From this point on, Pilate tried ¹  to release him. But the Jewish leaders ²  shouted out, ³  “If you release this man, ⁴  you are no friend of Caesar! ⁵  Everyone who claims to be a king ⁶  opposes Caesar!”

Then they ¹  shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! ²  Crucify ³  him!” Pilate asked, ⁴  “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!”

“Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. ¹  But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

Therefore if God ¹  gave them the same gift ²  as he also gave us after believing ³  in the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴  who was I to hinder ⁵  God?”

Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen ¹  went as far as ²  Phoenicia, ³  Cyprus, ⁴  and Antioch, ⁵  speaking the message ⁶  to no one but Jews.

After the reading from the law and the prophets, ¹  the leaders of the synagogue ²  sent them a message, ³  saying, “Brothers, ⁴  if you have any message ⁵  of exhortation ⁶  for the people, speak it.” ⁷ 

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, ¹  “If ²  you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, ³  come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded ⁴  us.

These Jews ¹  were more open-minded ²  than those in Thessalonica, ³  for they eagerly ⁴  received ⁵  the message, examining ⁶  the scriptures carefully every day ⁷  to see if these things were so.

But just as Paul was about to speak, ¹  Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of some crime or serious piece of villainy, ²  I would have been justified in accepting the complaint ³  of you Jews, ⁴ 

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus ¹  so as not to spend time ²  in the province of Asia, ³  for he was hurrying ⁴  to arrive in Jerusalem, ⁵  if possible, ⁶  by the day of Pentecost.

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, ¹  he said ²  to the commanding officer, ³  “May I say ⁴  something to you?” The officer ⁵  replied, ⁶  “Do you know Greek? ⁷ 

There was a great commotion, ¹  and some experts in the law ²  from the party of the Pharisees stood up ³  and protested strongly, ⁴  “We find nothing wrong ⁵  with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed ¹  a bay ²  with a beach, ³  where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.

¹ Therefore ²  you are without excuse, ³  whoever you are, ⁴  when you judge someone else. ⁵  For on whatever grounds ⁶  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

For if, by the transgression of the one man, ¹  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

You, however, are not in ¹  the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.

Moreover if the Spirit of the one ¹  who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ ²  from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ³ 

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

For the commandments, ¹  “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” ²  (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ³ 

Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord ¹  is able to make him stand.