unfoldingWord® Translation Questions
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| I made the first account, O Theophilus, about all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, | Dear Theophilus, In the first book that I wrote for you, I told about many of Jesus’ actions and teachings. |
Luke addressed this book to Theophilus.
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| until that day when he was taken up, having given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen, | {I told you about those things} up to the moment when God took Jesus up to heaven. Before Jesus went to heaven, he gave instructions to his chosen Representatives as the Holy Spirit guided him. |
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| to whom also, after he had suffered, he presented himself living with many proofs, appearing to them for 40 days and speaking things concerning the kingdom of God. | Even though the Romans executed Jesus on a cross, God made him alive again. Jesus then went to his Representatives {and other disciples} and proved to them in many convincing ways that he truly was alive again. He met with them at different times over a period of 40 days. He talked with them about how God would rule the lives of people everywhere. |
Jesus appeared alive to his apostles, saying things about the kingdom of God.
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| And meeting together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, “which you heard from me, | One time while Jesus was with his disciples, he told them, “I want you to stay here in the city of Jerusalem and wait until God our Father sends his Spirit to you. As I told you, he promised that he would do that. |
Jesus told his apostles to wait for the promise of the Father.
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| that John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit after these not many days.” | John baptized people in water, but within a few days God is going to baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” |
The apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
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| They therefore having assembled, they were asking him, saying, “Lord, if you are restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” | One day when the Representatives were meeting together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you now become our king so that we Israelite people will have our own king once again?” |
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| But he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. | He replied to them, “You do not need to know when that will happen. God my Father alone has decided {when he will make me king}.” |
Jesus told them that it was not for them to know the time.
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| But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” | But when the Holy Spirit comes to you, he will enable you to tell people about me powerfully. You will do this here in the city of Jerusalem. You will do it in the nearby regions of Judea and Samaria. But you will also do it all over the world. |
Jesus said the apostles would receive power.
Jesus said the apostles would be witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
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| And having said these things, as they were looking, he was raised up, and a cloud hid him from their eyes. | After he said that, he started to rise up {into heaven} while they watched. But then a cloud blocked their view so that they could no longer see him. |
Jesus was raised up and a cloud hid him from their eyes.
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| And while they were looking intently into heaven as he was going up, and behold, two men stood by them in white clothes. | While they were still staring toward the sky as Jesus was going up, suddenly two angels in human form stood beside them. Their clothes shone brightly. |
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| And they said, “Men, Galileans, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, the one having been taken up from you into heaven, thus will come, the way you saw him going into heaven.” | One of the angels said, “You men who come from Galilee, you do not need to look up at the sky any longer! Someday this same Jesus, whom God took from you up into heaven, will come back {to earth}. He will return in the same way that you just now saw him go up to heaven.” |
The angels said that Jesus would return in the same way he went into heaven.
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| Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill that is called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, having a journey of a Sabbath. | Then {after the two angels left}, the Representatives returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is a short distance from Jerusalem. |
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| And when they arrived, they went up into the upper chamber where they were staying, both Peter and John, and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas of James. | After they entered the city, they went into the upstairs room {in the house} where they were staying. Those who were there included Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew. They also included another man named James, who was the son of Alphaeus; Simon the Zealot; and Judas, who was the son of yet another man named James. |
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| They all were continuing unanimously in prayer, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. | All these men prayed together regularly and frequently. Others who prayed with them included the women who had traveled with Jesus; Mary, who was Jesus’ mother; and his younger brothers. |
They were diligently praying.
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| And in those days Peter, having stood up in the midst of the brothers, said (and the multitude of names to the same was about 120), | Now about 120 people were meeting together at that place. At one of the meetings, Peter stood up among his fellow believers {because he was going to say something important}. He said, |
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| “Men, brothers, it was necessary for the scripture to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, the one having become a guide to the ones arresting Jesus. | “You who believe as I do, there are words that King David wrote in the Scriptures long ago that had to happen as he said they would. The Holy Spirit, who knew that Judas would show Jesus’ enemies where to find him and arrest him, inspired David to write those words. |
The scripture had been fulfilled by Judas.
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| For he was numbered with us and received a share of this ministry.” | But Jesus had chosen Judas, along with the rest of us, to represent him. {So we need to find someone else to take his place.}” |
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| (Now indeed this one bought a field from the wage of unrighteousness, and having become prostrate, he burst open in the middle, and all his entrails were poured out. | This is how Judas died. The Jewish leaders gave Judas money for betraying Jesus. He used that money to buy a field {and he went to that field to kill himself because he felt so badly about what he had done to Jesus}. As he killed himself, his body landed with such force on that field that his abdomen burst open and all his intestines spilled out. |
Judas bought a field, fell head first, his body burst wide open, and all his bowels poured out.
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| And it became known to all those living in Jerusalem. Therefore that field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) | The news about this spread widely among the people of Jerusalem. When they heard about it, they gave that field a new name. In their Aramaic language it was Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.” {They gave it that name because it was where someone had died.} |
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| “For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation become desolate, and let not one dwelling be in it,’ and ‘Let another take his overseership.’ | Peter also said, “What happened to Judas is like what we read in the book of Psalms: ‘May his home become empty, with no one living in it.’ These other words in the Psalms also refer to him: ‘Let someone else take over his work as a leader.’” |
The Psalms said that Judas’ position of leadership should be fulfilled by someone else.
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| Therefore it is necessary, of the men having accompanied us during all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, | “So we need to identify all the men who were with us during the whole time when the Lord Jesus was with us. |
The man taking the position must have accompanied the apostles from the time of the baptism of John, and must have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.
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| beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us—one of these {is} to become a witness with us of his resurrection.” | {They need to have been with us} from the time when John the Baptizer began his work until the day when Jesus left us and rose up to heaven. One such man must {replace Judas and} join us in telling people about Jesus and how God caused him to live again after he died.” |
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| And they stood up two, Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was named Justus, and Matthias. | So the people who were meeting together suggested two men who could replace Judas. One man was Joseph the son of Sabbas, who also had the name Justus. The other man was Matthias. |
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| And praying, they said, “You, Lord, heart-knower of all, show which one from these two you have chosen | Then they prayed: “Lord Jesus, Judas stopped representing you as he should have. He has now gone to the place where he deserves to be. You know what every person thinks privately. So please show us which of these two men you have chosen to take the place of Judas as your Representative.” (vv24-25) |
The apostles prayed that God reveal His choice, and then they cast lots.
| ULT | UST |
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| to take this place of ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” | Then they prayed: “Lord Jesus, Judas stopped representing you as he should have. He has now gone to the place where he deserves to be. You know what every person thinks privately. So please show us which of these two men you have chosen to take the place of Judas as your Representative.” (vv24-25) |
| ULT | UST |
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| And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was chosen together with the 11 apostles. | Then they cast lots to choose between the two of them. The lot indicated that Matthias was the one to replace Judas. So he became a Representative along with the 11 others. |
Matthias was then numbered with the eleven apostles.
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| And when the day of Pentecost was completely filled, they were all together to the same. | On the day when the Jews were celebrating the Pentecost festival, the believers were all together in one place {in the city of Jerusalem}. |
The disciples were together on the day of Pentecost.
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| And suddenly a sound came from heaven, as of a strong wind being borne along, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. | Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from the sky that sounded like a wind blowing loudly. Everyone in the entire house where they were sitting heard the noise. |
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| And tongues as if of fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and they sat upon each one of them. | Then they saw what looked like burning flames. These flames separated from one another and came to rest on each of the believers. |
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| And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit was giving them to speak out. | Then the Holy Spirit empowered all of the believers. They began to speak in languages they had never learned. The Spirit was making it possible for them to do that fluently. |
The disciples began to speak with other languages.
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| Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, godly men, from every nation of those under heaven. | At that time many Jews were staying in Jerusalem {to celebrate the Pentecost festival}. They were Jewish people who sincerely worshiped God. They had come from many different countries around the world. |
The godly Jews had come from every nation under heaven.
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| And when this sound happened, the multitude came together and was confused, because each one was hearing them speaking in his own language. | When they heard this loud noise, a large crowd {of these Jews} gathered {at the place where the believers were}. The people in the crowd were amazed because they were each hearing the believers speak in their own languages. |
The multitude was confused because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.
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| And they were all amazed and were marveling, saying, “Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? | They were all completely amazed, and they said to each other, “Listen, all these people who are speaking have come from Galilee. {So they cannot possibly know our languages!} |
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| And how are we hearing, each in our own language in which we were born? | But all of us hear them speaking our own native languages! |
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| Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those inhabiting Mesopotamia, Judea and also Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, | Some of us are people from the regions of Parthia and Media and Elam. Others of us are from the regions of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. |
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| Phrygia and also Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya that {are} near Cyrene, and Romans visiting, | There are some people here from the regions of Phrygia and Pamphylia, from the country of Egypt, and from the regions in Libya that are near the city of Cyrene. There are others of us who are here visiting Jerusalem from Rome. |
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| both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we are hearing them speaking in our languages the great things of God.” | They include native Jews as well as non-Jews who have chosen to believe and practice what Jews believe. And others of us are from the island of Crete and from the region of Arabia. And yet we can hear these people speaking in all our different languages about the mighty works that God has done!” |
The disciples were telling about the mighty works of God.
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| So they were all amazed and were perplexed, saying one to another, “What does this want to be?” | The people wondered {about what was happening} and did not know what to think {about it}. So they asked one another, “What is happening here?” |
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| But others, mocking, were saying, “They are filled with sweet wine.” | But some of them made fun of what they saw. They said, “{These people are talking like this because} they have drunk too much wine!” |
Some mocked and thought they were full of new wine.
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| But Peter, having stood with the eleven, raised up his voice and spoke out to them, “Men, Jews, and all the ones inhabiting Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and take my words into your ears. | In response, Peter stood up with all the other Representatives and spoke loudly to the crowd of people. He said, “You Jewish people and all of you others who live here in Jerusalem, listen to me and I will explain to you what is happening! |
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| For these are not drunk as you are assuming, for it is the third hour of the day. | Some of you think that we are drunk, but we are not drunk. It is only nine o’clock in the morning{, and people here never get drunk at this time of the day}! |
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| But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: | Instead, what has happened to us is the {miraculous} thing that the prophet Joel wrote about {long ago}. He wrote: |
Peter said the prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled that said God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh.
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| ‘“And it will be in the last days,” God says, “I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. | ‘During the last days,’ God says, ‘I will give my Holy Spirit to all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will tell people my messages. I will give visions to the young men, and I will give inspired dreams to the old men. |
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| And even on my male servants and on my female servants in those days I will pour out from my Spirit, and they will prophesy. | During those days I will give my Holy Spirit to my servants, both men and women, so they can tell people my messages. |
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| And I will give wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. | I will cause things to happen in the sky that will make people marvel. I will cause things to happen on the earth that will show that great events are going to take place. Here on the earth there will be blood, fire, and smoke everywhere. |
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| The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood before the great and remarkable day of the Lord comes. | In the sky the sun will appear dark to people and the moon will appear red to them. Those things will happen before the momentous time when I, the Lord God, come to judge everyone. |
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| And it will be, everyone who may call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”’ | But even though I am coming to judge and punish sin, I will save all those who repent and ask me to forgive their sins.’” |
Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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| Men, Israelites, hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene {was} a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know. | {Peter continued speaking. He said,} “You Israelites, listen to me! When Jesus from Nazareth lived among you, God proved to you that he had sent him by enabling him to do many amazing miracles. These showed that he was from God. You yourselves know that this is true. |
Jesus’ ministry was authenticated by the mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him.
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| This one, given up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you killed by the hand of the lawless, having fastened, | Even though you knew that, you urged people who do not obey God’s law to take action to kill Jesus. They did that by nailing him to a cross. However, God had already planned for that to happen, and he knew what the results would be, so he allowed it. |
Jesus was crucified by God’s determined plan.
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| whom God raised up, having loosed the agonies of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. | Jesus died, but God caused him to become alive again and no longer dead, because it was not possible for him to stay dead. |
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| For David says about him, ‘I saw the Lord before me through all, for he is at my right so that I should not be moved. | Long ago King David wrote what the Messiah said: ‘I knew that you, Lord God, would always be there to protect me. You are right beside me, so I will not be afraid of those who want to harm me. |
King David said that God would not allow his Holy One to see decay.
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| Because of this, my heart was glad and my tongue exulted. And indeed, my flesh will also dwell in hope. | Because of that, I am happy, and I joyfully praise you, O God. And I am completely confident {that you will cause me to become alive again after I die}. |
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| For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see decay. | I am confident because I know that you will not make me remain in the place where the dead are. You will not even let my body waste away, because you have chosen me for a special purpose. |
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| You made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your face.’ | You have shown me how to live again. You will make me very happy because you will be with me {forever}.’” |
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| Men, brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. | {Peter continued,} “You who are Jews like me, I can tell you confidently that our ancient ruler, King David, died and that his subjects buried him. In fact, his body is still here now at the place where they buried him. |
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| Therefore, being a prophet and having known that God had sworn to him with an oath to set from the fruit of his loins upon his throne, | So we know that King David was not talking about himself in this psalm. Instead, he was a prophet, and he knew that God promised to him that one of his descendants would become king after him. |
God had promised King David that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne.
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| having foreseen this, he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see decay. | A long time ago, David knew what God would do. He said that God would cause Jesus the Messiah to live again after he died. God would not allow him to remain in a grave. God would not even let him be dead long enough for his body to begin to decompose. |
King David said that God would not allow his Holy One to see decay.
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| This Jesus, God has raised up, of which we all are witnesses. | After this man Jesus had died, God made him alive again. All of us who are standing here before you can testify to this. {We all saw him alive after he had died.} |
Jesus was the prophesied Holy One and King.
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| Therefore, having been exalted to the right of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out this which you both see and hear. | So we are not babbling drunkenly. Instead, this is what has happened. God has greatly honored Jesus by causing Jesus to rule where God himself is, in heaven. Jesus has received the Holy Spirit from God his Father, just as God promised. And now Jesus has generously given us the Holy Spirit, and God has confirmed that gift by doing this miracle that you are witnessing. |
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| For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right | We know that David was not speaking about himself, because David did not go up into heaven {as Jesus did}. Besides that, David himself said this about the Messiah: ‘The Lord God said to my Lord the Messiah, “I will honor you by giving you a position next to me |
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| until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.”’ | while I completely defeat your enemies.”’” |
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| Therefore, let all the house of Israel know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” | {Peter ended by saying,} “So I want every Israelite to know definitely that God has made Jesus both Lord and Messiah, this same Jesus whom you had nailed to a cross and killed.” |
God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ.
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| And hearing this they were pierced in the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, what should we do?” | When the people heard what Peter said, they knew they had done wrong. The people asked him and the other Representatives, “Can you men tell us what God wants us to do?” |
The multitude asked what they should do.
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| Then Peter said to them, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. | Peter answered them, “Each of you should turn away from your sinful behavior. If you now believe in what Jesus, the Messiah, has done for you, we will baptize you, showing that God has forgiven your sins, and he will give you his Holy Spirit. |
Peter told the multitude to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
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| For the promise is to you and to your children and to all those {being} at a distance, as many as the Lord our God may call.” | You will receive the Holy Spirit because God has promised to give him to you and to your children and to all others whom the God we worship leads to have faith in Jesus. That includes all those who live far away from here.” |
Peter said God’s promise was for the multitude, their children, and all who were far off.
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| And with many other words he testified and urged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” | Peter said many more things and spoke strongly to them. He told them, “Ask God to save you so that he will not punish you when he punishes these evil people {who have rejected Jesus}!” |
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| Therefore, having received his word, they were baptized, and about 3,000 souls were added in that day. | So the people who believed Peter’s message received baptism. There were about 3,000 of them who joined the group of believers that day. |
About three thousand people were baptized.
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| And they were continuing in the teaching of the apostles and in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. | They continually obeyed what the Representatives taught. They met many times together with the other believers, and they ate a meal and prayed together every day. |
They continued in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.
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| And fear was coming on every soul, and many wonders and signs were happening through the apostles. | Throughout Jerusalem people came to have a great awe for God, because the Representatives were doing many kinds of miraculous deeds. |
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| And all those believing were to the same and had all things in common, | All of those who believed in Jesus met regularly together. They also kept sharing what they had with one another. |
They sold their property and possessions and distributed them to all, as anyone had need.
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| and they were selling properties and possessions and they were distributing them to all, as anyone might have need | From time to time some of them sold some of their land and some of the other things that they owned. They did this so that they could give some of the money they made to other believers. They gave those believers as much as they needed. |
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| and, continuing unanimously every day in the temple and breaking bread in each house, they were sharing food with exultation and sincerity of heart, | Every day they kept gathering to worship together in the temple courtyard, and then they would have meals together in their homes. They ate together happily and with genuine affection. |
The believers were meeting in the Temple.
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| praising God and having favor with the whole people, and each day the Lord was adding the ones being saved to the same. | As they did so, they kept praising God, and the other people who lived in Jerusalem greatly respected them. {As those things were happening,} every day the Lord Jesus saved more people and those people joined with the other believers. |
The Lord added day by day those who were being saved.
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| Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. | One day Peter and John were going to the temple to pray. It was three o’clock in the afternoon, the time when people prayed there. |
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| And a certain man, being lame from the womb of his mother, was being carried, whom each day they placed at the gate of the temple that is called Beautiful to ask for alms from those going into the temple, | There was a man there who had not been able to walk from the time he was born. He was sitting by the Beautiful Gate at the entrance to the temple area. People carried him there every day so that he could ask those who were going into the temple area to give him some money. |
Peter and John saw a man lame from birth who begged at the Temple door.
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| who, seeing Peter and John being about to enter into the temple, asked to receive alms. | As Peter and John were approaching that gate, he saw them and asked them to give him some money. |
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| But Peter, looking intently at him with John, said, “Look at us.” | When they heard the man speak to them, Peter and John looked directly at him, and Peter said to him, “Look at us!” |
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| So he paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. | So he looked directly at them, expecting to get some money from them. |
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| But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk.” | Then Peter said to him, “I do not have any money, but I will do what I can do for you. I heal you by the power of Jesus the Messiah, that man who came from the city of Nazareth. So get up and walk!” |
Peter did not give to the man silver and gold.
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| And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. | Then Peter grasped the man’s right hand and helped him to stand up. The man realized immediately that his feet and ankles were going to be strong enough to support him. |
Peter gave the man the ability to walk.
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| And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. | So the man jumped {the rest of the way} up {by himself} and started walking! He went into the temple area with Peter and John, leaping for joy and praising God as he walked! |
The man entered the Temple walking, leaping, and praising God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And all the people saw him walking and praising God. | All the people who were there saw him walking and heard him praising God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they recognized him, that he was the one sitting for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. | They recognized that he was the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate that led into the temple area and ask people for money! So all the people there were greatly amazed that he could now walk. |
The people were filled with wonder and amazement.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as he was holding Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, marveling. | The man would not let go of Peter and John. The three of them were in Solomon’s Porch{, a covered walkway within the temple area}. As the amazing news of the man’s healing spread through the crowd, more and more people came running over to see them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter, seeing this, replied to the people, “Men, Israelites, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look intently at us, as if we have made him to walk by our own power or godliness? | When Peter saw that a crowd was gathering around them, he said to the people, “You Israelites, it should not surprise you that this man can now walk. But you should not be looking at us as if we were so godly that we made him walk by our own power! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up and rejected before the face of Pilate, when that one had decided to release him. | {Let me tell you what has really happened.} God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We Israelites are descendants of those men, so the covenant includes us. God honored that covenant by sending Jesus to be the Messiah. {We told this man that the power of Jesus could heal him, and} God has now glorified Jesus by doing this miracle. But when Jesus was living among us, you turned him over to the Romans for trial. Pilate, the Roman governor, {knew that Jesus was innocent and} wanted to set him free. But you gathered in front of Pilate and shouted that he should not release him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a man, a murderer, to be granted to you, | Rather than have Pilate release Jesus to you, even though Jesus was the Messiah, you rejected him and asked Pilate to set free a killer instead! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and you killed the Originator of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. | So you are responsible for the death of Jesus, the one who gives people life. But God brought him back to life after he died. We can testify that we saw Jesus many times after he became alive again. |
Peter reminded the people that they had killed Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And by faith in his name, this one whom you see and know, his name has made strong. And the faith that {is} through him has given to him this complete health in the presence of all of you. | You recognize this man whom you see standing here. {He is the man who used to beg for alms at the Beautiful Gate.} He is now strong enough to stand on his own because he believed in what Jesus could do. Yes, it is because he trusted in Jesus that he is now completely healthy. All of you saw this happen. |
Peter said that faith in Jesus’ name had made the man well.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as also your rulers. | Now, my countrymen, I know that you and your leaders killed Jesus because you did not know that he was the Messiah. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But what God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled thus. | God said through the prophets ahead of time that the Messiah he would send would suffer and die. And now, by what has happened, he has fulfilled what the prophets said. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Repent, therefore, and turn back for your sins to be wiped away, | So stop living sinful lives and ask God to help you do what pleases him. Then God will completely forgive you for sinning against him. |
Peter told the people to repent.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| so that times of refreshment may come from the face of the Lord and he may send the one appointed for you, Christ Jesus, | If you do that, there will be times when you will know that the Lord God is helping you. And some day he will send back to earth the Messiah whom he has given to you. That person is Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom it is necessary for heaven to receive until the times of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke from the age through the mouth of his holy prophets. | Jesus will certainly stay in heaven until the time when God causes all that he created to become new. Long ago God promised to do that, and he chose holy prophets to tell that to people. |
Peter said that until the time of restoration of all things, Jesus would be received in the heavens.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Moses indeed said, ‘The Lord our Godwill raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him according to everything—whatever he may speak to you. | For example, {the prophet} Moses said this {about the Messiah}: ‘The Lord our God will make one of you Israelites a prophet like me. You must do everything he tells you to do. |
Moses said that the Lord God would raise up a prophet like himself to whom the people would listen.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But it will be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet will be destroyed from the people.’ | Those who do not do what that prophet tells them will no longer belong to God’s people. God will destroy them.’” |
The person who does not listen to Jesus will be completely destroyed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And indeed, all the prophets from Samuel and those after him, as many as have spoken, have also announced these days. | {Peter continued,} “In fact, all the prophets have told about what would happen during the times we are now living in. Those prophets include Samuel and the ones who lived after him, who all spoke about these events before they happened. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.’ | What the prophets said long ago applies to you today. And the solemn agreement that God made to bless our ancestors also extends to you, their descendants. He said to Abraham {about the Messiah}, ‘I will bless all the people groups on the earth as a result of what your descendant will do.’ |
Peter reminded the people that they were sons of the covenant God made with Abraham when God said, “In your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to you first, blessing you by turning each of you from your wickedness.” | So when God sent Jesus to the earth as the Messiah, he had him come to you Israelites first. God intended for the Messiah to bless you by getting you to stop doing things that were wrong.” |
God desired to bless the Jews by sending Jesus to them first to turn them from their wickedness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came up to them, | While Peter and John were still speaking to the people, several men walked up and confronted them. They included priests who served in the temple, the officer in charge of the temple guard, and some members of the Sadducee group. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| greatly troubled because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection that {is} from the dead. | These men were very angry because these two men were teaching the people. They were telling the people that what God did for Jesus shows that God causes people to live again after they die. |
Peter and John were teaching about Jesus and his resurrection from the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening. | So these men arrested Peter and John and put them in jail. They did this because it was already evening, and the Jewish council would have to wait until the next day to question them. |
They arrested Peter and John and put them in jail.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But many of the ones having heard the word believed, and the number of the men became about 5,000. | However, many people who had heard Peter speak put their faith in Jesus. The number of men who believed in Jesus increased to about 5,000. |
Many people believed, about five thousand.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that on the next day their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, | The next day the high priest called the other chief priests, the teachers of the Jewish laws, and the other members of the Jewish council. They all assembled in one place in Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were from the high priestly family. | Annas, the former high priest, was there. Caiaphas, the new high priest, was also there. And so were John and Alexander and other men who were related to the high priest. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having set them in {their} midst, they asked them, “By what power or in what name have you done this?” | They commanded guards to bring Peter and John into the room, and then they asked Peter and John, “Who gave you the right or the ability to do this?” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, | As the Holy Spirit gave him power, Peter said to them in response, “You fellow Israelites who rule us and all of you elders, listen to me! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if we are being questioned today concerning a good deed to a sick man, by what means he was made well, | Today you are questioning us about a good deed we did for a man who could not walk. You want to know how he became able to walk. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this one this {man} stands before you healthy. | So we want this whole council and all the other Israelites to know what has happened. This man is able to stand before you because Jesus from Nazareth, the Messiah, healed him. You were responsible for the Romans executing Jesus by nailing him to a cross. But God brought Jesus back to life after they executed him. |
Peter said that in the name of Jesus Christ he had healed the man in the Temple.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner. | Jesus the Messiah of Nazareth is the one of whom the Scriptures say, ‘The stone that the builders threw away has become the most important stone in the building.’ And you are those builders{, because you rejected Jesus}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” | {So you should no longer reject him, because} only Jesus can save us. For God has given us no other person in the world who can save us {from the guilt of our sins}!” |
Peter said that there is no other name except Jesus by which we may be saved.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And seeing the boldness of Peter and John, and realizing that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they marveled, and they recognized them, that they had been with Jesus. | The Jewish leaders recognized that Peter and John were not afraid of them. They also realized that these two men were ordinary people who had not studied in schools. So the leaders were amazed. They knew that these men had spent time with Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition. | They also saw the man who had become able to walk again standing there with Peter and John. So they were not able to say anything to contradict them. |
The leaders could say nothing because the man who had been healed was standing with Peter and John.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having commanded them to go outside the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, | The Jewish leaders told guards to take Peter, John, and this man outside of the room where they were meeting. After they did so, the leaders talked with each other {about Peter and John}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “What should we do to these men? For it is evident to everyone living in Jerusalem that a notable sign has happened through them, and we are not able to deny it. | They said, “There is nothing that we can do to punish these two men! The news of the amazing miracle that they have done has spread widely in Jerusalem. So we cannot tell people that it did not happen! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But so that it may not be spread unto more among the people, let us warn them no longer to speak in this name to any of men.” | However, we must not allow any more people to hear what they have been teaching about this Jesus. So we must tell these men that we will punish them if they continue to tell other people about the one who they say gave them the power to heal this man.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And summoning them, they commanded them neither to speak nor to teach at all in the name of Jesus. | So the Jewish leaders told the guards to bring them into the room again. After the guards had done so, they told them both that they were completely forbidden to speak or teach about Jesus. |
The Jewish leaders commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach about Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But answering, Peter and John said to them, “Whether it is right before God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge. | But Peter and John told them in response, “In order to obey your command, we would have to disobey God{, who commanded us to tell everyone about Jesus}. We will let you decide whether you think God would want us to obey you instead of him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For we are not able not to speak what we have seen and heard.” | But as for us, we cannot obey you. We will not stop telling people about what we saw Jesus do and what we heard him teach.” |
Peter and John said that they could not help but speak about the things they had seen and heard.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So, having warned them further, they released them, finding nothing for which they might punish them, on account of the people, for they were all glorifying God for what had happened. | Then the Jewish leaders again told Peter and John not to disobey them. But then they let them go without punishing them. The leaders knew that throughout Jerusalem people were praising God for what had happened {to the man who could not walk, and they did not want to upset the people}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the man to whom this sign of healing had happened was more than 40 years old. | The people were praising God because {this was a remarkable miracle}. The man whom Peter and John had healed by doing this miracle was over forty years old, {and he had never before walked in his life}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having been released, they came to {their} own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. | After Peter and John left the council, they met with the others who believed in Jesus and told them everything that the people on the ruling council had said to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having heard, they raised their voice unanimously to God and said, “Lord, you {are} the one having made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that {is} in them, | When the others who believed in Jesus heard this, they prayed together aloud to God, “O Lord! You made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the one having said by the Holy Spirit from the mouth of our father David, your servant, ‘Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine useless things? | Your Holy Spirit caused our ancestor, King David, who served you, to write these words: ‘Why did the people groups of the world become angry and why did they plan uselessly {against God}? |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered to the same against the Lord and against his Christ.’ | The kings in the world prepared to fight, and the rulers joined with them to oppose the Lord God and the one whom he had chosen to be the Messiah.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For in truth both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations and the people of Israel, were gathered together in this city against your holy Servant Jesus, whom you anointed, | What David said is true! Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with people who were Israelites and people who were not, joined together in this city of Jerusalem to oppose Jesus. They opposed him even though he had done nothing wrong and even though you, God, had sent him as the Messiah. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to do all that your hand and your counsel had predetermined to happen. | {But when they opposed Jesus,} they did no more than you allowed because it was what you had decided long ago would happen. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness | So now, Lord, listen to what they are saying about how they will punish us! Help us who serve you to speak about Jesus without being afraid at all! |
The believers asked for boldness to speak the word, and for signs and wonders to be done in Jesus’ name.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| as you stretch out your hand to heal and for signs and wonders to happen through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.” | Use your power to do great healings and many other miraculous deeds that will show the authority you have given to Jesus, your chosen Messiah!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they were speaking the word of God with boldness. | When the believers had finished praying, the place where they were meeting started to shake. The Holy Spirit gave them all power to tell people about Jesus as God had commanded, and they did that with great courage. |
After the believers finished their prayer, the place they were gathered was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now the multitude of the ones having believed was one in heart and soul. And not one said that any of the things that were to him was his own, but everything was common to them. | Those in the group of people who believed in Jesus were in complete agreement about what they believed and what they wanted. Not one of them said that he was the sole owner of anything. Instead, they shared what they had with one another. |
The believers had all things in common, and those who owned property sold it and gave the money to be distributed according to need.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And with great power the apostles were proclaiming the testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. | The Representatives continued to preach powerfully that God had caused the Lord Jesus to live again after he died. And God was helping all the believers very much. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For there was not anyone needy among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses, selling them, were bringing the price of the things being sold | Here is one way God was helping them. No one among the believers was lacking anything. This was because other believers who owned fields or houses would sell some of their property to help them. They would bring the proceeds from the sale |
The believers had all things in common, and those who owned property sold it and gave the money to be distributed according to need.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and they were laying it at the feet of the apostles, and it was being distributed to each one, according as anyone had need. | and they would give it to the Representatives, who would then give out the money to the believers who needed it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Joseph, called Barnabas by the apostles (which, being translated, is Son of Encouragement), a Levite from Cyprus by birth, | Now there was a man named Joseph who belonged to the tribe of Levi and who came from the island of Cyprus. The Representatives called him Barnabas. In the language of the Jews, that name means a person who always encourages others. |
The new name given to Joseph, who sold his field and gave the money to the apostles, was “Barnabas.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| selling a field that was to him, brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles. | Barnabas sold a field that belonged to him, and he brought the money to the Representatives {for them to give to other believers}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now a certain man, Ananias by name, with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of land, | Now there was one of the believers whose name was Ananias. He was married, and his wife’s name was Sapphira. They also sold some land. |
Ananias and Sapphira lied, saying that they were giving the entire sale price of their property, but actually only giving a part of the sale price.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he kept back from the price, {his} wife also knowing, and bringing a certain portion, he laid it at the feet of the apostles. | He kept for himself some of the money he had received for the land. His wife knew that he had done that. Then he brought the rest of the money and gave it to the Representatives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart for you to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back from the price of the land? | Then Peter said, “Ananias, you have allowed Satan to control you so completely that you tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. You kept for yourself some of the money you received for selling the land. {You did not give us all of it.} |
Peter said that Ananias and Sapphira had not lied to men, but to the Holy Spirit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| While it remained, did it not remain yours, and being sold, was it {not} in your authority? How {is it} that you placed this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.” | Before you sold that land, you truly owned it. And after you sold it, the money was still yours. So you should never have thought about doing such a wicked thing. You were not just trying to deceive people! No, you were trying to deceive God himself!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And hearing these words, Ananias, falling down, expired, and great fear came upon all the ones having heard. | When Ananias heard the things Peter told him, he immediately fell down dead. And everyone who learned {about Ananias’ death} felt a great awe for God. |
God killed Ananias.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So rising up, the young men wrapped him up and, carrying him out, they buried him. | When Ananias died, some young men came forward, wrapped his body in a sheet, and carried it out and buried it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And an interval of about three hours happened, and his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. | About three hours later, his wife came in. But she did not know that Peter confronted her husband about the lie they had told and that her husband had died as a result. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” | Then Peter showed her the money that Ananias had brought and asked her, “Tell me, is this the amount of money you two received for the land you sold?” She said, “Yes, that is what we received.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Peter said to her, “How {is it} that it was agreed together by you to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of the ones having buried your husband {are} at the door, and they will carry you out.” | So Peter said to her, “You both did a terrible thing when you agreed to try to deceive the Holy Spirit! This is what will happen to you as a result. {God struck your husband dead as a punishment and} some young men are just coming back from burying him. God is also going to strike you dead, and they will take your body out and bury it as well.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And immediately she fell down at his feet and expired. And having come in, the young men found her dead, and carrying her out, they buried her beside her husband. | Immediately Sapphira fell down dead right in front of Peter. Just then the young men came back in. When they saw that she had also died, they carried her body out and buried it next to her husband’s body. |
God killed Sapphira.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all the ones hearing these things. | All the believers in Jerusalem felt a great awe for God because of what had happened to Ananias and Sapphira. Everyone else who heard about these things also felt great awe for God. |
Great fear came upon the church and all who heard about Ananias and Sapphira.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And many signs and wonders were happening through the hands of the apostles among the people, and they were all unanimously at the Porch of Solomon. | God was enabling the Representatives to do many amazing miracles {that showed the truth of what they were preaching} among the people. All the believers were meeting together regularly in the temple courtyard at the place called Solomon’s Porch. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But none of the others dared to join them; however, the people extolled them. | All of the other people who had not believed in Jesus were afraid to meet with the believers. However, those people continued to speak very highly of them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And more believers were being added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and of women, | Many more men and women started believing in the Lord Jesus, and they joined the group of believers. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| so that they even carried the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that as Peter came by, at least {his} shadow might overshadow any one of them. | Because the people were seeing such amazing miracles, they started bringing those who had various diseases right into the streets and placing them on stretchers and mattresses there. They were hoping that when Peter walked by his shadow might touch some of them, because if even that happened, God would heal them. |
Some were carrying the sick into the streets so Peter’s shadow might fall on them, and others brought the sick from other towns to Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a multitude also came together from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted by unclean spirits, who were all healed. | Large crowds of people were also coming from the towns near Jerusalem. They were bringing those who had various diseases and those whom evil spirits were tormenting, and God healed all of them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But rising up, the high priest and all those with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees) were filled with jealousy, | However, the high priest became very resentful {that such large crowds were coming to the Representatives}. Many priests who were members of the Sadducee group were also very resentful of them. They joined together with the high priest to work against them. |
The Sadducees were filled with jealousy and put the apostles in jail.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and they laid hands on the apostles and put them in the public prison. | So they commanded the temple guards to arrest them and to put them in the public jail. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, bringing them out, and said, | {The high priest and his allies kept them in jail overnight so that they could question them in the morning.} But that night an angel from the Lord God opened the jail doors and led all the Representatives outside. Then the angel told them, |
An angel came and opened the doors of the jail and let them out.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Go and, standing in the temple, speak to the people all the words of this life.” | “Go to the temple courtyard, stand there, and tell the people about the eternal life that Jesus can give them. Do not leave anything out, even though the Sanhedrin has commanded you not to say certain things.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having heard this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and were teaching. And having arrived, the high priest and those with him called together the Sanhedrin, even all the elders of the sons of Israel, and sent to the prison to bring the apostles. | So when the Representatives heard what the angel said, they went to the temple courtyard and began to teach the people once more about Jesus. By then it was about dawn. Around that same time, the high priest and the other priests who were working with him gathered together in the Jewish council chamber. From there they summoned the other council members. Together they were all the leaders of Israel. Once the whole council was present, they sent guards to the jail to get the Representatives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having arrived, the officers did not find them in the prison, so having returned, they reported, | But when the guards arrived at the jail, they discovered that they were not there. So they returned to the council and told the members, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “We found the prison shut in all security and the guards standing at the doors, but having opened, we found no one inside.” | “We saw that the jail doors were very safely locked and that the guards were keeping watch in front of the doors. But when we opened the doors {and went in to get those men}, none of them were inside the jail.” |
The officers found the jail securely shut, but no one inside.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when both the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed concerning them, as to what this might become. | When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the temple guards heard that, they were greatly confused. They wondered what the consequences would be. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then someone, having arrived, reported to them, “Behold, the men whom you put in the prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” | Then someone came and reported to them, “Listen to this! The men you put in jail have somehow gotten into the temple courtyard. And they are telling the people there about Jesus!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the captain, going with the officers, brought them back, not with violence, for they feared the people, lest they stone them. | So the officer in charge of the temple guards went to the temple courtyard with the officers. They brought the Representatives back {to the council room}. But they did not treat them roughly. They were afraid that if they did that, the people would try to kill them by throwing stones at them. |
The officers feared that the people might stone them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having brought them, they set them in the Sanhedrin, and the high priest interrogated them, | After the captain and his officers had brought the Representatives to the council room, they commanded them to stand in front of the council members. Then the high priest questioned them intensely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “We commanded you with a command not to teach in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you desire to bring upon us the blood of this man.” | He said to them, “We ordered you very clearly not to teach people about that man Jesus! But you have disobeyed us, and you have taught people all over Jerusalem about him! Furthermore, you are trying to make it seem that we are the ones who are guilty of that man’s death!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But answering, Peter and the apostles said, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men. | But Peter, speaking for himself and the other Representatives, replied, “We have to obey what God commands us to do, not what you people tell us to do! |
The apostles said, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, having hung him on a tree. | You are the ones who killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross! But God, whom our ancestors worshiped, caused Jesus to live again after he died. |
The apostles said that the high priest and council members were responsible for killing Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God has exalted this one to his right as Prince and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. | God has honored Jesus more than he has honored anyone else. He has made him the one to save us and rule over us. He has enabled us Israelites to stop sinning and he has forgiven us for the sins we committed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those obeying him.” | We tell people about these things that we saw happen to Jesus. The Holy Spirit, whom God has sent to us who obey him, is also confirming that these things are true.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having heard this, they were furious and wanted to kill them. | When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became so angry {with the Representatives} that they wanted to kill them. |
The council members were furious and wanted to kill the apostles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But a certain Pharisee, Gamaliel by name, a law teacher, honored by all the people, rising up in the Sanhedrin, commanded to put the apostles outside for a little. | But there was a council member named Gamaliel. He was a member of the Pharisee group. He taught the Jewish laws, and the Jewish people respected him highly. He stood up in the council and told the guards to take the Representatives out of the room for a short time. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said to them, “Men, Israelites, pay attention to yourselves, what you are about to do to these men. | {After the guards had taken them out,} Gamaliel said to the other council members, “You leaders of the people of Israel, you must think carefully about what you are going to do to these men. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For before these days, Theudas rose up, saying himself to be somebody, to whom was joined a number of men, about 400, who was killed, and all, as many as were persuaded by him, were dispersed, and they came to nothing. | Some years ago a man named Theudas led a revolt against the government. He claimed that he was a great man, and about 400 men joined him. But the Romans captured and executed him, and all those who had joined him went back to where they came from. So this revolt did not succeed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| After this one, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away people after him. That one also perished, and all, as many as were persuaded by him, were scattered. | After that, during the time when the Romans were recording the names of people in order to tax them, a man named Judas from the region of Galilee rebelled. He convinced some people to rebel with him. But he too died, and all those who had joined him went off in different directions. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now I say these things to you: Keep away from these men and release them, for if this counsel or this work is from men, it will be destroyed, | Based on these examples, let me offer some advice. Do not kill these men! Set them free! I say this because if the things that are happening now are just something that humans have planned, someone will stop them. They will fail. |
Gamaliel advised the council to leave the men alone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but if it is from God, you will not be able to destroy them, lest you may even be found God-opposers.” And they were persuaded by him. | But if God has commanded them to do these things, you will not be able to stop them. You may even discover that you are working against God!” The other members of the council accepted what Gamaliel said. |
Gamaliel warned the council that they might end up fighting against God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And summoning the apostles, having beaten them, they commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they released them. | They told the temple guards to bring in the Representatives and beat them. {So the guards brought them into the council room and beat them.} Then the council members commanded them not to speak to people about Jesus any more, and they let them go. |
The council beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, they indeed were going out from the face of the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name. | So they left the council chamber. As they did, they even rejoiced that God had honored them by allowing people to treat them badly because they were testifying to Jesus. |
The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And every day, in the temple and in each house, they did not cease teaching and proclaiming the gospel—Jesus {is} the Christ. | Every day after that, they went to the temple area and to various people’s houses, and they continued teaching people and telling them that Jesus is the Messiah. |
The apostles preached and taught every day that Jesus is the Christ.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now in those days, when the disciples were multiplying, a complaint by the Hellenists happened against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving. | During that time, many more people were becoming believers. The Greek-speaking Jews began to complain about the Aramaic-speaking Jews because the widows among them were not receiving their fair share of food every day. |
The Grecian Jews complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So summoning the multitude of the disciples, the Twelve said, “It is not acceptable for us to leave behind the word of God to serve tables. | So {after} Jesus’ 12 representatives {had heard what they were saying, they} summoned all the other believers {in Jerusalem} to meet together. Then they said to them, “We would not be doing the right thing if we stopped telling people the message God told us to share about Jesus in order to distribute food to people! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So brothers, choose from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this task. | So, fellow believers, carefully choose seven men from among you, men whom you know the Spirit of God directs and who are very wise. Then we will instruct them to do this work. |
The disciples (brothers) chose the seven men.
The seven men had to be of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But we will continue in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” | As for us, we will keep on using our time to pray and to proclaim the news about Jesus.” |
The apostles would continue in prayer and in the ministry of the word.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the statement was pleasing before the whole multitude. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch. | All of the disciples liked their suggestion. So they chose Stephen, a man who strongly believed in God and whom the Holy Spirit controlled completely. They also chose Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, who was from the city of Antioch. Nicolas was a former Gentile who had converted to the Jewish religion. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They brought them before the apostles, and having prayed, they placed their hands upon them. | The believers brought these seven men to the Representatives, who prayed for those men. As they prayed, they placed their hands on the men’s heads to show that they approved of them to do that work. |
The apostles prayed and placed their hands upon the seven men.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the word of God kept spreading, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large crowd of the priests became obedient to the faith. | More and more people were hearing the news about Jesus. The number of people in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus was increasing greatly. Among them were very many Jewish priests. They put their trust in Jesus as the Messiah and so they began to live in the way he said they should. |
The number of disciples was greatly increasing, and it was including a great number of the priests.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. | God was giving Stephen power to do many amazing miracles among the people {that showed that the message about Jesus was true}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But there arose some people, the ones from the synagogue that is called Freedmen, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia. They were debating with Stephen. | However, some people opposed Stephen. They were Jews who attended a synagogue that had the name Freedmen’s Synagogue. Some other Jews also opposed Stephen. They were from the synagogues that people attended who were from the cities of Cyrene and Alexandria and from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They all began to argue with Stephen. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they were not able to stand against the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he spoke. | But they were not able to prove that what he said was wrong, because God’s Spirit enabled him to speak very wisely. |
The unbelieving Jews could not stand against the wisdom and Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then they bribed men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” | So they secretly persuaded some men to accuse Stephen falsely. Those men said, “We heard him say bad things about Moses and God.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| They also stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and approaching him, they seized him and brought him to the Sanhedrin. | They also made the other Jewish people angry at Stephen, including the elders and the teachers of the Jewish laws. They came up to Stephen, grabbed him, and took him to the Jewish council. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they brought false witnesses, saying, “This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place and the law. | They also brought in some people who told lies about Stephen. They said, “This man keeps saying bad things about this holy temple and about the laws that Moses received from God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” | What we mean is that we have heard him say that this Jesus from the town of Nazareth will destroy the temple here in Jerusalem and will tell us to obey different customs from the ones that Moses taught our ancestors.” |
The false witnesses claimed that Stephen said Jesus would destroy this place and change the customs of Moses.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And looking intently at him, everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face as the face of an angel. | All the people in the council room stared at Stephen and saw that his face resembled the face of an angel. |
They saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the high priest said, “Are these things thus?” | Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are the things that these people are saying about you true?” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then he said, “Men, brothers and fathers, listen to me: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, even before he lived in Haran; | Stephen replied, “Fellow Jews and respected leaders, please listen to me! The glorious God whom we worship appeared to our forefather Abraham while he was still living in the region of Mesopotamia, before he moved to the city of Haran. |
Stephen began his history by talking about God’s promise to Abraham.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ | God said to him, ‘Leave this land where you and your relatives are living and go into the land to which I will direct you.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then going out from the land of the Chaldeans, he lived in Haran. And from there, after the death of his father, he brought him into this land, in which you live now. | So Abraham left that land, which was also called Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land where our people are now living. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he did not give him an inheritance in it—not even a footstep. But he promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him—although he did not have a child. | At that time God did not give Abraham any land to own here, not even a small plot of this land. But God promised that later he would give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would always belong to them. However, at that time Abraham did not have any children who would inherit it. |
God promised land to Abraham and his descendants.
God’s promise seemed impossible because Abraham had no children.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But God spoke to him like this, that his seed would be a stranger in a foreign land, and that they would enslave him and treat him badly for 400 years. | Later God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They will live there for four hundred years. During that time, the rulers will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves. |
God said Abraham’s descendants would be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘But I will judge the nation that will enslave him,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’ | But I will punish the people who make them work as slaves,’ said God. ‘After that, your descendants will leave that land, and they will come and worship me in this land.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the 12 patriarchs. | Then God commanded that every male in Abraham’s household and all of his male descendants should be circumcised to show that they all belonged to God. Later Abraham’s son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Later Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob was the father of the 12 men whom we Jews call the patriarchs, our forefathers. |
God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him | You know that Jacob’s older sons became jealous because their father favored their younger brother Joseph. So they sold him to merchants who took him to Egypt, where he became a slave. But God took care of Joseph. |
His brothers were jealous of him and sold him into Egypt.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he rescued him from all his afflictions, and he gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household. | God 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 over Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh’s property. |
God gave Joseph favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then came a famine over all Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation, and our fathers did not find food. | {While Joseph was doing that work,} there was a time when there was very little food anywhere in Egypt and also in Canaan. People were suffering badly. At that time Jacob and his sons in Canaan could not find enough food to eat. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having heard there was grain in Egypt, Jacob sent our fathers first. | When Jacob heard a report that there was grain in Egypt that people could buy, he sent Joseph’s older brothers there to buy grain. {They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home.} |
Jacob sent his sons to Egypt because he heard there was grain there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And during the second {time}, Joseph was made known to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. | When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt again, they bought grain from Joseph once more. But this time he told them who he was. And so Pharaoh found out that these men who had come from Canaan were Joseph’s brothers. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then, sending them back, Joseph summoned Jacob, his father, and all {his} relatives, in souls 75. | Joseph sent his brothers back home to tell their father Jacob that Joseph wanted him and his entire family to come to Egypt. At that time Jacob’s family consisted of 75 people. |
Joseph sent his brothers to tell Jacob to come to Egypt so he could provide them with food during the famine.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died, | So when Jacob heard that, he and all his family went to live in Egypt. {Later on,} Jacob died there, and our other ancestors, his sons, also died there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were carried over to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. | Their descendants brought their bodies back to our land and buried them in the tomb that Abraham bought from Hamor’s sons in the city of Shechem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as the time of the promise that God had sworn to Abraham approached, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, | Our ancestors had become very numerous by the time God was about to rescue them from Egypt. That is what God had promised Abraham he would do. |
The number of Israelites in Egypt grew and multiplied.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. | Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph had greatly helped the people of Egypt {long before his own time}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He, exploiting our people, mistreated {our} fathers, to make their babies exposed, in order not to keep them alive. | That king tried to get rid of our ancestors in cruel ways. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He even commanded them to abandon their newborn babies outside their homes so that the babies would die. |
The new king of Egypt forced the Israelites to cast out their infants so they would not survive.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He was raised for three months in the house of {his} father. | During that time Moses was born, and God saw that he was a very beautiful child. His parents secretly cared for him in their house for three months. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when he was exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and raised him for herself as a son. | Then they had to abandon him outside the house. But Pharaoh’s daughter found him and cared for him as her own son. |
Pharaoh’s daughter took Moses and raised him as her own son.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works. | The Egyptians taught Moses the many things that they had learned. When he grew up, he spoke and did things powerfully. |
Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when a 40-year time was filled to him, it came up on his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. | One day when Moses was about forty years old, he decided to see how his relatives, the people of Israel, were doing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And seeing a certain one being mistreated, he defended him and made vengeance for the one being oppressed, striking the Egyptian: | He saw an Egyptian mistreating one of the Israelites. So he went over to help the Israelite man. He avenged him by killing the Egyptian. |
Moses defended the Israelite and struck the Egyptian.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he was thinking {his} brothers would understand that God was giving salvation to them by his hand, but they did not understand. | Moses expected that his fellow Israelites would understand that God had sent him to free them from being slaves. But they did not understand. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day he appeared to them as they were quarreling, and he urged them to peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why is it that you are hurting each other?’ | The next day, Moses saw two of his fellow Israelites fighting each other. He tried to make them stop by saying to them, ‘Now you two are both Israelites! You must stop hurting each other!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the one injuring {his} neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? | But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away. He said to him, ‘You have no authority over us! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You do not want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ | You probably want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Moses ran away at this word, and he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons. | When Moses heard that, he fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. He lived there for some years. {He got married, and} he {and his wife} had two sons. |
Moses fled to Midian.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And 40 years having been filled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. | One day forty years later, the Lord God came to Moses in the form of an angel. This was in the desert near Mount Sinai. He appeared in the flames of a bush that was on fire. |
Moses saw an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Moses, seeing it, admired the sight; and as he approached to look, the voice of the Lord came: | When Moses saw it, he was amazed because the bush was not burning up. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord God say to him, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ And Moses, becoming terrified, did not dare to look. | ‘I am the God whom your ancestors worshiped. I am the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worship.’ Moses was so afraid that he began to shake. He was afraid to look at the bush any longer. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the Lord said to him, ‘Untie the sandal of your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. | Then the Lord God said to him, ‘Take your sandals off to show that you honor me. Because I am here, the place where you are standing is especially mine. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I have certainly seen the oppression of my people who {are} in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. And now come, let me send you to Egypt.’ | I have seen clearly how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan because of it. So I am taking action to rescue them from Egypt. Now get ready, because I am going to send you back to Egypt.’ |
The Lord commanded Moses to go to Egypt, because God was going to rescue the Israelites.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’—this one God sent as both a ruler and a redeemer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. | This Moses is the one who had tried to help our Israelite people. But they rejected him by saying, ‘You have no authority over us!’ Moses is the one whom God himself sent to rule them and to free them from being slaves. He did that with the help of the angel who spoke to him from the bush. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This one led them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness during 40 years. | Moses is the one who led our ancestors out from Egypt. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Sea of Reeds, and during the forty years that the Israelite people lived in the wilderness. |
Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me for you from your brothers.’ | This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will cause another man from among your own people to be a prophet like me for you.’ |
Moses prophesied to the Israelites that God would raise up a prophet like him from among their brothers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This is the one having been in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel {who was} speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living words to give to us, | It was this man Moses who was among the Israelites who were together in the wilderness. God spoke through the angel on Mount Sinai to give Moses our laws. Moses was the one who told our ancestors what the angel had said. He was the one to whom God gave commandments and who passed them on to us. Those commandments are still powerful today. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to whom our fathers were not willing to be obedient; instead, they pushed him away and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, | However, our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. Instead, they rejected him as their leader and wanted to return to Egypt. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go ahead of us. For this Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ | So they told his older brother Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us. As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So they made an image of a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands. | When the Israelites rejected Moses, they made an image that looked like a calf. Then they offered sacrifices to honor that idol. They sang and danced to worship something that they themselves had made. |
The Israelites made a calf of gold and sacrificed to the idol they had made.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But God turned away and abandoned them to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘You did not offer slain beasts and offerings to me for 40 years in the wilderness, did you, O house of Israel? | So God stopped correcting them. He left them to worship the stars in the sky. This agrees with what one of the prophets wrote: God said, ‘You Israelite people repeatedly killed animals and offered them to me with grain as sacrifices during those forty years that you were in the wilderness. But you certainly were not truly offering them to me! |
God turned from the Israelites and gave them up to serve the host of heaven.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And you took up the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan— the images that you made to worship them— and I will remove you beyond Babylon.’ | On the contrary, you carried with you the tent that contained the idol representing the god Molech that you worshiped. You also carried with you the image of the star called Rephan. Those were idols that you had made, and you worshiped them instead of me. So I will cause you to be taken away far from your homes to regions even farther than the country of Babylon.’ |
God said he would carry the Israelites away even beyond Babylon.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one speaking to Moses had commanded, to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, | While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshiped God at the sacred tent that showed that he was there with them. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses to make it. It was exactly like the model that Moses had seen when he was up on the mountain. |
In the wilderness, the Israelites built the tabernacle of the testimony.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which also our fathers, having received it in turn, brought in with Joshua in the possessing of the nations that God drove out from the face of our fathers, until the days of David, | Later on, other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them into this land. That was during the time when they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people who previously lived here to leave. So the Israelites were able to possess this land. The tent remained in this land and was still here when King David ruled. |
God drove out the nations ahead of the Israelites.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who found favor before God, and he asked to find a dwelling for the house of Jacob. | David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a temple where he and all of our Israelite people could worship God. |
David asked to build a dwelling place for God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| However, Solomon built the house for him. | But instead, God told David’s son Solomon to build a temple where people could worship him. |
King David’s son Solomon built a house for God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the Most High does not live in {houses} made with hands, as the prophet says, | However, we know that God, who is greater than everything, does not live in temples that people build. It is as the prophet Isaiah wrote: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Heaven {is} my throne, and the earth {is} the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me?’ says the Lord, ‘or what {is} the place for my rest? | God said, ‘I created everything in heaven and on earth. My presence fills all of creation. So you human beings cannot make a place good enough for me to live in!’ (vv49-50) |
The Most High has heaven as his throne.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Did my hand not make all these things?’ | God said, ‘I created everything in heaven and on earth. My presence fills all of creation. So you human beings cannot make a place good enough for me to live in!’ (vv49-50) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers, also you. | You people are disobedient to God, as if you did not even know God! You are exactly like your ancestors! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as they did! |
Stephen accused the people of resisting the Holy Spirit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed the ones foretelling about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, | Your ancestors caused every prophet to suffer. They even killed those who long ago announced that the Messiah would come, the one who always did what pleased God. And the Messiah has come! He is the one whom you recently turned over to his enemies and insisted that they kill him! |
Stephen said the people had betrayed and murdered the Righteous One.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who received the law by directions of angels, but did not keep it.” | You are the people who have received God’s laws. Those were laws that God caused angels to give to our ancestors. However, you have not obeyed them!” |
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|---|---|
| Now hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts, and they ground {their} teeth at him. | When the Jewish council members and others there heard all that Stephen said, they became very angry. They were grinding their teeth together because they were so angry at him! |
The council members were cut to the heart and ground their teeth at Stephen.
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|---|---|
| But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right of God. | But the Holy Spirit completely controlled Stephen. He looked up into heaven and saw a dazzling light from God, and he saw Jesus standing at God’s right side. |
Stephen said he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right of God.” | “Look,” he said, “I see right into heaven, and I see the Son of Man {in human form} standing where God rules!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But shouting with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him unanimously. | {When the Jewish council members and others heard that,} they shouted loudly. They put their hands over their ears so that they would not hear him. All together they ran up to Stephen and grabbed him. |
The council members rushed upon him, threw him out of the city, and stoned him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And throwing him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid aside their outer garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. | They dragged him outside the city of Jerusalem and started to throw stones at him to kill him. The people who were accusing him took off their outer garments in order to throw stones more easily. They put these garments on the ground next to a young man whose name was Saul so that he could guard them. |
The witnesses laid their outer clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” | While they continued to throw stones at Stephen, Stephen prayed out loud, “Lord Jesus, welcome me when I die!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having put down {his} knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And having said this, he fell asleep. | Then Stephen knelt down and cried out loud, “Lord, do not punish them for this sin!” After he had said this, he died. |
Stephen asked God not to hold this sin against the people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Saul was agreeing with his execution. And on that day a great persecution began against the church that {was} in Jerusalem, and they all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. | Then some men who honored God buried Stephen’s body in a tomb, and they mourned loudly for him. But Saul thought the Sanhedrin had done the right thing by stoning Stephen. On that same day, people {Saul was leading} started severely persecuting the believers who were living in Jerusalem. So most of the believers fled to other places throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. But the apostles remained in Jerusalem. (vv1-2) |
Saul was in agreement with Stephen’s death.
A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem began on the day Stephen was stoned.
The believers in Jerusalem became scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, thus spreading the faith to new areas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And devout men carried away Stephen and made great lamentation over him. | Then some men who honored God buried Stephen’s body in a tomb, and they mourned loudly for him. But Saul thought the Sanhedrin had done the right thing by stoning Stephen. On that same day, people {Saul was leading} started severely persecuting the believers who were living in Jerusalem. So most of the believers fled to other places throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. But the apostles remained in Jerusalem. (vv1-2) |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Saul was harming the church. Entering by houses, dragging out both men and women, he was delivering them to prison. | Saul began trying to destroy the group of believers. He entered their houses one by one. He dragged away men and women {who believed in Jesus}, and he put them in prison. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the ones having been scattered went about proclaiming the word. | The believers who had left Jerusalem went to different places, where they continued preaching the message about Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Philip, going down to the city of Samaria, was proclaiming Christ to them. | One of those believers, whose name was Philip, went from Jerusalem to a city in the district of Samaria. There he was telling the people that Jesus is the Messiah. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the crowds were paying attention unanimously to the things being spoken by Philip when they heard them and saw the signs that he was doing. | Many people there heard Philip speak and saw the miraculous things that he was doing. So they all paid close attention to what he was saying. |
The people paid attention when they saw the signs that Philip did.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For many of those having unclean spirits, shouting with a loud voice, they were coming out. And many paralyzed and lame were healed. | For example, Philip commanded evil spirits to come out of many people, and they came out screaming. Also, many people who could not move their muscles and many others who were lame were healed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And there was much joy in that city. | So many people in that city were very happy. |
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|---|---|
| But a certain man, Simon by name, was already practicing sorcery in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, saying himself to be someone great, | There was a man in that city whose name was Simon. He had been practicing sorcery for a long time, and he amazed the people in the district of Samaria with his magic. He claimed he was “Simon the Great One!” |
The people had paid attention when they saw his acts of sorcery.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to whom they all, from little to great, were paying attention, saying, “This is the power of God that is called Great.” | The people there, both ordinary and important people, listened to him. They were saying, “Simon is the Great Power of God.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with sorceries. | They continued to listen to him carefully because for a long time he had astonished them by practicing sorcery. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when they believed Philip, proclaiming the gospel about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, both men and women. | But then they believed Philip’s message of the good news about how God would rule the lives of people everywhere and about Jesus the Messiah. Philip baptized the men and the women who believed in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Simon himself also believed and, having been baptized, he was continuing with Philip. And seeing great signs and works happening, he marveled. | Though the people had been worshiping him, Simon too believed Philip’s message and received baptism. He began to accompany Philip constantly. He was continually amazed by the great miracles he saw Philip doing. These things showed that Philip was speaking the truth. |
Simon also believed and was baptized.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the apostles in Jerusalem, having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, sent to them Peter and John, | When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that many people throughout Samaria district had believed God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, having come down, prayed for them, so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. | When Peter and John arrived in Samaria, they prayed for those new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he had not yet fallen upon any of them, but they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. | For the Holy Spirit had not yet openly empowered any of them. They had only received baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then they were laying {their} hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. | Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. |
The believers in Samaria received the Holy Spirit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Simon, seeing that the Spirit was being given through the laying on of the hands of the apostles, offered them money, | Simon saw that people received the Holy Spirit as a result of the apostles placing their hands on them. So he offered to give money to the apostles. |
Simon offered the apostles money in exchange for the power to give the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “Give to me also this authority, so that on whomever I lay {my} hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.” | He said, “Enable me also to do what you are doing, so that if I place my hands on someone, he will receive the Holy Spirit.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter said to him, “May your silver be with you unto destruction, because you thought to obtain the gift of God through money! | But Peter said to him, “May you and your money be destroyed, because you tried to get God’s gift with money! |
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|---|---|
| No part or share in this matter is to you, because your heart is not right before God. | You cannot work with us in what we are doing, because you do not have the right attitude toward God! |
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|---|---|
| Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, if therefore the intention of your heart will be forgiven to you. | So stop thinking wickedly like that! Plead with the Lord to forgive you for what you wanted to do, since he will forgive you if you ask sincerely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I see you being in the gall of bitterness and the bond of unrighteousness.” | You are in spiritual danger! I perceive that you are extremely jealous of us and that a continual desire to do evil is controlling you.” |
Peter said that Simon was in the poison of bitterness and the bonds of sin.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But answering, Simon said, “You pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing of which you have spoken may come upon me.” | Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord that he will not do to me what you just said!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the ones having testified and having spoken the word of the Lord were returning to Jerusalem and proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. | Peter and John then told the people there what they knew personally about the Lord Jesus. They shared the message of the Lord with them. Then they both returned to Jerusalem. Along the way, they declared the good news about Jesus to people living in many towns in the district of Samaria. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south on the road going down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is desert.) | While Peter and John were returning to Jerusalem, the Lord sent an angel to Philip. {Even though so many Samaritans were becoming believers in Jesus,} that angel told him, “Get ready and go south along the road that goes from Jerusalem to the city of Gaza.” That road is in a desert area. |
An angel told Philip to go south to the desert road toward Gaza.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And arising, he went, and behold, a man, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, an official of the Kandake, the queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, | So Philip got ready and went along that road. On the road he met a man from the land of Ethiopia. The man was an important official of the queen of Ethiopia. In his language people called their queen the Kandake. He took care of all of her funds. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship God, |
Philip met a eunuch from Ethiopia, a man of great authority who had come to worship at Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. | and he was returning home and was seated, riding in his carriage. As he was riding, he was reading aloud from what the prophet Isaiah had written. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the Spirit said to Philip, “Approach and join this chariot.” | God’s Spirit told Philip, “Go near to that carriage and keep walking close to it!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So having run to him, Philip heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and he said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” | So Philip ran over to the carriage. He heard the official reading what the prophet Isaiah had written. He asked the man, “Do you understand what you are reading?” |
Philip asked the man, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “For how would I be able, unless someone will guide me?” And he invited Philip to sit with him, having come up. | He answered Philip, “No, I cannot possibly understand it if there is no one to explain it to me.” Then the man said to Philip, “Please come up and sit beside me.” {So Philip got into the carriage.} |
The man asked Philip to come up into the chariot with him and explain what he was reading.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer {is} silent, thus he does not open his mouth. | The part of the Scriptures that the official was reading was this: “People will lead him away to kill him as they lead a sheep to the place where they are going to kill it. He will be silent, as a lamb stands silently while someone cuts off its wool. |
The person is led as a sheep to the slaughter, but does not open his mouth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In humiliation his justice was taken away. Who will describe his generation? For his life is taken from the earth.” | People will humiliate him and condemn him unjustly. He will have no descendants because people will kill him before he can have children.” |
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|---|---|
| And answering, the eunuch said to Philip, “I beg of you, about whom is the prophet saying this—about himself, or about some other?” | The official asked Philip about what he was reading, “Tell me, who was the prophet writing about? Was he writing about himself, or about someone else?” |
The man asked Philip if the prophet was speaking about himself or about some other person.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning with this scripture, proclaimed Jesus to him. | So Philip replied to him. He began with that Scripture passage, and he told him the good news about Jesus. |
Philip explained that the person in the scripture from Isaiah was Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch says, “Behold, water! What is preventing my being baptized?” | While they were traveling along the road, they came to a place where there was some water. Then the official said to Philip, “Look, there is some water! I would like you to baptize me.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| [And Philip said to him, “If you believe from your whole heart, you will be saved.” And answering he said, “I believe in Christ, the Son of God.”] | [Philip said, “If you believe in Jesus with complete sincerity, God will save you, and you may be baptized.” The Ethiopian answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. | So the official told the driver to stop the carriage. Then both Philip and the official went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. |
Philip and the eunuch both went into the water and Philip baptized him.
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|---|---|
| And when they came up from the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him anymore, for he went on his way rejoicing. | When they came up out of the water, suddenly the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official never saw Philip again. Even so, the official continued going very happily along the road. |
When Philip came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away.
When the eunuch came out of the water, he went on his way rejoicing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Philip was found at Azotus and, passing through, he was proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. | Philip then realized that the Spirit had miraculously taken him to the town of Azotus. While he traveled around in that region, he continued proclaiming the good news about Jesus in all the towns between the cities of Azotus and Caesarea. He was still proclaiming it when he finally arrived in Caesarea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Saul, still breathing threat and murder against the disciples of the Lord, going to the high priest, | Meanwhile, Saul continued angrily threatening to kill those who believed in the Lord Jesus. He went to the high priest in Jerusalem |
Saul asked for letters of authority so that he could travel to Damascus, bind and bring back any who belonged to the Way.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| requested letters from him to Damascus, to the synagogues, so that if he found any being of the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. | and requested him to write letters introducing Saul to the leaders of the Jewish synagogues in the city of Damascus. The letters would ask them to give Saul the authority to seize any man or woman who followed the teachings of Jesus and take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. {There the Jewish leaders could judge and punish them. The high priest gave Saul the letters he asked for.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as he was traveling, it happened that he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven surrounded him; | While Saul and those with him were traveling, they were approaching Damascus. Suddenly a brilliant light from heaven shone around Saul. |
As Saul neared Damascus, he saw a light out of heaven.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and, falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” | Immediately he fell onto the ground. Then he heard the voice of someone say to him, “Saul, Saul, stop trying to hurt me!” |
The voice said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he {said}, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; | Saul asked him, “Lord, who are you?” He replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are hurting. |
The answer was, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but get up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what thing it is necessary for you to do.” | Now stand up and go into the city of Damascus! Someone there will tell you what I want you to do.” |
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|---|---|
| But the men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. | The men who were traveling with Saul were so astonished that they could not say anything. They just stood there. This was because they heard someone speaking, but they did not see anyone. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Saul rose up from the ground, but his eyes being opened, he was seeing nothing. But leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. | Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could not see anything. So the men with him took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. |
Saul did not eat or drink for three days.
When Saul arose, he could see nothing.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he was not seeing for three days, and he neither ate nor drank. | For the next three days Saul could not see anything, and he did not eat or drink anything. |
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|---|---|
| Now there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” And he said, “Behold, I, Lord.” | In Damascus there was a man who believed in Jesus named Ananias. Jesus made him see a vision and in it he called to him, “Ananias!” Ananias replied, “Lord, I am listening.” |
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|---|---|
| And the Lord {said} to him, “Arising, go to the street called Straight, and in the house of Judas seek Saul by name, from Tarsus, for behold, he is praying, | Jesus told him, “Go to Straight Street, to the house that belongs to Judas. Ask someone there if you can talk to a man named Saul who is from the city of Tarsus. Saul is praying to me at this moment. |
The Lord told Ananias to go and lay hands on Saul, so that Saul would receive his sight.
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|---|---|
| and in a vision he has seen a man, Ananias by name, coming in and laying hands on him so that he might see again.” | Saul has seen a vision in which a man named Ananias entered the house where he was staying and put his hands on him to restore his sight.” |
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|---|---|
| But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how many evils he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. | Ananias answered, “But Lord, many people have told me about this man! He has done many bad things to the people in Jerusalem who believe in you! |
Ananias was concerned because he knew Saul had come to Damascus to arrest everyone who called upon the Lord’s name.
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|---|---|
| And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all the ones calling upon your name.” | The chief priests have given him permission to come here to Damascus and take prisoner all those who believe in you!” |
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|---|---|
| But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this is to me an instrument of choosing, to carry my name before the nations, and also kings, and the sons of Israel; | But Jesus told Ananias, “Go visit Saul! Do what I say, because I have chosen him to serve me. I want him to speak about me to non-Jewish people and their leaders and to the Israelite people. |
The Lord said Saul would carry the Lord’s name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for I will show him how much it is necessary for him to suffer for my name.” | I myself will tell him that he must often suffer in order to tell people about me.” |
The Lord said that Saul would suffer greatly for the cause of the Lord’s name.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Ananias departed, and entered into the house. And having laid {his} hands on him, he said, “Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me—Jesus, the one having appeared to you on the road on which you were going—so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” | So Ananias went, and after he found the house where Saul was, he entered it. Then, as soon as he met Saul, he put his hands on him, and he said, “Saul, you are already like a brother to me. Jesus himself commanded me to come to you. Jesus is the one who appeared to you while you were traveling along the road to Damascus. He sent me to you to restore your sight, and he wants the Holy Spirit to lead and empower you.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And immediately {something} like scales fell from his eyes, and he saw again, and rising up, he was baptized; | Instantly, what seemed like flakes fell from Saul’s eyes, and he was able to see again. Then he got up and was baptized. |
After Ananias laid hands on Saul, Saul received his sight, was baptized, and ate.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and having taken food, he was strengthened. And he was with the disciples in Damascus for some days. | After Saul ate some food, he became strong again. Saul stayed with the other believers in Damascus for several days. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that this is the Son of God. | Right away he began to preach about Jesus in the Jewish synagogues. He told the people there that Jesus is the Son of God. |
Saul immediately began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying that Jesus is the Son of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And all the ones hearing were marveling and were saying, “Is not this the one having destroyed in Jerusalem the ones calling on this name? And he had come here for this, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” | The people who heard him preach were amazed. Some of them were saying, “We can hardly believe that this is the same man who persecuted the believers in Jerusalem! And he came here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests in Jerusalem!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Saul was becoming more powerful and stirring up the Jews living in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ. | But God enabled Saul to preach to many people even more convincingly. He was proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. The Jewish leaders in Damascus became angry {because they could not disprove what he said}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when many days were filled, the Jews took counsel together to kill him. | Some time later, the Jewish leaders there plotted to kill him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But their plot became known to Saul. But they were even watching the gates both day and night in order to kill him. | Those Jewish leaders were continually watching the people passing through the city gates so that if they saw Saul there, they could kill him. However, someone told Saul what they planned to do. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But his disciples, taking him by night, let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket. | So some of those whom he had led to believe in Jesus took him one night to the high stone wall that surrounded the city. They used ropes to lower him in a large basket through an opening in the wall. In this way he escaped from Damascus. |
When the Jews planned to kill him, Saul escaped at night by being let down through the wall in a basket.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having come to Jerusalem, he was attempting to join the disciples, but they were all fearing him, not believing that he was a disciple. | When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the other believers there. However, almost all of them continued to be afraid of him. They were not convinced that he had become a believer. |
In Jerusalem, the disciples were afraid of Saul because they did not know he had truly become a believer.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But taking hold of him, Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. | But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He explained to the apostles how, while Saul was traveling along the road to Damascus, he had seen Jesus, who had spoken to him there. He also told them how Saul had preached boldly about Jesus to people in Damascus. |
Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles and explained what had happened to Saul in Damascus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he was with them coming in and going out in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. | So Saul began to meet with the apostles and other believers throughout Jerusalem. He spoke boldly to the people there about Jesus. |
Saul spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He was both speaking and debating with the Hellenists, but they were attempting to kill him. | Saul was also speaking about Jesus with Jews who spoke Greek, and he was debating with them. {They could not answer his arguments,} so they were continually trying to think of a way to kill him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the brothers, having learned of this, brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. | But the other believers found out that the Jews who spoke Greek were planning to kill Saul. So some of them took him to the city of Caesarea. There they put him on a ship that was going to Tarsus, his hometown. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace; being built up and journeying in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplying. | Since no one was persecuting them anymore, the believers throughout the entire regions of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria were able to live peacefully. The Holy Spirit was strengthening them and encouraging them. They were honoring the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was leading many other people to become believers. |
The church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up, growing in numbers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now it happened that Peter, going throughout all, came down also to the saints inhabiting Lydda. | {Those peaceful conditions allowed} Peter to travel throughout those regions. Once he went to the coastal plain to visit the believers who lived in the town of Lydda. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And there he found a certain man, Aeneas by name, lying on a mat for eight years, who was paralyzed. | There he met a man whose name was Aeneas. Aeneas was not able to walk or stand, and so he had not been able to get up from his bed for eight years. |
In Lydda, Peter spoke to a paralyzed man who was healed by Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed for yourself,” and immediately he arose. | Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Messiah heals you! Get up and roll up your own mat!” Right away Aeneas stood up. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And all the ones living in Lydda and in Sharon saw him, who turned to the Lord. | Most of the people who lived in Lydda and on the Plain of Sharon saw Aeneas after the Lord had healed him, so they believed in the Lord Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now a certain disciple was in Joppa, Tabitha by name, which, being translated, is said “Dorcas.” She was full of good works and of almsgivings that she was doing. | In the town of Joppa there was a believer whose name was Tabitha. Her name in the Greek language was Dorcas. She was always doing good deeds for poor people by giving them things that they needed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened in those days that, having been sick, she died. And having washed her, they laid her in an upper room. | During the time that Peter was in Lydda, she became sick and died. Some women there washed her body {according to the Jewish custom}. Then they {covered her body with cloth and} placed it in an upstairs room in her house. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Lydda being near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was in it, sent two men to him, urging him, “Do not delay to come to us.” | Lydda was near the city of Joppa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was still in Lydda, they sent two men to go to Peter. When they arrived where Peter was, they urged him, “Please come immediately with us to Joppa!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So, arising, Peter went with them, whom, having arrived, they brought up to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him, weeping and showing him coats and garments, as many as Dorcas used to make, being with them. | Peter got ready right away and went with them. When he arrived at the house in Joppa, they took him to the upstairs room where the body of Dorcas was lying. All the widows there stood around him. They were crying and showing him the tunics and other garments that Dorcas had made for people while she was still alive. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter, having put them all out and having put down {his} knees, prayed, and having turned to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise!” Then she opened her eyes and, seeing Peter, she sat up. | But Peter sent them all out of the room {so that he could pray}. Then he got down on his knees and prayed. Then, turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, stand up!” Immediately she opened her eyes and, when she saw Peter, she sat up. |
Peter prayed for a dead woman named Tabitha, who was raised back to life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And giving her {his} hand, he raised her up and, calling the saints and the widows, he presented her living. | He grasped one of her hands and helped her to stand up. After he had summoned the believers and especially the widows among them to come back in, he showed them that she was alive again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. | Soon people everywhere in Joppa knew about that miracle and, as a result, many people believed in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now it happened that he stayed many days in Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner. | Peter stayed in Joppa many days with a man named Simon, who made leather from animal skins. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now a certain man was in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion from the regiment called Italian, | There was a man whose name was Cornelius who lived in the city of Caesarea. He was an officer who commanded 100 men in a large group of Roman soldiers from Italy. |
Cornelius was a devout man who feared God, was generous, and was always praying to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| devout and fearing God with all his household, making many gifts of alms to the people and praying to God through all. | He continually tried to do what would please God. He and his entire household were non-Jews who worshiped God. He often gave money to help poor Jewish people. He prayed to God regularly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!” | One day at about three o’clock in the afternoon, Cornelius saw a vision. He clearly saw an angel whom God had sent. He saw the angel coming into his room and saying to him, “Cornelius!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he, staring at him and having become terrified, said, “What is it, lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have gone up for a memorial offering before God. | Cornelius stared at the angel and became terrified. Then he asked fearfully, “Sir, what do you want?” The angel answered him, “You have been praying regularly to God. You often give money to help poor people. Those things have been like an offering to God, and he has noticed them. |
The angel said that Cornelius’ prayers and gifts to the poor had reminded God about Cornelius.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, send men to Joppa and summon a certain Simon who is called Peter. | So now command some men to go to Joppa. Tell them to bring back a man named Simon whose other name is Peter. |
The angel told Cornelius to send men to Joppa to bring Peter back to the home of Cornelius.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He is being hosted by a certain Simon, a tanner, to whom is a house by the sea.” | He is staying with a man, also named Simon, who makes leather. His house is near the ocean.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when the angel speaking to him left, calling two of {his} house servants and a devout soldier of the ones serving him, | When the angel who was speaking with Cornelius had gone, he summoned two of his household servants and a soldier who served him, one who also worshiped God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and having told them everything, he sent them to Joppa. | He explained to them everything that the angel had said. Then he told them to go to the city of Joppa and ask Peter to come to Caesarea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day, as those were traveling and approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop to pray at about the sixth hour. | About noon the next day, those three men were traveling along the road. As they were approaching Joppa, Peter went up on the flat housetop to pray. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he became hungry and was wanting to eat, but while they were preparing, a vision came upon him, | Peter became hungry and wanted something to eat. While some people were preparing the food, he saw a vision. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he sees the sky opened and a certain container, like a large sheet, descending, being let down by {its} four corners to the earth, | He saw an opening in the sky through which something like a large, square piece of cloth was coming down. Someone seemed to be lowering it by its four corners to the ground. |
Peter saw a large sheet filled with all kinds of animals, things that crawled, and birds.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in which were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky. | Inside the sheet were many different kinds of creatures. Some had four feet, others crawled on the ground, and others were wild birds. These included animals and birds that the Mosaic laws forbade Jews to eat. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a voice came to him: “Peter, arising, kill and eat.” | Then he heard God say to him, “Go ahead, Peter, kill some of these and eat them.” |
A voice said to Peter, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter said, “Not at all, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” | But Peter replied, “Lord, surely not! I have never eaten anything that our Jewish law says is unacceptable to you or that we must not eat!” |
Peter refused, saying he had never eaten anything defiled and unclean.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the voice {came} to him again, for a second {time}: “What God has cleansed, you, do not make common.” | Then Peter heard God talk to him a second time. He said, “I am God, so if I have made something acceptable to eat, do not say that it is not acceptable to eat!” |
The voice said, “What God has cleansed, do not call defiled.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And this happened three times, and the container was immediately taken back up to the sky. | This happened three times. Right after that, the sheet with the animals and birds went back up into the sky. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And while Peter was doubting within himself what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men sent by Cornelius, having found by inquiry the house of Simon, stood before the gate. | This left Peter trying to understand what that vision meant. Meanwhile, the men Cornelius had sent arrived in Joppa. They asked people how to get to Simon’s house. When people told them, they found the house and stood outside the gate. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And calling out, they were asking whether Simon, called Peter, was being hosted there. | They called from the gate and asked if a man whose name was Simon, whose other name was Peter, was staying there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And while Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are seeking you. | While Peter was still trying to understand what the vision meant, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Listen! Three men are here who want you to go with them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But arising, go down and go with them, not hesitating, because I have sent them.” | So do not be reluctant. Go downstairs and go with them! Do not think that you should not go with them, because I have sent them here!” |
The Spirit told Peter to go down and go with them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Peter, having gone down to the men, said, “Behold, I am {he} whom you are seeking. What {is} the reason for which you are here?” | So Peter went down to the men and said to them, “Greetings! I am the man you are looking for. Why have you come?” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a man righteous and fearing God and attested by the whole nation of the Jews, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.” | They replied, “Cornelius, who is a Roman army officer, sent us here. He is a good man who worships God. All of the Jewish people who know about him speak well of him. An angel from God told Cornelius, ‘Have some men to go to Joppa and get Simon Peter. Bring him to your house and listen to what he has to say.’” |
The men from Cornelius expected Peter to come and give a message in Cornelius’ house.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, having invited them, he hosted them. And on the next day, arising, he went out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. | So Peter invited them into the house and told them that they should stay there that night. The next day Peter got ready and went with the men. Several of the believers from Joppa also went with him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day they came to Caesarea. And Cornelius was awaiting them, having called together his relatives and close friends. | The day after that, they arrived in the city of Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them. He had also invited his relatives and close friends to come, so they were there in his house too. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that as Peter entered, Cornelius, meeting him {and} falling down at {his} feet, worshiped him. | When Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and bowed low in front of him to worship him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Arise! I too am a man myself.” | But Peter grasped Cornelius by the hand and lifted him to his feet. He said, “Stand up! Do not bow down and worship me! I myself am only human, like you!” |
Peter told Cornelius to stand up, for he was only a man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And talking with him, he went in and finds many gathered together. | While he was talking to Cornelius, Peter {and the others} entered the house. They saw that Cornelius had invited many people to come {and hear Peter}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he was saying to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to associate or to visit with a foreigner, but God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean. | Then Peter said to them, “You all know that we Jews think we are disobeying our laws if we associate with people who are not Jews or visit them in their homes. However, God has shown me {in a vision} that I should not say that God only accepts people who are Jews. |
Peter was associating with people from another nation, because God had shown him that he should not call any man defiled or unclean.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And therefore, having been summoned, I came without objection. Therefore I ask you, for what reason did you summon me?” | So when you sent some men to ask me to come here, I came right away without objection. So, please tell me, why have you asked me to come here?” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Cornelius was saying, “Four days ago, at this hour, I was praying at the ninth {hour} in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, | Cornelius replied, “About this time three days ago, I was praying to God in my house, as I regularly do at three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly a man whose clothes shone brightly stood in front of me |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he says, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God. | and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer. He has also noticed that you have often given money to help poor people, and he is pleased with that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, send to Joppa and summon Simon who is called Peter. He is being hosted in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ | So now, send messengers to go to the city of Joppa in order to ask Simon, whose other name is Peter, to come here. He is staying near the ocean in a house that belongs to another man named Simon, who makes leather.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So immediately I sent for you, and you did well {in} coming. Now therefore, we are all here before God to hear all the things you have been instructed by the Lord {to say}.” | So I sent some men right away to ask you to come here. I certainly thank you for coming. Now we all are gathered here, knowing that God is with us. We want to hear all the things that the Lord God has commanded you to say. So please speak to us.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And opening {his} mouth, Peter said, “In truth, I perceive that God is not a favoritism-shower. | So Peter began to speak to them. He said, “Now I understand that it is true that God does not favor only certain groups of people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Instead, in every nation the one fearing him and working righteousness is acceptable to him. | Instead, from every people group he accepts everyone who honors him and who does what pleases him. |
Peter said that anyone who fears God and does righteous deeds is acceptable to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The word that he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming peace through Jesus Christ—he is the Lord of all— | You know what God told us Israelites. He proclaimed to us the good news that people could live peacefully with him because of what Jesus the Messiah has done. This Jesus is not Lord only over us Israelites. He is also the Lord who rules over all people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| you know the word having happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John announced; | You know what Jesus did throughout the land of Judea, beginning in Galilee. He started to do those things after John proclaimed to people that they should stop their sinful behavior. If they did, John baptized them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Jesus, the one from Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all the ones being oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. | You know that God gave his Holy Spirit to Jesus, the man from the town of Nazareth, and gave him the power to do miracles. You also know how Jesus went to many places, doing good deeds. Whenever he met people whom the devil was causing to suffer, he healed them. It was God who enabled Jesus to do those things.” |
The people had already heard that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and with power, and that he had healed all who were oppressed, for God was with him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And we {are} witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree. | “We all saw the things Jesus did in Jerusalem and around every part of the land of Israel where he lived. His enemies killed him by nailing him to a wooden cross. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| God raised this one up on the third day and caused him to be seen, | Jesus died on a Friday, but God brought him back to life that Sunday. God made sure that many people would see that he was certainly alive again. |
Peter announced that God had raised up Jesus on the third day, and that Peter had eaten with Jesus after his resurrection.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| not by all the people, but by witnesses chosen beforehand by God—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. | At that time God did not let everyone see him. God had previously chosen some people to be witnesses that Jesus was alive. I am one of the people who saw him and even ate meals together with him just after God brought him back to life. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he commanded us to announce to the people and to testify that he is the one chosen by God as a Judge of the living and the dead. | Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and tell them that God has chosen him to judge everyone one day. He will judge those who are still alive and those who have died before that day. |
Jesus had commanded them to preach that Jesus had been chosen by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| To this one all the prophets bear witness, that everyone believing in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” | All the prophets who wrote about him long ago told the people about him. They wrote that if anyone believed in him, God would forgive whatever sins they had done, because of what this man, Jesus, would do for them.” |
Peter said that everyone who believes in Jesus would receive the forgiveness of sins.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all the ones listening to {his} word. | While Peter was still speaking about Jesus, suddenly the Holy Spirit came to all those people from other nations who were listening to the message. |
The Holy Spirit fell on all those who were listening to Peter.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the faithful from the circumcision—as many as had come with Peter—marveled, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out also on the Gentiles. | The Jewish believers who had come with Peter from Joppa were amazed that God had so kindly given the Holy Spirit to people from all different nations too. |
The believers who belonged to the circumcision group were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out also on the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For they heard them speaking in languages and praising God. Then Peter responded, | The Jewish believers knew that God had done that because they were hearing those people speak in other languages to tell how great God is. Then Peter said, |
The people were speaking in other languages and praising God, which demonstrated that the Holy Spirit had fallen on them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “No one is able to withhold water, is he, so that these are not baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as we also {did}?” | {to the other Jewish believers who were there}, “God has given them the Holy Spirit just as he gave him to us Jewish believers. Surely all of you would agree that we should baptize these people!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for several days. | Then Peter told Cornelius and his guests that they should receive baptism as believers in Jesus the Messiah. {Peter and the believers who had come with him from Joppa baptized all of them.} After they had received baptism, Cornelius invited Peter to stay with them for several days. {So he and the other Jewish believers did that.} |
Peter commanded that the people be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now the apostles and the brothers being throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. | The apostles and other believers who lived in various towns in the province of Judea heard that some non-Jewish people had also believed the message of God about Jesus. |
The apostles and brothers in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those from the circumcision were disputing with him, | But there were some Jewish believers in Jerusalem who {followed the teaching of the Pharisees and} believed that Jews should not associate with non-Jews. When Peter came back from Caesarea to Jerusalem, they met with him and criticized him. |
Those in the circumcision group criticized Peter for eating with the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying that he went in to men having foreskins and ate with them. | They said to him, “Not only was it wrong for you to go into the home of someone who was not Jewish, you even ate there!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter, beginning, was explaining to them in order, saying, | So Peter told them exactly what had happened. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I was praying in the city of Joppa, and in a trance I saw a vision of a certain container coming down, like a large sheet being let down from the sky by {its} four corners, and it came unto me, | He said, “I was praying {by myself} in the city of Joppa, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, suspended by its four corners. It came down to where I was. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| gazing into which I was looking closely and I saw the four-legged animals of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping animals, and the birds of the sky. | As I was gazing at it, I looked closely and I saw some tame animals and also some wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Peter, arising, kill and eat!’ | Then I heard a voice commanding me, ‘Go ahead, Peter, kill some and eat them!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for the common or unclean has never entered into my mouth.’ | But I replied, ‘Lord, surely not! I have never eaten anything that our laws say we must not eat!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the voice answered for a second {time} from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, you, do not make common!’ | The voice spoke to me from heaven a second time: ‘I am God, so if I have made something acceptable to eat, do not say it is unacceptable.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And this happened three times, and everything was pulled up to the sky again. | This same thing happened two more times. Then the sheet with all those animals and birds went back up into heaven. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And behold, immediately three men stood at the house in which we were, having been sent from Caesarea to me. | At that exact moment, three men arrived at the house where I was staying. Their master had sent them to bring me to Caesarea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the Spirit said to me to go with them, not hesitating. And these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the house of the man. | God’s Spirit told me that I should not hesitate to go with them even though they were not Jews. Six Jewish believers went with me to Caesarea. We went into the house of the man who had sent for me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, called Peter. | He told us that he had seen an angel standing in his house. The angel told him, ‘Tell some men to go to Joppa and bring back Simon whose other name is Peter. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He will speak words to you by which you will be saved—you and all your house.’ | He will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as also on us in the beginning. | While I was speaking to them, the Holy Spirit suddenly came to them just as he came to us during the Pentecost festival. |
Peter presented the fact that the Holy Spirit had come upon the Gentiles just as the Spirit had fallen upon the Jews in the beginning.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he was saying, ‘John indeed baptized with water; but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’ | Then I remembered what Jesus had said: ‘John baptized you with water, but God will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| If, therefore, God gave to them the same gift as also to us having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I, who was I {to be} able to hinder God?” | God gave us the Holy Spirit when we believed in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. God gave those non-Jews the same Holy Spirit. So I had to cooperate with what God was doing {and baptize them}.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having heard these things, they became quiet and glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has given repentance unto life.” | After those Jewish believers heard what Peter said, they stopped criticizing him. Instead, they praised God. They said, “It is clear that God has accepted non-Jews so they too can have everlasting life if they turn from their sinful behavior.” |
They praised God and concluded that God had given repentance for life to the Gentiles also.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then indeed the ones having been scattered from the persecution having happened over Stephen spread to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except only to Jews. | After Stephen died, people started persecuting the other believers in Jerusalem. So many of them left and went to other places. Some of them went to the land of Phoenicia. Some went to the island of Cyprus. Others went to the city of Antioch in Syria. In those places. They told people the good news about Jesus. But most of them told only other Jewish people. |
Most of the scattered believers told the message about Jesus only to Jews.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But some of them were men, Cypriots and Cyrenians, who, having come to Antioch, were speaking also to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. | But some of the believers were men from the island of Cyprus and from the city of Cyrene in north Africa. They went to Antioch and also spoke with non-Jewish people, telling them that Jesus is the Messiah. |
When they preached the Lord Jesus to Greeks, a great number believed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number, believing, turned to the Lord. | The Lord God was powerfully enabling those believers to preach effectively. As a result, very many non-Jewish people believed their message and trusted in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the report about them came to the ears of the church that was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch, | The group of believers in Jerusalem learned that many people in Antioch were believing in Jesus. So they sent Barnabas to Antioch {to teach and encourage the new believers}. |
Barnabas encouraged the Greeks to remain with the Lord with all their heart.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, having come and having seen the grace of God, rejoiced and was encouraging {them} all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart. | When Barnabas got to Antioch, he recognized that God had acted kindly toward the people there. This made him very happy. He encouraged all of the new believers to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus completely. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a considerable crowd was added to the Lord. | Barnabas was a good man whom the Holy Spirit completely controlled. He trusted God completely. Because of what Barnabas did, many more people in Antioch believed in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he went out to Tarsus to search for Saul. | Then Barnabas left Antioch and went to the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia to look for Saul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it happened to them that for even a whole year they were gathered together with the church and taught a considerable crowd. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. | After Barnabas found Saul, he brought him back to Antioch to help teach the believers there. Barnabas and Saul met regularly with the church there for a whole year. They taught large numbers of people about Jesus. The people of Antioch were the first people who called the disciples of Jesus “Christians.” |
Barnabas and Saul spent an entire year at the church in Antioch.
The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. | During the time that Barnabas and Saul were in Antioch, some believers who were prophets came there from Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And one of them, Agabus by name, having arisen, signified through the Spirit {that} a great famine was about to occur over the whole world. This happened upon Claudius. | One of them whose name was Agabus stood up {in order to speak}. God’s Spirit enabled him to prophesy that there would soon be a severe shortage of food in many countries. (This shortage happened when Claudius was the Roman emperor.) |
Agabus predicted that a great famine would occur over all the world.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So they determined, just as any of the disciples was prospering, each of them to send {something} for assistance to the brothers living in Judea, | {When the believers there heard what Agabus said,} they decided that they would send money to help the believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided to give as much money as he was able to give. |
The disciples sent help to the brothers in Judea by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which indeed they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. | They sent the money with Barnabas and Saul to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now at that time Herod the king laid on hands to harm some from the church. | About this same time, King Herod Agrippa sent soldiers to arrest some of the leaders of the group of believers in Jerusalem. The soldiers put them in prison. The king did that because he wanted to hurt the believers and their community. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. | He commanded a soldier to cut off the head of the apostle James, the older brother of the apostle John. So the soldier did that. |
Herod the king killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And seeing that this was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also (and those were the days of Unleavened Bread), | When Herod realized that he had pleased the leaders of the Jewish people, he commanded soldiers to arrest Peter too. This happened during the festival when the Jewish people ate bread without yeast. |
Herod arrested and put Peter in prison, intending to bring him to the people after the Passover.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and whom, having arrested, he put in prison, handing him over to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. | After the soldiers arrested Peter, they put him in prison. Herod assigned four groups of soldiers to guard Peter. Each group had four soldiers. Herod wanted to bring Peter out of prison and judge him in front of the Jewish people after the Passover Festival was finished. {He then planned to execute Peter.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So indeed Peter was being kept in the prison, but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church. | So for several days Peter stayed in prison. But the other believers in their group in Jerusalem were urgently praying to God, asking him to help Peter. |
The assembly was earnestly praying for Peter.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when Herod was going to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door were watching the prison. | It was the night before Herod planned to bring Peter out of prison and have him executed publicly. Peter was sleeping in the prison between two soldiers. A soldier on one side of him had locked a chain onto Peter’s wrist and his own wrist. A soldier on the other side of Peter had done the same thing. Two more soldiers were guarding the prison doors. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison cell. And striking the side of Peter, he awakened him, saying, “Get up in haste,” and his chains fell away from {his} hands. | Suddenly, an angel from the Lord God stood beside Peter. A bright light shone in his cell. {But Peter was still sleeping so soundly that} the angel poked him in the side to wake him up. The angel told him, “Get up quickly!” {While Peter was getting up,} the chains fell off from his wrists. {However, the soldiers were not aware of what was happening.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals.” So he did thus. And he said to him, “Put on your outer garment and follow me.” | Then the angel said to him, “Fasten your belt around you and tie your sandals onto your feet!” And Peter did what the angel told him to do. Then the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me!” |
Peter followed an angel past the guards, and then the gate opened by itself.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And going out, he followed him, but he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but he was thinking he was seeing a vision. | So Peter {put on his cloak and sandals and} followed the angel out of the prison cell. He had no idea that all this was really happening. He thought that he was dreaming. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having passed by the first guard and the second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city, which opened for them by itself. And having gone out, they went down one street, and suddenly the angel went away from him. | Peter and the angel walked by the soldiers who were guarding the two doors, but the soldiers did not see them. Then they came to the iron gate that led into the city. The gate swung open for them, and Peter and the angel walked out of the prison. After they had walked some distance along one street, the angel suddenly disappeared. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Peter, having come to himself, said, “Now I truly know that the Lord sent out his angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the Jewish people.” | Then Peter finally realized that this was not a vision, it was really happening. So he thought, “Now I know that the Lord God truly sent an angel to help me. He rescued me from what Herod planned to do to me and from all the things that the Jewish leaders expected would happen.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, called Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. | When Peter realized that God had rescued him, he went to Mary’s house. She was the mother of John, whose other name was Mark. Many believers had assembled there, and they were praying that God would help Peter somehow. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl, Rhoda by name, came to answer. | When Peter knocked at the outer entrance, a servant girl whose name was Rhoda came to find out who was outside the door. |
A servant girl Rhoda answered the door and reported that Peter was standing at the door, but she did not open the door.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having recognized the voice of Peter, from joy she did not open the gate, but running inside, she reported, “Peter is standing at the gate!” | {When Peter responded,} she recognized his voice, but she was so happy and excited that she forgot to open the door! Instead, she ran back into the house. She told the other believers that Peter was standing outside the door. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they said to her, “You are insane!” But she was insisting that it was thus. So they were saying, “It is his angel.” | But they said to her, “You must be crazy!” But she continued to say that it was really true. They kept responding, “{No, it cannot be Peter.} It is probably his angel.” |
At first they thought Rhoda was insane.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Peter was continuing knocking, and opening, they saw him and marveled. | But Peter kept knocking the whole time those inside were talking. So when some of them finally opened the door, they saw that it was Peter, and they could hardly believe it! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having motioned to them with {his} hand to be silent, he described how the Lord had led him out from the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brothers.” And having gone out, he went to another place. | Peter waved his hand to get them to be quiet. Then he told them exactly how the Lord God had let him out of the prison. He also said, “Tell James, the leader of our group, and our other fellow believers what has happened.” Then Peter left and went away somewhere else. |
Peter told them to report these things to James and the brothers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now when day had come, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers, what then had Peter become. | The next morning the soldiers who had been guarding Peter {saw that he was gone}. They wondered what had happened to him, and they became terribly upset. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Herod, having searched for him and not having found him, having questioned the guards, ordered them to be put to death. And having gone down from Judea to Caesarea, he was staying there. | {Then Herod heard about it. So} he commanded soldiers to search for Peter, but they did not find him. Then Herod questioned the soldiers who had been guarding Peter. {But the soldiers had no good explanation for what had happened.} So Herod commanded them to be executed{, which was how the Romans punished guards whose prisoners escaped}. Afterwards, Herod went from the province of Judea to the city of Caesarea, where he stayed for some time. |
The men were put to death after Herod had questioned them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now he was quarreling with the Tyrians and Sidonians. So they came to him unanimously, and having persuaded Blastus, the one over the bedchamber of the king, they were requesting peace, because their country was nourished from the king’s country. | King Herod became very upset with the people who lived in the cities of Tyre and Sidon. {He stopped them from trading with the people he ruled.} But the people of Tyre and Sidon needed to buy food from those regions. So they sent representatives together to the city of Caesarea to meet with Herod. They persuaded Blastus, who was one of Herod’s important officials, to tell Herod that they wanted to live peacefully with him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the appointed day, Herod, having put on royal clothing and having sat on the throne, made a speech to them. | On the day that Herod had planned to meet with the representatives of Tyre and Sidon{, he did some things to impress them}. He put on very expensive clothes and he sat on his royal throne. Then he formally addressed all the people who had gathered there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” | Those who were listening to him shouted repeatedly, “King Herod speaks so well that he must be a god, not a man!” |
The people shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man”!
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and having become worm-eaten, he died. | Herod accepted the praise of the people instead of telling them they should praise God. So while the people were still praising Herod, the Lord God sent an angel to punish him. That angel punished him severely: Worms ate him and he died. |
Because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel struck him, and he was eaten by worms and died.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the word of God was increasing and was being multiplied. | The believers continued telling God’s message to people in many places, and the number of people who believed in Jesus was continually increasing. |
The word of God grew and multiplied during this time.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem,having completed their service, bringing with them John, called Mark. | Barnabas and Saul finished delivering the money to help the Jewish believers in the province of Judea. They returned to the city of Jerusalem. They brought John, whose other name was Mark, with them. |
Barnabas and Saul brought John Mark with them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now in Antioch, in the church being {there}, were prophets and teachers: both Barnabas and Simeon called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian; both Manaen, the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. | At that time in the group of believers in the city of Antioch there were prophets and teachers. They were: Barnabas; Simeon, whose other name was Niger; Lucius, who was from the city of Cyrene; Manaen, who had grown up with Herod Antipas when he was the ruler of Galilee; and Saul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate, then, Barnabas and Saul to me for the work to which I have called them.” | While the believers in Antioch were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to them. He said, “I want you to let Barnabas and Saul serve me in a particular way. I want you to send them on a special mission that I have chosen them to do.” |
The assembly in Antioch was worshiping the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit spoke to them.
The Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work to which the Spirit was calling them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid {their} hands on them, they released them. | So the believers fasted and prayed some more. Then they put their hands on Barnabas and Saul {to show that they approved of them going on this special mission}. Then they sent them off to do what the Holy Spirit had commanded. |
The assembly fasted, prayed, laid hands on Barnabas and Saul, and sent them off.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So they, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed away to Cyprus. | The Holy Spirit gave Barnabas and Saul instructions about where to go. So they went from Antioch to the city of Seleucia, which is by the sea. From there they went by ship to the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having arrived in Salamis, they were proclaiming the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they also had John as an assistant. | While they were in Salamis, they went to the Jewish meeting places. There they proclaimed the message God had told them to share about Jesus. John Mark went with them and was helping them. |
In Salamis, John Mark was with them as their assistant.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having passed through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet, whose name {was} Bar Jesus, | The three of them crossed from one side of the island to the other {and shared the gospel message in each town they passed through}. Eventually they came to the city of Paphos. There they met a sorcerer whose name was Bar Jesus. He was a Jew who falsely claimed to be a prophet. |
Bar-Jesus was a Jewish false prophet who associated with the proconsul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus—an intelligent man. Summoning Barnabas and Saul, he sought to hear the word of God. | He was often in the company of the governor of the island, Sergius Paulus, who was a sensible man. The governor sent someone to ask Barnabas and Saul to come to him because he wanted to hear what God had told them to say. |
The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Elymas, “the Magician” (for thus is his name translated), opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. | However, Bar Jesus, who also called himself Elymas, contradicted what Barnabas and Paul were saying. (The name Elymas means “the Sorcerer.”) He kept trying to persuade the governor not to believe in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Saul, also Paul, being filled with the Holy Spirit, staring at him intently, | Saul was using his Roman name, Paul, because he was visiting a Roman official. The Holy Spirit gave Paul boldness and insight. He looked steadily at the sorcerer. |
Saul was also known as Paul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| said, “O full of all deceit and all trickery, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop turning aside the straight paths of the Lord? | Paul said, “You are constantly lying to people and doing things to deceive them! You are serving the devil! You try to stop everything that is good! You must stop trying to keep people from living in the way that God wants! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, behold, the hand of the Lord {is} upon you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and darkness fell upon him, and going around, he was seeking someone to lead him by the hand. | Right now the Lord God is going to punish you! You will become blind and you will not even be able to see the sun until God decides to let you see again.” At once Elymas could no longer see clearly. Then he could not see at all. He wandered around, searching for someone to take him by the hand and lead him. |
Paul told Bar-Jesus that he would be blind for a time.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the proconsul, having seen the {thing} having happened, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. | When Sergius Paulus saw what had happened to Elymas, he believed in Jesus. The truth and power of what Paul and Barnabas were teaching about Jesus amazed him. |
The proconsul believed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now having put to sea from Paphos, the ones around Paul came to Perga of Pamphylia. But John, withdrawing from them, returned to Jerusalem. | After that, Paul and the people with him traveled by sailboat from Paphos to the city of Perga in the province of Pamphylia. At Perga, John Mark left them and returned to his home in Jerusalem. |
John Mark left Paul and his friends and returned to Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they, passing through from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia and, going into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath, they sat down. | Then Paul and Barnabas traveled by land from Perga and arrived in the city of Antioch in the district of Pisidia {in the province of Galatia}. On the Sabbath, they entered the Jewish meeting place and sat down {as rabbis did}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent to them, saying, “Men, brothers, if any word of exhortation for the people is in you, speak.” | Someone read aloud from what Moses had written in the books of the Law. Next someone read from what the prophets had written. Then the leaders of the Jewish meeting place sent a message to Paul and Barnabas. They said, “Fellow Jews, if one of you wants to speak to the people here to encourage them, please speak to us now.” |
In Antioch of Pisidia, Paul was asked to speak in the Jewish synagogue.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Paul, arising and motioning with {his} hand, said, “Men, Israelites and ones fearing God, listen. | So Paul stood up and motioned with his hand {so that the people would listen to him}. Then he said, “Fellow Israelites and you non-Jewish people who also worship God, please listen to me! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they sojourned in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm he led them out of it. | God, whom we Israelites worship, chose our ancestors to be his people. He caused them to become very numerous while they were foreigners living in Egypt. Then God did powerful things to lead them out of slavery there. |
In Paul’s speech, Paul said that God chose Israel.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And for about a 40-year time, he endured them in the wilderness. | He put up with their disobedience for about forty years while they were in the wilderness. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance, | He enabled the Israelites to conquer seven people groups who were then living in the region of Canaan. He gave their land to the Israelites to live in. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in about 450 years. And after these things, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. | The Israelites spent about 450 years in Egypt and in the wilderness.” “After that, God chose people to serve as judges and as leaders to rule the Israelite people. The prophet Samuel was the last of these judges to rule them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And then they requested a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. | Then, while Samuel was still their leader, the people demanded that he choose a king to rule them. So God chose Saul, the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin, to be their king. He ruled them for 40 years. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having removed him, he raised up David for them for {their} king, about whom also he said, testifying, ‘I have found David, {son} of Jesse, a man according to my heart, who will do all my will.’ | After God had rejected Saul from being king, he chose David to be their king. God said about him, ‘I have seen that David, son of Jesse, is exactly the kind of man who desires what I desire. He will do everything that I want him to do.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| From the seed of this one, according to promise, God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, | “God brought one of David’s descendants, Jesus, to us Israelite people to save us. This is what he had promised David and our other ancestors that he would do. |
God brought Israel a Savior from the seed of King David.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| John having announced beforehand, before the face of his entrance, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. | Before Jesus began his work, John the Baptizer preached to all of our Israelite people who came to him. He told them that they should turn away from their sinful behavior and ask God to forgive them. Then he would baptize them. |
Paul said that John the Baptist had prepared the way for the coming Savior.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as John was completing {his} course, he was saying, ‘Who do you think me to be? I am not he. But behold, one is coming after me, of whom the sandals of {his} feet I am not worthy to untie.’ | When John was about to finish the work that God gave him to do, he told the crowds, ‘Do not think that I am the Messiah whom God promised to send, because I am not. But listen! The Messiah will soon come. He is so much greater than I am that I do not even deserve to be his slave and take the sandals off his feet.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Men, brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and the ones among you fearing God, to us the word of this salvation has been sent. | “My fellow Israelites who are descendants of Abraham and you non-Jewish people who also worship God, please listen! God has told all of us how he saves people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the ones living in Jerusalem and their rulers, not recognizing this one and condemning him, fulfilled the voices of the prophets being read on every Sabbath. | The people living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus. They heard someone read from the writings of the prophets {in their synagogues} on every Sabbath day. {But they did not understand what the prophets were saying.} And so what the prophets predicted long ago came true when they condemned Jesus to death. |
The people and rulers in Jerusalem fulfilled the prophets’ messages by condemning Jesus to death.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And finding no reason for death, they asked Pilate for him to be killed. | {Many people accused Jesus of doing wicked things.} They could not prove that he had done anything for which he deserved to die. But they still demanded that Pilate, the governor, condemn him to death. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when they had completed all the things having been written about him, taking him down from the tree, they laid him in a tomb. | They did to Jesus all the things that the prophets had written long ago that people would do to him. {They killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross.} Then they took his body down from the cross and placed it in a tomb. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But God raised him from the dead, | However, God brought him back to life after he was dead. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who was seen for many days by the ones having come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who now are his witnesses to the people. | For many days he repeatedly appeared to his disciples who had come along with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. Those who saw him are telling the people about him now.” |
The people who saw Jesus after he was raised from the dead were now his witnesses.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And we are proclaiming to you the promise having been to {our} fathers, | “Right now we are proclaiming this good news to you. God made a promise to our Jewish ancestors. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| that God has completely fulfilled this for our children, raising up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you.’ | God has kept that promise for us who are their descendants, and also for you who are not Jews, by making Jesus alive again. It is just like what David wrote in the second Psalm{, when God was speaking about sending his Son}: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ |
God showed that he had kept his promises to the Jews by raising up Jesus from the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And that he raised him up from the dead, never going to return to decay, he has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the holy, trustworthy things of David.’ | God has made the Messiah alive after he was dead, and God will never let him die again. God promised that to the Messiah when he said in the Scriptures, ‘I will certainly help you, as I promised David that I would do.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For in another {place} he also says: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’ | That is why, in another psalm, David also says: ‘You, God, will not allow the body of your Messiah to decay.’ |
God promised that the Holy One would not see decay.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For indeed David, having served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay. | While David was living, he did what God wanted him to do. Then when he died his body was buried where his ancestors’ bodies had been buried. Then David’s body decayed. {So he could not have been speaking about himself in this psalm.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he whom God raised up did not see decay. | But God made Jesus alive again after he died, and his body did not decay.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So let it be known to you, men, brothers, that through this one release of sins is proclaimed to you and from everything of which you were not able to be justified in the law of Moses. | “So, fellow Israelites and other friends, we want you to know that God is promising to forgive your sins as a result of what Jesus has done. You could not become right with God by obeying the laws that Moses wrote because there were many laws that you were not able to obey. |
Paul proclaimed the forgiveness of sins for everyone who believes in Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In this one, everyone believing is justified. | But now God declares that all people who believe in Jesus are no longer guilty of any of the things that they have done that have displeased him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Look, therefore that the thing spoken about in the prophets may not come upon you: | So then be careful that God does not judge you, as the prophets said that God would do! |
Paul warned his listeners not to be like those spoken of in the prophets who hear the announcement of God’s work but do not believe it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘Look, you despisers, and marvel and be destroyed! For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you would not believe at all, even if someone announced it to you.’” | {God said through the prophet Habakkuk,} ‘You who ridicule me, observe carefully what I am doing. You will certainly be amazed. Then you will die. You will be amazed because I plan to do something {terrible} while you are living. You would not believe that I would do that even if someone told you!’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were leaving, they were begging these words to be spoken to them on the next Sabbath. | After Paul finished speaking, and as he and Barnabas were going away, many of the people there asked them to return on the next Sabbath and speak to them about these things again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when the synagogue meeting was ended, many of the Jews and the worshiping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. | When the meeting was over, many people became disciples of Jesus, as Paul and Barnabas had encouraged them to do. These people were both Jews and non-Jews who worshiped God. Paul and Barnabas continued talking to them. They urged them to continue to trust that God kindly forgives people’s sins because of what Jesus did. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of the Lord. | On the next Sabbath day, most of the people in Antioch came to the Jewish meeting place to hear Paul and Barnabas speak about Jesus. |
Almost the whole city came to hear the word of the Lord on the next Sabbath.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But seeing the crowds, the Jews were filled with jealousy, and they were speaking against the things being said by Paul, blaspheming. | The leaders of the Jews saw the large crowds of people that were coming to hear Paul and Barnabas. This made them extremely jealous. So they began to contradict the things that Paul was saying. They also insulted him. |
The Jews were filled with jealousy and spoke against Paul’s message, insulting him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Paul and Barnabas, speaking boldly, said, “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves not worthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. | Then, speaking very boldly, Paul and Barnabas said to those Jewish leaders, “We had to speak the message from God about Jesus to you Jews first before we proclaim it to non-Jews, because God commanded us to do that. But you are rejecting God’s message. By doing that, you have shown that you are not worthy of everlasting life. Therefore, we are leaving you, and now we will go to the non-Jewish people to tell them the message from God. |
Paul said that the Jews were rejecting the word of God spoken to them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For thus the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, for you to be for salvation as far as the end of the earth.’” | We are doing this because the Lord God has commanded us to do it. {He said in the Scriptures,} ‘I have chosen you to reveal things about me to non-Jewish people that will be like a light to them. I have chosen you to tell people everywhere in the world the message that I want to save them.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But hearing this, the Gentiles were rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. | When the non-Jewish people heard those words, they rejoiced. They praised God for the message about Jesus. All of the non-Jewish people whom God had chosen for everlasting life put their trust in Jesus. |
The Gentiles were glad and praised the word of the Lord.
As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout the whole region. | At that time, many of the believers traveled around throughout that region, spreading the message about the Lord Jesus everywhere they went. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the Jews stirred up the influential worshiping women and the principal ones of the city and aroused a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they threw them out from their boundaries. | However, some leaders of the Jews talked to some important women who worshiped with them. They also talked to the most important men in the city. The Jewish leaders persuaded the non-Jewish city leaders to try to stop Paul and Barnabas. So those non-Jewish people led many citizens against Paul and Barnabas, and they made them leave their region. |
The Jews stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of the city.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they, having shaken off the dust of {their} feet against them, went to Iconium. | As the two apostles were leaving, they shook the dust off their feet. This was to show those leaders that God had rejected them and would punish them. Then they left the city of Antioch and went to the city of Iconium. |
Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust from their feet against those in the city of Antioch who had thrown them out.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. | Meanwhile, the people in Antioch who had believed in Jesus were very happy and the Holy Spirit was helping them greatly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that in Iconium they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a way that a great multitude, both of Jews and of Greeks, believed. | At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish meeting place. There they spoke very powerfully about the Lord Jesus. As a result, very many Jews and non-Jews believed in Jesus. |
The disbelieving Jews stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and made them bitter against the brothers.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the disobeying Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers. | But some of the Jews refused to believe that message. They made some of the non-Jews angry and bitter toward the people who had put their trust in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But indeed they stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who was testifying to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to happen by their hands. | But Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there speaking boldly about Jesus. Jesus enabled them to do many miracles. In this way, he showed people the truth of the message that God saves us even though we do not deserve it. |
God gave evidence about the message of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done by the hands of Paul and Barnabas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the multitude of the city was divided, and some indeed were with the Jews, but some with the apostles. | The people who lived in Iconium had two different opinions. Some agreed with the Jews. Others agreed with Paul and Barnabas. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when a plot happened of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat and stone them, | Then the non-Jewish people and the Jews who opposed Paul and Barnabas talked among themselves about how they could mistreat Paul and Barnabas. Some of the important men in that city agreed to help them. Together, they decided that they would kill Paul and Barnabas by throwing stones at them. |
Some Gentiles and Jews attempted to persuade their leaders to mistreat and stone Paul and Barnabas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| having become aware of it, they fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region, | But Paul and Barnabas heard about their plan. They quickly went away to the district of Lycaonia. They went to the cities of Lystra and Derbe in that district and to the surrounding area. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and there they were proclaiming the gospel. | While they were in that area, they continually told the people the good news about Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And in Lystra a certain man was sitting, powerless in {his} feet, lame from the womb of his mother, who had never walked. | In Lystra, they saw a man who was sitting down because he was crippled in his legs. When his mother gave birth to him, he had crippled legs, so he had never been able to walk. |
Paul healed a man who was crippled from birth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He heard Paul speaking, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed. | He listened as Paul was speaking about Jesus. Paul looked directly at him and could see in the man’s face that he believed that Jesus could make him well. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet,” and he jumped up and walked around. | So Paul shouted out to him, “Stand up straight!” When the man heard that, his legs became strong. He immediately jumped up and began to walk around. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, raised their voice, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods, having been made like men, have come down to us.” | When the crowd saw Paul heal the crippled man, {this made them think that Paul and Barnabas were the gods that they worshiped. So} they shouted excitedly in their own Lycaonian language, “Look! The gods have made themselves look like people and they have come down from the sky to help us!” |
The people wanted to offer sacrifices through the priest of Zeus to Paul and Barnabas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were calling Barnabas “Zeus,” and Paul “Hermes,” because he was the leader of the word. | They began to say that Barnabas was probably the chief god, whose name was Zeus. And they began to say that Paul was Hermes, the messenger for the other gods. They believed this because Paul was the one who had been speaking. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the priest of Zeus, being before the city, bringing oxen and wreaths to the gates, was wanting to sacrifice with the crowds. | People worshiped Zeus at a temple just outside the gates of the city. The priest who was there heard what Paul and Barnabas had done, so he came to the city gate, where many people had already gathered. He brought bulls with wreaths of flowers around their necks. The priest and the crowd of people wanted to kill the bulls as part of a ceremony to worship Paul and Barnabas. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But hearing this, the apostles Barnabas and Paul, tearing their clothing, rushed out into the crowd, crying out | But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about that, they were very upset. They tore their own clothes {to show that they did not want the people to sacrifice to them}. They rushed among the people, shouting, |
Barnabas and Paul tore their clothing, went into the crowd, and cried out saying that the people should turn from these useless things to a living God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, like-passioned to you. We are proclaiming the gospel to you to turn you from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, | “People of Lystra, you must not kill those bulls to worship us! We are not gods! We are human beings who are just the same as you! We have come to tell you some good news about the one true God. You can stop worshiping other so-called gods, because they cannot help you. This true God made the sky, the land, the oceans, and everything that lives in them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who in bygone generations allowed all the nations to go their own ways, | In the past, God allowed the non-Jewish people groups to worship whatever gods they wanted to worship. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and yet he did not leave himself without witness: doing good, giving you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.” | Even so, God showed you non-Jewish people that he is a good God. He sent rain to make your crops grow. He gave you plenty of food so that you could enjoy your lives.” |
God had given the nations rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And saying these things they barely restrained the crowds, so that they did not sacrifice to them. | Paul and Barnabas said all these things to the people. Even so, it was very difficult for them to keep the people from sacrificing those bulls to worship them. |
The people wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and, having persuaded the crowds and having stoned Paul, they were dragging him out of the city, thinking him to have died. | Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and convinced many of the people of Lystra that Paul had not been telling them the truth. {The people who believed what those Jews said became angry with Paul.} They let those Jews throw stones at him until he fell to the ground. They all thought that he was dead, so they dragged him outside the city and left him lying there. |
The crowds at Lystra later stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But as the disciples surrounded him, arising, he entered into the city, and the next day he went with Barnabas to Derbe. | But some of the believers in Lystra came and stood around Paul, where he was lying on the ground. Suddenly Paul stood up! He went back into the city with the believers. The next day, Paul and Barnabas left the city of Lystra and traveled to the city of Derbe. |
Paul got up and re-entered the city.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having proclaimed the gospel in that city and having made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, | In the city of Derbe they spent several days telling the people about Jesus. Many people there became believers. After that, Paul and Barnabas started on their way back home. They went again to Lystra. Then they went from there to Iconium. Then they went to the city of Antioch in the province of Pisidia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and {saying}, “It is necessary for us to enter into the kingdom of God through many afflictions.” | In each place, they urged the believers to keep trusting Jesus. They told the believers, “We suffer many hardships in this world when we are allowing God to rule over us.” |
Paul said the disciples must enter into the kingdom of God through many sufferings.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having appointed elders for them by church, having prayed with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed. | Paul and Barnabas chose leaders for each congregation. Before they left each place, they gathered the believers together and spent some time praying and fasting. Then they entrusted the leaders and other believers to Jesus, in whom they had believed, in order that he would care for them. |
In every assembly, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders, prayed with fasting, and entrusted the believers to the Lord.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. | After Paul and Barnabas had traveled through the district of Pisidia, they went south to the district of Pamphylia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. | In that district, they arrived at the town of Perga. They preached God’s message about Jesus to the people there. Then they went down to the seacoast at the town of Attalia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. | There they got on a ship and went back to the city of Antioch in the province of Syria. The people there had chosen Paul and Barnabas to go to other places and preach. That was where the believers had asked God to help Paul and Barnabas do the work that they had now completed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having arrived and having gathered the church together, they were reporting how much God had done with them and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. | When they arrived in the city of Antioch, they called the believers together. Then Paul and Barnabas told them all that God had helped them to do. Specifically, they told them how God had enabled many non-Jewish people to believe in Jesus. |
When they returned to Antioch, they gathered the church and reported all the things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were staying for not a little time with the disciples. | Then Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch with the other believers for a long time. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And certain ones coming down from Judea were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised in the custom of Moses, you are not able to be saved.” | But then some Jewish believers from the province of Judea arrived in Antioch. They started telling the non-Jewish believers there, “You must receive circumcision {to show that you belong to God}, as Moses commanded in the laws that he received from God. If you do not do that, God will not save you.” |
Certain men from Judea taught that unless the brothers were circumcised, they could not be saved.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And no little dispute and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them having happened, they appointed Paul and Barnabas and certain others from among them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this question. | Paul and Barnabas had a big argument with those Jews. {They could not settle their disagreement,} so the believers at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas and some of the other believers to Jerusalem. That way they could discuss this issue with the apostles and other leaders there. |
The brothers decided that Paul, Barnabas, and certain others should go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders with this question.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore indeed the ones having been sent out by the church were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles and producing great joy in all the brothers, | After the believers in Antioch had sent Paul, Barnabas, and the others on their way, they traveled through the provinces of Phoenicia and Samaria. When they stopped at different places along the way, they told the believers in those places that many non-Jews were putting their trust in Jesus. When the believers heard this, they rejoiced greatly. |
Paul and his companions announced the conversion of the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported how much God had done with them. | When Paul, Barnabas, and the others arrived in Jerusalem, the apostles, elders, and other believers there welcomed them. Then Paul and Barnabas reported the things that God had enabled them to do {among non-Jewish people}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But certain ones from the sect of the Pharisees, having believed, stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and command them to keep the law of Moses.” | But some of the Jewish believers who were Pharisees stood up {to get the attention of the other believers}. They said to them, “The non-Jews who have believed in Jesus must receive circumcision. We must also tell them to obey the laws that God gave to Moses.” |
The group of Pharisees believed that the Gentiles must be circumcised and must keep the law of Moses.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this word. | Then the apostles and the elders met together in order to talk about this issue. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And much debate having happened, Peter, arising, said to them, “Men, brothers, you know that from original days God chose among you: By my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. | After they had discussed it for a long time, Peter stood up {to get everyone’s attention}. He said to them, “Fellow believers, you all know that a long time ago God chose me from among you {other apostles} for an important task. He wanted me to tell the non-Jewish people the good news about Jesus. God wanted them to believe in him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And God, the heart-knower, testified to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as also to us; | God knows what every person is truly like. He showed me and others that he had accepted the non-Jews as his people. He did that by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as {he gave the Holy Spirit} to us. |
Peter said that God had given the Gentiles the Holy Spirit and had made their hearts clean by faith.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and he did not distinguish between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. | God treated them in the same way that he treated us. He forgave their sins because they trusted in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now, therefore, why are you testing God, putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? | Listen carefully! God has shown what he wants, so you should not be trying to promote something else. You should not be trying to force non-Jewish believers to obey our Jewish laws! That would be like putting a heavy burden on them. Our ancestors were not able to obey those laws. We Jews today have not been able to obey them either. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But we believe ourselves to be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, according to the way they also.” | We are confident that God saves us Jews from our sins because of what the Lord Jesus did for us. And we are confident that God will save in the same way those non-Jews who believe in Jesus.” |
Peter said that both Jews and Gentiles are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the whole crowd kept silent and was listening to Barnabas and Paul describing how many signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles through them. | After Peter had spoken, Barnabas and Paul told about the many great miracles that God had enabled them to do among the non-Jewish people. {The miracles showed that God had accepted these non-Jews.} The people who heard Barnabas and Paul tell about these miracles were so fascinated that all they did was listen. None of them said anything. |
Paul and Barnabas reported the signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And after they stopped speaking, James answered, saying, “Men, brothers, listen to me. | When Barnabas and Paul had finished speaking, James, the leader of the group of believers in Jerusalem, spoke to everyone. He said, “Fellow believers, listen to me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Simeon has described how God first looked to take from the Gentiles a people for his name. | Simon Peter has told you how God previously showed that he cared about the non-Jews. God did that by choosing from among them a group of people who would belong to him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, | What God said long ago, as we can read in the writings of one of the prophets, agrees with that: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| ‘After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David, and I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, | Later on, I will help the Israelites again. I will restore the kingdom of David that has been conquered and destroyed. {I will do that by making one of the descendants of David the king of Israel again.} It will be as if I was rebuilding a house after it had been torn down. |
The prophecy said that God would rebuild the fallen tent of David, and that it would include the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles upon whom my name has been called upon them, says the Lord doing these things | I will do this so that the rest of the people in the world will want me to be their Lord. This will include even the non-Jewish people whom I have chosen to belong to me. You can be certain that this will happen because I, the Lord God, have said that I will do it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| known from eternity.’ | I told my people long ago that I would do this.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, I judge not to trouble the ones from the Gentiles turning to God, | James continued to speak. He said, “Therefore I think that we should not tell the non-Jewish people who are becoming disciples of Jesus that they have to obey all of our Jewish laws and rituals. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but to write to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and sexual immorality and the strangled and blood. | Instead, we should write a letter to them about only a few things. They should not eat meat that people have offered to idols. They should not have sexual relations with someone to whom they are not married. They should not eat meat from animals that people have strangled to kill them for butchering. They should not eat or drink any blood. |
James suggested that the Gentile converts be commanded to keep from idols, from fornication, from what is strangled, and from blood.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For Moses has by city, from ancient generations, ones proclaiming him, being read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” | {We should tell the Gentiles not to do these things because they would be very offensive to Jews. The laws that Moses wrote forbid these things. Jews would expect Gentiles to know that God would not want them to do these things because} people read those laws aloud in the Jewish meeting places on every Sabbath day. They have done this in cities in many different places for a very long time.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas chosen men from among them—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers— | The apostles and the elders, along with all the other believers in Jerusalem, agreed with what James said. So they decided that they should choose men from the church in Jerusalem and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Those men would let the believers there know what the leaders at Jerusalem had decided. So they chose Judas the son of Sabbas and Silas. These were both leaders of the believers at Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| writing by their hand: “The apostles and the elders, brothers, to the brothers among the Gentiles throughout Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Greetings! | They wrote the following letter, which they asked Judas and Silas to take to the believers at Antioch: “We apostles and elders who are your fellow believers send our greetings to you. We are writing this to you non-Jewish believers who live in the city of Antioch and other places in the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now we have heard that some, having gone out from us, have disturbed you with words, upsetting your souls, whom we did not commission; | We have heard that some men from our church came to you and taught you things that were different from what you learned when you first believed in Jesus. We have heard that what they told you made you upset. We want you to know that we did not send these men to you. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| it seemed good to us, having become unanimous, having chosen men, to send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, | We met together and we all agreed that it would be good to choose some men and ask them to go to you. We are sending them along with Barnabas and Paul, whom we love very much. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| men having handed over their souls for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. | Those two have put their lives in danger because they serve our Lord Jesus the Messiah. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, they also reporting the same thing by word. | We have also sent Judas and Silas to you. They will tell you the same things that we are writing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us for no greater burden to be laid upon you than these necessary things: | We believe that the Holy Spirit has shown us that we should not require you to obey all of the Jewish laws. That would be difficult and unnecessary. Instead, we only require you to obey the following instructions: |
The writers of the letter and the Holy Spirit are said to be in agreement with the conclusions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to abstain from things sacrificed to idols and blood and the strangled and sexual immorality, from which keeping yourselves, you will do well. Farewell.” | You should not eat food that people have sacrificed to idols. You should not eat or drink any blood. You should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them. You should not have sexual relations with someone to whom you are not married. If you avoid doing these things, you will be doing what is right. We wish you well.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So they, having been dismissed, indeed came down to Antioch, and gathering the crowd together, they delivered the letter. | Then the apostles and elders sent Barnabas, Paul, Judas, and Silas on their way. They traveled from the city of Jerusalem to the city of Antioch. They assembled the believers there and read the letter to them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having read it, they rejoiced at the encouragement. | When the believers there read the letter, they were glad, because its message encouraged them. |
The Gentiles rejoiced because of the encouragement in the letter.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Both Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many a word and strengthened them. | Judas and Silas were prophets. They said many things to encourage the Gentile believers. They helped them to trust in Jesus even more. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having stayed some time, they were sent away with peace from the brothers to the ones having sent them. | Judas and Silas stayed in Antioch for a long time. Then, when they were ready to return to Jerusalem, the believers at Antioch wished them well and they left. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| [But it seemed good to Silas for them to remain there, so only Judas traveled.] | [But Silas thought it would be best for them to stay there. So Judas went back to Jerusalem alone.] |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul and Barnabas were staying in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord, with many others also. | However, Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch. There they and many others taught the believers and shared the good news about Jesus. |
Paul and Barnabas taught and preached the word of the Lord.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, “Returning, then, let us visit the brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, how they are.” | After a while Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in every city where we previously proclaimed the good news about Jesus. That way we can find out how well they are continuing to believe in and obey Jesus.” |
Paul told Barnabas that he wanted to return and visit the brothers in every city they had proclaimed the word of the Lord.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Barnabas was wanting also to take with them John called Mark. | {Barnabas agreed that it would be good to go back and visit these believers.} But Barnabas said that he wanted to take John, whose other name was Mark, along with them again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul was thinking it wise not to take with them this one having withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and not having accompanied them in the work. | However, Paul told Barnabas that he thought it was a bad idea to take Mark with them. Paul said this because Mark had left them when they were previously in the region of Pamphylia. Mark had not continued to work with them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a dispute happened, so as for them to be separated from each other and for Barnabas, taking Mark with him, to sail away to Cyprus. | Paul and Barnabas strongly disagreed with each other about whether they should bring John Mark with them. So they separated from each other. Barnabas went on a journey of his own and took Mark with him. They sailed on a ship to the island of Cyprus. |
There was a sharp disagreement between them about whether to bring John Mark with them, so that they separated from each other.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul, having chosen Silas, went out, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. | Paul decided to travel with Silas. The believers in Antioch asked God graciously to help them. Then Paul and Silas departed from Antioch. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he was going through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. | Paul traveled {with Silas} through the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. In those places, they helped the groups of believers to trust in Jesus even more. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he also came down to Derbe and to Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there, Timothy by name, the son of a believing Jewish woman but of a father, a Greek, | Paul and Silas went to the cities of Derbe and Lystra and visited the believers there. Now a believer whose name was Timothy lived in Lystra. His mother was a Jewish woman who believed in Jesus. His father, however, was a Greek man. {Because this man was not Jewish, he did not observe the law of Moses}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who was being well attested by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. | The believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Paul wanted this one to go out with him and, taking him, he circumcised him because of the Jews being in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. | Paul wanted to take Timothy with him when he went to other places, so he arranged for someone to circumcise Timothy. Paul did that so that the Jews who lived in those other places would accept Timothy. Those Jews knew that Timothy’s non-Jewish father would not have circumcised him. |
Paul circumcised Timothy because the Jews in those parts knew Timothy’s father was a Greek.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were going through the cities, they were delivering to them to keep the decrees that had been decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. | So Timothy went with Paul and Silas, and they traveled to many other towns. In each town they encouraged the believers to do what the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had told them to do. |
Paul delivered the instructions that had been written by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Those instructions were to keep the decrees decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So indeed the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number each day. | They helped the believers in those towns to trust Jesus even more. More people became believers every day. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they went through Phrygia and the Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. | Paul and his companions wanted to share the good news about Jesus in the province of Asia. But the Holy Spirit showed them that he did not want them to do that. So they went instead through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia{, trying to discover where the Holy Spirit wanted them to share the good news}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having come near Mysia, they were attempting to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. | They arrived at the border of the province of Mysia. From there they wanted to go north into the province of Bithynia. But once again the Holy Spirit showed them that he did not want them to share the good news there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. | So they went through the province of Mysia and arrived at Troas{, a city by the sea}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a vision appeared to Paul by night: A man, a certain Macedonian, was standing and calling him and saying, “Coming over into Macedonia, help us.” | That night God gave Paul a vision in which he saw a man from the province of Macedonia. That man was begging Paul, “Come across the sea to Macedonia and help us!” |
Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia calling him to come over and help them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out into Macedonia, reasoning together that God had summoned us to proclaim the gospel to them. | {I, Luke, joined Paul and his companions in Troas.} After Paul saw that vision, we made arrangements right away to travel to Macedonia. We were certain that God had called us to share the good news about Jesus with the people there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So setting sail from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis, | We got on a boat and sailed from Troas right to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to the city of Neapolis. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and from there to Philippi, which is the first city in the district of Macedonia, a colony, and we were staying in this city for some days. | Then we left Neapolis and went to Philippi. It was a very important city in the province of Macedonia. Many Roman citizens lived there. We decided to stay in Philippi for a while. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the day of the Sabbath, we went outside the gate by a river, where we thought a place of prayer to be. And having sat down, we spoke to the women having come together. | On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate and walked down to the river. {Since there was no synagogue in the city,} we knew that Jewish people would gather to pray at a place like that. When we arrived, we saw some women who had gathered to pray. So we sat down and began to tell them about Jesus. |
Paul thought there would be a place of prayer there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a certain woman, Lydia by name, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, worshiping God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to pay attention to the things being said by Paul. | A woman whose name was Lydia was one of the women who was listening to Paul. She was from the city of Thyatira, She was a merchant who sold luxurious purple cloth. She believed in the God of Israel and worshiped him. The Lord God enabled her to understand what Paul was saying{, and she trusted in Jesus}. |
The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to the things which were spoken by Paul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, entering into my house, stay.” And she persuaded us. | Paul baptized Lydia and the others who lived in her house. Then she said to us, “If you recognize that I believe sincerely in Jesus, please come to my house and stay there.” So we accepted her invitation and stayed at her house. |
Lydia and her household were baptized after Paul spoke.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain young female slave having a Python spirit met us, who, divining, was bringing much gain to her masters. | Another day, as we were going to the place where people gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was giving her the power to tell what would happen to people in the future. People paid a lot of money to the men who were her owners so that she would tell them what was going to happen to them. |
She made money for her masters by fortunetelling.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| She, following after Paul and us, was shouting, saying, “These men are servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” | This young woman followed Paul and the rest of us everywhere we went. She was continually shouting, “These men serve the God who is the greatest of all gods! They are telling you how God can save you!” |
Paul turned and commanded the spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And she was doing this for many days. But Paul, having become annoyed and having turned, said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out from her.” And it came out in the same hour. | She continued to do this for many days. Finally, Paul became so upset that he turned toward the young woman and spoke to the evil spirit that was in her. He said, “In the name of Jesus the Messiah, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately the evil spirit left her. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But her masters, seeing that their hope of profit had gone, seizing Paul and Silas, dragged them into the marketplace to the rulers. | Then her owners realized that she could no longer predict what would happen to people. That meant she could no longer earn money for them. That made them very angry. They grabbed Paul and Silas and took them to the open area of the city where its rulers were {so that the rulers could judge them}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are greatly troubling our city, being Jews, | The owners of the young woman brought them to the city rulers. They told them, “These men are Jews, and they are greatly troubling the people in our city. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and they are proclaiming customs that are lawful for us neither to accept nor to practice, being Romans.” | They are teaching that we should do things that our Roman laws do not allow us to do!” |
They accused Paul and Silas of teaching things that are not lawful for Romans to receive or observe.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the crowd rose up together against them, and the magistrates, tearing off their garments, commanded them to be beaten with rods. | Many people in the crowd joined those who were accusing Paul and Silas. {This convinced the Roman rulers that they must be bad men.} So the rulers told soldiers to tear the shirts off Paul and Silas and beat them with wooden rods. |
They were beaten with rods, thrown into prison, and put in the stocks.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having laid many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely, | So the soldiers beat Paul and Silas badly with rods. After that, they took them and put them into the prison. They told the jailer to make sure they did not get out. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. | Because the officials had told him to do that, the jailer put Paul and Silas into the room that was farthest inside the prison. There he made them sit down on the floor and stretch out their legs. Then he fastened their ankles in holes between two large pieces of wood so that Paul and Silas could not move their legs. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But around midnight, Paul and Silas, praying, were singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. | About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and praising God by singing songs. The other prisoners were listening to them. |
They were praying and singing hymns to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And suddenly a great earthquake happened, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and the chains of all were unfastened. | Suddenly there was a very strong earthquake that shook the whole jail. As soon as the earthquake struck, it caused all of the doors of the jail to open and all of the chains that fastened the prisoners to fall off. |
There was an earthquake, all the prison doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the jailer became awake, and seeing the prison doors having been opened, having drawn {his} sword, he was about to kill himself, thinking the prisoners to have escaped. | The jailer woke up and saw that the earthquake had opened the doors of the jail. He thought that the prisoners had left the jail. So he pulled out his sword to kill himself{, because he knew that the city rulers would kill him if the prisoners had escaped}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul shouted with a loud voice, saying, “Do not do harm to yourself, for we are all here.” | Paul saw the jailer and shouted to him, “Do not kill yourself! We prisoners are all here!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So having called for lights, he rushed in and, being terrified, he fell down to Paul and Silas, | The jailer shouted to someone to bring torches. {It was midnight and dark, and he wanted to be sure that all the prisoners were still in the prison}. He hurried in {to the inner cell where he had put Paul and Silas}. The jailer was shaking with fear{, because the rulers had told him to guard them carefully. When he saw that Paul and Silas were still there,} he knelt down in front of them to honor them {for sparing his life by not escaping}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and having brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what is necessary for me to do in order to be saved?” | Then he brought Paul and Silas out of the jail. He asked them, “Sirs, I want God to save me. What do I need to do?” |
The jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” | They answered, “If you put your trust in Jesus as your Lord, God will save you. God will also save everyone in your family if they trust in Jesus.” |
Paul and Silas answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your house.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, with everyone in his house. | Then Paul and Silas spoke about Jesus to him and everyone in his family. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And taking them at that hour of the night, he washed them from the blows, and he was baptized immediately—he and all the ones of him. | The jailer washed their wounds, even though it was the middle of the night. Then right away Paul and Silas baptized him and everyone in his family. |
The jailer and all his household were baptized that night.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And bringing them up into {his} house, he set a table before them and rejoiced with {his} household, having believed in God. | Then the jailer brought Paul and Silas into his house and gave them some food to eat. He and his whole family were all very happy because they had believed in God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now when day came, the magistrates sent officers, saying, “Release those men.” | The next morning, the city rulers told some officers to go to the prison and tell the jailer, “Let those two prisoners go now!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the jailer reported the words to Paul, “The magistrates have sent that you may be released. Now therefore, coming out, go in peace.” | When the jailer heard this, he went and told Paul, “The city rulers have told me to let you go. So you two can leave the prison now. Do not worry, no one will arrest you again.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul said to them, “Having beaten us in public without trial, men being Romans, they threw us into prison, and now they cast us out secretly? For not! Instead, coming themselves, let them lead us out.” | But Paul said to the jailer, with the officers listening, “The city rulers had their soldiers beat us in front of a crowd. Without convicting us of any crime, they put us in prison. They did those things to us even though we are Roman citizens. And now they want to send us away without telling anyone! We will not accept that! Those city rulers must come themselves and free us from prison.” |
The magistrates were afraid because they realized that they had publicly beaten two uncondemned Roman citizens, an act which was against Roman law.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the officers reported these words to the magistrates and they were terrified, hearing that they were Romans. | So the officers went and told the city rulers that Paul and Silas were refusing to leave the prison unless the rulers came and released them personally. When the city rulers learned that they were Roman citizens, they became very afraid. {They knew that they had done the wrong thing by beating Roman citizens and putting them in prison without a trial.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And coming, they entreated them, and bringing them out, they were asking them to go away from the city. | So the city rulers came to Paul and Silas and told them that they were sorry for what they had done to them. The city rulers brought them out of the prison and asked them to leave the city. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So going out from the prison, they came to Lydia. And seeing the brothers, they exhorted them and went out. | After Paul and Silas left the prison, they went to Lydia’s house. There they met with her and the other believers. They encouraged the believers to continue trusting in the Lord Jesus. Then Paul, Silas, and Timothy left the city of Philippi. {I, Luke, remained there for some time.} |
Paul and Silas went to the house of Lydia, encouraged the brothers, and then departed from Philippi.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where a synagogue of the Jews was. | Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia. Then they came to the city of Thessalonica. There was a Jewish meeting place there. |
Paul went to the synagogue of the Jews first to speak from the Scriptures about Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And according to the custom of Paul, he went to them, and on three Sabbaths he was reasoning with them from the Scriptures, | On the Sabbath day, Paul went to the meeting place as he usually did. For three weeks he went there on each Sabbath day. He proved to the people from the Scriptures {that Jesus was the Messiah}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| fully opening them and demonstrating that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and {saying}, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” | Paul showed very clearly that in the Scriptures the prophets wrote that the Messiah would have to die but then become alive again. He said, “I am telling you about Jesus. This man is the Messiah.” |
Paul showed it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And some from them were persuaded and were associated with Paul and Silas, both a large number of worshiping Greeks and not a few of the leading women. | Some of the Jews in the synagogue believed what Paul said about Jesus. They began to meet with Paul and Silas. Many non-Jewish people who worshiped God and many influential women also believed the message about Jesus. They too began to meet with Paul and Silas. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the Jews, having become jealous, and having brought certain wicked men from the marketplace, and having gathered a crowd, they agitated the city. And attacking the house of Jason, they sought to lead them out to the people. | But some leaders of the Jews became jealous {because so many people were believing what Paul taught}. So they went to the open area of the city and found some bad men to help them. They used those men to gather a crowd and cause a great disturbance in the city. The crowd ran to the house of a man named Jason, where they thought Paul and Silas were staying. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas outside to where the crowd of people was. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But not having found them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers to the city officials, shouting, “The ones having turned the world upside down, they are also present here, | They discovered that Paul and Silas were not at the house. However, they found Jason and dragged him and some of the other believers who were with him to where the city rulers were. They told the rulers, “These men who have been disturbing the way that people live have now come here also, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom Jason and all these men have welcomed. They are acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus.” | and this man Jason has invited them to stay at his house. These other men whom we have brought to you are also friendly with them. They are all disloyal to Caesar our king. They say that another person, whose name is Jesus, is the real king!” |
Paul and Silas were accused of acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there was another king, Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they agitated the crowd and the city officials hearing these things. | When the city rulers and the crowd of people that had gathered heard that, they became very upset. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having received a bond from Jason and the rest, they released them. | The city rulers made Jason and the other believers pay a fine. {But they told them that they would give the money back to them if Paul and Silas did not cause any more trouble.} Then the city rulers let Jason and the other believers go. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the brothers immediately sent away both Paul and Silas by night to Berea, who, having arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. | So that same night, the believers sent Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica to the town of Berea. When Paul and Silas arrived there, they went to the Jewish meeting place. |
Paul and Silas went into the synagogue of the Jews.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now these were more noble than {those} in Thessalonica, who received the word with all readiness, examining the Scriptures each day, whether these things might be so. | Most of the Jews in Thessalonica had not been willing to listen to God’s message. But the Jews who lived in Berea were very willing to listen. They listened carefully to the message about Jesus. Every day they read the Scriptures for themselves to find out whether what Paul said about Jesus was true. |
The Bereans received the word and examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was so.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then indeed many of them believed, even influential Greek women and not a few men. | Because of Paul’s teaching, many of the Jewish people believed in Jesus, and also some of the important non-Jewish women and many non-Jewish men believed in him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was also being proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there also, exciting and troubling the crowds. | But then the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul was in Berea preaching the message from God about Jesus. So they went to Berea and said things to the people there that made them very angry with Paul. |
Paul had leave Berea because the Jews of Thessalonica stirred up the crowds in Berea.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go as far as to the sea, but both Silas and Timothy stayed there. | So right away some of the believers in Berea took Paul to the seacoast to go to another city. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the ones conducting Paul brought him as far as Athens and, having received a command to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they departed. | When Paul and the men who were taking him arrived at the coast, they got on a boat and went to the city of Athens. Then Paul said to the men who had come with him, “Tell Silas and Timothy to come to me here in Athens as soon as they can.” Then those men left Athens and returned to Berea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him, seeing the city being full of idols. | In Athens, Paul waited for Silas and Timothy to come. In the meantime, he walked around in the city. He became very distressed because there were many idols in the city. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So indeed he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the ones worshiping and in the marketplace every day with the ones meeting him. | So Paul went to the Jewish meeting place and talked about Jesus with the Jews there. He also spoke with the Greeks who had accepted what Jews believe. He also went every day to the open area of the city and had conversations with the people he met there. |
Paul went to the Jewish synagogue and the marketplace to reason from the Scriptures.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were disputing with him. And some were saying, “What might this word-picker want to say?” But others {said}, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he was proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection. | Paul met some teachers who liked to talk about what people believe. Some of them called themselves Epicureans, and others called themselves Stoics. They told Paul what they believed, and they asked him what he believed. Then some of them said to one another, “He really does not know what he is talking about.” But others said, “He seems to be teaching a philosophy about some gods that we have never heard of.” Those others said that because Paul was telling them that Jesus had died and then had become alive again{, and they thought that Resurrection was the name of a god}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And taking hold of him, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “Are we able to know what this new teaching {is} that is being spoken by you? | So they invited Paul to come with them to the place where the philosophers in the city met. They told Paul, “Please come with us, because we would like to know what this new message is that you are teaching people. |
Paul was brought to the Areopagus to explain his teaching further.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you are bringing some startling things into our ears. Therefore, we wish to know what these things want to be.” | You are teaching us some things that we do not understand. We want to know what they mean.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| (Now all the Athenians and the sojourning foreigners were devoting their leisure to nothing other than either to say something or to hear something newer.) | The people of Athens and the people from other regions who had come to live there greatly enjoyed talking about new ideas. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Paul, having been stood in the middle of the Areopagus, was saying, “Men, Athenians, I see how you are more religious in everything. | The philosophers asked Paul to stand in the middle of their group. He did, and then he said, “People of Athens, I have seen many of the things you do, and I can tell how religious you are. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For passing through and observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you worship not knowing, this I announce to you. | I say that because, while I was walking through your city, I saw the things that you worship, I even saw an altar on which someone had carved these words: THIS HONORS A GOD WHOM WE DO NOT KNOW. So now let me tell you about that God whom you worship but whom you do not know. |
Paul found an altar with the inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD, which he wanted to explain to the people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| The God having made the world and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in hand-built temples. | He is the God who made the world and everything in it. He rules over all beings in heaven and on earth. He does not live in temples that people have built. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Neither is he cared for by hands of men, needing anything, himself giving life and breath and all things to all. | He does not need to have people do anything for him. He is the one who makes people alive. He gives them everything they need. |
Paul said the God who made everything gives people life and breath and everything else.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And from one he made every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined {their} appointed seasons and the boundaries of their habitation, | In the beginning, God created one couple, and from them God produced all the people groups that now live everywhere on the earth. God determined where and when each people group would live. |
From one man God made every nation of people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for him and find him, yet indeed not being far from each one of us. | He wanted people to realize that they need him. Then maybe they would look for him and find him. People will find God if they sincerely look for him, because he is very close to each one of us. |
Paul said that God was not far from anyone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For ‘in him we live and are moved and are,’ and as some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are {his} offspring.’ | It is because of God that we live, move, and exist, as one of you has said, ‘Because we are his children.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, being offspring of God, we ought not to consider the Divine to be similar to gold or silver or stone—images of the skill and imagination of man. | Therefore, because we are God’s children, we should not think that God is like an idol that a person would design and make out of gold, silver, or stone. |
Paul said that we should not think of God like gold, silver, or stones, sculptured by man.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore God, having indeed overlooked the times of ignorance, now to men commands everyone everywhere to repent, | In the past, people did not know what God wanted them to do. So God did not punish them for what they did. But now God commands all people everywhere to stop doing wrong things. |
God now calls all men everywhere to repent.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| because he has set a day in which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, having provided assurance to all, having raised him from the dead.” | God tells us that on a day that he has chosen, he is going to judge all of us justly. God will have Jesus, the man he has chosen, do the judging. God has made sure that we understand this by making Jesus alive again after he died.” |
God has set a certain day when Jesus will judge the world in righteousness.
God has proven that Jesus has been chosen as the judge of the world by raising him from the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some indeed mocked, but others said, “We will hear you also again concerning this.” | When the philosophers heard Paul say that a man had become alive again after he had died, some of them laughed at him. But others asked him to come back and tell them about it another day. |
Some mocked Paul when they heard him speak about the resurrection of the dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So Paul went out from their midst. | After they said that, Paul walked away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But certain men, being joined to him, believed, among whom {were} even Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman, Damaris by name, and others with them. | However, some of the people went with Paul and believed the message about Jesus. Among those who believed in Jesus was a man named Dionysius who was a member of the council. Also, there were a woman named Damaris and some other people with them who believed. |
Yes, certain men and a woman believed Paul, and others with them.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| After these things, having departed from Athens, he went to Corinth. | After that, Paul left the city of Athens and went to the city of Corinth. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having found a certain Jew, Aquila by name, a Pontian by birth, having recently come from Italy, also Priscilla, his wife, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome, he approached them, | In Corinth Paul met a Jew whose name was Aquila. He was from the region of Pontus. Aquila and his wife Priscilla had recently come from the city of Rome in Italy. They left Rome because Claudius, the Roman emperor, had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul introduced himself to Aquila and Priscilla. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and was working, for they were tentmakers by trade. | Aquila and Priscilla made tents to earn money. Paul also made tents. So he stayed with them and they worked together. |
Paul worked as a tentmaker to support himself.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he was reasoning in the synagogue on every Sabbath, persuading both Jews and Greeks. | Every Sabbath, Paul went to the Jewish meeting place. There he conversed with both Jews and non-Jews. He helped many of them to believe in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word, to the Jews solemnly attesting Jesus to be the Christ. | When Silas and Timothy arrived from the region of Macedonia, Paul felt strongly that he should devote all of his time to proclaiming the good news. So he kept telling the Jews sincerely that Jesus was the Messiah. |
Paul testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But as they were opposing and insulting him, shaking out {his} garments, he said to them, “Your blood {be} upon your head! I am clean! From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” | But the Jews argued with Paul and said bad things about him. So he shook the dust off his clothes {to show that he wanted to have nothing to do with them any more}. He said to them, “If God punishes you, it is your responsibility! I have done everything I could to show you the truth! From now on I will talk to people who are not Jewish!” |
Paul told the Jews their blood was on their own head, and then he went to the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having departed from there, he went into the house of a certain one worshiping God, Titius Justus by name, whose house was adjoining to the synagogue. | So Paul left the Jewish meeting place and went into a house that was next to it, and he preached there. Titius Justus, the owner of the house, was a non-Jewish man who worshiped God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Crispus, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord with his whole house, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, were believing and were being baptized. | After that, the ruler of the Jewish meeting place, whose name was Crispus, and all of his family believed in Jesus. Many other people in Corinth heard about Crispus and his family. They also believed in Jesus and Paul baptized them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not fear, but speak and do not be silent. | One night Paul had a vision in which Jesus spoke to him. He said, “Do not be afraid {of the people who are against you}. Keep telling people about me. |
The Lord told Paul to continue speaking, for no one would harm him there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I am with you, and no one will set upon you to harm you, for much people is to me in this city.” | {You can keep speaking confidently} because I will help you. No one will be able to attack you and hurt you, because there are many people in this city who love me {and will defend you}.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So he stayed for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. | So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half. He shared the good news about Jesus with the people there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when Gallio was governor of Achaia, the Jews rose up unanimously against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, | Then a man named Gallio became the Roman governor of the province of Achaia. The Jewish leaders {thought he would take their side so they} got together and seized Paul. They brought him to the governor and made accusations against him. |
The Jews accused Paul of teaching people to worship contrary to the law.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, “This one persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.” | They said, “This man is teaching people to worship God in ways that Roman law does not permit.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when Paul was going to open {his} mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “O Jews, if indeed it was some crime or evil wrongdoing, by reason I would have endured you, | Paul was about to say something to defend himself. But Gallio said to the Jewish leaders, “If this man had done something terribly wrong that broke our Roman laws, naturally I would listen to what you Jews want to tell me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but if the questions {are} about word and names and your law, you will see yourselves. I do not want to be a judge of these things.” | However, you are only complaining about things that Paul has been saying. You are arguing about who deserves what name. These are disputes about your own Jewish laws. So you must settle this yourselves. These are not the kind of things that deserve my attention!” |
The governor said that he did not wish to be a judge of matters involving the Jewish law.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he sent them away from the judgment seat. | After Gallio said that, he told some soldiers to make the Jewish leaders leave the court. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, they were all beating him before the judgment seat, and none of these things mattered to Gallio. | But instead of leaving right away, the Jewish leaders grabbed the man who was in charge of their synagogue. His name was Sosthenes. They beat him right there in front of the judge’s seat {because they thought Paul had persuaded him to believe in Jesus}. Gallio did nothing to stop them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul, having stayed yet many days, leaving the brothers, sailed to Syria, Priscilla and Aquila also {being} with him, having shorn {his} head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow. | Paul stayed with the believers in Corinth for many more days. Then he got on a ship with Priscilla and Aquila and sailed for the province of Syria. {Paul left Silas and Timothy in Corinth.} He got his hair cut off in Cenchrea because of a vow that he had made. |
Aquila and Priscilla traveled with Paul to Ephesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they came down to Ephesus and them he left there, but he himself, having gone into the synagogue, reasoned with the Jews. | They arrived at the city of Ephesus, and Priscilla and Aquila stayed there. Paul himself entered the Jewish meeting place and had conversations with the Jews there about Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent. | They asked him to stay longer, but he told them that he could not stay. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But leaving them and saying, “I will return again to you, God being willing,” he put to sea from Ephesus. | But as Paul left, he told the Jews in Ephesus, “I promise that I will come back if God wants me to.” Then Paul got on a ship and sailed away from Ephesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having come down to Caesarea, having gone up and having greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. | When the ship came to the city of Caesarea, Paul got off. He went from there to Jerusalem and visited with the believers there. Then he returned to the city of Antioch{, where he had begun his trip}. |
After he left Ephesus, Paul traveled to greet the church at Jerusalem and then he went to Antioch.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having stayed some time, he departed, going through the region of Galatia and Phrygia in succession, strengthening all the disciples. | Paul remained for some time with the believers in Antioch. Then he left and traveled to many cities in the regions of Galatia and Phrygia. He helped the believers in each city to believe more steadfastly in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now a certain Jewish man, Apollos by name, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came down to Ephesus, being mighty in the Scriptures. | While Paul was going through Galatia and Phrygia, a Jewish man named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was from the city of Alexandria, and he spoke very well. He had carefully studied the Scriptures. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He had been taught the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. | Other believers had taught Apollos how Jesus wanted people to live. He enthusiastically taught those things correctly to the people in Ephesus. However, he was not teaching everything about Jesus. He only knew that John the Baptizer had said to repent and receive baptism to get ready for Jesus the Messiah. |
Apollos understood the things concerning Jesus accurately, but he knew only the baptism of John.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but hearing him, Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. | Apollos went to the Jewish meeting place and told the people there the things he had learned about Jesus. When Priscilla and Aquila heard what he taught, they asked him to come to their home. There they taught him more about Jesus. |
Priscilla and Aquila became friends with Apollos and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he desired to pass over into Achaia, the brothers, encouraging him, wrote to the disciples to welcome him, who, having arrived, greatly helped the ones having believed by grace. | When Apollos decided that he would like to go to the region of Achaia, the believers in Ephesus told him that it would be good for him to do that. So they wrote a letter to the believers in Achaia saying that they should welcome Apollos. After he got there, he did much to help those whom God had kindly enabled to believe in Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For he was powerfully refuting the Jews in public, showing Jesus to be the Christ by the Scriptures. | The leaders of the Jews were denying that Jesus was the Messiah. But as many other people listened, Apollos showed convincingly that they were wrong. He did that by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. |
Apollos was able to publicly overwhelm the Jews, showing that Jesus was the Christ.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, passing through the upper parts, came down to Ephesus and found certain disciples. | While Apollos was still in the city of Corinth, Paul {finished visiting the churches in Phrygia and Galatia. Then he} traveled through the province of Asia and came to the city of Ephesus. There he met some people who said that they were believers. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said to them, “If you received the Holy Spirit, having believed?” But they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” | He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed God’s message?” They answered, “No, we did not. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” |
The disciples had not heard about the Holy Spirit.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into the baptism of John.” | So Paul asked, “So when someone baptized you, what did you know?” They replied, “We believed what John the Baptizer taught.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul replied, “John baptized a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” | Paul said, “John’s baptism was a sign that people were giving up their evil thoughts and deeds and wanting to obey God. But John also told people that the Messiah would soon appear and that they should believe in him. He was talking about Jesus.” |
John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.
John had told the people to believe on the one who would come after him, Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. | When those men heard that, they believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Paul then baptized them because they believed. |
Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Paul having laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were speaking in languages and prophesying. | After that, Paul placed his hands on their heads one by one, and each of them received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave them power to speak in languages that they had not learned. They also spoke messages that the Holy Spirit gave them. |
The Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in other languages and prophesied.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they all were about 12 men. | There were about 12 men whom Paul baptized and who received the Holy Spirit. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And going into the synagogue, he was speaking boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading about the kingdom of God. | For three months after that, Paul went to the Jewish meeting place in Ephesus on each Sabbath and preached there. He taught the people convincingly about how God should rule their lives. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when some were being hardened and disobeying, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, departing from them, he separated the disciples, reasoning each day in the school of Tyrannus. | But some of the Jews would not believe the message and did not want to hear it any more. In front of everyone in the synagogue, they said bad things about believing in Jesus. So Paul left them and took the believers with him to meet every day in a large room where a man whose name was Tyrannus usually taught people. |
Paul withdrew with the believers and began to speak in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And this happened for two years, so that all living in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. | For two years Paul taught people there. In this way, most of the Jews and non-Jews who lived in the region of Asia heard the message about Jesus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And God was doing not ordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, | God also gave Paul the power to do great miracles. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| so that even handkerchiefs or aprons from his skin were taken to the sick and {their} illnesses departed from them, and the evil spirits came out. | If those who were sick could not come to Paul, people would take pieces of cloth that Paul had touched and place them on the sick people. When they did this, the sick people would become well and the evil spirits would leave them. |
When handkerchiefs and aprons were taken from Paul, they healed the sick and drove out evil spirits.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now some of the traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over the ones having evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” | There were some Jews who traveled from place to place, commanding the evil spirits in those places to depart from people. Some of them tried to make evil spirits come out of people by commanding them to leave by the authority of Jesus. When those Jews were with a person who had an evil spirit, one of them would say, “I command you to come out by the authority of the man named Jesus whom Paul teaches about!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| (Now seven sons of Sceva, a certain Jewish chief priest, were doing this.) | Specifically, there were seven men who were doing this. They were the sons of a Jewish man named Sceva, who was a chief priest. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But answering, the evil spirit said to them, “Jesus I acknowledge, and Paul I know, but you, who are you?” | {One day two of the sons of Sceva were in the house of a man who had an evil spirit. They tried to make the spirit come out. But it did not come out.} Instead, the evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but no one has given you authority to make me leave this man!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the man in whom was the evil spirit, leaping on them, overpowering them both, prevailed against them, so that they fled from that house naked and wounded. | {After the evil spirit said that,} suddenly it made the man jump on them. He knocked down these two sons of Sceva and hurt them. He tore off their clothes and wounded them. They ran out of the house {to save their lives}. |
The evil spirit beat up the exorcists and they fled naked and wounded.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And this became known to all living in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. | Soon people throughout Ephesus, both Jews and non-Jews, heard what had happened. They realized that they should regard Jesus with great awe, and they spoke of him very respectfully. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And many of the ones having believed were coming, confessing and declaring their deeds. | At that time, many people in the group of believers came to their leaders. While other believers were listening, they told about the evil things that they had been doing. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And many of the ones practicing the magical arts, bringing together {their} books, were burning them before everyone. And they calculated the value of them, and they found {it to be} five myriad pieces of silver. | Now many of the believers had been sorcerers. They took their scrolls that told about spells and curses and burned them in a place where everyone could see them. The believers added up how much the scrolls were worth. They were worth 50,000 silver coins. |
Many who practiced magical arts in Ephesus burned their books in the sight of everyone.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So with power the word of the Lord was increasing and prevailing. | In this powerful way, many people heard the message about Jesus and believed in him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now when these things were fulfilled, Paul determined in the Spirit to travel to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, it is necessary for me also to see Rome.” | And after all of this happened, the Holy Spirit led Paul to decide to go to Jerusalem. Paul planned to visit the believers in the regions of Macedonia and Achaia first. He said, “After I have been to Jerusalem, I must also go to Rome.” |
Paul said he would go to Rome after he went to Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And sending to Macedonia two of the ones helping him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a time. | So Paul sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to the province of Macedonia. But he stayed for a while in the city of Ephesus in the province of Asia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But at that time, no small disturbance happened concerning the Way. | But soon after that, people in Ephesus began to make a great amount of trouble because of Jesus and the teaching about him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For a certain silversmith making silver shrines of Artemis, Demetrius by name, was bringing not a little business to the craftsmen, | This happened because of a man in Ephesus whose name was Demetrius. He was a craftsman who worked with silver metal. He made statues of the goddess Artemis out of silver. Demetrius paid a lot of money to the workers who made these idols. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom, having gathered together, and the workers about such things, said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business. | Demetrius called together the craftsmen and the workers who made the idols. He said to them, “You all know that we make a lot of money doing our work. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul, having persuaded, has removed a considerable crowd, saying that the things coming into being through hands are not gods. | But you know very well that Paul has led many people in Ephesus not to buy the statues that we make. In fact, the people from many other towns in our province no longer want to buy what we make. Paul tells people that the gods that we make are not gods {and that we should not worship them}. |
Demetrius was concerned that Paul was teaching people that the things being made with hands are not gods, and that the temple of their goddess Diana might be considered worthless.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And not only is this in peril, our trade to come to disrepute, but even the temple of the great goddess Artemis to be considered as nothing. And indeed, her majesty is about to be destroyed, whom all Asia, indeed the world, worships.” | {If people keep listening to Paul,} there is a risk that we will go out of business. Even worse, people will no longer come to the temple of our great goddess Artemis. They will not believe that she is worthy to worship. They will believe that she is not a goddess at all. Yet people throughout the province of Asia and even the whole world worship her!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And hearing this and becoming full of anger, they were shouting, saying, “Great {is} Artemis of the Ephesians.” | Then all the people there became very angry at Paul when they heard what Demetrius said. They began to shout, “The goddess Artemis of the Ephesians is great!” |
The people became angry and cried out saying that Diana was great, filling the whole city with confusion.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed unanimously into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, travel companions of Paul. | This shouting made the people in the city very confused. They ran as a crowd to the city stadium {to try to find out what was happening}. Gaius and Aristarchus, two men from Macedonia who traveled with Paul, were out in the city. Some people took hold of them and dragged them to the stadium. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when Paul was desiring to enter among the people, the disciples were not permitting him. | Now Paul wanted to go into the stadium to talk to the people. However, the other believers would not let him go there. |
The disciples and some local officials did not allow Paul to speak to the crowd because the crowd was in such a frenzy.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And also some of the Asiarchs, being friends to him, sending to him, were urging him not to give himself into the theater. | Also, some city rulers who were friends of Paul heard what was happening. They sent someone to warn Paul not to go into the theater. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then indeed different ones were shouting something different, for the assembly was confused, and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. | In the stadium, the people were very confused. Because they were confused, some were shouting one thing while others were shouting something else. But most of them did not even know why they were all in the stadium! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And {some} from the crowd instructed Alexander, the Jews having pushed him forward, and Alexander, waving {his} hand, was wanting to give a defense to the people. | Then some of the Jews in the stadium pushed a man whose name was Alexander to the front of the crowd so that he could speak to the people. Some of the others there told him how he could do that. So Alexander put his hands up to get the crowd to stop shouting. He wanted to tell them that the Jews had not caused the trouble. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But recognizing that he was a Jew, one voice happened from {them} all, while shouting for two hours, “Great {is} Artemis of the Ephesians.” | But many of the non-Jewish people knew that Alexander was a Jew. {They knew that the Jews did not worship the goddess Artemis.} So for two hours the non-Jews shouted together, “Great is the goddess Artemis of the Ephesians!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But quieting the crowd, the city clerk says, “Men, Ephesians, for who is there of men who does not know the Ephesian city to be the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the Zeus-fallen image? | Then one of the city rulers made the crowd stop shouting. He said to them, “My fellow citizens, you do not need to be concerned about the worship of Artemis. People throughout the world know that our city of Ephesus is a special place where the goddess Artemis has her temple. Indeed, the sacred image of her fell down to us from heaven! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| These things, then, being undeniable, it is necessary for you to be calmed and to do nothing rash. | These are established facts. So you should be quiet now. Do not do anything foolish. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For you brought these men {who are} neither temple-robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. | You should not have brought these two men here. They work together with Paul, but they have not done anything evil. They have not gone into our temples and taken things from there, and they have not spoken evil of our goddess. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore indeed, if Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a word against anyone, the courts are being conducted and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another. | If Demetrius and his fellow workmen want to accuse anyone of doing anything bad, they should do it in the right way. The courts are in session. There are judges present whom the government has appointed. They can present their case before the judges in court. |
The town clerk told the people to bring their accusations to the courts.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But if you seek anything about other matters, it will be settled in the regular assembly. | And if you are concerned about anything else, you should ask your rulers about it when those rulers meet together. |
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|---|---|
| For indeed we are in danger of being accused of rioting concerning the today, there being no cause about which we will be able to give an account concerning this disorder.” | You should really not have rushed here shouting, because the Roman government may accuse us of having a riot today. If the rulers ask me what you were all shouting about, I will not know how to answer them. There was no good reason for it.” |
The town clerk said that the people were in danger of being accused for being disorderly, and that there was no reason that could be given as an explanation.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having said these things, he dismissed the assembly. | That is what the city ruler said to the crowd. Then he told them all to go home{, and they did go to their homes}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And after the uproar had ended, Paul, having summoned the disciples and encouraged them, saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia. | Then, after the people at Ephesus had stopped rioting, Paul called the believers together. He urged them to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus. Soon after that, he told them goodbye and left to go to the region of Macedonia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having gone through those regions and having exhorted them with many a word, he came to Greece. | Then Paul traveled through Macedonia and said many things to encourage the believers there. Then he continued on to Greece. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having stayed three months there, a plot by the Jews happening against him being about to sail to Syria, it happened that he returned of a resolution through Macedonia. | Paul then stayed in Greece for three months. He planned to return to Syria by ship. But he heard that some of the Jews there were planning to kill him as he traveled. So he decided to travel by land. Once again he went through Macedonia. |
Paul changed his plans because the Jews had formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Sopater of Pyrrhus, a Berean, and Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius, a Derbean, and Timothy and Tychicus and Trophimus, Asians, were accompanying him. | Now the men who were going to travel with him to Jerusalem were Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from the town of Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, who were from the city of Thessalonica; Gaius, who was from the city of Derbe; Timothy, who was from the region of Galatia; and Tychicus and Trophimus, who were from the province of Asia. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they, having gone ahead, were waiting for us at Troas. | {I, Luke, joined Paul when he came back through the city of Philippi.} Now the other seven men sailed to the city of Troas before we did, so they waited there for the two of us. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. | But Paul and I stayed in the city of Philippi until the end of the festival when Jewish people eat bread without yeast. Then we got on a ship that was going to the city of Troas. After five days we arrived there and met the other men who had traveled ahead of us. We all stayed in Troas for seven days. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the first of the week, we having been gathered together to break bread, Paul was speaking with them. Being about to depart the next day, he was thus continuing the word until midnight. | While we were in Troas, we gathered together on the first day of the week to share a meal with the other believers. {We met on that day because it was the day when Jesus became alive again after he died.} Paul was planning to leave Troas the next day, so when he spoke to the believers, he spoke for a long time. He kept speaking until midnight. |
On the first day of the week Paul and the believers gathered to break bread.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And many lamps were in the upper room where we were gathered together. | We had gathered in an upstairs room. Many oil lamps were burning there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And a certain young man, Eutychus by name, sitting on the window, being overcome by a deep sleep, Paul speaking even longer, having been overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. | Now a young man whose name was Eutychus was in the room. He was seated on the sill of an open window. As Paul continued talking for a long time, Eutychus became sleepier and sleepier. Finally, he was sound asleep. He slipped out of the window and fell three stories down to the ground. Some of the believers went down immediately and picked him up. But he was dead. |
The young man fell from the third story and was picked up dead, but Paul stretched himself out on him and he came back to life.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul, going down, stretched out on him and, having embraced him, said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” | Paul also went down. He lay down and stretched out on top of the young man. He also put his arms around him. Then he said to the people who were standing around, “Do not worry, because he is alive again!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having gone up and having broken bread and having tasted, and having conversed for much {time} until dawn, thus he left. | Then Paul went back up to the room where he was meeting with the believers. They shared a meal together. Afterwards he talked at length with the believers, until the sun came up. Then he left. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But they brought the boy alive and were comforted not moderately. | Before Paul left, the believers brought the young man who had fallen out the window back to the meeting. Everyone there was extremely encouraged to see that he was alive again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then we, having gone ahead to the ship, sailed away to Assos, intending to take Paul on board there, for thus he had arranged, intending to go on foot himself. | We then went to the ship. But Paul did not get on the ship with us in Troas, because he wanted to walk by himself to the town of Assos. So the rest of us got on the ship and sailed for Assos. We planned to bring Paul on board there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he met us at Assos, taking him on board, we went to Mitylene. | And when we met Paul in Assos, he got on the ship with us and we sailed to the city of Mitylene. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having sailed from there, we came down on the next day opposite Chios, and on the other day, we arrived at Samos, and on the following day, we came to Miletus. | The day after we reached Mitylene, we sailed from there and arrived at a place near the island of Chios. The day after that, we sailed to the island of Samos. The next day we left Samos and sailed to the city of Miletus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that it would not happen to him to lose time in Asia, for he was hurrying, if it might be possible for him, to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. | Paul did not want to have a delay in Asia. So he had decided we should go to Miletus, south of Ephesus and past its harbor. He was trying to travel quickly because he wanted to arrive in Jerusalem, if possible, by the time of the Pentecost festival{, and it was almost time for that festival}. |
Paul was hurrying toward Jerusalem to be there for the day of Pentecost.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And from Miletus, sending to Ephesus, he summoned the elders of the church. | So when the ship arrived at Miletus, Paul sent a messenger to Ephesus to ask the elders of the group of believers there to come to talk with him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when they came to him, he said to them, “You know, from the first day from which I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, | When the elders came to him, Paul said to them, “You know very well how I acted among you the entire time that I was with you, from the first day when I arrived here in the province of Asia {until the day I left}. |
Paul said he testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| serving the Lord with all humility and tears and trials happening to me in the plots of the Jews, | {You know how} I kept serving Jesus very humbly and how I sometimes wept. {You also know} how I suffered because the Jews who were not believers often tried to harm me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| how I withheld nothing being useful in order not to declare it to you, and I taught you in public and by houses, | {You also know} that{, when I preached God’s message to you,} I never left out anything that would help you. {You know that} I taught you God’s message when many people were present, and I also went to your homes and taught you there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| testifying to both Jews and Greeks repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. | I preached both to Jews and to non-Jews. I told them all that they must stop their sinful behavior and start obeying God. They must believe in our Lord Jesus.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, having been bound by the Spirit, not knowing the things that will happen to me in her, | “And now, I want you to know, I am going to Jerusalem. I am going because the Holy Spirit has clearly shown me that I must go there, and I must obey him. I do not know exactly what will happen to me there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me by city, saying that chains and afflictions await me. | But I do know that in each city I have visited, the Holy Spirit has told me that in Jerusalem people will put me in prison and will cause me to suffer. |
The Holy Spirit was witnessing to Paul that chains and sufferings awaited him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But of no word do I consider my life valuable to myself, so as to finish my race and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to attest the gospel of the grace of God. | But I do not care even if people kill me, so long as I am first able to finish the work that the Lord Jesus has told me to do. He told me to tell people the good news that God saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve. |
Paul’s ministry was to bear witness to the gospel of the grace of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, behold, I know that you all, among whom I went about proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more. | I have preached to you the message that God is reigning as king. But now, I must tell you, I know that today is the last time that you fellow believers will ever see me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore I testify to you in the today day that I am innocent from the blood of all. | So I want you all to understand right now that if anyone who has heard me preach dies without trusting in Jesus, it is not my fault, |
Paul said he was innocent of their blood because he had declared to them the whole will of God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For I did not hold back in order not to declare to you all the counsel of God. | After all, I have told you everything that God has revealed {about how he saves us}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Guard yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he obtained through his own blood. | You leaders must continue to believe and obey God’s message, and you must also help all the other believers to do the same. The Holy Spirit has given you the responsibility of caring for them. Jesus died on the cross to make those who believe in him his own special people. |
Paul commanded the elders to shepherd the flock carefully.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. | I know very well that after I leave, people who teach lies will come among you and will do great harm to the believers |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Even from you yourselves, men will arise speaking perverted things in order to draw away the disciples after them. | Even some leaders from your own group will start teaching believers the wrong things. They will teach those wrong things to try to get disciples of their own. |
Paul said that some of the elders would say corrupt things in order to draw away disciples after themselves.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So be alert, remembering that for three years I did not stop admonishing each one with tears night and day. | So be careful that all of you keep believing the true message about Jesus! Remember that throughout the three years I was with you, I warned each one of you consistently and very sincerely that you should stay faithful to Jesus.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now I am entrusting you to God and to the word of his grace being able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all the ones having been sanctified. | “And now as I leave you, I ask God to protect you and help you to keep believing the message that he saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve. If you continue believing that message, it will make you strong, and God will give you the good things that he has promised to all of those who belong to him. |
Paul entrusted the Ephesian elders to God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I coveted the silver or gold or clothing of no one. | As for me, I never tried to get money or fine clothing from anyone. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs and to the ones being with me. | You certainly know that I worked with my hands to earn the money that my helpers and I needed. |
Paul worked for his own needs and the needs of those with him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| I showed you all things, that it is necessary, working hard in this way, to take hold of the ones being weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” | In everything that I did, I showed you that we should work hard in order to have enough money to give some to those who are needy. We should remember that our Lord Jesus himself said, ‘A person is happier when he gives to others than when he receives from them.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having said these things, bowing his knees, he prayed with them all. | When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of the elders and prayed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But much weeping happened among them all, and falling upon the neck of Paul, they were kissing him, | They all cried a lot, and they hugged Paul and kissed him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| grieving mostly at the word that he had spoken, that they were going to see his face no more. Then they escorted him to the ship. | They were very sad because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they all went with him to the ship. |
The Ephesian elders were sad most of all because Paul had said they would never see his face again.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened that as we put to sea, having been parted from them, running a straight course, we came to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. | Then, after we said goodbye to the elders from Ephesus, we got back onto the ship and sailed directly to the island of Cos. {There the ship stopped for the night.} The next day we sailed in the ship from Cos to the island of Rhodes. {There the ship stopped again.} The day after that, we went to the town of Patara. {The ship was going no farther than that.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, going aboard, we put to sea. | {At Patara we left that ship,} but we learned that there was another ship that would be leaving soon and going to the region of Phoenicia. So we got on that ship, and it left. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having sighted Cyprus and having left it behind on the port side, we sailed to Syria and came down to Tyre, for there the ship was unloading {its} cargo. | Now as we traveled across the sea, we saw the island of Cyprus. We sailed to the south of that island. We continued sailing until we arrived at the city of Tyre in the province of Syria. The ship had to stay there for several days because its workers needed to unload the cargo. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having found the disciples, we stayed there seven days, who were saying to Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. | But we learned where the believers in Tyre lived, so we went and stayed with them for seven days. God’s Spirit revealed to some of the believers that Paul would suffer if he went to Jerusalem. So they encouraged Paul not to go there. |
The disciples said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not set foot in Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when it happened that we had finished the days, having gone out, we were proceeding, everyone accompanying us with wives and children as far as outside the city, and having put down {our} knees on the shore {and} having prayed, | But when it was time for the ship to leave again, we prepared to continue on our way to Jerusalem. When we left Tyre, all the men and their wives and children went with us to the edge of the sea. We all knelt down there on the sand and prayed. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| we said farewell to each other and we went up into the ship and those returned to {their} own homes, | Then we all said goodbye to each other. We who were traveling with Paul got onto the ship with him, and the other believers returned to where they lived in Tyre. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but we, having finished the voyage from Tyre, came down to Ptolemais, and having greeted the brothers, we stayed with them for one day. | After we left Tyre, we continued on that ship to the city of Ptolemais. There were believers there, and we greeted them and stayed with them that night. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day, having departed, we went to Caesarea and, entering into the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was from the Seven, we stayed with him. | Then, on the next day, we left Ptolemais and sailed to the city of Caesarea. There we went to visit Philip. He had a reputation for telling others how to become disciples of Jesus. He was one of the seven men whom the believers in Jerusalem had chosen to take care of the widows. He invited us to stay in his home. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now to this one were four daughters, virgins, prophesying. | Now he had four daughters who were not married. Each of them frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit gave them. |
Philip had four virgin daughters that prophesied.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as we stayed for many days, a certain prophet, Agabus by name, came down from Judea. | And after we had been in Philip’s house for several days, a believer whose name was Agabus arrived in Caesarea from the district of Judea. He frequently spoke messages that the Holy Spirit gave him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having come to us and having taken the belt of Paul, having bound his own feet and hands, he said, “The Holy Spirit says these things: ‘Thus will the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man of whom is this belt, and they will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” | Coming over to where we were, he removed the belt from Paul’s waist. He tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the hands and feet of the owner of this belt like this. Then they will ask the non-Jewish people to arrest him as a criminal.’” |
Agabus told Paul that the Jews in Jerusalem would tie up Paul and hand him over to the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when we heard these things, both we and the locals were urging him not to go up to Jerusalem. | When the rest of us heard that, we and the other believers there pled with Paul, “Please do not go up to Jerusalem!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” | But Paul replied, “Please stop crying and trying to discourage me from going! You should not cry, because I am willing to go to prison and also to die in Jerusalem because I serve the Lord Jesus.” |
Paul said that he was ready to be tied up and to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as he was not being persuaded, we kept quiet, saying, “Let the will of the Lord happen.” | Then we realized that Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem. So we did not try any longer to stop him. We said, “May the Lord’s will be done!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And after these days, having equipped ourselves, we went up to Jerusalem. | Then, after those days in Caesarea, we prepared our possessions and left to go by land to Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And {some} of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, bringing us to Mnason, a certain Cypriot, an early disciple, with whom we would be hosted. | Now some of the believers from Caesarea also went with us. They took us to stay in the house of a man whose name was Mnason. He was from the island of Cyprus. He had believed in Jesus when people were first beginning to hear the message about him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when we had arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. | And when we arrived in Jerusalem, a group of the believers greeted us happily. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. | Then, the next day, Paul and the rest of us went to speak with James. {He was the main leader of the group of believers in Jerusalem.} All of the other leaders were also there. |
Paul met with James and all the elders.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having greeted them, he was declaring, one by one, each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. | So Paul greeted them, and then he told them all of the things that God had enabled him to do among the non-Jewish people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having heard it, they were glorifying God, and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of those having believed there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. | And when they heard what God had done, James and the other elders thanked God. Then one of them said to Paul, “Brother, you know that there are very many thousands of us Jewish people who have believed in the Lord Jesus. You also know that we continue very carefully to obey the laws that Moses gave us. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews among the Gentiles apostasy from Moses, telling them not to circumcise {their} children, nor to walk in the customs. | But people have told our fellow Jewish believers that when you are with non-Jews, you tell the Jewish believers who live among them that they should stop obeying the laws of Moses. People say that you tell those Jewish believers not to circumcise their sons and not to practice our other customs. {We do not believe that they are telling the truth about you.} |
The Jews were accusing Paul of teaching the Jews who lived among the Gentiles to abandon Moses.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| What therefore is it? They will certainly hear that you have come. | But our fellow Jewish believers will surely learn that you have come here to Jerusalem. {They will be angry with you because of what they have heard about you.} So you need to do something to show them that what they have heard about you is not true. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So do this that we say to you. Four men are with us having a vow from themselves. | So please do what we suggest to you. There are four men among us who have made a vow to God. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Taking these men, be purified with them and pay the expenses for them, so that they will shear {their} heads, and then everyone will know that there is nothing in the things they have been told about you, but that you conform, also keeping the law yourself. | Go with these men to the temple courts and do the ceremonies that are necessary for you and for them to be able to worship in the temple. Then, when it is time for them to offer the sacrifices that they need to offer because they have made these vows, pay for what they offer. After that, they can shave their heads to show that they have done what they promised God they would do. When people see you in the courts of the temple with those men, they will know that what people have told them about you is not true. Instead, they will know that you obey all our Jewish laws. |
They wanted everyone to know that Paul as a Jew also lived so as to keep the law.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But concerning the Gentiles having believed, having judged, we sent that they should guard the idol-sacrificed and blood and the strangled and sexual immorality.” | Now as for the non-Jewish believers, we elders here in Jerusalem talked about which of our laws they should obey. We wrote them a letter telling them what we decided. We wrote that they should not eat meat that people have offered as a sacrifice to any idol. They should not eat any blood. They should not eat meat from animals that people have killed by strangling them. We also told them that they should not have sexual relations with someone to whom they are not married.” |
James said the Gentiles should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from fornication.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Paul, having taken the men, having been purified with them the next day, was going into the temple declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for each one of them. | {Paul agreed to do what James and the other leaders asked him to do.} The next day he took the four men and together they did the ceremonies that were necessary for them to worship in the temple. After that, Paul went to the temple courts and told the priests that these men had done everything they had promised God they would do. He told the priests that they just needed to offer the sacrifices that the law required. Paul kept going to the temple courts with the men until each one of them had offered the necessary sacrifices. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when the seven days were about to be finished, the Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the temple, were agitating the whole crowd, and they laid {their} hands on him, | Now it took seven days for the ceremonies that allowed the men to return to their regular lives after their vows. Near the end of that time, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple courtyard. They were very upset with him, and they made many other Jews who were there upset with Paul as well. The Jews from Asia grabbed on to Paul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| shouting, “Men, Israelites, help! This is the man teaching all everywhere against the people and the law and this place. And he has even both brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” | They shouted, “Fellow Israelites, come and help us to punish this man! This is the one who is teaching people wherever he goes that the Jewish people are not special. He teaches people that they should no longer obey the laws of Moses and that they do not need to respect this temple. He has even brought non-Jews here into the court of our temple, causing this holy place to become polluted!” |
The Jews accused Paul of teaching against the law and defiling the temple by bringing Greeks into it.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they were thinking that Paul had brought into the temple. | They said these things because they had seen Paul walking around in Jerusalem with Trophimus. He was a non-Jew from Ephesus. {The Jews did not permit non-Jews to be in certain parts of the temple courtyard.} These Jews from the province of Asia thought that Paul had brought Trophimus into the temple courtyard that day. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the whole city was excited, and a mob of the people happened, and having taken hold of Paul, they were dragging him outside of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. | People all over the city heard that there was trouble at the temple courtyard and they came running there. The crowd seized Paul and dragged him outside of the temple area. The temple guards quickly shut the gates to the temple courtyard so that the people could not do anything violent inside the temple area. |
The Jews dragged Paul out of the temple and tried to kill him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the chiliarch of the cohort that all Jerusalem was agitated, | While they were trying to kill Paul, someone ran to the fortress near the temple and told the Roman commander that many people in Jerusalem were rioting at the temple. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, immediately taking soldiers and centurions, ran down to them. And they, seeing the chiliarch and the soldiers, stopped beating Paul. | The commander quickly gathered some officers and a large group of soldiers. They ran down the fortress steps to the temple area where the crowd was. When the crowd of people who were yelling at Paul and beating him saw the commander and the soldiers coming, they stopped beating him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then, approaching, the commander took hold of him and commanded him to be bound with two chains, and he was asking who he might be and what he had done. | Then the commander came to where Paul was and took hold of him. He commanded soldiers to fasten a chain to each of Paul’s arms. Then he asked the people in the crowd, “Who is this man, and what has he done?” |
The chief captain laid hold on Paul and had him bound with two chains, asking who he was and what he had done.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But different ones in the crowd were shouting different things, and he, not being able to learn the certain because of the noise, ordered him to be brought into the fortress. | But some of the many people there were shouting one thing and some were shouting something else. And because the situation was so confused, the commander could not find out who Paul was. So he commanded that Paul be taken into the fortress that was connected with the temple court so that he could question him there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when he came to the steps, it happened that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. | The soldiers led Paul to the steps of the fortress. But many people followed them, still trying to kill Paul. So the commander told the soldiers to carry Paul up the steps into the fortress. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the multitude of the people was following, shouting, “Take him away!” | The commander knew that Paul was in danger because the crowd that was following the soldiers kept shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!” |
The crowd was shouting, “Away with him!”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And being about to be brought into the fortress, Paul says to the chiliarch, “If it is permitted for me to say something to you?” But he said, “Do you know Greek? | And as the soldiers were about to bring Paul into the fortress, he said {in Greek} to the commander, “May I speak with you?” And the commander said, “I am surprised that you can speak Greek! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then are you not the Egyptian having revolted before these days and having led 4,000 men of the Sicarii into the wilderness?” | That must mean that you are that man from Egypt who rebelled against the Roman government not long ago. He took 4,000 violent men with him out into the desert {so that we could not catch him}.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul said, “I am a Jewish man, a Tarsian of Cilicia, a citizen of a not undistinguished city. And I ask of you, allow me to speak to the people.” | Paul said in reply, “I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus, which is an important city in the province of Cilicia. I request that you let me speak to the people.” |
Paul requested that he be allowed to speak to the people.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he allowed, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with {his} hand to the people. And when a deep silence happened, he spoke in the Hebrew language, saying, | Then the commander permitted Paul to speak. So Paul stood on the steps that led up to the fortress. He motioned with his hand for the crowd to be quiet. And after the people in the crowd became very quiet, Paul spoke to them in their own Hebrew language. |
Paul spoke in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Men, brothers and fathers, hear my defense to you now.” | Paul said, “Jewish elders and my fellow Jews, please listen to me now while I answer your accusations.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when they heard that he was speaking to them in the Hebrew language, they granted more quietness. And he said, | When the crowd of people heard Paul speaking to them in their own Hebrew language, they became even quieter and listened. Then Paul said to them, |
When the crowd heard Paul speaking in Hebrew, they became quiet.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but educated in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as you all are today, | “I am a Jew, as are all of you. I come from the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. When I was young, I learned the laws that Moses gave to our ancestors. Gamaliel was my teacher, and he taught me very accurately. I have obeyed those laws because I have wanted to obey God. I am sure that all of you here also obey those laws. |
Paul was educated in Jerusalem, and Gamaliel was his teacher.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who persecuted this Way unto death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, | That is why I tried to arrest those who believed the message of God about Jesus. I even looked for ways to kill them. Whenever I found men or women who believed the message, I arrested them and had the authorities put them in jail. |
Paul had persecuted to death those who were following the Way, and had delivered them into prison.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| as also the high priest testifies for me, and all the elderhood, from whom also having received letters to the brothers, I was traveling to Damascus, going to bring back bound to Jerusalem even those being there so that they might be punished. | The high priest knows this, and so do the other men who belong to our Jewish council. They gave me letters to take to their fellow Jews in the city of Damascus. Those letters gave me the power to go there and arrest people in that city {who believed in Jesus}. I could then take them as prisoners to Jerusalem so that the Jewish authorities could punish them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened to me that, traveling and nearing Damascus about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. | So I went to Damascus. About noon, as I got near to Damascus, suddenly a bright light from the sky flashed all around me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ | {The light was so bright that} I fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me {from up in the sky}. It said, ‘Saul! Saul! Stop doing things to hurt me!’ |
The voice from heaven said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ | And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He replied, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are hurting.’ |
Paul was persecuting Jesus of Nazareth.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now the ones being with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one speaking to me. | Now the men who were traveling with me saw the bright light, but they did not understand what the voice was saying to me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arising, go into Damascus, and there it will be told to you about all that has been appointed to you to do.’ | Then I asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus. A man there will tell you all that I have planned for you to do.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as I was not seeing clearly because of the glory of that light, being led by the hand by the ones being with me, I came into Damascus. | After that, I could not see, because that bright light had caused me to become blind. So the men who were with me took me by the hand and led me to Damascus. |
Paul could no longer see because of the brightness of the light that he saw as he neared Damascus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Ananias, a certain devout man according to the law, being attested by all the Jews living there, | Then a man whose name was Ananias came to see me. He was a man who honored God and obeyed the Jewish laws. The Jews living in Damascus said very good things about him. |
A devout man named Ananias came and stood by Paul and said, “Brother Saul, look up.”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| came to me and, standing by me, said to me, ‘Saul, brother, look up.’ And in the same hour I looked up to him. | He came and stood beside me. He said to me, ‘Saul, my friend, see again!’ Instantly I could see and I saw him standing beside me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear the voice from his mouth, | Then he said: ‘The God whom we worship and whom our ancestors worshiped has chosen you for a special purpose. He will show you what he wants you to do. He has allowed you to see Jesus the Messiah, {gloriously alive again}. You have heard him speak to you himself. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| for you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. | He wants you to tell people everywhere what you have seen and heard from him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now, why are you delaying? Arising, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’ | So please do not delay! Let me baptize you right now. Pray to the Lord Jesus and ask God to forgive you for your sins!’” |
Ananias told Paul to arise and be baptized to wash away his sins.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And it happened to me that, having returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, I became in a trance. | “Then later I returned to Jerusalem. One day I went to the temple courtyard and while I was praying there, I saw a vision. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and go away in haste from Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ | In my vision I saw Jesus as he said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not believe what you tell them about me!’ |
Jesus said that the Jews would not accept Paul’s testimony about him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating by synagogues the ones believing in you. | But I said to him, ‘Lord, they know that I went from one synagogue to another looking for people who believed in you. I was putting them in jail, and I was even beating them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when the blood of Stephen your witness was spilled, I myself was also standing by and agreeing and guarding the outer garments of the ones killing him.’ | They remember that when people killed Stephen because he said you were the Messiah, I stood there watching and approving of what they were doing. I even guarded the outer clothes that those who were murdering him had thrown aside!’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” | But Jesus said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem, because I am going to send you far away from here to tell non-Jews about me!’” |
Jesus sent Paul to the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And they were listening to him until this word, and they lifted up their voice, saying, “Remove such a one from the earth, for it was not right for him to live.” | The people listened to what Paul was saying until he talked about Jesus sending him to non-Jews. Then they began shouting, “Kill him! A man like him does not deserve to live any longer!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were shouting and casting off {their} outer garments, and throwing dust into the air, | And while they were shouting, they took off their robes and threw dirt into the air. |
The people shouted and threw off their garments, throwing dust in the air.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| the chiliarch ordered him to be brought into the fortress, commanding him to be examined by scourges, so that he might know for what reason they were shouting thus against him. | So the commander told his soldiers to take Paul into the fortress. He told them to whip Paul to make him admit what he had done that had made the Jews so angry with him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when they stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “If it is lawful for you to scourge a man Roman and uncondemned?” | Then they stretched his arms out and tied them so that they could whip him on his back. But Paul said to the officer near him, “You will be acting unlawfully if you whip me. I am a Roman citizen, and no one has declared me guilty of anything!” |
Paul asked if it was lawful for him to be scourged as an uncondemned Roman citizen.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And hearing this, the centurion, going to the chiliarch, reported, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” | When the officer heard that, he went to the commander and reported it to him. He said to the commander, “This man is a Roman citizen! Surely you would not command us to whip him!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So coming, the chiliarch said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” | {The commander was surprised when he heard that.} He went into the prison and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you really a Roman citizen?” Paul answered, “Yes, I am.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the commander answered, “I bought this citizenship with a large sum of money.” But Paul said, “But I indeed was born.” | Then the commander said, “I too am a Roman citizen. I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.” But Paul said, “I have been a Roman citizen for my whole life.” |
Paul had been born a Roman citizen.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the ones being about to examine him drew back from him immediately, and the chiliarch also was afraid, having learned that he was a Roman, because indeed he had bound him. | The soldiers were about to whip Paul and to ask him questions about what he had done. But when they heard what Paul said, they immediately backed away from him. The commander also became afraid. He knew that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had broken the law when he commanded the soldiers to tie up Paul’s hands. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day, wanting to know the certain, why he was being accused by the Jews, he released him and commanded the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble. And having brought down Paul, he placed him among them. | The commander still wanted to know for sure why the Jews were accusing Paul. So the next day he told the soldiers to take the chains off Paul. He also called the chief priests and the other council members to meet. Then he brought Paul down the stairway to the temple courts. He took him to where the council was meeting and told him to stand in front of them. |
The chief captain untied Paul’s bonds, and ordered the chief priests and all the council to meet, placing Paul in their midst.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And looking intently at the Sanhedrin, Paul said, “Men, brothers, I have conducted myself toward God in all good conscience up to this day.” | So Paul looked at the Jewish council members and said, “My fellow Jews, throughout my life I have lived respecting our God. I do not know of anything that I have done that I knew was wrong.” |
The high priest was angry because Paul said he had lived before God in all good conscience.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Ananias the high priest commanded the ones standing by him to strike his mouth. | When Ananias the high priest heard what Paul said, he told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on the mouth. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Paul said to him, “God is about to strike you, you whitewashed wall! And do you sit judging me by the law and, acting contrary to the law, command me to be struck?” | Then Paul said to Ananias, “God will punish you for that, you hypocrite! You sit there and judge me, using the laws that God gave Moses. But you yourself disobey those laws! You commanded those men to strike me without proving that I have done anything wrong!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the ones standing by said, “Are you insulting the high priest of God?” | But the men who were standing near Paul said to him, “You should not speak badly to God’s high priest!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” | Paul replied, “My fellow Jews, {I am sorry that I said that.} I did not know that the man who told one of you to hit me was the high priest. {If I had known that, I would not have talked badly about him.} I know that we can read in the Law of Moses, ‘Do not speak badly about any of your leaders.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Paul, realizing that one part was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, shouted in the Sanhedrin, “Men, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged.” | Now Paul knew that some of the council members were Sadducees and others were Pharisees. So he called out in the council hall, “My fellow Jews, I am a Pharisee. My ancestors have been Pharisees as well. You have put me on trial here because I am sure that one day God will cause those who have died to live again.” |
Paul said he was being judged because of his confidence in the resurrection.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he said this, an argument happened between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. | And when he said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to argue with one another {about whether people who have died will become alive again}. The two groups strongly disagreed with each other. |
An argument began because the Pharisees say there is a resurrection, but the Sadducees say there is no resurrection.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor angels or spirits, but Pharisees confess both. | They disagreed so strongly because Sadducees do not believe that after people die, they will become alive again. They also do not believe that there are angels or other kinds of spirits. But Pharisees do believe those things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So a great uproar happened, and arising, some of the scribes of the party of the Pharisees were contending, saying, “We find nothing evil in this man. And if a spirit spoke to him, or an angel …” | Then both groups started shouting at one another as they argued. Some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up. One of them insisted, “We think that this man has done nothing wrong. We believe that an angel or some other spirit spoke to him. {So we must all agree that he is innocent!}” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when a great argument happened, the chiliarch, fearing lest Paul be torn apart by them, ordered the soldiers to go down to seize him from the midst of them and to bring him into the fortress. | Then the Pharisees and Sadducees became very violent with one another. The commander became concerned that they would hurt Paul badly. So he told soldiers to come down from the fortress into the temple courtyard. He told them to take Paul away from the council members and bring him up into the barracks. |
The chief captain feared that Paul would be torn to pieces by the council members.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But on the following night, the Lord, having stood beside him, said, “Be courageous, for as you have attested the things concerning me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary also for you to testify in Rome.” | That night, Paul saw Jesus come and stand near him. Jesus said to him, “Be brave! You have told people here in Jerusalem about me. I will protect you so that you can tell people in Rome about me too.” |
The Lord told Paul not to fear, because he would bear witness in Rome as he had in Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when day came, the Jews, making a conspiracy, cursed themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul. | The next morning some of the Jews who hated Paul met and talked about how to kill him. To make sure that they killed him, they all promised that they would not eat or drink anything before they had killed Paul. They asked God to kill them if they did not do what they promised. |
About 40 Jewish men made a pact that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the ones having made this conspiracy were more than 40, | Now there were more than 40 men who agreed to kill Paul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, going to the chief priests and the elders, said, “We have cursed ourselves with a curse, to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. | They went to the chief priests and Jewish elders and told them, “God has heard us promise that we will not eat or drink anything before we have killed Paul. |
They asked the chief priests and elders to have Paul brought to the council so they could kill Paul before he arrived.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now, therefore, you, with the Sanhedrin, appear to the chiliarch as if you are going to examine more thoroughly the things concerning him, so that he may bring him down to you. But we are ready to kill him before he arrives.” | So to help us, we request that you go to the commander and ask him, on behalf of the whole Jewish council, to bring Paul down from the fortress to meet with you again. Tell the commander that you want to talk to Paul some more. We will be waiting to kill Paul while he is on the way here.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But hearing the ambush, the son of the sister of Paul, going and entering into the fortress, reported it to Paul. | But the son of Paul’s sister heard what they were planning to do, so he went into the fortress and told Paul. |
Paul’s sister’s son heard of the plan and told Paul.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So calling one of the centurions, Paul said, “Take this young man to the chiliarch, for he has something to report to him.” | When Paul heard about the plan to kill him, he called one of the officers and said to him, “Please take this young man to the commander. He needs to tell him something.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So taking him, he brought him to the chiliarch and says, “The prisoner, Paul, having summoned me, asked me to bring to you this young man having something to say to you.” | So the officer took Paul’s nephew to the commander. The officer told the commander, “Paul, whom we are guarding here, asked to speak with me. He said, ‘Please take this young man to the commander, because he needs to tell him something important.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the chiliarch, taking hold of his hand and withdrawing, was asking him in private, “What is it that you have to report to me?” | So the commander took Paul’s nephew by the hand and led him off by himself. Then he asked him, “What do you have to tell me?” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you that tomorrow you might bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin, as if they were going to investigate something about him more thoroughly. | Then Paul’s nephew replied, “There are some Jews who are going to ask you tomorrow to bring Paul down from the fortress to meet with their council again. They will say that they want to ask him some more questions. {But that is not true.} |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore may you not be persuaded by them, because from them more than 40 men wait in ambush for him, who have cursed themselves neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him. Even now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.” | So do not do what they ask you to do. There are actually more than 40 Jewish men who will be hiding and waiting to kill Paul when he passes by on his way to the council. They have even promised God that they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are ready to do it. They are just waiting for you to agree to do what they are asking.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the chiliarch dismissed the young man, commanding him to tell no one that “you have reported these things to me.” | The commander warned Paul’s nephew, “Do not tell anyone that you have told me about their plan.” Then he sent him away. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And summoning a certain two of the centurions, he said, “Prepare 200 soldiers and 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen so that they might go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night,” | Then the commander called two of his officers and told them, “Get a group of 200 soldiers ready to travel. Take along 70 soldiers riding horses and 200 other soldiers carrying spears. All of you must be ready to leave at nine o’clock tonight and go to the city of Caesarea. |
The chief captain ordered a large guard to take Paul safely to Felix the governor at the third hour of the night.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and to provide animals so that, having set Paul on them, they may bring him safely to Felix the governor, | Take along horses for Paul to ride, and escort him to the palace of Governor Felix.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| writing a letter, having this form: | Then the commander wrote a letter to send to the governor. This is what he wrote: |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Claudius Lysias to the most excellent Governor Felix: Greetings. | “Your Excellency, Governor Felix, this is Claudius Lysias writing to you. I send you my greetings. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| This man, having been seized by the Jews and about to be killed by them, coming with a detachment of soldiers, I rescued, having learned that he was a Roman. | I am sending you a man whose name is Paul. Certain Jews had seized him and were about to kill him. But I learned that he was a Roman citizen, so I and my soldiers went and rescued him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And wanting to know the charge with which they were accusing him, I took him down to their Sanhedrin, | I wanted to know what those Jews were saying that he had done wrong, so I took him to their Jewish council. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| whom I found being accused about questions of their law but having no accusation worthy of death or chains. | I listened while they asked this man questions and he answered them. The accusations they made against him had to do with their Jewish laws. But Paul has not disobeyed any of our Roman laws. So our officials should not execute him or even put him in prison. |
The chief captain said Paul did not deserve death or imprisonment, but that the accusations were about questions concerning Jewish law.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when a plot that was to be against the man was revealed to me, immediately I sent him to you, also commanding the accusers to speak against him to you.” | Then someone told me that some Jews were planning to kill this man. So I sent him to you right away so that you could give him a fair trial there. I have also commanded the Jews who have accused him to go there to Caesarea and tell you why they are accusing him. Goodbye.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So the soldiers, according to the thing having been commanded to them, taking Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris. | So the soldiers did what the commander told them. They got Paul and took him with them during the night to the city of Antipatris. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day they returned to the fortress, allowing the horsemen to go away with him, | The next day, the foot soldiers returned to Jerusalem and the soldiers who rode horses continued traveling to Caesarea with Paul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who, entering into Caesarea and delivering the letter to the governor, also presented Paul to him. | When the soldiers who rode horses arrived in the city of Caesarea, they gave the letter to the governor and they brought Paul to him. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having read the letter and having asked what province he was from and having learned that {he was} from Cilicia, | So the governor read the letter. Then he asked Paul, “What province are you from?” Paul answered, “I am from Cilicia.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| he said, “I will hear you fully when your accusers may also come,” commanding him to be guarded in the palace of Herod. | Then the governor said, “When the people who have accused you arrive, I will listen to what each of you says and then I will judge your case.” Then he commanded his soldiers to guard Paul in the palace that King Herod the Great had built. |
Felix said he would hear Paul’s case when Paul’s accusers arrived.
Paul was kept in Herod’s palace until his trial.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And after five days, Ananias, the high priest, with certain elders and a certain orator, Tertullus, came down, who appeared to the governor against Paul. | Then, five days after the Roman soldiers brought Paul to Caesarea, the Jewish high priest Ananias traveled there from Jerusalem. He brought some other Jewish elders with him. They also brought a man who spoke well and knew the Roman laws well. His name was Tertullus. The Jewish leaders wanted him to persuade the governor that he should punish Paul. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “As we are obtaining great peace through you, and as reforms are happening for this people through your foresight | So the governor commanded his soldiers to bring Paul in. When Paul arrived, Tertullus started arguing that Felix should punish him. He said to the governor, “During the time that you have ruled us, we have lived well. By planning wisely, you have made many things better for our Jewish people. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| both in every way and everywhere, we receive {these things}, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. | Therefore, Honorable Governor Felix, we continually thank you for everything that you have done for us, wherever you have done those things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But so that I may not detain you further, I ask you to listen to us briefly in your fairness. | But so that I do not use too much of your time, I will speak briefly. Please listen to what I have to say. I know you will make the right decision about this case. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For having found this man a pest and one inciting rebellion among all the Jews throughout the world and a leader of the sect of the Nazarenes, | Now we can assure you that this man causes trouble wherever he goes. He encourages all the Jews to rebel against you Romans. He leads a radical group within Judaism. The members of that group call themselves the Nazarenes. |
Tertullus accused Paul of causing the Jews to rebel and of desecrating the temple.
Tertullus said Paul was a leader of the Nazarene sect.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| who even tried to desecrate the temple, whom also we arrested;[and we wanted to judge him according to our law, | He even tried to make our temple in Jerusalem no longer holy. And that is why we arrested him. [And we wanted to judge him according to our law. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but Lysias, the chiliarch, coming with much force, took him away from our hands, | But Lysias, the commander of the Roman fortress, came with his soldiers and took him away from us, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| commanding his accusers to come to you;] from whom, having inquired about all these things, you yourself will be able to learn of what things we are accusing him.” | sending us to you.] If you question him yourself about all these matters, you will be able to learn that everything I am saying about him is true.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the Jews also agreed, affirming these things to be thus. | Then the Jewish leaders who had come to Caesarea accused Paul too. They insisted that what Tertullus said about him was true. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Paul answered, the governor having motioned for him to speak, “Knowing you to have been a judge to this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense about the things concerning me, | Then the governor signaled with his hand that he wanted Paul to speak. So Paul spoke to defend himself. He said, “Governor Felix, I know that you have governed this Jewish province for many years. Therefore I am eager to defend myself to you {because I know that you will listen to me and will judge me fairly}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| you being able to learn that it is not more than 12 days for me from when I went up to Jerusalem to worship, | You can easily confirm that I went to Jerusalem to worship God just 12 days ago. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and they found me neither in the temple arguing with anyone, nor causing a rebellion of the crowd, not in the synagogues, and not throughout the city, | No one can say truthfully that they saw me arguing with anyone in the temple courts, because I did not do that. No one can say truthfully that they saw me causing people to riot in any Jewish synagogue or causing trouble anywhere else in Jerusalem, because I did not do that. |
Paul said he had not argued with anyone and had not stirred up a crowd.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and they are not able to prove {the things} to you about which they are now accusing me. | So they cannot prove to you the things of which they are now accusing me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I confess this to you, that according to the Way that they call a sect, thus I serve the fathers’ God, being faithful to all the things according to the law and the things written in the Prophets, | But I admit to you that this is true: I live as Jesus taught us to live. They claim that makes me different from other Jews, but that is how I obey the God whom our Jewish ancestors worshiped. I also believe everything that Moses wrote in the laws that God gave him and everything that the prophets wrote in their books. |
Paul said he was faithful to all that is in the law and the writings of the prophets and that he served God according to the Way they call a sect.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| having a hope in God that these themselves also accept, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. | I believe, just as these men also believe, that some day God will cause everyone who has died to live again. God will do this both for those who were good and for those who were wicked. |
They shared the same confidence in God about the coming resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous dead.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| In this I myself also strive to have a blameless conscience before God and men continually. | Because I believe that day will come, I always try to do what pleases God and what other people think is right. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now after many years I came to my nation bringing alms and offerings, | Let me tell you why I was in Jerusalem. After I had been in other places for several years, I returned there to bring some money to help my fellow Jews who were poor. While I was there, I also offered sacrifices in the temple courtyard. |
Paul said he had come to bring help to his nation and gifts of money.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in which they found me in the temple, having been cleansed, not with a crowd, nor with an uproar. | Some Jews from Asia saw me offering those sacrifices in the temple courtyard. I had completed the ritual that allowed me to worship God there. There was no crowd with me. I was not causing anyone to riot. |
Paul said he was in a purification ceremony when he was found.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But certain Jews from Asia—who ought to be present before you and make accusations if they have anything against me. | No, it was those Jews from the province of Asia who caused the people to riot! And they should really be here in your court to accuse me if they think that I have done anything wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Or let these themselves say what wrong they found when I stood before the Sanhedrin, | But if they do not want to do that, these Jewish men who are here should tell you what they think I did that was wrong when I defended myself in their council. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| {other} than regarding this one utterance that I shouted out standing among them, ‘Concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you today!’” | They might say that I did this one thing wrong: When I was in their council, I shouted, ‘You are judging me today because I believe that God will cause all the people who have died to live again.’” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Felix, knowing more accurately the things concerning the Way, adjourned them, saying, “When Lysias the chiliarch may come down, I will decide the things concerning you,” | Now Felix already knew much about the group people called the Way, and so he stopped the trial. He said to the Jewish leaders, “Later, when Commander Lysias comes here, I will decide this case.” |
The governor Felix was well informed about the Way.
Felix said he would decide Paul’s case when Lysias the commander came from Jerusalem.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| commanding the centurion to guard him and for him to have freedom and to forbid none of his own to minister to him. | Then Governor Felix told the officer who was guarding Paul to take Paul back to the prison. But he told him to allow Paul to do things freely in the prison. He also said that if Paul’s friends came to visit him, the officer should allow them to help Paul in any way that they wanted to. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But after some days Felix, returning with Drusilla, his own wife, being a Jewess, summoned Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. | But several days later Felix came back with his wife Drusilla. She was a Jew. Felix called for Paul to speak with him. He {and Drusilla} listened to what Paul said about trusting in Jesus the Messiah. |
Paul told Felix about faith in Christ Jesus, righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But as he was reasoning about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix, becoming frightened, answered, “Go away for now, but having found time, I will summon you,” | Paul talked about what God wants people to do in order to please him. Paul also explained how people should control how they act. Paul said that there would be a time when God would judge all people. Felix became afraid after hearing those things. So he said to Paul, “That is all I want to hear now. But when I have time, I will ask you to come to me again.” |
Felix became fearful, and he asked Paul to go away for the present time.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| also hoping at the same time that money would be given to him by Paul, and therefore summoning him often, he was speaking with him. | Felix was also hoping that Paul would give him some money. So he sent for Paul to come to him many times. Paul talked with Felix every time{, but he did not give him any money, so Felix did not tell his soldiers to release Paul from prison}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But two years being fulfilled, Felix received a successor, Porcius Festus, and wanting to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul bound. | This went on for about two years. Then a man named Porcius Festus replaced Felix as the governor. And since Felix wanted to please the Jewish leaders, he left Paul in prison. |
Felix left Paul imprisoned because he wanted to gain favor with the Jews.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now Festus, having set foot in the province, went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem after three days. | Then Festus began to rule as the governor of the province of Judea. Three days later, he left the city of Caesarea and traveled to Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the chief priests and the first of the Jews appeared to him against Paul, and they were begging him, | In Jerusalem, the chief priests and some important Jewish leaders insisted urgently to Festus that Paul had done things that were very wrong. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| requesting a favor against him, that he might summon him to Jerusalem, making an ambush to kill him along the way. | They asked Festus to help them pursue their case against Paul. They asked him to order his soldiers to bring Paul to trial in Jerusalem. But they were really planning to attack him on the road and kill him. |
They asked Festus to call Paul to Jerusalem so that they could kill Paul along the way.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Festus answered that Paul was being held at Caesarea but that he himself was about to depart soon. | But Festus replied, “Paul is in prison in Caesarea. Now I myself plan to travel back to Caesarea very soon.” |
Festus told them to go to Caesarea, where Festus was going, and that they could accuse Paul there.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| He said, “Therefore, the powerful among you, having come down together, if there is something wrong with the man, let them accuse him.” | “So,” he said, “those of you who are able should travel there with me. If you want to accuse Paul of doing anything wrong, you can accuse him there.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having stayed with them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. On the next day, having sat in the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. | Festus remained in Jerusalem with the Jewish leaders for about another week. Then he returned to the city of Caesarea. The next day, Festus commanded his soldiers to bring Paul to the hall where he was sitting in the judge’s seat. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when he had come, the Jews having come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges that they were not able to prove, | So the soldiers brought Paul to Festus. The Jewish leaders who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. They accused him of doing many bad things. But they were not able to prove any of them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| as Paul was saying in defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any sin.” | Then Paul spoke for himself. He said, “I have not broken any of the Jewish laws. I have not broken any of the rules about who can enter the temple. I have not broken any of the Roman laws.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Festus, wanting to lay down a favor for the Jews, answering Paul, said, “Are you willing, having gone up to Jerusalem, to be judged before me there about these things?” | Festus, however, wanted to please the Jewish leaders. So he asked Paul, “Are you willing to travel to Jerusalem so that I can judge your case there?” |
Festus asked Paul if he wanted to go up to Jerusalem and be judged there.
Festus asked Paul this question because he wanted to gain favor with the Jews.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul said, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where it is necessary for me to be judged. I have done no harm to the Jews, as you also know very well. | But Paul replied, “No, right now you are judging me, and you represent the Emperor. This is the right place for my trial. I have done nothing wrong to the Jewish people. You know that is the truth. |
Paul said that he stood before the judgment seat of Caesar where he must be judged.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, if I am doing harm and have done something worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if {the things} of which they are accusing me are nothing, no one is able to give me to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar!” | If I deserved to die for something I had done wrong, I would accept dying as my punishment. They are accusing me of many things, but I do not deserve to die for anything I have done. So no one can condemn me just to satisfy them. I claim my right to have Caesar himself judge me.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then Festus, having spoken with the council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you will go!” | Festus conferred with the officials who advised him. Then he told Paul, “You have asked Caesar to try your case, and so I will send you to Caesar.” |
Festus decided that since Paul had called upon Caesar, then he would go to Caesar.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Now after some days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice, having come down to Caesarea, greeted Festus. | Then, after several days, King Herod Agrippa arrived at Caesarea. His sister Bernice came with him. They were making a formal visit to welcome Festus as the new governor. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as they were staying there for many days, Festus presented to the king the things concerning Paul, saying, “A certain man has been left a prisoner by Felix, | Since King Agrippa and Bernice stayed in Caesarea for several days{, they had time to speak with Festus about many things}. At one point Festus told Agrippa about Paul. He said, “There is a man here whom Felix kept in prison. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| about whom, when I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews appeared, requesting a judgment against him, | When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the Jewish elders accused him of many things. They asked me to condemn him to death. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to whom I replied that the custom of the Romans is not to give any man as a favor before the one being accused may have the accusers by face and receive an opportunity of a defense concerning the accusation. | But I told them that when people accuse someone of a serious crime, we Romans do not condemn that person just to satisfy the accusers. Instead, we allow him to meet in person with his accusers and defend himself against what they say about him. |
Festus said that the Romans gave the accused person an opportunity to face his accusers and to make a defense against the charges.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, when they had come together here, causing no delay, the next day, having sat in the judgment seat, I commanded the man to be brought, | So when those Jews came here to Caesarea, I did not delay the trial at all. The day after they arrived, I convened the court and ordered the guards to bring in the prisoner. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| about whom the accusers, having stood up, brought no charge of the evils that I was expecting. | I thought that the Jewish leaders would accuse Paul of doing many wrong things. But when they made their accusations against him, none of the accusations were serious. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Instead, they were having certain disputes with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, having died, whom Paul asserted to be alive. | Instead, they argued with him about what Jews should believe. They also argued about a man whose name was Jesus. He had died, but Paul said he was alive. |
Festus said that the charges involved certain disputes about their religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul claimed to be alive.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I, doubting the investigation about these things, asked if he might be willing to go to Jerusalem and be judged there about these things. | I did not know how I could investigate this case from Caesarea. So I asked Paul, ‘Are you willing to go to Jerusalem so that I can judge you there about these things?’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But when Paul appealed that he be kept for the decision of the August one, I commanded him to be kept until I might send him to Caesar.” | But Paul asked to stay in Caesarea until the emperor himself could judge his case. So I ordered my soldiers to keep him under guard until I could send him to Caesar.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Agrippa {replied} to Festus, “I myself was also wanting to hear this man.” “Tomorrow,” he says, “you will hear him.” | Then Agrippa said to Festus, “Personally I would like to hear what this man has to say.” Festus answered, “I will arrange for you to hear him tomorrow.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice having come with much ceremony and having entered into the hall with both chiliarchs and men of distinction of the city, then, having been commanded by Festus, Paul was brought. | So the next day Agrippa and Bernice entered the hall of judgment. The people there showed them much honor. Some Roman commanders and some of the important people of Caesarea came with them. Then Festus commanded the guards to bring Paul in. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all the men being present with us, you see this one concerning whom the whole multitude of the Jews petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. | After Paul entered, Festus said, “King Agrippa and all the rest of you who are here with us, you see this man! Many leaders of the Jews, both in Jerusalem and here, have protested to me about him. They have demanded that I put him to death immediately. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But I learned that he had done nothing worthy of death. But this one himself having appealed to the August one, I decided to send him, | But I found that he had done nothing to deserve being killed. Even so, he has asked Caesar to judge his case. So I have decided to send him to Rome. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| about whom I do not have anything definite to write to the lord. Therefore I have brought him before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, the examination having happened, I might have something that I might write. | But I do not know exactly what to write to the emperor about him. That is why I have brought him here to speak to all of you, and especially to you, King Agrippa. You can question him. Then I will know what to write to the emperor. |
Festus wanted King Agrippa to help him write something logical about Paul’s case to the Emperor.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For it seems unreasonable to me, sending a prisoner and not to signify the charges against him.” | After all, it makes sense that when I send a prisoner to the emperor in Rome, I should say exactly what wrong things people say he has done.” |
Festus said it would be unreasonable for him to send Paul to the Emperor without stating the charges against him.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted to you to speak about yourself.” Then Paul, stretching out {his} hand, was defending himself: | Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak on your own behalf.” Then Paul held out his hand to show that he was about to speak. He defended himself by saying, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| “Concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself blessed to be about to defend myself before you today, | “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I can explain myself to you today. I will tell you why the Jewish leaders are wrong when they say that I have done bad things. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| especially you being an expert in all the customs and controversies among the Jews. So I ask you to hear me patiently. | I am especially fortunate because you know so much about the customs of us Jews and the questions that we argue about. So please listen to me as I tell my whole story. |
Paul was happy to be able to make his defense before King Agrippa because Agrippa was an expert in all the Jewish customs and questions.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, then, all the Jews know the manner of my life from my youth, having happened from the beginning in my nation and in Jerusalem, | My fellow Jews know how I have lived my life since the time I was a child. They know that I have always lived among Jews and that I received my education in Jerusalem. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| knowing me from the beginning, if they wished to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee. | They have known me since I was young. They could tell you, if they were willing, that as a Pharisee, I obeyed the most rigid customs of our religion very carefully. |
Paul lived as a Pharisee, a very strict sect of Judaism.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And now I stand here being judged because of hope of the promise made to our fathers by God, | Today I am on trial because I am confidently expecting that God will do what he promised to our ancestors. |
Paul says that he and the Jews are hoping to reach the promise of the resurrection.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to which our 12 tribes hope to attain, serving in earnestness night and day, concerning which hope I am being accused by the Jews, O King. | Our 12 Jewish tribes are also waiting confidently for God to do what he promised. That is why they continue to honor him and worship him so diligently. And yet, Honored King, these Jewish leaders are saying that I have done wrong because I too am waiting confidently. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Why is it judged unbelievable among you if God raises the dead? | None of you should find it hard to believe that God would cause people who had died to live again. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Indeed, for myself, I thought it to be necessary to do many things opposed to the name of Jesus the Nazarene, | But I will admit that I too once found it hard to believe. I was sure that I should do everything that I could to stop people from believing in Jesus from the town of Nazareth. |
Paul was locking up many saints in prison, was approving when they were killed, and was chasing them to foreign cities.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which I did even in Jerusalem, and I even locked up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were being executed, I cast my vote against them. | So that is what I did when I lived in Jerusalem. I put many of the believers in prison. The chief priests there had given me the power to do that. And when the Sanhedrin was deciding whether to kill believers, I voted in favor of that. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And often punishing them in all the synagogues, I forced them to blaspheme, and being greatly enraged against them, I persecuted them even as far as to other cities, | I continually punished believers in Jesus in every synagogue where I could find them. I tried to force them to say that they did not believe in Jesus. I was so angry with them that I even went to foreign cities to find them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in which things, traveling to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests, | Because I told them I wanted to arrest believers in Damascus, the chief priests gave me the power to do that. So I traveled to Damascus. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| in the middle of the day, along the road, I saw, O King, a light from heaven, beyond the brightness of the sun, shining around me and the ones traveling with me. | While I was on my way there, O King, I saw a bright light in the sky. Even though it was around noon, this light was even brighter than the sun! It shone all around me and also around those who were traveling with me. |
Paul saw a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against a goad.’ | We all fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me in the Hebrew language. He said, ‘Saul, Saul, you should not be fighting against me. You are harming yourself, like an animal that is kicking against a sharp prod.’ |
Paul heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. | Then I said, ‘Please tell me who you are.’ And the person who was speaking to me said, ‘I am Jesus! I am the one you are fighting against. |
Jesus was speaking to Paul on the way to Damascus.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But get up and stand on your feet, because for this I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things in which you have seen me and of the things in which I will be shown to you, | But get up off the ground now. I have appeared to you in order to make you my servant. I want you to tell other people who I am, now that you have seen me. I will show you more about myself later, and I want you to tell others about that too. |
Jesus appointed Paul to be a servant and witness to the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| rescuing you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, | I am sending you both to Jewish people and to non-Jewish people. I will protect you from them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| to open their eyes to turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, for them to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among the ones having been sanctified by faith in me.’ | I want you to help them recognize who I really am. I want you to help them to live in a way that pleases God. I want them to know that God can make them free from the devil’s influence. I want them to know that God will forgive their sins. I want them to receive the good things that people whom God saves because they believe in me will have forever.’ |
Jesus said he wanted the Gentiles to receive the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance from God.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, | So, King Agrippa, I did what God told me to do when he gave me that vision. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| but first to the ones in Damascus and also in Jerusalem and the whole region of Judea and to the Gentiles I declared to repent and turn to God, doing deeds worthy of repentance. | First, I spoke to the Jews in Damascus. Then I spoke to the Jews in Jerusalem and in the countryside of Judea. I also spoke to the non-Jews there. I told them that they should stop sinning and ask God to help them live in the right way. I told them they should do things that showed they had stopped sinning. |
Paul says that he preached that the people should repent and turn to God, doing deeds worthy of repentance.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Because of these things, the Jews, having seized me in the temple, were trying to kill me. | It is because I preached this message that some Jews seized me when I was in the temple courtyard and tried to kill me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, having received help from God up to this day, I stand, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except the things that both the prophets and Moses said were going to happen— | Because God has been helping me, I have been able to keep proclaiming these things to this very day. I have continued to tell people, regardless of their status, exactly what the prophets and Moses said would happen. |
The prophets and Moses said that the Christ must suffer, be raised from the dead, and proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| if the Christ would be a sufferer, if he, the first from the resurrection of the dead, was going to proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles.” | They said that the Messiah would suffer and die. They said that he would be the first person to live again after he had died. They also said that he would tell people how God was able to save them. He would tell this, both to his own Jewish people and to non-Jewish people.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus says in a loud voice, “Paul, you are insane! Great learning is turning you to insanity.” | Before Paul could say anything further to defend himself, Festus shouted out loudly, “Paul, you are crazy! You have studied too much, and that has made you crazy!” |
Festus thought that Paul was insane.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul says, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking words of truth and of sanity. | But Paul answered, “Your Excellency, Governor Festus, I am not insane! On the contrary, what I am saying is true and quite sane! |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For the king knows about these things—to whom indeed, speaking boldly, I am talking—for I am not persuaded at all that any of these things eludes him, for this has not been done in a corner. | I can assure you that I am not crazy, because King Agrippa is familiar with the things I have been talking about so enthusiastically to him. I am very sure that he is aware of all of these things. They all happened very publicly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe.” | King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets wrote? I know that you believe those things.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Agrippa said to Paul, “In little are you persuading me to make me a Christian?” | Then Agrippa answered Paul, “I would need to hear much more than this to decide to become a Christian!” |
Paul desired that King Agrippa would become a Christian.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But Paul replied, “I would wish to God, either in little or in much, that not only you but also all the ones hearing me today would become such as I also am—without these chains.” | Paul replied, “Perhaps you need to hear more, or perhaps you could decide now. But either way, I pray to God that you and all of the others who are listening to me today will become like me, except for these chains!” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the king got up, and the governor and Bernice and the ones sitting with them, | Then King Agrippa stood up. The governor, Bernice, and all the other important people who had come in with them also got up |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| and having left, they were talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything worthy of death or of chains.” | and left the room. After they left, they said to each other, “We should not execute this man or keep him in prison. He has done nothing to deserve that.” |
They agreed that Paul had done nothing worthy of death or bonds, and that he could have been freed if he had not appealed to Caesar.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man was able to have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.” | Then Agrippa said to Festus, “If this man had not appealed to Caesar, you could have released him.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when it was decided for us to sail to Italy, they were delivering both Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion, Julius by name, of the Augustan regiment. | Soon the governor decided it was time to send Paul by ship to Italy. {I, Luke, traveled with him.} He put Paul and some other prisoners under the control of a military officer whose name was Julius. This man was part of a group of soldiers who reported directly to the emperor. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having boarded a ship from Adramyttium being about to sail to places along Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian, a Thessalonian, being with us. | So Julius put us aboard a ship from the city of Adramyttium in the province of Asia. This ship was about to sail to various places along the coast of Asia. In this way we began our journey by sea. Aristarchus, a man from the city of Thessalonica in the province of Macedonia, went with us. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the next day, we came down to Sidon, and Julius, treating Paul kindly, allowed him, going to {his} friends, to receive {their} care. | The next day we arrived at the city of Sidon. There Julius treated Paul generously. He gave him permission to go see his friends in Sidon so they could help him with whatever he needed. |
Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends and receive their care.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And from there, having put to sea, we sailed under Cyprus because the winds were contrary. | Then the ship sailed away from Sidon. We went along the coast of Cyprus, which was sheltered from the wind, because the wind was against us. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having sailed across the sea along Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came down to Myra of Lycia. | After that, we crossed over the sea close to the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia. The ship arrived at the city of Myra in the province of Lycia. We got off the ship there. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And there, the centurion having found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, he put us on it. | In Myra, Julius found a ship that had come from the city of Alexandria. It would soon sail to Italy. So he arranged for us to go aboard that ship and we left. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And sailing slowly for many days and having arrived with difficulty near Cnidus, the wind not permitting us further, we sailed along Crete opposite Salmone. | {The winds were still against us, so} we sailed slowly for many days. It was difficult, but we finally reached the city of Cnidus. From there the wind was so strong that the ship could not sail straight westward. So we sailed along the coast of the island of Crete instead{, where the wind was not blowing strongly.} We sailed past Cape Salmone, an area of land sticking out into the water. |
The ship sailed around the island of Crete with difficulty.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And sailing along it with difficulty, we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, which was near the city of Lasea. | The wind was still strong, and it prevented the ship from moving ahead fast. So we moved slowly along the coast of Crete. We eventually arrived at a port whose name was Fair Havens. It was near the city of Lasea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But much time having passed, and the voyage already being dangerous because even the fast had already passed, Paul was warning them, | {Because the wind was blowing from the west,} the journey from Caesarea to Fair Havens had taken much more time than the captain and centurion had planned. It had become dangerous to sail because it was late in the year and the stormy season was approaching. So Paul said to the men on the ship, |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying to them, “Men, I see that the voyage is about to be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” | and said to them, “Friends, God has shown me that if we continue sailing, we will suffer harm and lose many things. A great storm will destroy the ship and its cargo and kill all of us.” |
Julius did not follow Paul’s warning because he paid more attention to the owner of the ship.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the centurion was being persuaded more by the pilot and by the captain than by the things being spoken by Paul. | But the Roman officer did not believe what Paul said. Instead, he believed the pilot and the captain when they told him the ship would be safe. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But the harbor being unsuitable for wintering, the majority gave counsel to sail from there, if somehow they might be able to come down to Phoenix, a harbor in Crete looking according to the southwest wind and according to the northwest wind, to winter there. | The harbor of Fair Havens did not protect the ships in it very well from winter storms. So most of the sailors recommended leaving Fair Havens. They hoped that they could reach Phoenix and spend the winter there. Phoenix is a city on the island of Crete with a good harbor. The harbor protects ships well from winds that blow from the southwest and northwest. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as a south wind was blowing gently, thinking to have obtained {their} purpose, having raised {the anchor}, they were sailing along close to Crete. | Because only a gentle wind was blowing from the south, the ship’s crew thought that they could reach Phoenix safely. So they lifted the ship’s anchor up out of the sea and sailed the ship close to the coastline of the island of Crete. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But after not long, a tempestuous wind called Eurakylon rushed down from it. | After a little while, however, a stormy wind blew down from the island. It was the kind of wind that the sailors called the Northeast Wind. |
After a gentle start, a wind called the northeaster began to beat down on the ship.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And the ship having been seized and not being able to face into the wind, having given way, we were driven along. | This stormy wind blew so strongly against the front of the ship that we could not sail into it. So the sailors decided to sail in the direction that the wind was blowing. It pushed us across the sea very quickly. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But running under a certain island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to become controllers of the lifeboat, | However, the sailors were able to sail the ship on the side of a small island that was sheltered from the wind. The name of the island was Cauda. It was very difficult, but the sailors were finally able to gain control of the lifeboat. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| which having hoisted up, they were using helps, undergirding the ship. And fearing lest they might fall into the Syrtis, lowering the gear, thus they were being driven along. | The sailors hoisted the lifeboat up onto the ship. Then they wound its ropes around the hull of the ship. They became concerned that they would get stuck in the soggy sand at Syrtis. So they took down the sails {to go more slowly}. This meant they could not steer the ship, and it went wherever the wind blew it. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But we being exceedingly storm-tossed, on the next day they were doing a jettison. | But the wind and the waves 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. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And on the third day they threw the equipment of the ship {overboard} with their own hands. | Then, on the third day of the storm, the sailors threw overboard most of the ship’s sails, ropes, and poles. They did this deliberately {in order to make the ship lighter}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But neither sun nor stars appearing for many days, and no small storm lying upon us, all hope for us to be saved was finally being taken away. | But the wind continued to blow very strongly against the ship. The sky was always full of dark clouds so that the sailors could not see the sun or the stars to navigate. After all this we lost hope that we would even survive. |
After many days, the crew abandoned any hope that they should be saved.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And as there had been much abstinence, then Paul, having stood up in the midst of them, said, “O men, it was indeed necessary, obeying me, not to put to sea from Crete and to avoid this damage and loss. | None of us on the ship had eaten for many days. Then one day, Paul stood up in front of us and said, “Friends, you should have listened to me when I said that we should not set sail from Crete. Then, we would not have suffered all this damage. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But now I urge you to take courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, only of the ship. | But now please do not be afraid, because none of us will die. The storm will destroy the ship but it will not destroy us. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| For this night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me, | I know this because last night an angel came and stood by me. The God who protects me and who told me to tell others about him sent this angel. |
The angel told Paul that he and all the sailors would survive.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to stand before Caesar, and behold, God has graciously granted to you all the ones sailing with you.’ | The angel said to me, ‘Paul, do not be afraid. You will reach Rome safely and have the opportunity to testify to the emperor. I want you to know that God is being kind to you. He will make sure that everyone who is traveling with you will also survive.’ |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be thus, according to the way it was told to me. | So cheer up, my friends, because I believe that God will make this happen exactly as the angel told me. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But it is necessary for us to fall upon some island.” | However, the ship will crash on some island, and we will go ashore there.” |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And when the fourteenth night happened, as we were being driven about in the Hadria, around the middle of the night the sailors were suspecting some land to be approaching them. | Now on the fourteenth night after the storm began, the storm was still blowing the ship across the open sea. At about midnight, the sailors thought that the ship was getting close to land. |
The sailors thought the ship was approaching some land.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And taking soundings, they found 20 fathoms, but having gone a little farther and taking soundings again, they found 15 fathoms. | So the sailors lowered a rope with a weight on the end to measure how deep the water was. When they pulled the rope up again, they measured it and saw that the water was 40 meters deep. A little later, they measured again and found that the water was 30 meters deep. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And fearing lest we might fall upon a rugged place somewhere, having lowered four anchors from the stern, they were praying for day to come. | {Because the water was getting shallower,} the sailors were afraid that the ship might crash onto some rocks. So they threw four anchors into the water from the end of the ship. Then they prayed that it would soon become light {so that they could see where the ship was going}. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But as the sailors were seeking to flee from the ship, and as they had lowered the lifeboat into the sea on a pretext as if intending to lower anchors from the bow, | Some of the sailors were planning to escape from the ship. They did not want anyone to know what they planned to do. So they pretended that they needed to put the lifeboat in the water so they could use it to lower some anchors from the ship’s front. |
The sailors were looking for a way to abandon the ship.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “If these do not stay in the ship, you are not able to be saved.” | But Paul said to the Roman officer and the soldiers, “If the sailors do not stay in the ship, you will not survive.” |
Paul told the centurion and the soldiers that unless the sailors stayed on the ship, the centurion and soldiers could not be saved.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the lifeboat and let it fall away. | So the soldiers cut the ropes and the lifeboat dropped into the sea. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And until day was about to come, Paul was urging them all to take food, saying, “Anxiously waiting for a fourteenth day today, you are continuing fasting, having eaten nothing. | Just before dawn, Paul encouraged everyone on the ship to eat something. He said, “For the past 14 days you have been waiting and watching and not eating anything. |
Paul urged everyone to take some food.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| Therefore, I urge you to take food, for this is for your salvation. For a hair from the head of none of you will perish.” | So now I urge you to eat some food, because you must do this to live. The storm will not kill any of you{, but if you do not eat, you will die}.” |
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| And having said this and having taken bread, he gave thanks to God before everyone and, having broken bread, he began to eat. | Then after Paul said that, while everyone was watching, he took some bread and thanked God for it. Then he broke the bread into pieces and began to eat some of it. |
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| And they were all encouraged and took food themselves. | Then they all cheered up and ate some food. |
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| Now we, all the souls in the ship, were 276. | Altogether there were 276 of us on the ship. |
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| And having been satisfied with food, they were lightening the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. | When everyone had eaten enough, the sailors made the ship lighter by throwing the rest of the wheat into the water. |
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| And when day came, they were not recognizing the land, but they were noticing a certain bay having a beach, onto which they were discussing whether they might be able to drive the ship. | At dawn we could see land, but the sailors did not know what it was. However, they could see a bay that had a beach. They decided to try to run the ship up onto this wide area of sand at the water’s edge. |
The crew decided to get the ship to the beach by sailing directly toward the beach, but the bow of the ship became stuck on the ground and the stern began to break up.
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| And having cut loose the anchors, they left them in the sea. At the same time, having loosened the bands of the rudders and having raised the topsail to the wind, they were heading to the beach. | So they cut the ropes that attached the anchors to the ship and let the anchors fall loose into the water. They also untied the ropes that held the rudders to the ship. They raised a sail to the top of the mast so that the wind would blow into it. Then they steered the ship toward the shore. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| But having fallen into a place between two seas, the ship ran aground, and the bow of the ship, having stuck there, remained immovable, but the stern was being loosed by the violence. | But the ship sailed into turbulent waters and ran onto a sandbank that was just under the waves. The front of the ship stuck there and could not move. Big waves beat against the back of the ship and it began to break apart. |
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|---|---|
| Now the plan of the soldiers was that they would kill the prisoners, lest any, swimming away, might escape. | The soldiers wanted to kill all the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape. |
The soldiers were going to kill the prisoners so none of them could escape.
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|---|---|
| But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, stopped their plan, and he commanded the ones being able to swim to depart first to the land, jumping overboard, | But the Roman officer wanted to save Paul. So he stopped the soldiers from killing the prisoners. Instead, he commanded everyone who could swim to jump off the ship first into the water and swim to shore. |
The centurion stopped the plan of the soldiers because he wanted to save Paul.
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| and the rest, some on planks, and some on certain things from the ship, and in this way it happened that all were brought safely to the land. | Then he told the ones who could not swim to hold onto something that would float and drift toward the shore. Some held onto wooden boards that the waves had broken loose from the ship. Some held onto articles from the ship that would float. We did what he said, and in that way all of us made it safely to the shore. |
Those who could swim jumped overboard first, and the rest followed on planks or other things from the ship.
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| And having been brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. | After we had arrived safely on the shore, we learned that we were on an island whose name was Malta. |
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| And the barbarians were offering no ordinary benevolence to us, for, lighting a fire because of the impending rain and because of the cold, they welcomed us all. | The people who lived there took care of us very generously. It was cold and it was starting to rain. So they lit a fire and invited all of us to come and warm ourselves. |
The people treated them with not just ordinary kindness.
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| But when Paul had gathered a certain quantity of sticks and had placed them on the fire, a viper, coming out from the heat, seized his hand. | Now Paul {was helping by} collecting a bundle of pieces of wood to burn. When he put them on the fire, a poisonous snake came out from the bundle to escape from the heat of the fire. It bit Paul on his hand and clung to it. |
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| And as the barbarians saw the creature hanging from his hand, they were saying to one another, “This man is certainly a murderer, whom, having been saved from the sea, Justice has not permitted to live.” | Now the people from the island saw the snake dangling from Paul’s hand. They said to each other, “This man has probably murdered someone. He has escaped from drowning in the sea. But the goddess Justice is punishing him anyway. He will die from this snake bite.” |
The people thought that Paul was a murderer who, by justice, was not being permitted to live.
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|---|---|
| Then he, shaking off the creature into the fire, suffered no harm. | But Paul shook his hand hard so that the snake would fall off his hand and back into the fire. The snake fell off and Paul was not hurt at all. |
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| But they were expecting him to begin to be inflamed or suddenly to fall down dead. But as they watched for a long time and saw nothing unusual happening to him, turning themselves around, they said he was a god. | Still, some of the people of the island expected that Paul’s body would soon swell up because of the snake bite. Others thought he would suddenly fall down and die. But they waited a long time and did not see either of those things happen to him. So the people decided they had been wrong about who Paul was. They said to one another, “This man is not a murderer. He must be a god{, because that snake bite would have killed any human being}!” |
The people thought that Paul was a god.
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| Now in the {areas} around that place were lands of the first of the island, Publius by name, who, welcoming us, kindly entertained us for three days. | Now the people of the island had built the fire near some fields that belonged to a man whose name was Publius. He was the chief official on the island. He invited us to come and stay in his home. He took very good care of us for three days. |
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| And it happened that the father of Publius was lying sick, being afflicted with fevers and dysentery, to whom having gone in and having prayed, having placed {his} hands on him, Paul healed him. | At that time Publius’ father had fever and a stomach illness. He was lying sick in bed. So Paul visited him and prayed for him. Then Paul placed his hands on him and healed him. |
The rest of the people on the island who were sick also came and were healed.
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| And this having happened, the others on the island having sicknesses were also coming and being healed. | After Paul healed Publius’ father, the rest of the people on the island who were sick came to him and he healed them too. |
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| They also honored us with many honors, and they gave to us as we were putting to sea the things for {our} needs. | The island people also brought us gifts and showed in other ways that they greatly respected us. Later on, when we were ready to leave, they brought us food and other things that we would need on the ship. |
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| And after three months, we put to sea in an Alexandrian ship with a Dioscouri figurehead having wintered at the island. | We stayed on Malta for a total of three months. Then we left on a ship that had spent the winter there. The ship was from Alexandria and was going to Italy. On the front of the ship there were carved images of the twin gods whose names were Castor and Pollux. |
Paul and the crew remained on the island of Malta for three months.
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| And having come down to Syracuse, we stayed for three days. | When we arrived at the city of Syracuse, we stayed there three days. |
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| Having sailed from there, we came down to Rhegium, and after one day, a south wind having occurred, we came to Puteoli the next day, | Then we sailed away from Syracuse and arrived at the city of Rhegium in Italy. The next day, the wind began to blow from the south. So in only two more days, we reached the town of Puteoli. {There we got off the ship and went the rest of the way to Rome by land.} |
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| where, having found brothers, we were begged to stay with them for seven days, and thus we went towards Rome. | In Puteoli we met some fellow believers who asked us to stay with them for seven days. After that, we continued on to Rome. |
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| From there, the brothers, having heard the things about us, came to a meeting with us as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns, whom seeing, Paul, thanking God, took courage. | Some fellow believers in Rome had heard that we were coming and they came to meet us. Some of them met us at the place on the Appian Road whose name was the Market. Others met us at the place whose name was the Three Inns. When Paul saw those believers, he thanked God and felt brave. |
When he saw the brothers, Paul thanked God and took courage.
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| And when we entered into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier guarding him. | After we arrived in Rome, the authorities there permitted Paul to live in a home rather than in prison. But a soldier was always there to guard him. |
Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier who was guarding him.
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| And it happened that after three days, he called together the ones being first among the Jews. And when they had come together, he said to them, “Men, brothers, having done nothing opposed to the people or to the fathers’ customs, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, | Now after Paul had been in Rome for three days, he sent a message to the Jewish leaders to come and talk with him. And when they arrived, Paul said to them, “My dear kinsmen, I have not opposed our people or spoken against the customs of our ancestors. {But some Jews in Jerusalem seized me and tried to kill me. A Roman commander rescued me and later} sent me as a prisoner to the city of Caesarea so that the Roman authorities could put me on trial. |
| ULT | UST |
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| who, having questioned me, were intending to release me because there was no reason in me for death. | The Roman authorities questioned me and wanted to release me because I had not done any bad thing for which I should be executed. |
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| But as the Jews were objecting, I was forced to appeal to Caesar—not as if having anything {of which} to accuse my nation. | But the Jewish leaders argued that the Romans should not set me free, So I had to request that the emperor judge me here in Rome. But I did not do that because I wanted to accuse our leaders of doing anything wrong. |
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| Therefore for this reason I summoned you, to see and to speak with you. For on account of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” | So I asked you to come here so that I could tell you why I am a prisoner. It is because I believe in what we Jews confidently expect that God will do for us.” |
Paul told the Jewish leaders in Rome he had been chained because of the hope of Israel.
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| But they said to him, “We have not received letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers, coming, reported or said anything evil about you. | Then the Jewish leaders replied, “We have not received any letters from our fellow Jews in Judea about you. And none of our fellow Jews who have come here from Judea have said anything bad about you. |
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| But we value to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.” | But we would appreciate you telling us what you think about this group that you belong to. Please tell us, because we are aware that in many places people are speaking against it.” |
The Jewish leaders in Rome knew that the sect was spoken against everywhere.
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| And having appointed a day for him, more came to him at his lodging, to whom he was explaining, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and the Prophets from morning until evening. | So they decided that they would come back on another day. On that day, even more people than before came to where Paul was staying to hear Paul speak. Paul explained many things to them. He talked about how God would rule everyone. He also talked about how various places in the Scriptures foretold that Jesus would come. Paul talked for that entire day with the people who had come to his house. |
Paul tried to persuade them about Jesus, from both the law of Moses and from the prophets.
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| And while some were convinced by the things being said, others still did not believe. | Paul was able to persuade some of those Jews that the things he said about Jesus were true. But some others would not believe that they were true. |
Some of the Jewish leaders were convinced, while others did not believe.
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|---|---|
| And being discordant with one another, they were leaving, Paul having spoken one word, “The Holy Spirit spoke well through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, | The two groups argued with each other. When they were about to leave, Paul told them one more thing. He said, “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said something through Isaiah the prophet. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| saying, ‘Go to this people and say, “By hearing you will hear but you will not understand at all, and seeing you will see but you will not perceive at all.” | He said, ‘Go to the people of Israel and say to them: “You seem to be listening but you never really understand what God is saying. You seem to be looking but you never really recognize the things that God is doing.” |
The final scripture Paul quoted said that those who did not believe would not understand nor perceive what they heard and saw.
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| For the heart of this people has been thickened, and with {their} ears they have hardly heard, and they have shut their eyes, lest they might see with {their} eyes, and they might hear with {their} ears, and they might understand with {their} heart and turn back, and I would heal them.’ | These people do not understand because they have become stubborn. It is as if they have become deaf. It is as if they have closed their eyes. It is as if they have done this because they do not want to see well, and they do not want to hear well, and they do not want to understand well. If they did pay attention to me and understand what I am telling them, they would stop sinning and live in the right way again. If they did that, I would restore them.’ |
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| Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear.” | Therefore, you should know that God is offering to save the non-Jews, and many of them will accept his offer.” |
Paul said that God’s message of salvation had been sent to the Gentiles, and they would listen.
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| [And when he had said these things, the Jews went away, having a great dispute among themselves.] | [When he had said these things, the Jews went away. They were having a great dispute among themselves.] |
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| And he stayed for two whole years in his own rented house, and he was welcoming all the ones coming in to him, | After that, Paul stayed in Rome for two whole years in a house that he rented. Many people came to see him. He received each of them gladly and spoke with them. |
| ULT | UST |
|---|---|
| proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, without hindrance. | He preached about how God would rule over everyone. He also taught people about the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He spoke about these things very openly. No one tried to stop him. |
Paul preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
The phrase “without hindrance” means that no one stopped him.