(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 

praising God and having the good will ¹  of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day ²  those who were being saved.

After two years ¹  had passed, Porcius Festus ²  succeeded Felix, ³  and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. ⁴ 

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 

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ¹  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ² 

For if Abraham was declared righteous ¹  by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.

Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy.

The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him.

Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.

If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ,

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? ¹ 

God ¹  made the one who did not know sin ²  to be sin for us, so that in him ³  we would become the righteousness of God.

For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself ¹  is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.

They court you eagerly, ¹  but for no good purpose; ²  they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly. ³ 

Fathers, ¹  do not provoke your children to anger, ²  but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

so that you may live ¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

However, ¹  without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be out of compulsion, but from your own willingness.

while God confirmed their witness ¹  with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed ²  according to his will.

you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer ¹  spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For this finds God’s favor, ¹  if because of conscience toward God ²  someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly.