1
I have heard words like that before; the comfort you give is only torment.
3
Are you going to keep on talking forever? Do you always have to have the last word?
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If you were in my place and I in yours, I could say everything you are saying. I could shake my head wisely and drown you with a flood of words.
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I could strengthen you with advice and keep talking to comfort you.
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But nothing I say helps, and being silent does not calm my pain.
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You have worn me out, God; you have let my family be killed.
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You have seized me; you are my enemy. I am skin and bones, and people take that as proof of my guilt.
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In anger God tears me limb from limb; he glares at me with hate.
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People sneer at me; they crowd around me and slap my face.
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God has handed me over to evil people.
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I was living in peace, but God took me by the throat and battered me and crushed me. God uses me for target practice
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and shoots arrows at me from every side--- arrows that pierce and wound me; and even then he shows no pity.
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He wounds me again and again; he attacks like a soldier gone mad with hate.
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I mourn and wear clothes made of sackcloth, and I sit here in the dust defeated.
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I have cried until my face is red, and my eyes are swollen and circled with shadows,
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but I am not guilty of any violence, and my prayer to God is sincere.
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O Earth, don't hide the wrongs done to me! Don't let my call for justice be silenced!
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There is someone in heaven to stand up for me and take my side.
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My friends scorn me; my eyes pour out tears to God.
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I want someone to plead with God for me, as one pleads for a friend.
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My years are passing now, and I walk the road of no return.
1
We said good-bye to them and left. After sailing straight across, we came to Cos; the next day we reached Rhodes, and from there we went on to Patara.
2
There we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away.
3
We came to where we could see Cyprus, and then sailed south of it on to Syria. We went ashore at Tyre, where the ship was going to unload its cargo.
4
There we found some believers and stayed with them a week. By the power of the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
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But when our time with them was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, together with their wives and children, went with us out of the city to the beach, where we all knelt and prayed.
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Then we said good-bye to one another, and we went on board the ship while they went back home.
7
We continued our voyage, sailing from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day.
8
On the following day we left and arrived in Caesarea. There we stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen as helpers in Jerusalem.
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He had four unmarried daughters who proclaimed God's message.
10
We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.
11
He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied up his own feet and hands with it, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: The owner of this belt will be tied up in this way by the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles."
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When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
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But he answered, "What are you doing, crying like this and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be tied up in Jerusalem but even to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."
14
We could not convince him, so we gave up and said, "May the Lord's will be done."
15
After spending some time there, we got our things ready and left for Jerusalem.
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Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and took us to the house of the man we were going to stay with ---Mnason, from Cyprus, who had been a believer since the early days.
17
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly.
18
The next day Paul went with us to see James; and all the church elders were present.
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Paul greeted them and gave a complete report of everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his work.
20
After hearing him, they all praised God. Then they said, "Brother Paul, you can see how many thousands of Jews have become believers, and how devoted they all are to the Law.
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They have been told that you have been teaching all the Jews who live in Gentile countries to abandon the Law of Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or follow the Jewish customs.
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They are sure to hear that you have arrived. What should be done, then?
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This is what we want you to do. There are four men here who have taken a vow.
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Go along with them and join them in the ceremony of purification and pay their expenses; then they will be able to shave their heads. In this way everyone will know that there is no truth in any of the things that they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in accordance with the Law of Moses.
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But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent them a letter telling them we decided that they must not eat any food that has been offered to idols, or any blood, or any animal that has been strangled, and that they must keep themselves from sexual immorality."
26
So Paul took the men and the next day performed the ceremony of purification with them. Then he went into the Temple and gave notice of how many days it would be until the end of the period of purification, when a sacrifice would be offered for each one of them.
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But just when the seven days were about to come to an end, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul.
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"People of Israel!" they shouted. "Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some Gentiles into the Temple and defiled this holy place!"
29
(They said this because they had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with Paul in the city, and they thought that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)
30
Confusion spread through the whole city, and the people all ran together, grabbed Paul, and dragged him out of the Temple. At once the Temple doors were closed.
31
The mob was trying to kill Paul, when a report was sent up to the commander of the Roman troops that all of Jerusalem was rioting.
32
At once the commander took some officers and soldiers and rushed down to the crowd. When the people saw him with the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
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The commander went over to Paul, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked, "Who is this man, and what has he done?"
34
Some in the crowd shouted one thing, others something else. There was such confusion that the commander could not find out exactly what had happened, so he ordered his men to take Paul up into the fort.
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They got as far as the steps with him, and then the soldiers had to carry him because the mob was so wild.
36
They were all coming after him and screaming, "Kill him!"
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As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the fort, he spoke to the commander: "May I say something to you?" "You speak Greek, do you?" the commander asked.
38
"Then you are not that Egyptian fellow who some time ago started a revolution and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?"
39
Paul answered, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people."
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The commander gave him permission, so Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand for the people to be silent. When they were quiet, Paul spoke to them in Hebrew:
1
"My fellow Jews, listen to me as I make my defense before you!"
2
When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even quieter; and Paul went on:
3
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today.
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I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison.
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The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.
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"As I was traveling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly around me.
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I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?'
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'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,' he said to me.
9
The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
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I asked, 'What shall I do, Lord?' and the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.'
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I was blind because of the bright light, and so my companions took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.
12
"In that city was a man named Ananias, a religious man who obeyed our Law and was highly respected by all the Jews living there.
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He came to me, stood by me, and said, 'Brother Saul, see again!' At that very moment I saw again and looked at him.
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He said, 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see his righteous Servant, and to hear him speaking with his own voice.
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For you will be a witness for him to tell everyone what you have seen and heard.
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And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him.'
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"I went back to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the Temple, I had a vision,
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in which I saw the Lord, as he said to me, 'Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your witness about me.'
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'Lord,' I answered, 'they know very well that I went to the synagogues and arrested and beat those who believe in you.
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And when your witness Stephen was put to death, I myself was there, approving of his murder and taking care of the cloaks of his murderers.'
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'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
22
The people listened to Paul until he said this; but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, "Away with him! Kill him! He's not fit to live!"
23
They were screaming, waving their clothes, and throwing dust up in the air.
24
The Roman commander ordered his men to take Paul into the fort, and he told them to whip him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like this against him.
25
But when they had tied him up to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, "Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried for any crime?"
26
When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked him, "What are you doing? That man is a Roman citizen!"
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So the commander went to Paul and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," answered Paul.
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The commander said, "I became one by paying a large amount of money." "But I am one by birth," Paul answered.
29
At once the men who were going to question Paul drew back from him; and the commander was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.
30
The commander wanted to find out for sure what the Jews were accusing Paul of; so the next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.
1
Paul looked straight at the Council and said, "My fellow Israelites! My conscience is perfectly clear about the way in which I have lived before God to this very day."
2
The High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing close to Paul to strike him on the mouth.
3
Paul said to him, "God will certainly strike you---you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the Law, yet you break the Law by ordering them to strike me!"
4
The men close to Paul said to him, "You are insulting God's High Priest!"
5
Paul answered, "My fellow Israelites, I did not know that he was the High Priest. The scripture says, 'You must not speak evil of the ruler of your people.' "
6
When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, "Fellow Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!"
7
As soon as he said this, the Pharisees and Sadducees started to quarrel, and the group was divided.
8
(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.)
9
The shouting became louder, and some of the teachers of the Law who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly: "We cannot find a thing wrong with this man! Perhaps a spirit or an angel really did speak to him!"
10
The argument became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces. So he ordered his soldiers to go down into the group, get Paul away from them, and take him into the fort.
11
That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, "Don't be afraid! You have given your witness for me here in Jerusalem, and you must also do the same in Rome."
12
The next morning some Jews met together and made a plan. They took a vow that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.
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There were more than forty who planned this together.
14
Then they went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn vow together not to eat a thing until we have killed Paul.
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Now then, you and the Council send word to the Roman commander to bring Paul down to you, pretending that you want to get more accurate information about him. But we will be ready to kill him before he ever gets here."
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But the son of Paul's sister heard about the plot; so he went to the fort and told Paul.
17
Then Paul called one of the officers and said to him, "Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him."
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The officer took him, led him to the commander, and said, "The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to say to you."
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The commander took him by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, "What do you have to tell me?"
20
He said, "The Jewish authorities have agreed to ask you tomorrow to take Paul down to the Council, pretending that the Council wants to get more accurate information about him.
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But don't listen to them, because there are more than forty men who will be hiding and waiting for him. They have taken a vow not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are now ready to do it and are waiting for your decision."
22
The commander said, "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me." And he sent the young man away.
23
Then the commander called two of his officers and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, together with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, and be ready to leave by nine o'clock tonight.
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Provide some horses for Paul to ride and get him safely through to Governor Felix."
25
Then the commander wrote a letter that went like this:
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"Claudius Lysias to His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings.
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The Jews seized this man and were about to kill him. I learned that he is a Roman citizen, so I went with my soldiers and rescued him.
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I wanted to know what they were accusing him of, so I took him down to their Council.
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I found out that he had not done a thing for which he deserved to die or be put in prison; the accusation against him had to do with questions about their own law.
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And when I was informed that there was a plot against him, at once I decided to send him to you. I have told his accusers to make their charges against him before you."
31
The soldiers carried out their orders. They got Paul and took him that night as far as Antipatris.
32
The next day the foot soldiers returned to the fort and left the horsemen to go on with him.
33
They took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and turned Paul over to him.
34
The governor read the letter and asked Paul what province he was from. When he found out that he was from Cilicia,
35
he said, "I will hear you when your accusers arrive." Then he gave orders for Paul to be kept under guard in the governor's headquarters.
