The Conversion of Saul

¹In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest

²and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

³As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” he asked. “I am Jesus, whom you persecute,” the voice said.

⁶“But get up and go into the city, where you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men who were traveling with Saul had stopped, not saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone.

⁸Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes, but could not see a thing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.

⁹For three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.

¹⁰There was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹The Lord said to him, “Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,

¹²and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again.”

¹³Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem.

¹⁴And he has come to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who worship you.”

¹⁵The Lord said to him, “Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel.

¹⁶And I myself will show him all that he must suffer for my sake.”

¹⁷So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and placed his hands on him. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord has sent me—Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At once something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood up and was baptized;

Saul Preaches in Damascus

¹⁹and after he had eaten, his strength came back. Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in Damascus.

²⁰He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.

²¹All who heard him were amazed and asked, “Isn't he the one who in Jerusalem was killing those who worship that man Jesus? And didn't he come here for the very purpose of arresting those people and taking them back to the chief priests?”

²²But Saul's preaching became even more powerful, and his proofs that Jesus was the Messiah were so convincing that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not answer him.

²³After many days had gone by, the Jews met together and made plans to kill Saul,

²⁴but he was told of their plan. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.

²⁵But one night Saul's followers took him and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶Saul went to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples. But they would not believe that he was a disciple, and they were all afraid of him.

²⁷Then Barnabas came to his help and took him to the apostles. He explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him. He also told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

²⁸And so Saul stayed with them and went all over Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He also talked and disputed with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to kill him.

³⁰When the believers found out about this, they took Saul to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.

Peter in Lydda and Joppa

³²Peter traveled everywhere, and on one occasion he went to visit God's people who lived in Lydda.

³³There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had not been able to get out of bed for eight years.

³⁴“Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ makes you well. Get up and make your bed.” At once Aeneas got up.

³⁵All the people living in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning “a deer.”) She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor.

³⁷At that time she got sick and died. Her body was washed and laid in a room upstairs.

³⁸Joppa was not very far from Lydda, and when the believers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him with the message, “Please hurry and come to us.”

³⁹So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded around him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive.

⁴⁰Peter put them all out of the room, and knelt down and prayed; then he turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

⁴¹Peter reached over and helped her get up. Then he called all the believers, including the widows, and presented her alive to them.

⁴²The news about this spread all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

⁴³Peter stayed on in Joppa for many days with a tanner of leather named Simon.

Please Others, Not Yourselves

¹We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak to carry their burdens. We should not please ourselves.

²Instead, we should all please other believers for their own good, in order to build them up in the faith.

³For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, “The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me.”

⁴Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us, in order that we might have hope through the patience and encouragement which the Scriptures give us.

⁵And may God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus,

⁶so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel to the Gentiles

⁷Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you.

⁸For I tell you that Christ's life of service was on behalf of the Jews, to show that God is faithful, to make his promises to their ancestors come true,

⁹and to enable even the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy. As the scripture says, “And so I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to you.”

¹⁰Again it says, “Rejoice, Gentiles, with God's people!”

¹¹And again, “Praise the Lord, all Gentiles; praise him, all peoples!”

¹²And again, Isaiah says, “A descendant of Jesse will appear; he will come to rule the Gentiles, and they will put their hope in him.”

¹³May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul's Reason for Writing So Boldly

¹⁴My friends: I myself feel sure that you are full of goodness, that you have all knowledge, and that you are able to teach one another.

¹⁵But in this letter I have been quite bold about certain subjects of which I have reminded you. I have been bold because of the privilege God has given me

¹⁶of being a servant of Christ Jesus to work for the Gentiles. I serve like a priest in preaching the Good News from God, in order that the Gentiles may be an offering acceptable to God, dedicated to him by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷In union with Christ Jesus, then, I can be proud of my service for God.

¹⁸I will be bold and speak only about what Christ has done through me to lead the Gentiles to obey God. He has done this by means of words and deeds,

¹⁹by the power of miracles and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. And so, in traveling all the way from Jerusalem to Illyricum, I have proclaimed fully the Good News about Christ.

²⁰My ambition has always been to proclaim the Good News in places where Christ has not been heard of, so as not to build on a foundation laid by someone else.

²¹As the scripture says, “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

Paul's Plan to Visit Rome

²²And so I have been prevented many times from coming to you.

²³But now that I have finished my work in these regions and since I have been wanting for so many years to come to see you,

²⁴I hope to do so now. I would like to see you on my way to Spain, and be helped by you to go there, after I have enjoyed visiting you for a while.

²⁵Right now, however, I am going to Jerusalem in the service of God's people there.

²⁶For the churches in Macedonia and Achaia have freely decided to give an offering to help the poor among God's people in Jerusalem.

²⁷That decision was their own; but, as a matter of fact, they have an obligation to help them. Since the Jews shared their spiritual blessings with the Gentiles, the Gentiles ought to use their material blessings to help the Jews.

²⁸When I have finished this task and have turned over to them all the money that has been raised for them, I shall leave for Spain and visit you on my way there.

²⁹When I come to you, I know that I shall come with a full measure of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰I urge you, friends, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit gives: join me in praying fervently to God for me.

³¹Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to God's people there.

³²And so I will come to you full of joy, if it is God's will, and enjoy a refreshing visit with you.

³³May God, our source of peace, be with all of you. Amen.

Personal Greetings

¹I recommend to you our sister Phoebe, who serves the church at Cenchreae.

²Receive her in the Lord's name, as God's people should, and give her any help she may need from you; for she herself has been a good friend to many people and also to me.

³I send greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in the service of Christ Jesus;

⁴they risked their lives for me. I am grateful to them—not only I, but all the Gentile churches as well.

⁵Greetings also to the church that meets in their house. Greetings to my dear friend Epaenetus, who was the first in the province of Asia to believe in Christ.

⁶Greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for you.

⁷Greetings also to Andronicus and Junia, fellow Jews who were in prison with me; they are well known among the apostles, and they became Christians before I did.

⁸My greetings to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the fellowship of the Lord.

⁹Greetings also to Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ's service, and to Stachys, my dear friend.

¹⁰Greetings to Apelles, whose loyalty to Christ has been proved. Greetings to those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greetings to Herodion, a fellow Jew, and to the Christians in the family of Narcissus.

¹²My greetings to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work in the Lord's service, and to my dear friend Persis, who has done so much work for the Lord.

¹³I send greetings to Rufus, that outstanding worker in the Lord's service, and to his mother, who has always treated me like a son.

¹⁴My greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and all the other Christians with them.

¹⁵Greetings to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, to Olympas and to all of God's people who are with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with the kiss of peace. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings.

Final Instructions

¹⁷I urge you, my friends: watch out for those who cause divisions and upset people's faith and go against the teaching which you have received. Keep away from them!

¹⁸For those who do such things are not serving Christ our Lord, but their own appetites. By their fine words and flattering speech they deceive innocent people.

¹⁹Everyone has heard of your loyalty to the gospel, and for this reason I am happy about you. I want you to be wise about what is good, but innocent in what is evil.

²⁰And God, our source of peace, will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings; and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, fellow Jews.

²²I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, send you Christian greetings.

²³My host Gaius, in whose house the church meets, sends you his greetings; Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

²⁴[The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.] (Vulgate/DR Patch)

Concluding Prayer of Praise

²⁵Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.

²⁶Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.

²⁷To the only God, who alone is all-wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever! Amen.

¹⁸Take care of a fig tree and you will have figs to eat. Servants who take care of their master will be honored.

¹⁹It is your own face that you see reflected in the water and it is your own self that you see in your heart.

²⁰Human desires are like the world of the dead—there is always room for more.