Paul Goes to Jerusalem

¹We 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.

²There we found a ship that was going to Phoenicia, so we went aboard and sailed away.

³We 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.

⁴There we found some believers and stayed with them a week. By the power of the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵But 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.

⁶Then we said good-bye to one another, and we went on board the ship while they went back home.

⁷We continued our voyage, sailing from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the believers and stayed with them for a day.

⁸On 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.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who proclaimed God's message.

¹⁰We had been there for several days when a prophet named Agabus arrived from Judea.

¹¹He 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.”

¹²When we heard this, we and the others there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

¹³But 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.”

¹⁴We could not convince him, so we gave up and said, “May the Lord's will be done.”

¹⁵After spending some time there, we got our things ready and left for Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some 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.

Paul Visits James

¹⁷When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul went with us to see James; and all the church elders were present.

¹⁹Paul greeted them and gave a complete report of everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his work.

²⁰After 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.

²¹They 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.

²²They are sure to hear that you have arrived. What should be done, then?

²³This is what we want you to do. There are four men here who have taken a vow.

²⁴Go 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.

²⁵But 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.”

²⁶So 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.

Paul Is Arrested in the Temple

²⁷But 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.

²⁸“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.)

³⁰Confusion 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.

³¹The 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.

³²At 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.

³³The 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?”

³⁴Some 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.

³⁵They got as far as the steps with him, and then the soldiers had to carry him because the mob was so wild.

³⁶They were all coming after him and screaming, “Kill him!”

Paul Defends Himself

³⁷As 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?”

³⁹Paul answered, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰The 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:

¹In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted.

²Hear what God says: “When the time came for me to show you favor, I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you.” Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favor; today is the day to be saved!

³We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so we try not to put obstacles in anyone's way.

⁴Instead, in everything we do we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships, and difficulties.

⁵We have been beaten, jailed, and mobbed; we have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food.

⁶By our purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God's servants—by the Holy Spirit, by our true love,

⁷by our message of truth, and by the power of God. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves.

⁸We are honored and disgraced; we are insulted and praised. We are treated as liars, yet we speak the truth;

⁹as unknown, yet we are known by all; as though we were dead, but, as you see, we live on. Although punished, we are not killed;

¹⁰although saddened, we are always glad; we seem poor, but we make many people rich; we seem to have nothing, yet we really possess everything.

¹¹Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide.

¹²It is not we who have closed our hearts to you; it is you who have closed your hearts to us.

¹³I speak now as though you were my children: show us the same feelings that we have for you. Open your hearts wide!

Warning against Pagan Influences

¹⁴Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers, for it cannot be done. How can right and wrong be partners? How can light and darkness live together?

¹⁵How can Christ and the Devil agree? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶How can God's temple come to terms with pagan idols? For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, “I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

¹⁷And so the Lord says, “You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.

¹⁸I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

¹All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.

Paul's Joy

²Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one; we have ruined no one, nor tried to take advantage of anyone.

³I do not say this to condemn you; for, as I have said before, you are so dear to us that we are always together, whether we live or die.

⁴I am so sure of you; I take such pride in you! In all our troubles I am still full of courage; I am running over with joy.

⁵Even after we arrived in Macedonia, we did not have any rest. There were troubles everywhere, quarrels with others, fears in our hearts.

⁶But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the coming of Titus.

⁷It was not only his coming that cheered us, but also his report of how you encouraged him. He told us how much you want to see me, how sorry you are, how ready you are to defend me; and so I am even happier now.

⁸For even if that letter of mine made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I could have been sorry when I saw that it made you sad for a while.

⁹But now I am happy—not because I made you sad, but because your sadness made you change your ways. That sadness was used by God, and so we caused you no harm.

¹⁰For the sadness that is used by God brings a change of heart that leads to salvation—and there is no regret in that! But sadness that is merely human causes death.

¹¹See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.

¹²So, even though I wrote that letter, it was not because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged. Instead, I wrote it to make plain to you, in God's sight, how deep your devotion to us really is.

¹³That is why we were encouraged. Not only were we encouraged; how happy Titus made us with his happiness over the way in which all of you helped to cheer him up!

¹⁴I did boast of you to him, and you have not disappointed me. We have always spoken the truth to you, and in the same way the boast we made to Titus has proved true.

¹⁵And so his love for you grows stronger, as he remembers how all of you were ready to obey his instructions, how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

¹⁶How happy I am that I can depend on you completely!

Christian Giving

¹Our friends, we want you to know what God's grace has accomplished in the churches in Macedonia.

²They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor.

³I can assure you that they gave as much as they could, and even more than they could. Of their own free will

⁴they begged us and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God's people in Judea.

⁵It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well.

⁶So we urged Titus, who began this work, to continue it and help you complete this special service of love.

⁷You are so rich in all you have: in faith, speech, and knowledge, in your eagerness to help and in your love for us. And so we want you to be generous also in this service of love.

⁸I am not laying down any rules. But by showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is.

⁹You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty.

¹⁰My opinion is that it is better for you to finish now what you began last year. You were the first, not only to act, but also to be willing to act.

¹¹On with it, then, and finish the job! Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it, and do it with what you now have.

¹²If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have.

^13-14I am not trying to relieve others by putting a burden on you; but since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then, when you are in need and they have plenty, they will help you. In this way both are treated equally.

¹⁵As the scripture says, “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

Titus and His Companions

¹⁶How we thank God for making Titus as eager as we are to help you!

¹⁷Not only did he welcome our request; he was so eager to help that of his own free will he decided to go to you.

¹⁸With him we are sending the brother who is highly respected in all the churches for his work in preaching the gospel.

¹⁹And besides that, he has been chosen and appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this service of love for the sake of the Lord's glory and in order to show that we want to help.

²⁰We are being careful not to stir up any complaints about the way we handle this generous gift.

²¹Our purpose is to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of others.

²²So we are sending our brother with them; we have tested him many times and found him always very eager to help. And now that he has so much confidence in you, he is all the more eager to help.

²³As for Titus, he is my partner and works with me to help you; as for the other brothers who are going with him, they represent the churches and bring glory to Christ.

²⁴Show your love to them, so that all the churches will be sure of it and know that we are right in boasting about you.

¹If you get more stubborn every time you are corrected, one day you will be crushed and never recover.

²Show me a righteous ruler and I will show you a happy people. Show me a wicked ruler and I will show you a miserable people.

³If you appreciate wisdom, your parents will be proud of you. It is a foolish waste to spend money on prostitutes.

⁴When the king is concerned with justice, the nation will be strong, but when he is only concerned with money, he will ruin his country.