(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ¹  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ²  to be the Christ ³  would be put out ⁴  of the synagogue. ⁵ 

Paul said in his defense, ¹  “I have committed no offense ²  against the Jewish law ³  or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁴ 

that ¹  the Christ ²  was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people ³  and to the Gentiles.” ⁴ 

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.

They said, “Cornelius the centurion, ¹  a righteous ²  and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, ³  was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message ⁴  from you.”

After three days ¹  Paul ²  called the local Jewish leaders ³  together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, ⁴  although I had done ⁵  nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, ⁶  from Jerusalem ⁷  I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. ⁸ 

Then the Jewish leaders ¹  said to one another, “Where is he ²  going to go that we cannot find him? ³  He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed ⁴  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? ⁵ 

Until ¹  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ²  and separated himself ³  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ⁴ 

(For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ¹ 

a light, ¹  for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory ²  to your people Israel.”

So from that day they planned together to kill him.

Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision?

But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ¹  in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force ²  the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We are Jews by birth ¹  and not Gentile sinners, ² 

(His Judahite wife gave birth to Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.) These were the sons of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah, whom Mered married. ¹ 

(He ¹  had not consented ²  to their plan and action.) He ³  was from the Judean town ⁴  of Arimathea, and was looking forward to ⁵  the kingdom of God. ⁶ 

So then the Jewish leaders ¹  responded, ²  “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” ³ 

So the Jewish leaders ¹  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ² 

After this ¹  Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. ²  He ³  stayed out of Judea ⁴  because the Jewish leaders ⁵  wanted ⁶  to kill him.

Then the Jewish leaders ¹  were astonished ²  and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” ³