¹Paul 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.”

²The High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing close to Paul to strike him on the mouth.

³Paul 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!”

⁴The men close to Paul said to him, “You are insulting God's High Priest!”

⁵Paul 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.’”

⁶When 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!”

⁷As 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.)

⁹The 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!”

¹⁰The 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.

¹¹That 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.”

The Plot against Paul's Life

¹²The 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.

¹³There were more than forty who planned this together.

¹⁴Then 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.

¹⁵Now 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.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul's sister heard about the plot; so he went to the fort and told Paul.

¹⁷Then Paul called one of the officers and said to him, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”

¹⁸The 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.”

¹⁹The commander took him by the hand, led him off by himself, and asked him, “What do you have to tell me?”

²⁰He 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.

²¹But 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.”

²²The commander said, “Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” And he sent the young man away.

Paul Is Sent to Governor Felix

²³Then 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.

²⁴Provide some horses for Paul to ride and get him safely through to Governor Felix.”

²⁵Then the commander wrote a letter that went like this:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias to His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷The 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.

²⁸I wanted to know what they were accusing him of, so I took him down to their Council.

²⁹I 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.

³⁰And 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.”

³¹The soldiers carried out their orders. They got Paul and took him that night as far as Antipatris.

³²The next day the foot soldiers returned to the fort and left the horsemen to go on with him.

³³They took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and turned Paul over to him.

³⁴The governor read the letter and asked Paul what province he was from. When he found out that he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he 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.

Paul's Visions and Revelations

¹I have to boast, even though it doesn't do any good. But I will now talk about visions and revelations given me by the Lord.

²I know a certain Christian man who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the highest heaven (I do not know whether this actually happened or whether he had a vision—only God knows).

^3-4I repeat, I know that this man was snatched to Paradise (again, I do not know whether this actually happened or whether it was a vision—only God knows), and there he heard things which cannot be put into words, things that human lips may not speak.

⁵So I will boast about this man—but I will not boast about myself, except the things that show how weak I am.

⁶If I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will not boast, because I do not want any of you to have a higher opinion of me than you have as a result of what you have seen me do and heard me say.

⁷But to keep me from being puffed up with pride because of the many wonderful things I saw, I was given a painful physical ailment, which acts as Satan's messenger to beat me and keep me from being proud.

⁸Three times I prayed to the Lord about this and asked him to take it away.

⁹But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me.

¹⁰I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul's Concern for the Corinthians

¹¹I am acting like a fool—but you have made me do it. You are the ones who ought to show your approval of me. For even if I am nothing, I am in no way inferior to those very special “apostles” of yours.

¹²The many miracles and wonders that prove that I am an apostle were performed among you with much patience.

¹³How were you treated any worse than the other churches, except that I did not bother you for financial help? Please forgive me for being so unfair!

¹⁴This is now the third time that I am ready to come to visit you—and I will not make any demands on you. It is you I want, not your money. After all, children should not have to provide for their parents, but parents should provide for their children.

¹⁵I will be glad to spend all I have, and myself as well, in order to help you. Will you love me less because I love you so much?

¹⁶You will agree, then, that I was not a burden to you. But someone will say that I was tricky, and trapped you with lies.

¹⁷How? Did I take advantage of you through any of the messengers I sent?

¹⁸I begged Titus to go, and I sent the other believer with him. Would you say that Titus took advantage of you? Do not he and I act from the very same motives and behave in the same way?

¹⁹Perhaps you think that all along we have been trying to defend ourselves before you. No! We speak as Christ would have us speak in the presence of God, and everything we do, dear friends, is done to help you.

²⁰I am afraid that when I get there I will find you different from what I would like you to be and you will find me different from what you would like me to be. I am afraid that I will find quarreling and jealousy, hot tempers and selfishness, insults and gossip, pride and disorder.

²¹I am afraid that the next time I come my God will humiliate me in your presence, and I shall weep over many who sinned in the past and have not repented of the immoral things they have done—their lust and their sexual sins.

Final Warnings and Greetings

¹This is now the third time that I am coming to visit you. “Any accusation must be upheld by the evidence of two or more witnesses”—as the scripture says.

²I want to tell those of you who have sinned in the past, and all the others; I said it before during my second visit to you, but I will say it again now that I am away: the next time I come nobody will escape punishment.

³You will have all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. When he deals with you, he is not weak; instead, he shows his power among you.

⁴For even though it was in weakness that he was put to death on the cross, it is by God's power that he lives. In union with him we also are weak; but in our relations with you we shall share God's power in his life.

⁵Put yourselves to the test and judge yourselves, to find out whether you are living in faith. Surely you know that Christ Jesus is in you?—unless you have completely failed.

⁶I trust you will know that we are not failures.

⁷We pray to God that you will do no wrong—not in order to show that we are a success, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to be failures.

⁸For we cannot do a thing against the truth, but only for it.

⁹We are glad when we are weak but you are strong. And so we also pray that you will become perfect.

¹⁰That is why I write this while I am away from you; it is so that when I arrive I will not have to deal harshly with you in using the authority that the Lord has given me—authority to build you up, not to tear you down.

¹¹And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection; listen to my appeals; agree with one another; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

¹²Greet one another with the kiss of peace. All of God's people send you their greetings.

¹³The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

⁸People with no regard for others can throw whole cities into turmoil. Those who are wise keep things calm.

⁹When an intelligent person brings a lawsuit against a fool, the fool only laughs and becomes loud and abusive.

¹⁰Bloodthirsty people hate anyone who's honest, but righteous people will protect the life of such a person.

¹¹Stupid people express their anger openly, but sensible people are patient and hold it back.