Luke's Story (26 page)

 

The Philosophers at Athens

¹⁶
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.
³⁶
Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the
Gentile
worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.
¹⁸
Then
^a
certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹
And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine
is
of which you speak?
²⁰
For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
²¹
For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

 

Addressing the Areopagus

²²
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;
²³
for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

 

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

 

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
²⁴
God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in teped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
²⁶
And He has made from one blood
^a
every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
²⁷
so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
²⁸
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
²⁹
Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.
³⁰
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
³¹
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

³²
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this
matter.
”
³³
So Paul departed from among them.
³⁴
However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

 

Ministering at Corinth

 

18 After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.
²
And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them.
³
So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and w
orked; for by occupation they were tentmakers.
⁴
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.

17:26
^a
NU-Text omits
blood.

⁵
When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews
that
Jesus
is
the Christ.
⁶
But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook
his
garments and said to them, “Your blood
be
upon your
own
heads; I
am
clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
⁷
And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain
man
named Justus,
^a
one
who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
⁸
Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.

⁹
Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
¹⁰
for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”
¹¹
And he continued
there
a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²
When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat,
¹³
saying, “This
fellow
persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴
And when Paul was about to open
his
mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you.
^{1ze="3"multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
10
And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.}

 

Miracles Glorify Christ

¹¹
Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,
¹²
so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
¹³
Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We
^a
exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
¹⁴
Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

¹⁵
And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶
Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered
^a
them, and prevailed against them,
^b
so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
¹⁷
This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
¹⁸
And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds.
³⁸
Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned
them
in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and
it
totaled fifty thousand
pieces
of silver.
²⁰
So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

 

The Riot at Ephesus

²¹
When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
²²
So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.

²³
And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way.
²⁴
For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana,
^a
brought no small profit to the craftsmen.
²⁵
He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade.
²⁶
Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.
²⁷
So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed,
^a
whom all Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸
Now when they heard
this,
they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, “Great
is
Diana of the Ephesians!”
²⁹
So the whole city was filled with confusion, and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul’s travel companions.
³⁰
And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him.
³¹
Then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater.
³²
Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
³³
And they drew Alexander out he to Patara.
²
And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.
³
When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo.
⁴
And finding disciples,
^a
we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.
⁵
When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till
we were
out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.
⁶
When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷
And when we had finished
our
voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day.
⁸
On the next
day
we who were Paul’s companions
^a
departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was
one
of the seven, and stayed with him.
⁹
Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
¹⁰
And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
¹¹
When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his
own
hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver
him
into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

20:34
^a
NU-Text and M-Text omit
Yes.
21:4
^a
NU-Text reads
the disciples.
21:8
^a
NU-Text omits
who were Paul’s companions.

¹²
Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
¹³
Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴
So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

 

Paul Urged to Make Peace

¹⁵
And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem.
¹⁶
Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge.

¹⁷
And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
¹⁸
On the following
day
Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.
¹⁹
When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
²⁰
And when they heard
it,
they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;
⁴⁰
but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise
their
children nor to walk according to the customs.
²²
What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will
^a
hear that you have come.
²³
Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow.
²⁴
Take them and be purified with them, and paeep the law.
²⁵
But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written
and
decided that they should observe no such thing, except
^a
that they should keep themselves from
things
offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

 

Arrested in the Temple

²⁶
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.