While they were trying ¹  to kill him, a report ²  was sent up ³  to the commanding officer ⁴  of the cohort ⁵  that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ⁶ 

For you have heard of my former way of life ¹  in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it.

You who are trying to be declared righteous ¹  by the law have been alienated ²  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written ¹  you, in which ²  I am trying to stir up ³  your pure mind by way of reminder:

“But woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. ⁴ 

Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law ¹  were trying to find a way ²  to arrest Jesus ³  by stealth and kill him.

The sick man answered him, “Sir, ¹  I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, ²  someone else ³  goes down there ⁴  before me.”

For this reason the Jewish leaders ¹  were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, ¹  and I am trying to spare you such problems. ² 

Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ¹  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ²  only to avoid being persecuted ³  for the cross of Christ.

But the Jews became jealous, ¹  and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, ²  they formed a mob ³  and set the city in an uproar. ⁴  They attacked Jason’s house, ⁵  trying to find Paul and Silas ⁶  to bring them out to the assembly. ⁷ 

If then I am in the wrong ¹  and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, ²  but if not one of their charges against me is true, ³  no one can hand me over to them. ⁴  I appeal to Caesar!” ⁵ 

They set ¹  a day to meet with him, ²  and they came to him where he was staying ³  in even greater numbers. ⁴  From morning until evening he explained things ⁵  to them, ⁶  testifying ⁷  about the kingdom of God ⁸  and trying to convince ⁹  them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.

Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

We are not trying to commend ¹  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ²  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ³  in outward appearance ⁴  and not in what is in the heart.