New Testament Plan

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.

²And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

⁹and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”

¹¹After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

¹²They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

²³except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,

²⁷because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³²“And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.

³⁵In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

³⁷There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

¹After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail.

³After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray,

⁶we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.

⁹This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul replied, “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.”

¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

²¹But they have been informed about you — that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

²²So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.

²³Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.

²⁵With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.

³²Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?

³⁸Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic:

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”

²When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.

³He continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,

⁵as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶“As I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹“Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus.

¹²Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,

¹³came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him.

¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth,

¹⁵since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten.

²⁰And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’

²¹“He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’  ”

²²They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”

²³As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this.

²⁵As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said.

²⁸The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.