curse them \add if they did not do what they promised\add*.
\v 13 There were more than forty men who planned to do that.
\v 14 They went to the chief priests and \add Jewish\add* elders and told them, “God has heard us promise/vow that we \add (exc)\add* will not eat \add or drink\add* anything until we \add (exc)\add* have killed Paul.
\v 15 So \add we request that\add* you go to the commander and ask him, on behalf of the whole Jewish Council, to bring Paul down to us \add from the barracks\add*. Tell the commander that you want to question Paul some more. But we \add (exc)\add* will be waiting to kill Paul while he is on the way here.”
\s1 Paul's nephew warned that some Jews had plotted to kill Paul.
\sr Acts 23:16-22
\p
\v 16 But the son of Paul's sister heard what they were planning to do, so he went into the barracks and told Paul.
\v 17 \add When Paul heard that\add*, he called one of the officers and said to him, “\add Please\add* take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something \add important\add*.”
\v 18 So the officer took Paul's nephew to the commander. The officer said to the commander, “That prisoner, Paul, called me and said, ‘Please take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something \add important\add*.’”
\v 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, “What do you \add (sg)\add* need to tell me?”
\v 20 He said, “\add There are some\add* [SYN] Jews who have planned to ask you \add (sg)\add* to bring Paul before their Council tomorrow. They will say that they want to ask him some more questions. \add But that is not true\add*.
\v 21 Do not do what they ask you \add (sg)\add* to do, because there are more than forty \add Jewish\add* men who will be hiding and waiting \add to attack Paul when he passes by on the way to the Council\add*. They even promised/vowed to God that they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are ready \add to do it\add*, and right now they are waiting for you \add (sg)\add* to agree \add to do what they are asking you to do\add*.”
\v 22 The commander said to \add Paul's\add* young nephew, “Do not tell anyone that you \add (sg)\add* have told me \add about their plan\add*.” Then he sent the young man away.
\s1 Many soldiers escorted Paul safely to Governor Felix at Caesarea.
\sr Acts 23:23-35
\p
\v 23 Then the commander called two of his officers and told them, “Get a group of two hundred soldiers ready \add to travel\add*. Take along seventy soldiers riding horses, and two hundred other soldiers carrying spears. \add All of you must be ready\add* to leave at nine o'clock tonight, to go \add down\add* to Caesarea \add city\add*.
\v 24 And take along horses for Paul \add and those accompanying him\add* to ride, and safely escort him to \add the palace of\add* Governor Felix.”
\v 25 Then the commander wrote a letter \add to send to the governor\add*. This is what he wrote:
\v 26 “\add I am\add* Claudius Lysias \add writing to you\add*. You, Felix, are our governor whom we \add (exc)\add* respect, \add and I sincerely send you\add* my greetings.
\v 27 I \add have sent you(sg)\add* this man, \add Paul, because certain\add* Jews seized him and were about to kill him. But I heard \add someone tell me\add* that he is a Roman citizen, so I and my soldiers went and rescued him.
\v 28 I wanted to know what those Jews were saying that he had done wrong, so I took him to their Jewish Council.
\v 29 I listened \add while they asked this man questions and he answered them\add*. The things \add they\add* accused him about were entirely concerned with their \add Jewish\add* laws. But Paul has not disobeyed any of our \add Roman\add* laws. \add So our officials\add* should not execute him or \add even\add* put him in prison [MTY].
\v 30 \add Someone\add* told me that some [SYN] Jews were secretly planning to kill this man, so I immediately sent him to you, \add so that you(sg) may give him a fair trial there\add*. I have also \add commanded\add* the Jews who have accused him to \add go there to Caesarea and\add* tell you \add (sg) what they are accusing him about\add*.”
\p
\v 31 So the soldiers did what \add the commander commanded\add* them, \add taking this letter with them\add*. They \add got Paul and\add* took him with them during the night \add down\add* to Antipatris \add city\add*.
\v 32 The next day, the foot soldiers returned to the barracks \add in Jerusalem\add* and the soldiers who rode horses went on with Paul.
\v 33 When the men escorting Paul arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor, and they delivered Paul to the governor. \add Then the horsemen returned to Jerusalem\add*.
\v 34 The governor read the letter and then he said to Paul, “What province are you \add (sg)\add* from?” \add Paul answered\add*, “I am from Cilicia \add province\add*.”
\v 35 Then the governor said, “When the people who have accused you \add (sg)\add* arrive, I will listen \add to what each of you says\add* and then I will judge your case.” Then he \add commanded\add* that Paul be guarded {\add soldiers\add* to guard Paul} in the palace that King Herod \add the Great had built\add*.
\c 24
\s1 Paul defended himself, and Felix promised to judge him.
\sr Acts 24:1-9
\p
\v 1 Five days later Ananias the high priest, \add having heard that Paul was now in Caesarea\add*, went down \add there from Jerusalem\add*, along with some \add other Jewish\add* elders and a lawyer \add whose name was\add* Tertullus. There they formally told the governor what Paul had done \add that they considered\add* wrong.
\v 2 \add The governor commanded\add* Paul to be brought {\add a soldier\add* to bring Paul} in. \add When Paul arrived\add*, Tertullus began to accuse him. He said \add to the governor\add*, “Honorable Governor Felix, during the many years that you \add (sg)\add* have ruled us, we \add (exc)\add* have lived well/peacefully. By planning wisely, you have improved many things in this province.
\v 3 \add Therefore\add*, sir, we \add (exc)\add* always gratefully acknowledge everything that \add you have done\add* for all \add of us\add*, wherever \add you have done those things\add*.
\v 4 But, so that I will not take up too much of your time, I earnestly request that you kindly listen to me very briefly.
\v 5 We \add (exc)\add* have observed that this man, \add wherever he goes\add*, causes trouble. \add Specifically\add*, he causes all the Jews everywhere [HYP] to riot. \add Also\add*, he leads the entire group \add whom people call\add* ‘the followers of the Nazarene’, a \add false\add* sect.
\v 6 He even tried to do things in the Temple \add in Jerusalem\add* that would ◄defile it/make it unholy►. So we \add (exc)\add* seized him.\f + \fqa Jewish\fqa* law.\f*
\v 7 But Lysias, the commander at the Roman fort, came with his soldiers and forcefully took him away from us [SYN].
\v 8 Lysias also commanded Paul's accusers to come here and accuse Paul before you. If you question him yourself, you will be able to learn that all these things about which we are accusing him are true.”
\v 9 When the Jewish \add leaders who were listening heard that, they\add* told \add the governor that\add* what Tertullus had said was true.
\s1 Paul disproved what they had said, but admitted that he was a Christian.
\sr Acts 24:10-21
\p
\v 10 Then the governor motioned with \add his hand to Paul that\add* he should speak. So Paul replied. He said, “\add Governor Felix, I know that you(sg) have judged this Jewish\add* province for many years. Therefore I gladly defend myself, confident \add that you will listen to me and will judge me fairly\add*.
\v 11 You \add (sg)\add* can \add easily\add* ascertain that ◄it has not been more than twelve days since/only twelve days ago► I went up went up to Jerusalem to worship \add God. That is not enough time to cause a lot of trouble\add*.
\v 12 No one \add can claim legitimately that they\add* saw me arguing with anyone at the Temple courts \add because I did not do that. No one can claim legitimately that they saw me\add* causing people to riot in \add any Jewish meeting place\add*, or causing trouble anywhere \add else\add* in \add Jerusalem city, because I did not do that\add*.
\v 13 So they cannot prove to you the things about which they are now accusing me.
\v 14 But I admit to you \add (sg) that this is true\add*: I do worship the God that our ancestors \add worshipped. It is true that\add* I follow the way that \add Jesus taught us\add*. The Jewish leaders call that a false religion/teaching. I also believe everything that was written \add by Moses\add* {that \add Moses wrote\add*} in the laws that \add God gave him\add* and everything that was written by the \add other\add* prophets {that the \add other\add* prophets wrote} \add in their books\add* [MTY].
\v 15 I confidently expect, just like \add some of\add* these men also expect, that \add some day God\add* will cause everyone who has died to become alive again. He will ◄cause to become alive again/raise from the dead► both those who were righteous and those who were wicked.
\v 16 \add Because I am confidently waiting for that day\add*, I always try to do what pleases God and what other people think is right.
\v 17 After I \add had been in other places for\add* several years, I returned to Jerusalem. I went there to deliver some money to my fellow Jews \add who are\add* poor, and to offer sacrifices \add to God\add*.
\v 18 Some \add Jews\add* saw me in the temple \add courts\add* after I had completed the ritual by which a person is made {that makes a person} pure. There was no crowd with me, and I was not causing \add people\add* to riot.
\v 19 But it was some \add other\add* Jews \add who had come\add* from Asia \add province who really caused people to riot. They\add* should be here in front of you \add (sg)\add* to accuse me, if they thought that I \add did\add* something \add wrong\add*.
\v 20 \add But if they\add* do not \add want to do that\add* (OR, \add But because they\add* are \add not\add* here), these \add Jewish\add* men who are here should tell you \add (sg)\add* what \add they think\add* I did that was wrong, when I \add defended myself\add* before their Council.
\v 21 \add They might say that\add* one thing that I shouted as I stood before them \add was wrong. What I said\add* was, ‘You are judging me today because I believe that \add God\add* will ◄cause \add all people\add* who have died to become alive again/raise \add all people\add* from the dead►.’”
\s1 Governor Felix adjourned the trial.
\sr Acts 24:22-23
\p
\v 22 Felix already knew quite a lot about \add what people called\add* ❛the way \add of Jesus❜\add*. But he did not let Paul or his accusers continue to speak. \add Instead\add*, he said \add to them\add*, “\add Later\add*, when Commander Lysias comes down here, I will decide these matters that concern you all.”
\v 23 Then he told the officer \add who was guarding Paul\add* to \add take Paul back to the prison and\add* make sure that Paul was guarded all the time. But he said that Paul was not to be chained {that the officer was not to fasten chains on him}, and if his friends came to visit him, \add the officer\add* should allow them to help Paul \add in any way that they wished\add*.
\s1 Felix often talked to Paul, hoping that Paul would give him money.
\sr Acts 24:24-27
\p
\v 24 Several days later Felix and his wife Drusilla, who was a Jew, came \add back to Caesarea after having been away for a few days\add*. Felix \add commanded\add* Paul to be brought in {\add a soldier to\add* bring Paul in}. Then Felix listened to what Paul \add said to him\add*. Paul spoke about what \add Christians\add* believe about the Messiah Jesus.
\v 25 Paul explained \add to them about what God requires people\add* to do in order to please him. \add He also explained about God requiring people to\add* control how they act. \add Paul also told him that there will be a time when God\add* will judge \add people\add*. Felix became alarmed \add after hearing those things. So\add* he said to Paul, “That is all I \add want to hear\add* now. When there is a time that is convenient I will ask you \add (sg)\add* to come \add to me again\add*.”
\v 26 \add Felix said that because\add* he hoped that Paul would give him some money for \add allowing Paul to get out of prison\add*. So he repeatedly sent for Paul to come, and Paul \add repeatedly went and\add* talked with him. \add But he\add* did not \add give Felix any money, and Felix did not command his soldiers to release Paul from prison\add*.
\p
\v 27 Felix let Paul remain in prison, because he wanted to please the Jewish \add leaders and he knew that they did not want him to release Paul\add*. But when two years had passed, Porcius Festus became governor in place of Felix.
\c 25
\s1 Festus told the Jews to go and accuse Paul at Caesarea.
\sr Acts 25:1-5
\p
\v 1 Festus, \add who was now the governor\add* of the province, arrived in Caesarea, and three days later he went up to Jerusalem.
\v 2 In Jerusalem, the chief priests and \add other\add* Jewish leaders formally told \add Festus\add* about \add the things that they said\add* that Paul \add had done that were wrong\add*.
\v 3 They urgently asked Festus to do something for them. \add They asked him to command soldiers\add* to bring Paul to Jerusalem, \add so that Festus could put him on trial there\add*. But they were planning that some \add of them\add* would hide \add near the road\add* and wait \add for Paul\add* and kill him when he was traveling \add to Jerusalem\add*.
\v 4 But Festus replied, “Paul is in Caesarea, and is being guarded {\add soldiers\add* are guarding him} \add there\add*. I myself will go down to Caesarea in a few days.
\v 5 Choose some of your leaders to go there with me. \add While they are there\add*, they can accuse Paul of the wrong things that you say that he has done.”
\s1 Paul appealed to Caesar, so Festus agreed to that.
\sr Acts 25:6-12
\p
\v 6 After Festus had been \add in Jerusalem\add* eight or ten days, he went back down to Caesarea. \add Several of the Jewish leaders also went there\add*. The next day Festus \add commanded\add* that Paul be brought {someone to bring Paul} to him \add in the assembly hall\add* so that he could judge him.
\v 7 \add After\add* Paul was brought to \add the assembly hall\add*, the Jewish \add leaders\add* from Jerusalem gathered around him \add to accuse him\add*. They told \add Festus\add* that Paul had committed many crimes. But they could not prove \add that Paul had done the things about which they accused him\add*.
\v 8 Then Paul \add spoke\add* to defend himself. He said, “I have done nothing wrong against the laws of us \add (exc)\add* Jews, and I have not disobeyed the rules concerning our Temple. I have also done nothing wrong against your government [MTY].”
\v 9 But Festus wanted to please the Jewish \add leaders, so\add* he asked Paul, “Are you \add (sg)\add* willing to go up to Jerusalem so that I can listen as these men accuse you \add there\add*?”
\v 10 But Paul \add did not want to do that. So\add* he said \add to Festus\add*, “\add No\add*, I \add am not willing to go to Jerusalem!\add* I am \add now\add* standing before you, and you \add (sg)\add* are the judge \add whom the Roman\add* Emperor [MTY] \add has authorized. This is the place\add* where I should be judged {where you should judge me}. I have not wronged the Jewish people \add at all\add*, as you know very well.
\v 11 If I had done something bad \add for which I\add* should be executed {\add concerning which the law said that they\add* should execute me}, I would not plead \add with them that they\add* not kill me. But none of these things about which they accuse me is \add true, so\add* no one can \add legally\add* surrender me to \add these Jews\add*. So I formally request that the emperor [MTY] \add should judge me at Rome\add*.”
\v 12 Then after Festus conferred with the \add men who regularly\add* advised him, he replied to Paul, “You \add (sg)\add* have formally requested \add that I should send you\add* to the emperor \add in Rome. So I will arrange for\add* you to go there \add in order that he can judge you\add*.”
\s1 Festus told King Agrippa about Paul.
\sr Acts 25:13-22
\p
\v 13 After several days, King \add Herod\add* Agrippa arrived at Caesarea, along with \add his younger sister\add* Bernice. They had come to \add formally\add* welcome Festus \add as the new Governor of the province\add*.
\v 14 King Agrippa and Bernice stayed many days in Caesarea. While \add they were\add* there, Festus told Agrippa about Paul. He said to the king, “There is a man here whom Felix kept in prison \add while he was governor\add*. He left him \add there when his time as governor ended\add*.
\v 15 When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and \add the other\add* Jewish elders told me that this man had done many things \add against their laws\add*. They asked me to condemn him \add to be executed\add* {judge him \add so that people could kill him\add*}.
\v 16 But I told them that when someone has been accused \add of a crime, we\add* Romans do not immediately ◄condemn that person/declare that person to be guilty►. First, we \add command\add* him to stand before the people who are accusing him and to say whether or not he has done those things. \add After that, the judge will decide what to do with\add* him.
\v 17 So those Jews came \add here to Caesarea\add* when I came. I did not delay. The day after \add we(exc) arrived\add*, after I sat down at the place where I make decisions, I \add commanded\add* that Paul be brought {\add soldiers\add* to bring Paul} into \add the courtroom\add*.
\v 18 The Jewish leaders did accuse him, but the things about which they accused him were not any of the \add evil\add* crimes about which I thought \add they would accuse him\add*.
\v 19 Instead, what they argued about with him were some teachings that \add some\add* Jews believe \add and others do not believe. They argued\add* about a man whose name was Jesus who had died, \add but the man they were accusing, whose name is\add* Paul, kept saying, ‘Jesus is alive again.’
\v 20 I did not know what questions to ask \add them, and I did not know how to judge\add* concerning their dispute. So I asked Paul, ‘Are you \add (sg)\add* willing to go \add back\add* to Jerusalem and have the dispute \add between you and these Jews\add* judged there {and \add let me\add* judge there the dispute \add between you and these Jews\add*}?’
\v 21 But Paul answered, ‘\add No\add*. I \add am not willing to go to Jerusalem!\add* I \add want you(sg) to\add* request that the emperor \add in Rome\add* judge my affair, \add and I will wait here as a prisoner until then\add*.’ So I have \add commanded\add* that Paul be guarded {\add soldiers\add* to guard Paul} here until I can send him to the emperor [MTY] \add in Rome\add*.”
\v 22 Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I myself would like to hear what that man \add says\add*.” Festus answered, “\add I will arrange for\add* you \add (sg)\add* to hear him tomorrow.”
\s1 Festus asked King Agrippa to tell him what to write to Caesar about Paul.
\sr Acts 25:23-27
\p
\v 23 The next day Agrippa and Bernice came very ceremoniously to the assembly hall. Some \add Roman\add* commanders and prominent men in \add Caesarea\add* came with them. Then, Festus told an officer to bring Paul. So after the officer \add went to the prison and\add* brought him,
\v 24 Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all \add the rest of you\add* who are here, you see this man. Many [HYP] Jews in Jerusalem and also those here \add in Caesarea\add* appealed to me, screaming that we \add (exc)\add* should not let him live any longer.
\v 25 But \add when I asked them to tell me what he had done, and they told me\add*, I found out that he had not done anything for which he should be executed {\add anyone should\add* execute him}. However, he has asked that our emperor \add should judge his case\add*, so I have decided to send him to Rome.
\v 26 But I do not know what specifically I should write to the emperor concerning him. That is why I have brought him here. I \add want\add* you all \add to hear him speak\add*, and I especially want you \add (sg)\add*, King Agrippa, to hear him. Then, after we \add (inc)\add* have questioned him, I may know what I should write \add to the emperor about him\add*.
\v 27 It seems to me \add that it would be\add* unreasonable to send a prisoner \add to the emperor in Rome without my\add* specifying the \add things about which people\add* are accusing him.”
\c 26
\s1 Paul requested that his hearers would listen to him.
\sr Acts 26:1-3
\p
\v 1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You \add (sg)\add* are permitted \add now\add* to speak \add to defend\add* yourself.” Paul stretched out his hand ◄\add dramatically/to salute the king\add*► and began to defend himself. He said,
\v 2 “King Agrippa, I consider that I am fortunate that today, while you \add (sg)\add* listen, I can defend myself from all the things about which the Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] are accusing me.
\v 3 I am really fortunate, because you \add (sg)\add* know all about the customs of us Jews and the questions that we \add (exc)\add* argue about. So I ask you, please listen patiently to what I say.”
\s1 Paul told about being a Pharisee who believed that God would resurrect people.
\sr Acts 26:4-8
\p
\v 4 “Many [HYP] of my fellow Jews know about how I have conducted my life, from the time I was a child. They know how I lived in the area where I \add was born\add* and \add also later\add* in Jerusalem.
\v 5 They have known for many years, and they could tell you, if they wanted to, that \add since I was very young\add* I obeyed the customs of our religion very carefully, just like the \add other\add* Pharisees do.
\v 6 Today I am being put on trial {\add they\add* are putting me on trial} because I am confidently expecting that God will do what he promised our \add (exc)\add* ancestors.
\v 7 Our twelve tribes are \add also\add* confidently waiting for God to do \add for us what he promised\add*, as they respectfully worship him, day and night. \add Respected\add* king, I confidently expect \add that God will do what he promised, and they also believe that! But that is the reason\add* that these Jewish leaders [SYN] are accusing me!
\v 8 You \add people\add* believe that God can cause those who have died to become alive again, so ◄why \add do you refuse to believe that he raised Jesus from the dead?/you should not refuse to believe that he raised Jesus from the dead!\add*► [RHQ]”
\s1 Paul told about how he had persecuted Christians.
\sr Acts 26:9-11
\p
\v 9 “\add Formerly\add* I, too, was sure that I should do everything that I could to oppose Jesus [MTY], the man from Nazareth \add town\add*.
\v 10 So that is what I did \add when I lived\add* in Jerusalem. I put many of the believers in jail, as the chief priests there had authorized me \add to do\add*. When \add the Jewish leaders wanted\add* those Christians killed {someone to kill those \add Christians\add*}. I voted \add for that\add*.
\v 11 Many times I punished the believers \add whom I found\add* in Jewish meeting places. \add By punishing them\add*, I tried to force them to speak evil \add about Jesus\add*. I was so angry with the followers of Jesus that I even traveled to other cities to \add find them and\add* do things to harm them.”
\s1 Paul told how he had become a believer in Jesus.
\sr Acts 26:12-18
\p
\v 12 “\add One day\add*, I was on my way to Damascus \add city\add* to do that. The chief priests \add in Jerusalem\add* had authorized and sent me \add to seize the believers there\add*.
\v 13 \add My respected\add* king, \add while I was going\add* along the road, at about noon I saw a \add bright\add* light in the sky. It was even brighter than the sun! It shone all around me, and also around the men who were traveling with me.
\v 14 We \add (exc)\add* all fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me in my own Hebrew language [MTY]. He said ‘Saul, Saul, ◄stop causing me to suffer!/why are you causing me to suffer?► [RHQ] You \add (sg)\add* are \add hurting yourself by trying to hurt me\add* [MET], \add like an ox\add* kicking against \add its owner's\add* goad.’
\v 15 Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘I am Jesus. You \add (sg)\add* are harming me \add by harming my followers\add*.
\v 16 But instead \add of continuing to do that\add*, stand up now! I have appeared to you \add (sg)\add* to tell you that I have chosen you to serve me. You must tell people about \add what I am showing you\add* as you are seeing me \add now\add*, and about what I \add will show you when\add* I will \add later\add* appear to you.
\v 17 I will protect you \add from those who will try to harm you, both\add* your own people and \add also\add* those who are not Jewish. I am sending you to them
\v 18 to help them to realize [MTY] what is true and to stop believing what is false [MET]. I am sending you to them so that they may let God control them and not let Satan control them anymore. \add Then God\add* will forgive their sins and will accept them as his people because they believe in me.’ \add That is what Jesus said to me\add*.”
\s1 Paul said that he obeyed what Jesus commanded him from heaven.
\sr Acts 26:19-20
\p
\v 19 “So, King Agrippa, I fully obeyed [LIT] what \add the Lord Jesus told me to do when he spoke to me\add* from heaven.
\v 20 First, I preached to \add the Jews\add* in Damascus. Then I \add preached to the Jews\add* in Jerusalem and throughout \add the rest of\add* Judea \add province\add*. After that, I also preached to non-Jews. I preached that they must turn away from their sinful behavior and turn their lives over to God. I told them that they must do things that would show that they had truly stopped their sinful behavior.”
\s1 Paul said that he proclaimed what the prophets had written about the Messiah.
\sr Acts 26:21-23
\p
\v 21 “It is because I \add preached\add* this message \add that some\add* [SYN] Jews seized me \add when I was\add* in the Temple \add courtyard and\add* tried to kill me.
\v 22 However, God has been helping me \add from that time, and he is still helping me\add* today. So I stand here and I tell \add all of you people\add*, those who are important and those who are not, \add who Jesus is\add*. Everything that I say \add about him\add* is what Moses and the \add other\add* prophets wrote \add about long ago, things that they said\add* would happen.
\v 23 They wrote that \add people would cause\add* the Messiah to suffer and die. They also wrote that he would be the first person to become alive again, to proclaim \add the message that would be like\add* light, \add that he would save\add* both \add his own Jewish\add* people and non-Jewish people.”
\s1 Paul talked to Festus and Agrippa, urging them to become believers in Jesus.
\sr Acts 26:24-29
\p
\v 24 Before Paul could say anything \add further\add* to defend himself, Festus shouted: “Paul, you are crazy! You have studied too much, and it has made you insane!”
\v 25 But Paul answered, “Your Excellency, Festus, I am not raving \add insanely\add* On the contrary, what I am saying is true and sensible!
\v 26 King Agrippa knows the things \add that I have been talking about\add*, and I can speak confidently to him \add about them\add*. I am sure that he knows [LIT] these things, because people everywhere [IDM] have heard [LIT] about what happened \add to Jesus\add*.”
\v 27 Then Paul asked, “King Agrippa, do you believe \add what\add* the prophets \add wrote\add*? I know that you \add (sg)\add* believe it.”
\v 28 Then Agrippa \add answered\add* Paul, “◄\add I hope that you(sg)\add* do not think that by the few things \add that you have just now said\add* you can persuade me to become a Christian!/You do not think, \add do you\add*, that by the few things \add that you have just now said\add* you can persuade me to become a Christian?►” [RHQ]
\v 29 Paul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, it does not matter. I pray to God that you and also all of the others who are listening to me today will also \add believe in Jesus\add* like I do, but I do not want you to become prisoners [MTY] \add like I am\add*.”
\s1 The officials said that Paul was innocent but must go to Rome.
\sr Acts 26:30-32
\p
\v 30 Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others got up
\v 31 and left \add the room. While\add* they were talking to one another they said to each other, “There is no reason why ◄the authorities/we► should execute this man, or that he should even be kept in prison [MTY].”
\v 32 Agrippa said to Festus, “If this man had not asked that the Emperor judge him, he could have been released {\add we(inc)\add* could have released him}.”
\c 27
\s1 Paul and other prisoners sailed from Caesarea to Crete.
\sr Acts 27:1-8
\p
\v 1 When \add the Governor and those who advised him\add* decided that it was time for us \add (exc)\add* to get on a ship and go to Italy, they put Paul and some other prisoners into the hands/care of an army captain whose name was Julius. \add He was the one who would guard us on the journey\add*. Julius was \add an officer\add* in charge of \add a group of\add* a hundred \add soldiers that people called\add* ❛the Emperor Augustus Group❜.
\v 2 So we got on a ship that had come from Adramyttium \add city in Asia province. The ship\add* was going to \add return there, stopping at\add* cities along the coast of Asia \add province\add*. Aristarchus, \add a fellow believer who was\add* from Thessalonica \add city\add* in Macedonia \add province\add*, went with us.
\v 3 The day after \add the ship sailed\add*, we arrived at Sidon \add city\add*. Julius kindly told Paul that he could go and see his friends \add who lived there\add*, so that they could give him whatever he might need. \add So Paul visited the believers there\add*.
\v 4 Then the ship left \add Sidon\add*, but the winds were blowing against us \add (exc)\add*, so \add the ship\add* went along \add the north\add* side of Cyprus \add Island\add*, the side that is sheltered \add from the wind\add*.
\v 5 After that, we crossed over the sea close to the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia \add provinces. The ship\add* arrived at Myra \add city, which is\add* in Lycia \add province\add*. \add We got off the ship there\add*.
\v 6 In Myra, \add people told\add* Julius that a ship \add was there that had come\add* from Alexandria \add city\add* and would \add soon\add* sail to Italy. So he arranged for us to get \add on that ship\add*, \add and we left\add*.
\v 7 We sailed slowly for several days and finally arrived close to the coast \add of Asia province\add*, near Cnidus \add town. After that\add*, the wind \add was very strong and\add* did not allow the ship to move straight ahead \add westward. So instead\add*, we sailed \add southward\add* along the side of Crete \add Island that is\add* sheltered \add from the wind\add*, and we passed \add near Cape\add* Salmone.
\v 8 \add The wind was still strong, and it prevented the ship from moving ahead fast\add*. So we moved slowly along the coast \add of Crete\add*, and we arrived at a harbor that was called Fair Havens, near Lasea town.
\s1 Paul warned them not to travel on, but the ship's officials decided to go on anyway.
\sr Acts 27:9-20
\p
\v 9 Much time had passed, so it would have been dangerous if we \add (exc)\add* had traveled \add farther\add* by ship \add because after that time of the year\add* [MTY] \add the sea often became very stormy\add*. So Paul said to the men \add on the ship\add*,
\v 10 “Men, I perceive that \add if we(inc) travel by ship\add* now, it will be disastrous for us. A storm may destroy the ship and the cargo, and possibly we will drown.”
\v 11 But the officer \add did not listen to\add* what Paul said. Instead, he decided to do what the pilot \add of the ship\add* and the owner of the ship advised.
\v 12 The harbor where the ship had stopped was not a good place to remain during the winter \add when the weather frequently becomes stormy. So most of the people on the ship decided that we(exc) should leave there, because they hoped that we\add* could stay at Phoenix \add port\add* during the winter, if we could possibly arrive there. That harbor was open to the sea in two directions, \add but the strong winds did not blow there\add*.
\v 13 Then a gentle wind began to blow \add from the south\add*, and the \add crew members\add* thought that they could travel as they had decided \add to do. So\add* they lifted \add the anchor up out of the sea\add*, and the ship sailed \add westward\add* along the \add southern\add* shore of Crete \add Island\add*.
\v 14 But after a while, a wind that was very strong blew across the island \add from the north side and hit the ship. That wind was called\add* {\add People\add* called that wind} “the Northeast Wind.”
\v 15 It blew strongly against the \add front of\add* the ship. The result was that we could not keep going in the direction \add in which we had been going\add*. So the sailors let the wind move the ship in the direction \add that the wind\add* was blowing.
\v 16 The ship then passed a small island named Cauda. We passed along the side \add of the island that\add* sheltered \add the ship from the wind\add*. Then \add while the ship was moving along\add*, the sailors lifted the lifeboat up \add out of the water\add* and tied it \add on the deck. But the strong wind made it\add* difficult even to do that.
\v 17-18 After the sailors \add hoisted/lifted\add* the lifeboat onto the ship, they tied ropes around the ship's hull to strengthen the ship. The sailors were afraid that, \add because the wind was pushing the ship\add*, it might run onto the sandbanks off the coast of Libya to the south \add and get stuck there. So\add* they lowered the largest sail \add so that the ship would move slower. Even so\add*, the wind continued to move the ship along. \add The wind and the waves\add* continued to toss the ship about roughly, so on the next day the sailors began to throw overboard the things that the ship was carrying.
\v 19 On the third \add day after the stormy wind had begun to blow\add*, the sailors/we [MTY] threw overboard \add most of\add* the sails, ropes, and poles, \add in order to make the ship lighter\add*.
\v 20 The wind continued to blow very strongly, \add and the sky was full of dark clouds\add* day and night. We could not see the sun or the stars for many days, \add so we could not determine where we were. And the wind\add* continued to blow violently. So we \add (exc)\add* finally thought that we would drown in the sea.
\s1 Paul told them that an angel from God said that they would all survive.
\sr Acts 27:21-26
\p
\v 21 None of us on the ship had eaten for many days. \add Then one day\add*, Paul stood up in front of us and said, “\add Friends\add*, you should have listened to me \add when I said\add* that we \add (inc)\add* should not sail from Crete. Then we would have been safe, and the ship and its cargo would be in good condition [LIT].
\v 22 But now, I urge you, do not be afraid, because none of us will die. \add The storm\add* will destroy the ship but not us.
\v 23 I \add know this\add*, because last night God, the one to whom I belong and whom I serve, \add sent\add* an angel \add who came and\add* stood by me.
\v 24 The angel said to me, ‘Paul, do not be afraid! You \add (sg)\add* must \add go to Rome\add* and stand before the Emperor there \add so that he can judge you\add*. I want you to know that God has granted to you \add that\add* all those who are traveling by ship with you \add will also survive\add*.’
\v 25 So cheer up, \add my\add* friends, because I believe that God will make this happen, exactly as \add the angel\add* told me.
\v 26 However, \add the ship\add* will crash on some island, \add and\add* we \add (inc)\add* will go ashore \add there\add*.”
\s1 Paul thwarted some sailors who tried to sneak ashore in the lifeboat.
\sr Acts 27:27-32
\p
\v 27 On the fourteenth night \add after the storm had begun, the ship\add* was still being blown {the wind was still blowing \add the ship\add*} across the Adriatic sea. About midnight, the sailors sensed that the ship was getting close to land.
\v 28 So they lowered \add a rope\add* to measure how deep \add the water was\add*. When they pulled the rope up again, they measured it and saw that the water was ◄120 ft./37 meters► deep. They went a little farther and lowered the rope again. \add That time\add*, they saw that the water was \add only\add* about ◄90 ft./28 meters► deep.
\v 29 They were afraid that the \add ship\add* might go onto some rocks, so they threw out four anchors from the \add ship's\add* stern/back and continued to wish/pray that it would soon be dawn \add so that they could see where the ship was going\add*.
\v 30 Some of the sailors were planning to escape from the ship, so they lowered the lifeboat into the sea. In order \add that no one would know what they planned to do\add*, they pretended \add that\add* they wanted to lower some anchors from the \add ship's\add* front/bow.
\v 31 But Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, “If the sailors do not stay in the ship, you have no hope of being saved.”
\v 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes and let the lifeboat fall into the water.
\s1 Paul urged them to eat some food, so they did and then lightened the ship.
\sr Acts 27:33-38
\p
\v 33 Just before dawn, Paul urged everyone \add on the ship\add* to eat some food. He said, “For the past fourteen days you have been waiting and watching and not eating anything.
\v 34 So, \add now\add* I urge you to eat some food. We \add (inc)\add* need to do that in order to stay alive. I \add tell you to do that because I know that\add* none of you will drown [IDM].”
\v 35 After Paul had said that, while everyone was watching, he took some bread and thanked God \add for it. Then he broke the bread and began to eat some of it\add*.
\v 36 The \add rest of us\add* became encouraged, so we \add (exc)\add* all ate some food.
\v 37 Altogether there were 276 of us [SYN] on the ship.
\v 38 When everyone had eaten as much as they wanted, they threw the grain \add that the ship was carrying\add* into the sea, and this made the ship lighter.
\s1 The waves began to break up the ship after it struck a shoal.
\sr Acts 27:39-41
\p
\v 39 At dawn, \add we(exc) could see\add* land, \add but the sailors\add* did not recognize \add the place\add*. However, they could see that there was a bay and \add a wide area of\add* sand at the water's edge. They planned that, if it was possible, they would steer the ship onto \add the beach\add*.
\v 40 \add So some of the sailors\add* cut the anchor \add ropes and\add* let the anchors fall into the sea. At the same time, \add other sailors\add* untied the \add ropes that\add* fastened the rudders, \add so that they could steer the ship again\add*. Then \add the sailors\add* raised the sail at the front/bow of the ship so that the wind \add would blow the ship forward\add*, and the ship headed towards the shore.
\v 41 But the ship hit a sandbank. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move, and big waves beat against the back of the ship and it began to break apart.
\s1 The officer saved Paul and commanded all to go to the shore, so they did that.
\sr Acts 27:42-44
\p
\v 42 The soldiers said \add to one another, “Let's\add* kill \add all\add* the prisoners \add on the ship\add*, so that they will not \add be able to\add* swim \add away and\add* escape.” \add They planned to do that because they were sure\add* that officials \add would order them to be executed if they let the prisoners escape\add*.
\v 43 But \add Julius\add*, the army captain, wanted to save Paul, so he stopped the soldiers from doing what they planned to do. Instead, he \add commanded\add* first that everyone who could swim should jump into the water and swim to land.
\v 44 \add Then he told\add* the others \add to hold\add* onto planks or pieces from the ship \add and go towards shore. We(exc) did what he said, and\add* in that way all of us arrived safely on land.
\c 28
\s1 The Maltese thought that Paul was a god because a snake did not harm him.
\sr Acts 28:1-6
\p
\v 1 After we \add (exc)\add* had arrived safely \add on the shore\add*, we learned that it was an island called Malta.
\v 2 The people who lived there received us kindly. They lit a fire and invited us to come and warm ourselves, because it was raining and it was cold.
\v 3 Paul gathered some sticks and put them on the fire. But \add among those sticks was\add* a snake that had come out \add from the fire to escape\add* from the heat, and it fastened itself on Paul's hand.
\v 4 \add The islanders knew that the snake was poisonous, so\add* when they saw it hanging from Paul's hand, they said to each other, “Probably this man has murdered someone. Although he has escaped from being drowned, \add the god\add* ◄\add who\add* pays \add people back/who punishes people\add*► for their [MTY] sins will to cause him to die.”
\v 5 But Paul simply shook the snake off into the fire, and nothing happened to him.
\v 6 The people were expecting that Paul's body would soon swell up or that he would suddenly fall down and die. But after they had waited a long time, they saw \add that the snake\add* had not harmed him \add at all\add*. So then the people changed what they were thinking and said \add to one another\add*, “This man is not a murderer! Probably he is a god!”
\s1 Paul healed many Maltese, so they supplied what he and the others needed.
\sr Acts 28:7-10
\p
\v 7 Near where the people had made the fire, there were some fields that belonged to a man whose name was Publius. He was the chief official on the island. He invited us to \add come and stay in\add* his home. He took care of us for three days.
\v 8 \add At that time\add* Publius' father had fever and dysentery, and he was lying \add in bed\add*. So Paul visited him and prayed \add for him. Then\add* Paul placed his hands on him and healed him.
\v 9 After Paul had done that, the other people on the island who were sick came \add to him\add* and \add he\add* healed them, too.
\v 10 They brought us gifts and \add showed in other ways that\add* they greatly respected us. When we were \add ready\add* to leave \add three months later\add*, they brought us food and other things that we would need \add on the ship\add*.
\s1 Paul and the others sailed to Puteoli, then went by land towards Rome.
\sr Acts 28:11-14
\p
\v 11 After \add we had stayed there\add* three months, we \add got on\add* a ship \add that was going to Italy and\add* sailed away. The ship had been in \add a harbor on\add* the island during the months when there are many storms. It had come from Alexandria \add city\add*. On the front of the ship there were carved images of the twin gods \add whose names were Castor and Pollux\add*.
\v 12 We \add sailed from the island and\add* arrived at Syracuse \add city on Sicily island\add* and stayed there three days.
\v 13 Then we traveled on by ship and arrived at Rhegium \add port in Italy\add*. The next day, the wind was blowing from behind us, \add so we sailed along fast\add*. The day after that, we reached Puteoli \add town, where we left the ship\add*.
\v 14 In Puteoli we met some believers who invited us to stay with them for a week. \add After visiting them\add*, we \add left there and started to travel by land\add* to Rome.
\s1 Christians came out from Rome and escorted Paul into that city.
\sr Acts 28:15-16
\p
\v 15 \add A group of\add* believers \add who lived in Rome\add* had heard that we \add (exc) were coming\add*. So they came out \add from Rome\add* to meet us. \add Some of\add* them met us at \add the town called\add* ❛The Market on Appian \add Road❜,\add* and others met us at \add the town called\add* ❛The Three Inns❜. When Paul saw those believers, he thanked God and was encouraged.
\v 16 After we \add (exc)\add* arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted {\add a Roman official who was responsible for guarding Paul\add* permitted Paul} to live \add in a house\add* by himself. But \add there was always\add* a soldier there to guard him.
\s1 The Jewish leaders asked Paul to tell them about Christianity.
\sr Acts 28:17-22
\p
\v 17 After \add Paul had been there\add* three days, he sent a message to the Jewish leaders \add to come and talk with him. So\add* they came, and Paul said to them, “My fellow Jews, although I have not opposed our people nor spoken against the customs of our ancestors, \add our leaders\add* in Jerusalem \add seized\add* [MTY] \add me. But before they could kill me, a Roman commander rescued me and later sent me\add* to Caesarea for Roman \add authorities/officials to put me on trial\add*.
\v 18 The Roman authorities/officials questioned me and wanted to release me, because I had not done any \add bad\add* thing for which I should be executed {they should kill me}.
\v 19 But when the Jewish \add leaders\add* [SYN] there opposed \add what the Roman authorities wanted to do\add*, I had to formally request that the Emperor \add judge me here in Rome\add*. But my reason for doing that was not that I wanted to accuse our leaders about anything.
\v 20 So I have requested you \add to come\add* here so that I can tell you why I am a prisoner. It is because I believe in [MTY] our Messiah, the one \add God long ago promised to send\add* to us \add (inc)\add* Jews.”
\v 21 Then \add the Jewish leaders\add* said, “We \add (exc)\add* have not received any letters from \add our fellow Jews\add* in Judea about you. Also, none of our fellow Jews who have arrived \add here from Judea\add* has said anything bad about you.
\v 22 But we \add (exc)\add* want to hear what you \add (sg)\add* think about this \add Christian\add* sect/group, because we know that in many places [HYP] bad things are being said {people are saying bad things} about it.”
\s1 Paul told the Jews that non-Jews would believe the gospel.
\sr Acts 28:23-31
\p
\v 23 So they \add talked with Paul and decided that they would come back on another day to hear him. When that day arrived\add*, those Jews came back to the place where Paul was staying, and they brought more Jews with them. Paul talked to them from morning until evening. He talked to them about how God wants to rule \add people's lives\add* [MET]. He tried to convince them that Jesus \add is the Messiah\add* by reminding them what Moses and the other prophets had written [MTY].
\v 24 Some of those Jews believed that what was said \add by Paul\add* {what \add Paul\add* said} about Jesus \add was true\add*, but others did not believe \add that it was true\add*.
\v 25 So they began to argue with one another. \add Paul realized that some of them did not want to listen to him, so\add* when they were about to leave, he said, “The Holy Spirit said something to your/our(incl) ancestors. He spoke these words to Isaiah the prophet, \add and what he said is also true about you\add*,
\q
\v 26 Go to your fellow Israelites and tell them,
\q ‘You repeatedly listen \add to the message of God\add*, but you never understand \add what God is saying\add*.
\q You repeatedly look at and see \add the things that God is doing\add*,
\q but you never understand \add what they mean\add*.
\q
\v 27 God also said to the prophet,
\q These people do not understand, because they have become stubborn.
\q They have ears, but they do not understand what they hear,
\q and they have closed their eyes \add because they do not want to see\add*.
\q If they wanted to obey what I say to them, they might understand with their hearts what they see \add me doing\add* and what they hear \add me saying\add*.
\q Then they might turn from their sinful behavior and I would save them.’
\p
\v 28-29 \add That is what God said to the prophet Isaiah about our ancestors. But you Jews today do not want to believe God's message\add*. Therefore, I am telling you that \add God\add* has sent to the non-Jews this message about how he saves people, and they will listen \add and accept it\add*!”
\p
\v 30 For two whole years Paul stayed \add there\add* in a house that he rented. Many people came to see him, and he received them all gladly \add and talked with them\add*.
\v 31 He preached \add and taught people\add* about how God could rule \add their lives\add* [MET] and taught them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He did that without being afraid, and no one tried to stop him.