The Acts of the Apostles: part 3

The Acts of the Apostles: part 3 - 

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Chapter 14

Now in Iconium they went together to the Synagogue of the Jews and gave such teaching that a great number of Jews and Greeks had faith.

But those Jews who had not the faith, made the minds of the Gentiles bitter against the brothers.

So they kept there for a long time, taking heart in the Lord, who gave witness to the word of his grace by causing signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

But there was a division among the people of the town; some were on the side of the Jews and some on the side of the Apostles.

And when a violent attempt was made by the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, to make an attack on them and have them stoned,

Having got news of it, they went in flight to the towns of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the country round about:

And went on preaching the good news there.

And at Lystra there was a certain man, who from birth had been without the use of his feet, never having had the power of walking.

This man was giving ear to the preaching of Paul, who, looking at him, and seeing that he had faith to be made well,

Said in a loud voice, Get up on your feet. And, jumping up, he went walking about.

And when the people saw what Paul had done, they said in a loud voice, in the language of Lycaonia, The gods have come down to us in the form of men.

And they gave the name of Jupiter to Barnabas, and to Paul that of Mercury, because he was the chief talker.

And the priest of the image of Jupiter, which was before the town, took oxen and flowers to the doors of the town, and was about to make an offering with the people.

But when this came to the ears of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, they went running out among the people, parting their clothing, and crying out,

Good people, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same feelings as you, and we give you the good news so that you may be turned away from these foolish things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them:

Who in the past let all nations go in the ways which seemed good to them.

But he was not without witness, because he did good, and gave you rain from heaven and times of fruit, making your hearts full of food and joy.

And even with these words, it was hard for them to keep the people from making an offering to them.

But some Jews came to that place from Antioch and Iconium, and got control over the people; and after stoning Paul, they had him pulled out of the town, taking him for dead.

But when the disciples came round him, he got up and went into the town: and the day after he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.

And having made a number of disciples through the preaching of the good news in that town, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch,

Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.

And when they had made selection of some to be rulers in every church, and had given themselves to prayer and kept themselves from food, they put them into the care of the Lord in whom they had faith.

And they went through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

And, after preaching the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia;

And from there they went by ship to Antioch, where they had been handed over to the grace of God for the work which they had not done.

And when they came there, and had got the church together, they gave them an account of all the things which God had done through them, and how he had made open a door of faith to the Gentiles.

And they were with the disciples there for a long time.

Chapter 15

Now certain men came down from Judaea, teaching the brothers and saying that without circumcision, after the rule of Moses, there is no salvation.

And after Paul and Barnabas had had no little argument and discussion with them, the brothers made a decision to send Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them to the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem about this question.

So they, being sent on their way by the church, went through Phoenicia and Samaria, giving news of the salvation of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the brothers.

And when they came to Jerusalem, they had a meeting with the church and the Apostles and the rulers, and they gave an account of all the things which God had done through them.

But some of the Pharisees, who were of the faith, got up and said, It is necessary for these to have circumcision and to keep the law of Moses.

And the Apostles and the rulers of the church came together and gave thought to the question.

And when there had been much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, My brothers, you have knowledge that some time back it was God’s pleasure that by my mouth the good news might be given to the Gentiles so that they might have faith.

And God, the searcher of hearts, was a witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit even as he did to us;

Making no division between them and us, but making clean their hearts by faith.

Why then are you testing God, by putting on the neck of the disciples a yoke so hard that not even our fathers or we were strong enough for it?

But we have faith that we will get salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they.

And all the people were quiet while Barnabas and Paul gave an account of the signs and wonders which God had done among the Gentiles by them.

And when they had come to an end, James, answering, said, My brothers, give ear to me:

Symeon has given an account of how God was first pleased to take from among the Gentiles a people for himself.

And this is in agreement with the words of the prophets, as it is said,

After these things I will come back, and will put up the tent of David which has been broken down, building up again its broken parts and making it complete:

So that the rest of men may make search for the Lord, and all the Gentiles on whom my name is named,

Says the Lord, who has made these things clear from the earliest times.

For this reason my decision is, that we do not put trouble in the way of those who from among the Gentiles are turned to God;

But that we give them orders to keep themselves from things offered to false gods, and from the evil desires of the body, and from the flesh of animals put to death in ways against the law, and from blood.

For Moses, from times long past, has his preachers in every town, reading his law in the Synagogues every Sabbath.

Then it seemed good to the Apostles and the rulers and all the church, to send men from among them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; Judas, named Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers:

And they sent a letter by them, saying, The Apostles and the older brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, may joy be with you:

Because we have knowledge that some who went from us have been troubling you with their words, putting your souls in doubt; to whom we gave no such order;

It seemed good to us, having come to an agreement together, to send these men to you, with our well loved Barnabas and Paul,

Men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we have sent Judas and Silas, who will say the same things to you themselves, by word of mouth.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to put on you nothing more than these necessary things;

To keep from things offered to false gods, and from blood, and from things put to death in ways which are against the law, and from the evil desires of the body; if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. May you be happy.

So they, being sent away, came down to Antioch, and having got the people together, they gave them the letter.

And after reading it, they were glad of its comfort.

And Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, gave teaching to the brothers and made them strong in the faith.

And when they had been there for some time, they were sent back in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

But Paul and Barnabas kept on in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of God, with a number of others.

And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and see the brothers in every town where we have given the word of God, and see how they are.

And Barnabas had a desire to take with them John, named Mark.

But Paul was of the opinion that it was not right to take with them one who had gone away from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone on with the work.

And there was a sharp argument between them, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and went by ship to Cyprus;

But Paul took Silas and went away with the blessing of the brothers.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, making the churches stronger in the faith.

Chapter 16

And he came to Derbe and Lystra: and there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, whose mother was one of the Jews of the faith, but his father was a Greek;

Of whom the brothers at Lystra and Iconium had a high opinion.

Paul had a desire for him to go with him, and he gave him circumcision because of the Jews who were in those parts: for they all had knowledge that his father was a Greek.

And on their way through the towns, they gave them the rules which had been made by the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem, so that they might keep them.

So the churches were made strong in the faith and were increased in number every day.

And after they had gone through the land of Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit did not let them take the word into Asia;

And having come to Mysia, they made an attempt to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them;

And going past Mysia, they came down to Troas.

And Paul had a vision in the night; a man of Macedonia came, requesting him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia and give us help.

And when he had seen the vision, straight away we made the decision to go into Macedonia, for it seemed certain to us that God had sent us to give the good news to them.

So, from Troas we went straight by ship to Samothrace and the day after to Neapolis;

And from there to Philippi, which is the most important town of Macedonia and a Roman colony: and we were there for some days.

And on the Sabbath we went outside the town, by the river, where we had an idea that there would be a place of prayer; and, being seated, we had talk with the women who had come together.

And a certain woman named Lydia, a trader in purple cloth of the town of Thyatira, and a God-fearing woman, gave ear to us: whose heart the Lord made open to give attention to the things which Paul was saying.

And when she and her family had had baptism, she made a request to us, saying, If it seems to you that I am true to the Lord, come into my house and be my guests. And she made us come.

And when we were going to the place of prayer, we came across a girl with a spirit which gave knowledge of the future, whose masters made great profit from her power.

She came after Paul and us, crying out and saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who are giving you news of the way of salvation.

And this she did on a number of days. But Paul was greatly troubled and, turning, said to the spirit, I give you orders in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And it came out that very hour.

But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they took Paul and Silas, pulling them into the market-place before the rulers;

And when they had taken them before the authorities, they said, These men, who are Jews, are greatly troubling our town;

Teaching rules of living which it is not right for us to have or to keep, being Romans.

And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped.

And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely:

And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet.

But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners;

And suddenly there was an earth-shock, so that the base of the prison was moved: and all the doors came open, and everyone’s chains came off.

And the keeper, coming out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, took his sword and was about to put himself to death, fearing that the prisoners had got away.

But Paul said in a loud voice, Do yourself no damage, for we are all here.

And he sent for lights and came rushing in and, shaking with fear, went down on his face before Paul and Silas,

And took them out and said, Sirs, what have I to do to get salvation?

And they said, Have faith in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will have salvation.

And they gave the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

And that same hour of the night, he took them, and when he had given attention to their wounds, he and all his family had baptism straight away.

And he took them into his house and gave them food, and he was full of joy, having faith in God with all his family.

But when it was day, the authorities sent the police, saying, Let these men go.

And the keeper said to Paul, The authorities have given orders to let you go: come out now, and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, They have given us who are Romans a public whipping without judging us, and have put us in prison. Will they now send us out secretly? no, truly, let them come themselves and take us out.

And the police gave an account of these words to the authorities, and they were full of fear on hearing that they were Romans;

Then they came and made prayers to them, requesting them, when they had taken them out, to go away from the town.

And they came out of the prison and went to the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brothers they gave them comfort and went away.

Chapter 17

Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews:

And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings,

Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ.

And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women.

But the Jews, being moved with envy, took with them certain low persons from among the common people, and getting together a great number of people, made an outcry in the town, attacking the house of Jason with the purpose of taking them out to the people.

And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here;

Whom Jason has taken into his house: and they are acting against the orders of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.

And hearing these things the people and the rulers of the town were troubled.

And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go.

And the brothers straight away sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea: and they, when they came there, went to the Synagogue of the Jews.

Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so.

And a number of them had faith, and no small number of the Greek women of high position and of the men.

But when the Jews of Thessalonica had news that Paul was preaching the word at Beroea, they came there, troubling the people and working them up.

So the brothers sent Paul straight away to the sea: but Silas and Timothy kept there still.

But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods.

So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there.

And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead.

And they took him to Mars’ Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours?

For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them.

(Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.)

And Paul got to his feet on Mars’ Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods.

For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you.

The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands;

And he is not dependent on the work of men’s hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things;

And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands,

So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us:

For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring.

If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man.

Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart:

Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead.

Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time.

And so Paul went away from among them.

But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Chapter 18

After these things, he went away from Athens, and came to Corinth.

And there he came across a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who not long before had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had given orders that all Jews were to go away from Rome: and he came to them;

And because he was of the same trade, he was living with them, and they did their work together; for by trade they were tent-makers.

And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith.

And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was completely given up to the word, preaching to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.

And when they put themselves against him, and said evil words, he said, shaking his clothing, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean: from now I will go to the Gentiles.

And moving from there, he went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a God-fearing man, whose house was very near the Synagogue.

And Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, with all his family, had faith in the Lord; and a great number of the people of Corinth, hearing the word, had faith and were given baptism.

And the Lord said to Paul in the night, in a vision, Have no fear and go on preaching:

For I am with you, and no one will make an attack on you to do you damage: for I have a number of people in this town.

And he was there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

But when Gallio was ruler of Achaia, all the Jews together made an attack on Paul, and took him to the judge’s seat,

Saying, This man is teaching the people to give worship to God in a way which is against the law.

But when Paul was about to say something, Gallio said to the Jews, If this was anything to do with wrongdoing or crime, there would be a reason for me to give you a hearing:

But if it is a question of words or names or of your law, see to it yourselves; I will not be a judge of such things.

And he sent them away from the judge’s seat.

And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge’s seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things.

And Paul, after waiting some days, went away from the brothers and went by ship to Syria, Priscilla and Aquila being with him; and he had had his hair cut off in Cenchrea, for he had taken an oath.

And they came down to Ephesus and he left them there: and he himself went into the Synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

And being requested by them to be there for a longer time, he said, No;

And went from them, saying, I will come back to you if God lets me; and he took ship from Ephesus.

And when he had come to land at Caesarea, he went to see the church, and then went down to Antioch.

And having been there for some time, he went through the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, making the disciples strong in the faith.

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, and a man of learning, came to Ephesus; and he had great knowledge of the holy Writings.

This man had been trained in the way of the Lord; and burning in spirit, he gave himself up to teaching the facts about Jesus, though he had knowledge only of John’s baptism:

And he was preaching in the Synagogue without fear. But Priscilla and Aquila, hearing his words, took him in, and gave him fuller teaching about the way of God.

And when he had a desire to go over into Achaia, the brothers gave him help, and sent letters to the disciples requesting them to take him in among them: and when he had come, he gave much help to those who had faith through grace:

For he overcame the Jews in public discussion, making clear from the holy Writings that the Christ was Jesus.

Chapter 19

And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:

And he said to them, Did you get the Holy Spirit when you had faith? And they said to him, No, we have had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

And he said, What sort of baptism did you have? And they said, The baptism of John.

And Paul said, John gave a baptism which goes with a change of heart, saying to the people that they were to have faith in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

And hearing this, they had baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had put his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they had the power of talking in tongues, and acting like prophets.

And there were about twelve of these men.

And he went into the Synagogue, and for three months he was preaching there without fear, reasoning and teaching about the kingdom of God.

But because some of the people were hard-hearted and would not give hearing, saying evil words about the Way before the people, he went away from them, and kept the disciples separate, reasoning every day in the school of Tyrannus.

And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews.

And God did special works of power by the hands of Paul:

So that bits of linen and clothing from his body were taken to people who were ill, and their diseases went away from them and the evil spirits went out.

But some of the Jews who went from place to place driving out evil spirits, took it on themselves to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I give you orders, by Jesus, whom Paul is preaching.

And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this.

And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you?

And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing.

And this came to the ears of all those, Jews and Greeks, who were living at Ephesus; and fear came on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was made great.

And a number of those who had faith came and made a public statement of their sins and all their acts.

And a great number of those who were experts in strange arts took their books and put them on the fire in front of everyone: and when the books were valued they came to fifty thousand bits of silver.

So the word of the Lord was increased very greatly and was full of power.

Now after these things were ended, Paul came to a decision that when he had gone through Macedonia and Achaia he would go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I have a desire to see Rome.

And having sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself went on living in Asia for a time.

And about that time a great outcry took place about the Way.

For there was a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-worker, who made silver boxes for the images of Diana, and gave no small profit to the workmen;

Whom he got together, with other workmen of the same trade, and said to them, Men, it is clear that from this business we get our wealth.

And you see, for it has come to your ears, that not only at Ephesus, but almost all through Asia, this Paul has been teaching numbers of people and turning them away, saying that those are not gods who are made by men’s hands:

And there is danger, not only that our trade may be damaged in the opinion of men, but that the holy place of the great goddess Diana may be no longer honoured, and that she to whom all Asia and the world give worship, will be put down from her high position.

And hearing this, they were very angry, crying out and saying, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

And the town was full of noise and trouble, and they all came running into the theatre, having taken by force Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia who were journeying in company with Paul.

And when Paul was about to go in to the people, the disciples did not let him.

And some of the rulers of Asia, being his friends, sent to him, requesting him seriously not to put himself in danger by going into the theatre.

And some said one thing, and some another: for there was no order in the meeting; and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

Then they took Alexander out from among the people, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander, making a sign with his hand, was about to make a statement to the people in answer:

But when they saw that he was a Jew, all of them with one voice went on crying out for about two hours, Great is Diana of Ephesus.

And when the chief secretary had got the people quiet, he said, Men of Ephesus, is any man without knowledge that the town of Ephesus is the keeper of the holy place of the great Diana, who was sent down from Jupiter?

So then, because these things may not be doubted, it would be better for you to be quiet, and do nothing unwise.

For you have taken these men, who are not doing damage to the holy place or talking against our goddess.

If, then, Demetrius and the workmen who are with him have a protest to make against any man, the law is open to them, and there are judges; let them put up a cause at law against one another.

But if any other business is in question, let it be taken up in the regular meeting.

For, truly, we are in danger of being made responsible for this day’s trouble, there being no cause for it: and we are not able to give any reason for this coming together.

And when he had said this, he sent the meeting away.