He had been instructed in ¹  the way of the Lord, and with great enthusiasm ²  he spoke and taught accurately the facts ³  about Jesus, although he knew ⁴  only the baptism of John.

He began to speak out fearlessly ¹  in the synagogue, ²  but when Priscilla and Aquila ³  heard him, they took him aside ⁴  and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

And you see and hear that this Paul has persuaded ¹  and turned away ²  a large crowd, ³  not only in Ephesus ⁴  but in practically all of the province of Asia, ⁵  by saying ⁶  that gods made by hands are not gods at all. 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 

I have experienced ¹  help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except ²  what the prophets and Moses said ³  was going to happen:

Since many of them had no desire to eat, ¹  Paul ²  stood up ³  among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me ⁴  and not put out to sea ⁵  from Crete, thus avoiding ⁶  this damage and loss.

When the local people ¹  saw the creature hanging from Paul’s ²  hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself ³  has not allowed him to live!” ⁴ 

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.

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?

“Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both.” ¹  The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving? But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

For our reason for confidence ¹  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ²  and sincerity which are from God ³  – not by human wisdom ⁴  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁵  toward you.

But as you excel ¹  in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you ²  – make sure that you excel ³  in this act of kindness ⁴  too.

In addition, ¹  this brother ²  has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift ³  to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help. ⁴ 

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

Through the evidence ¹  of this service ²  they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing ³  with them and with everyone.

For how ¹  were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!

However, God’s solid foundation remains standing, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” ¹  and “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord ²  must turn away from evil.”

Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. ¹ 

“This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹  my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” ²