They sent this letter with them: From the apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings!


Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said,


we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,


who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person.


For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules:


that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.


So when they were dismissed, they went down to Antioch, and after gathering the entire group together, they delivered the letter.


When they read it aloud, the people rejoiced at its encouragement.


Both Judas and Silas, who were prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with a long speech.


After they had spent some time there, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.


But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming (along with many others) the word of the Lord.


After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord to see how they are doing.”


Barnabas wanted to bring John called Mark along with them too,


but Paul insisted that they should not take along this one who had left them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.


They had a sharp disagreement, so that they parted company. Barnabas took along Mark and sailed away to Cyprus,


but Paul chose Silas and set out, commended to the grace of the Lord by the brothers and sisters.


He passed through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.


He also came to Derbe A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father was a Greek.


The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.


Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.


As they went through the towns, they passed on the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the Gentile believers to obey.


So the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were increasing in number every day.


They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia.


When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this,


so they passed through Mysia and went down to Troas.


A vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”


After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.


We put out to sea from Troas and sailed a straight course to Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,


and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of that district of Macedonia, a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for some days.


On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there.


A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.


After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded us.


Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.


She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”


She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once.


But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.


When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews


and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.”


The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods.


After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely.


Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.


About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them.


Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose.


When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he assumed the prisoners had escaped.


But Paul called out loudly, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”


Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas.


Then he brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”


They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”


Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him, along with all those who were in his house.


At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right away.


The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, together with his entire household.


At daybreak the magistrates sent their police officers, saying, “Release those men.”


The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent orders to release you. So come out now and go in peace.”


But Paul said to the police officers, “They had us beaten in public without a proper trial – even though we are Roman citizens – and they threw us in prison. And now they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! They themselves must come and escort us out!”


The police officers reported these words to the magistrates. They were frightened when they heard Paul and Silas were Roman citizens


and came and apologized to them. After they brought them out, they asked them repeatedly to leave the city.


When they came out of the prison, they entered Lydia’s house, and when they saw the brothers, they encouraged them and then departed.


After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.


Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures,


explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”


Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.


But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason’s house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly.


When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, screaming, “These people who have stirred up trouble throughout the world have come here too,


and Jason has welcomed them as guests! They are all acting against Caesar’s decrees, saying there is another king named Jesus!”


They caused confusion among the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.


After the city officials had received bail from Jason and the others, they released them.


The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once, during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.


These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so.


Therefore many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.


But when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, inciting and disturbing the crowds.


Then the brothers sent Paul away to the coast at once, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.


Those who accompanied Paul escorted him as far as Athens, and after receiving an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.


While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols.


So he was addressing the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles in the synagogue, and in the marketplace every day those who happened to be there.


Also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were asking, “What does this foolish babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)


So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming?


For you are bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what they mean.”


(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time in nothing else than telling or listening to something new.)


So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.


For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.


The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,


nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.


From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,


so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.


For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’


So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.


Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,


because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.”


Now when they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”


So Paul left the Areopagus.


But some people joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.


After this Paul departed from Athens


There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them,


and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and worked with them (for they were tentmakers by trade).


He addressed both Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade them.


Now when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.


When they opposed him and reviled him, he protested by shaking out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am guiltless! From now on I will go to the Gentiles!”


Then Paul left the synagogue and went to the house of a person named Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.


Crispus, the president of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized.


The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent,


because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.”


So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.


Now while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews attacked Paul together and brought him before the judgment seat,


saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God in a way contrary to the law!”


But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, I would have been justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews,


but since it concerns points of disagreement about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I will not be a judge of these things!”


Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat.


So they all seized Sosthenes, the president of the synagogue, and began to beat him in front of the judgment seat. Yet none of these things were of any concern to Gallio.


Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because he had made a vow.


When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind there, but he himself went into the synagogue and addressed the Jews.


When they asked him to stay longer, he would not consent,


but said farewell to them and added, “I will come back to you again if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus,


and when he arrived at Caesarea,


After he spent some time there, Paul left and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.


Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker, well-versed in the scriptures.


He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.


He began to speak out fearlessly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.


When Apollos wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he assisted greatly those who had believed by grace,


for he refuted the Jews vigorously in public debate, demonstrating from the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.


While Apollos was in Corinth, He found some disciples there


and said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”


So Paul said, “Into what then were you baptized?” “Into John’s baptism,” they replied.


Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”


When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,


and when Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.


(Now there were about twelve men in all.)


So Paul entered the synagogue and spoke out fearlessly for three months, addressing and convincing them about the kingdom of God.


But when some were stubborn and refused to believe, reviling the Way before the congregation, he left them and took the disciples with him, addressing them every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.


This went on for two years, so that all who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.


God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands,


so that when even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his body were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.


But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I sternly warn you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”


(Now seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.)


But the evil spirit replied to them, “I know about Jesus and I am acquainted with Paul, but who are you?”


Then the man who was possessed by the evil spirit jumped on them and beat them all into submission. He prevailed against them so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.


This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks; fear came over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised.


Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and making their deeds known.


Large numbers of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them up in the presence of everyone. When the value of the books was added up, it was found to total fifty thousand silver coins.


In this way the word of the Lord continued to grow in power and to prevail.


Now after all these things had taken place, Paul resolved to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. He said, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”


So after sending two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, he himself stayed on for a while in the province of Asia.


At that time a great disturbance took place concerning the Way.


For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought a great deal of business to the craftsmen.


He gathered these together, along with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.


And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a large crowd, not only in Ephesus but in practically all of the province of Asia, by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.


There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as nothing, and she whom all the province of Asia and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.”


When they heard this they became enraged and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”


The city was filled with the uproar, and the crowd rushed to the theater together, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions.


But when Paul wanted to enter the public assembly, the disciples would not let him.


Even some of the provincial authorities who were his friends sent a message to him, urging him not to venture into the theater.


So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met together.


Some of the crowd concluded it was about Alexander because the Jews had pushed him to the front. Alexander, gesturing with his hand, was wanting to make a defense before the public assembly.


But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for about two hours.


After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?


So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless.


For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.


If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges against one another there.


But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled in a legal assembly.


For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering.”


After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.


After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left to go to Macedonia.


After he had gone through those regions and spoken many words of encouragement to the believers there, he came to Greece,


where he stayed for three months. Because the Jews had made a plot against him as he was intending to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.


Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.


These had gone on ahead and were waiting for us in Troas.


We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and within five days we came to the others in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.


On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight.


(Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.)


A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak for a long time. Fast asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.


But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, put his arms around him, and said, “Do not be distressed, for he is still alive!”


Then Paul went back upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he talked with them a long time, until dawn. Then he left.


They took the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.


We went on ahead to the ship and put out to sea for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way. He himself was intending to go there by land.


When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene.


We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus.


For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus if possible, by the day of Pentecost.


From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him.


When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia,


serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews.


You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house,


testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.


And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there,


except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me.


But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.


“And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again.


Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all.


For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.


Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.


I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.


Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them.


Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.


And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.


I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing.


You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me.


By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”


When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed.


They all began to weep loudly, and hugged Paul and kissed him,


especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.


After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea, and sailing a straight course, we came to Cos, on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.


We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went aboard, and put out to sea.


After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.


After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.


When our time was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying,


we said farewell to one another. Then we went aboard the ship, and they returned to their own homes.


We continued the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, and when we had greeted the brothers, we stayed with them for one day.


On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.


(He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.)


While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.


He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”


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


Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”


Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”


After these days we got ready and started up to Jerusalem.


Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us too, and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple from the earliest times, with whom we were to stay.


When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.


The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were there.


When Paul had greeted them, he began to explain in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.


When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers of the law.


They have been informed about you – that you teach all the Jews now living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.


What then should we do? They will no doubt hear that you have come.


So do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow;


take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law.


But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality.”


Then Paul took the men the next day, and after he had purified himself along with them, he went to the temple and gave notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them.


When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia who had seen him in the temple area stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,


shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this sanctuary! Furthermore he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple and made this holy place ritually unclean!”


(For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him previously, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner temple courts.)


The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts, and immediately the doors were shut.


While they were trying to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding officer of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.


He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When they saw the commanding officer and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.


Then the commanding officer came up and arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains; he then asked who he was and what he had done.


But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, and when the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth because of the disturbance, he ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks.


When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob,


for a crowd of people followed them, screaming, “Away with him!”


As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commanding officer, “May I say something to you?” The officer replied, “Do you know Greek?


Then you’re not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the ‘Assassins’ into the wilderness some time ago?”


Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please allow me to speak to the people.”


When the commanding officer had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and gestured to the people with his hand. When they had become silent, he addressed them in Aramaic,


“Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you.”


(When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said,


“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today.


I persecuted this Way even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,


as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.


As I was en route and near Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.


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


I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’


Those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.


So I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.’


Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me.


A man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there,


came to me and stood beside me and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up and saw him.


Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from his mouth,


because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.


And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’


When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance


and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’


I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues who believed in you.


And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing nearby, approving, and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’


Then he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”


The crowd was listening to him until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!”


While they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air,


the commanding officer ordered Paul to be brought back into the barracks. He told them to interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash so that he could find out the reason the crowd was shouting at Paul in this way.


When they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial?”


When the centurion heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”


So the commanding officer came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He replied, “Yes.”


The commanding officer answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” “But I was even born a citizen,” Paul replied.


Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.


The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them.


Paul looked directly at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day.”


At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.


Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”


Those standing near him said, “Do you dare insult God’s high priest?”


Paul replied, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’”


Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”


When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.


(For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)


There was a great commotion, and some experts in the law from the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”


When the argument became so great the commanding officer feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, he ordered the detachment to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.


The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Have courage, for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”


When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.


There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy.


They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to partake of anything until we have killed Paul.


So now you and the council request the commanding officer to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine his case by conducting a more thorough inquiry. We are ready to kill him before he comes near this place.”


But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush, he came and entered the barracks and told Paul.


Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to report to him.”


So the centurion took him and brought him to the commanding officer and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”


The commanding officer took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want to report to me?”


He replied, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him.


So do not let them persuade you to do this, because more than forty of them are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.”


Then the commanding officer sent the young man away, directing him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.”


Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen by nine o’clock tonight,


and provide mounts for Paul to ride so that he may be brought safely to Felix the governor.”


He wrote a letter that went like this:


Claudius Lysias to His Excellency Governor Felix, greetings.


This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, when I came up with the detachment and rescued him, because I had learned that he was a Roman citizen.


Since I wanted to know what charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down to their council.


I found he was accused with reference to controversial questions about their law, but no charge against him deserved death or imprisonment.


When I was informed there would be a plot against this man, I sent him to you at once, also ordering his accusers to state their charges against him before you.


So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him to Antipatris during the night.


The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, and they returned to the barracks.


When the horsemen came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.


When the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,


he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive too.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.


After five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney named Tertullus, and they brought formal charges against Paul to the governor.


When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “We have experienced a lengthy time of peace through your rule, and reforms are being made in this nation through your foresight.


Most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this everywhere and in every way with all gratitude.


But so that I may not delay you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.


For we have found this man to be a troublemaker, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.


He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we arrested him.


When you examine him yourself, you will be able to learn from him about all these things we are accusing him of doing.”


The Jews also joined in the verbal attack, claiming that these things were true.


When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense.


As you can verify for yourself, not more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.


They did not find me arguing with anyone or stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city,


nor can they prove to you the things they are accusing me of doing.


But I confess this to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets.


I have a hope in God (a hope that these men themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.


This is the reason I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and toward people.


After several years I came to bring to my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings,


which I was doing when they found me in the temple, ritually purified, without a crowd or a disturbance.


But there are some Jews from the province of Asia who should be here before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me.


Or these men here should tell what crime they found me guilty of when I stood before the council,


other than this one thing I shouted out while I stood before them: ‘I am on trial before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”


Then Felix, who understood the facts concerning the Way more accurately, adjourned their hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.”


He ordered the centurion to guard Paul, but to let him have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs.


Some days later, when Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.


While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.”


At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would give him money, and for this reason he sent for Paul as often as possible and talked with him.


After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.


Now three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.


So the chief priests and the most prominent men of the Jews brought formal charges against Paul to him.


Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, they urged Festus to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush to kill him along the way.


Then Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly.


“So,” he said, “let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him.”


After Festus had stayed not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought.


When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they were not able to prove.


Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”


But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried before me there on these charges?”


Paul replied, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I should be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well.


If then I am in the wrong and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, but if not one of their charges against me is true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”


Then, after conferring with his council, Festus replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go!”


After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.


While they were staying there many days, Festus explained Paul’s case to the king to get his opinion, saying, “There is a man left here as a prisoner by Felix.


When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.


I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met his accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation.


So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought.


When his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the evil deeds I had suspected.


Rather they had several points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claimed to be alive.


Because I was at a loss how I could investigate these matters, I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.


But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar.”


Agrippa said to Festus, “I would also like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, “you will hear him.”


So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall, along with the senior military officers and the prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in.


Then Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer.


But I found that he had done nothing that deserved death, and when he appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send him.


But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this preliminary hearing I may have something to write.


For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without clearly indicating the charges against him.”


So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense:


“Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,


because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversial issues of the Jews. Therefore I ask you to listen to me patiently.


Now all the Jews know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.


They know, because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.


And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors,


a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, Your Majesty!


Why do you people think it is unbelievable that God raises the dead?


Of course, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.


And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death.


I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged at them, I went to persecute them even in foreign cities.


“While doing this very thing, as I was going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the chief priests,


about noon along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around me and those traveling with me.


When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.’


So I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.


But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance as a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to the things in which I will appear to you.


I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you


to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’


“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,


but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.


For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and were trying to kill me.


I have experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen:


that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”


As Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”


But Paul replied, “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, but am speaking true and rational words.


For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him, because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.


Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe.”


Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?”


Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.”


So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them,


and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.”


Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”


When it was decided we would sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius.


We went on board a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to various ports along the coast of the province of Asia and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.


The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius, treating Paul kindly, allowed him to go to his friends so they could provide him with what he needed.


From there we put out to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.


After we had sailed across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we put in at Myra in Lycia.


There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.


We sailed slowly for many days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Because the wind prevented us from going any farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.


With difficulty we sailed along the coast of Crete and came to a place called Fair Havens that was near the town of Lasea.


Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them,


“Men, I can see the voyage is going to end in disaster and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”


But the centurion was more convinced by the captain and the ship’s owner than by what Paul said.


Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there. They hoped that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.


When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they could carry out their purpose, so they weighed anchor and sailed close along the coast of Crete.


Not long after this, a hurricane-force wind called the northeaster blew down from the island.


When the ship was caught in it and could not head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.


As we ran under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to get the ship’s boat under control.


After the crew had hoisted it aboard, they used supports to undergird the ship. Fearing they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor, thus letting themselves be driven along.


The next day, because we were violently battered by the storm, they began throwing the cargo overboard,


and on the third day they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands.


When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved.


Since many of them had no desire to eat, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not put out to sea from Crete, thus avoiding this damage and loss.


And now I advise you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost.


For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve came to me


and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul! You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously granted you the safety of all who are sailing with you.’


Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be just as I have been told.


But we must run aground on some island.”


When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land.


They took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep; when they had sailed a little farther they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms deep.


Because they were afraid that we would run aground on the rocky coast, they threw out four anchors from the stern and wished for day to appear.


Then when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship’s boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow,


Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.”


Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it drift away.


As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense and have gone without food; you have eaten nothing.


Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your survival. For not one of you will lose a hair from his head.”


After he said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat.


So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves.


(We were in all two hundred seventy-six persons on the ship.)


When they had eaten enough to be satisfied, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.


When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.


So they slipped the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage that bound the steering oars together. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and steered toward the beach.


But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves.


Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would escape by swimming away.


But the centurion, wanting to save Paul’s life, prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,


and the rest were to follow, some on planks and some on pieces of the ship. And in this way all were brought safely to land.


After we had safely reached shore, we learned that the island was called Malta.


The local inhabitants showed us extraordinary kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain and was cold.


When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.


When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself has not allowed him to live!”


However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.


But they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.


Now in the region around that place were fields belonging to the chief official of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.


The father of Publius lay sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and after praying, placed his hands on him and healed him.


After this had happened, many of the people on the island who were sick also came and were healed.


They also bestowed many honors, and when we were preparing to sail, they gave us all the supplies we needed.


After three months we put out to sea in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the “Heavenly Twins” as its figurehead.


We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days.


From there we cast off and arrived at Rhegium, and after one day a south wind sprang up and on the second day we came to Puteoli.


There we found some brothers and were invited to stay with them seven days. And in this way we came to Rome.


The brothers from there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. When he saw them, Paul thanked God and took courage.


When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.


After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans.


When they had heard my case, they wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me.


But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar – not that I had some charge to bring against my own people.


So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.”


They replied, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers come from there and reported or said anything bad about you.


But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know that people everywhere speak against it.”


They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers. From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.


Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe.


So they began to leave, unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah


when he said, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will keep on hearing, but will never understand, and you will keep on looking, but will never perceive.


For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”’


“Therefore be advised that this salvation from God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen!”


Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him,


proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction.


From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.


This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,


concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh,


who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.


Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name.


You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ.


To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!


First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.


For God, whom I serve in my spirit by preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you


and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.


For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,


that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, both yours and mine.


I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.


I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.


Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.


For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.


For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”


For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,


because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.


For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.


For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.


Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools


and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.


Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.


They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.


For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones,


and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.


And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.


They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,


slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents,


senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.


Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.


Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.


Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things.


And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment?


Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?


But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!


He will reward each one according to his works:


eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality,


but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness.


There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,


but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek.


For there is no partiality with God.


For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.


For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.


For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.


They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them,


on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.


But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to God


and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,


and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,


an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth –


therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?


You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?


You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!


For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”


For circumcision has its value if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.


Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?


And will not the physically uncircumcised man who keeps the law judge you who, despite the written code and circumcision, transgress the law?


For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh,


but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the written code. This person’s praise is not from people but from God.


Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision?


Actually, there are many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.


What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God?


Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”


But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.)


Absolutely not! For otherwise how could God judge the world?


For if by my lie the truth of God enhances his glory, why am I still actually being judged as a sinner?


And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. (Their condemnation is deserved!)


What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,


just as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one,


there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.


All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”


“Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.”


“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”


“Their feet are swift to shed blood,


ruin and misery are in their paths,


and the way of peace they have not known.”


“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”


Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.


For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.


But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed –


namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,


for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.


But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.


God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.


This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.


Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded! By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith!


For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law.


Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too!


Since God is one, he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.


Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead we uphold the law.


What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter?


For if Abraham was declared righteous by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.


For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness*.”


Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.


But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.


So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:


“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;


blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin*.”


Is this blessedness then for the circumcision or also for the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”


How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised!


And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.


And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.


For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.


For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.


For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either.


For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all


(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.


Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, “so will your descendants be.”


Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.


He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.


He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.


So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.


But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake,


but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.


He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.


Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,


through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.


Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,


and endurance, character, and character, hope.


And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.


For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.


(For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)


But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.


For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?


Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.


So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned –


for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.


Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type of the coming one) transgressed.


But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many!


And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification.


For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!


Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people.


For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous.


Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,


so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase?


Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?


Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?


Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.


For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.


We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.


(For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)


Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.


We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.


For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.


So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.


Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,


and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness.


For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.


What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!


Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?


But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to,


and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.


(I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.


For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.


So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.


But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.


For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?


For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.


So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.


So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.


For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.


But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.


What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”


But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.


And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive


and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!


For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.


So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.


Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.


For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.


For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.


But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.


But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.


For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.


For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!


Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.


So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.


For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.


But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.


Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?


Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.


There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.


For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.


For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,


so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.


For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.


For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,


because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.


Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.


You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.


But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.


Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.


So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh


(for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.


For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.


For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”


The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.


And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.


For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.


For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God.


For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hope


that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children.


For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.


Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.


For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?


But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.


In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.


And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.


And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,


because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.


And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.


What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?


Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?


Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.


Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.


Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?


As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”


No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!


For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers,


nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.


I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit –


I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.


For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen,


who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.


To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.


It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,


nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”


This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.


For this is what the promise declared: “About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.”


Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac –


even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling) –


it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”


just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”


What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!


For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”


So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.


For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”


So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.


You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”


But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”


Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?


But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?


And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory –


even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?


As he also says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.*’”


“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,*’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”


And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,


for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”


Just as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of armies had not left us descendants,* we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”


What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,


but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it.


Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,


just as it is written, “Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”


Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.


For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth.


For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.


For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.


For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.”


But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)


or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).


But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach),


because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.


For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.


For the scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”


For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him.


For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.


How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them?


And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news*.”


But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”


Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.


But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.


But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.”


And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.”


But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”


So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.


God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?


“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”


But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal*.”


So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.


And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.


What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened,


as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”


And David says, “Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;


let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually.”


I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.


Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?


Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,


if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them.


For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?


If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.


Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root,


do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.


Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”


Granted! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear!


For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.


Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.


And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.


For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?


For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.


And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.


And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”


In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.


For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.


Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience,


so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.


For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.