Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 18-21, verses 23-17: BIBLE, New American Standard Bible == BIBLE-CENTER

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 18, verses 23-28

²³ And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴ Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth,^dan eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. ²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; ²⁶ and^ehe began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. ²⁷ And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly^fhelped those who had believed through grace, ²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the^gChrist.

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 19

¹ It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. ² He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether^athere is a Holy Spirit.” ³ And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴ Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” ⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized^bin the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. ⁷ There were in all about twelve men.

⁸ And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. ⁹ But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the^cpeople, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ This took place for two years, so that all who lived in^dAsia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ God was performing extraordinary^emiracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. ¹³ But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. ¹⁸ Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. ¹⁹ And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it^ffifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So^gthe word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

²¹ Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the^hSpirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” ²² And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed inⁱAsia for a while.

²³ About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. ²⁴ For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of^jArtemis, was bringing no little^kbusiness to the craftsmen; ²⁵ these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity^ldepends upon this business. ²⁶ You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of^mAsia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying thatⁿgods made with hands are no gods at all. ²⁷ Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess^oArtemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of^pAsia and the^qworld worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”

²⁸ When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is^rArtemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed^swith one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. ³⁰ And when Paul wanted to go into the^tassembly, the disciples would not let him. ³¹ Also some of the^uAsiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to^vventure into the theater. ³² So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the^wassembly was in confusion and the majority did not know^xfor what reason they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd^yconcluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the^zassembly. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is^aaArtemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵ After quieting the crowd, the town clerk *said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great^abArtemis and of the image which fell down from^acheaven? ³⁶ So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸ So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and^adproconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the^aelawful^afassembly. ⁴⁰ For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering.” ⁴¹ After saying this he dismissed the^agassembly.

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 20

¹ After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia. ² When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. ³ And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ And^ahe was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of^bAsia. ⁵ But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. ⁶ We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his^cmessage until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. ⁹ And there was a young man named^dEutychus sitting^eon the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “^fDo not be troubled, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and^geaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. ¹² They took away the boy alive, and were^hgreatly comforted.

¹³ But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to goⁱby land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. ¹⁵ Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in^jAsia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷ From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. ¹⁸ And when they had come to him, he said to them,

“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in^kAsia, how I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me^lthrough the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and^mfrom house to house, ²¹ solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²² And now, behold, bound by theⁿSpirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵ “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. ²⁶ Therefore, I^otestify to you this day that I am^pinnocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. ²⁸ Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you^qoverseers, to shepherd the church of God which He^rpurchased^swith His own blood. ²⁹ I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. ³⁵ In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you 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.’”

³⁶ When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And^tthey began to weep aloud and^uembraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, ³⁸ ^vgrieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 21, verses 1-17

¹ When we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; ² and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. ³ When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo. ⁴ After looking up the disciples, we stayed there seven days; and they kept telling Paul^athrough the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. ⁵ When^bour days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. ⁶ Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.

⁷ When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brethren, we stayed with them for a day. ⁸ On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him. ⁹ Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses. ¹⁰ As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹ And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” ¹² When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³ Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴ And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”

¹⁵ After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶ Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to lodge.

¹⁷ After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.


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