So I asked, ¹  ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up ²  and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything ³  that you have been designated ⁴  to do.’

The next day, because the commanding officer ¹  wanted to know the true reason ²  Paul ³  was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council ⁴  to assemble. He then brought ⁵  Paul down and had him stand before them.

When the argument became ¹  so great the commanding officer ²  feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, ³  he ordered the detachment ⁴  to go down, take him away from them by force, ⁵  and bring him into the barracks. ⁶ 

So now you and the council ¹  request the commanding officer ²  to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine ³  his case ⁴  by conducting a more thorough inquiry. ⁵  We are ready to kill him ⁶  before he comes near this place.” ⁷ 

He replied, ¹  “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council ²  tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him.

Some days later, when Felix ¹  arrived with his wife Drusilla, ²  who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak ³  about faith in Christ Jesus. ⁴ 

After Festus ¹  had stayed ²  not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, ³  and the next day he sat ⁴  on the judgment seat ⁵  and ordered Paul to be brought.

But Festus, ¹  wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried ²  before me there on these charges?” ³ 

So the next day Agrippa ¹  and Bernice came with great pomp ²  and entered the audience hall, ³  along with the senior military officers ⁴  and the prominent men of the city. When Festus ⁵  gave the order, ⁶  Paul was brought in.

When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ¹  ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself ²  by kicking against the goads.’ ³ 

But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance ¹  as a servant and witness ²  to the things ³  you have seen ⁴  and to the things in which I will appear to you.

Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided ¹  to put out to sea ²  from there. They hoped that ³  somehow they could reach ⁴  Phoenix, ⁵  a harbor of Crete facing ⁶  southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

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.

But they were expecting that he was going to swell up ¹  or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited ²  a long time and had seen ³  nothing unusual happen ⁴  to him, they changed their minds ⁵  and said he was a god. ⁶ 

The brothers from there, ¹  when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius ²  and Three Taverns ³  to meet us. When he saw them, ⁴  Paul thanked God and took courage.

They ¹  exchanged the truth of God for a lie ²  and worshiped and served the creation ³  rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

This was ¹  also to demonstrate ²  his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just ³  and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. ⁴ 

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ²  who is the father of us all

Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. ¹ 

So, my brothers and sisters, ¹  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ²