‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! ¹  For I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’” ² 

Paul wanted Timothy ¹  to accompany him, and he took ²  him and circumcised ³  him because of the Jews who were in those places, ⁴  for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁵ 

But when her owners ¹  saw their hope of profit ²  was gone, they seized ³  Paul and Silas and dragged ⁴  them into the marketplace before the authorities.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica ¹  heard that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God ²  in Berea, ³  they came there too, inciting ⁴  and disturbing ⁵  the crowds.

Now after all these things had taken place, ¹  Paul resolved ²  to go to Jerusalem, ³  passing through Macedonia ⁴  and Achaia. ⁵  He said, ⁶  “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” ⁷ 

They have been informed about you – that you teach all the Jews now living ¹  among the Gentiles to abandon ²  Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children ³  or live ⁴  according to our customs.

take them and purify ¹  yourself along with them and pay their expenses, ²  so that they may have their heads shaved. ³  Then ⁴  everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told ⁵  about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with ⁶  the law. ⁷ 

Then when Paul noticed ¹  that part of them were Sadducees ²  and the others Pharisees, ³  he shouted out in the council, ⁴  “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection ⁵  of the dead!”

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.

But I confess this to you, that I worship ¹  the God of our ancestors ²  according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law ³  and that is written in the prophets.

I answered them ¹  that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone ²  before the accused had met his accusers face to face ³  and had been given ⁴  an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation. ⁵ 

“Men, I can see the voyage is going to end ¹  in disaster ²  and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” ³ 

So they began to leave, ¹  unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors ²  through the prophet Isaiah

I do not want you to be unaware, ¹  brothers and sisters, ²  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ³ 

Although they fully know ¹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ²  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³ 

And why not say, “Let us do evil so that good may come of it”? – as some who slander us allege that we say. ¹  (Their ²  condemnation is deserved!)

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). ¹  He is our father ²  in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who ³  makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. ⁴ 

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. ¹ 

For the scripture says to Pharaoh: ¹  “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” ²