23 1 Paul spoke to the council, saying, “I've never done anything wrong in my entire life.”
2 And the high priest, Ananias, told someone to smite him on the mouth.
3 Paul said to the high priest, “God will smite you, you whited wall.”
4 Those who stood nearby said to Paul, “Is that how you talk to the high priest?”
5 Paul said, "I didn't know he was the high priest."
6 Paul saw that the council was divided between Sadducees and Pharisees, so he said, “I'm a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee.”
9 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees began to fight. And the Pharisees stood up and said,
We find no evil in this man. Maybe a spirit or angel has spoken to him. Let's don't fight against God.
10 The captain feared that they would pull Paul into pieces, so he had his soldiers bring him to the castle.
11 That night Jesus stood next to Paul, and said to him,
Be happy. You spoke about me in Jerusalem. Soon you'll do it in Rome.
12 The next day, more than forty Jews vowed not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said,
We won't eat or drink until we have killed Paul.
Tell the captain to bring Paul to the council tomorrow. Then we'll kill him.
16 But Paul's nephew warned Paul about the plot.
23 The captain called two centurions and said to them,
Take 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen at around the third hour of the night.
Put Paul on some beasts and take him to Felix in Caesarea.
33 So the soldiers took Paul to Felix in Caesarea.
24 1 Five days later, Ananias the high priest, the elders, and Tertullus went to the governor to present their case against Paul.
2 Tertullus said to the governor,
5 Paul is a pestilent fellow, who incites sedition among the Jews, and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
10 Paul said,
13 They can't prove anything they say against me. 14 But I worship the God of my fathers and believe everything that is written in the law and prophets.
22 Felix said, “I'll decide what to do in this matter.”
23 And he told the centurion to keep an eye on Paul until then.
27 After two years, Porcius Festus replaced Felix as governor, while Paul remained in jail.
25 6 Festus arrived in Caesarea and summoned Paul.
7 The Jews came from Jerusalem and accused Paul of many things that they couldn't prove.
8 Paul defended himself by saying, “I've done nothing wrong against the temple or Caesar.”
9 Festus said, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there?”
10 Paul said, “I am on trial in Caesar's court, so I should be tried in Rome by Caesar himself.”
12 Festus said, “Very well, then. You will be tried by Caesar.”
13 Sometime later, King Agrippa and Bernice came to visit Festus in Caesarea.
14 Festus told Agrippa about Paul's case.
22 Agrippa said to Festus, “I will hear Paul's case tomorrow.”
23 Paul was brought in the next day.
26 1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.”
2-23 So Paul repeated the story about how he was converted on the road to Damascus.
24 Festus said, “Too much learning has made you mad.”
25 Paul said, “I'm not mad. I'm speaking the truth.”
27 Paul said to King Agrippa, “Do you believe the prophets? I know you're a believer.”
28 King Agrippa said, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.”
29 Paul said, “I wish you and everyone else would become a Christian.”
30-32 Agrippa said,
This man hasn't done anything wrong.
He could have been set free, if he hadn't appealed to Caesar.
27 1 When it was determined that we would sail to Italy, we and other prisoners boarded a ship, with a centurion named Julius in charge.
7-13 After sailing for many days and were passing Crete, a strong wind began to blow. 15 So they took down the sails and were driven before the wind.
18 On the second day of the storm, they lightened ship by throwing some cargo overboard. 19 The next day, they gave up all hope.
27-29 On the 14th night, the crew feared they might hit some rocks, so they cast out four anchors.
30 They were about to abandon ship, when Paul said to the centurion, “If they leave the ship, we will all die.”
32 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat, and everyone stayed on board.
33 Paul said to everyone, “You need to eat. You have eaten anything in 14 days.”
35-36 So they all cheered up and ate.
There were 276 people on board.
39 After they ate, they raised the anchors, hoisted the mainsail, and sailed toward shore.
41 Then the ship ran aground and was destroyed.
42 The soldiers wanted to kill all the prisoners, to prevent them from escaping by swimming away.
43 But the centurion wanted to save Paul's life, so he let them swim.
44 Those who couldn't swim came to shore on pieces of the ship. Everyone made it safely to land.
28 1 When they got to shore, they knew the island was called Melita (Malta).
2 The barbarous natives were kind to us, kindling a fire to protect us from the rain and cold.
3 But Paul was bitten by a snake when he was gathering firewood.
4 When the barbarians saw the venomous beast hanging from his hand, they said to themselves, “This man is a murderer. He survived the sea, but now he will die.”
5 Paul shook the beast off into the fire and was unhurt.
6 Since he didn't die, they changed their minds, and said he was a god.
7 The governor of the island gave them a place to stay for three days.
8 His father was sick with a fever. But Paul healed him by praying and laying his hands on him.
9 Others with diseases came, and Paul healed them too.
11 After three months, they sailed from Malta to Syracuse.
13-14 They stayed three days in Syracuse, and then sailed to Rome.
16 When Paul arrived in Rome, he was kept alone under a soldier's watch.
17 After three days, Paul called the Jewish leaders, and said to them,
I've done nothing wrong, yet I was imprisoned by the Romans in Jerusalem.
18 They would have let me go, but the Jews wouldn't let them. So I appealed to Caesar.
21 The Jewish leaders said to Paul,
We haven't heard anything about that from Judea.
22 But we'd like to hear from you about this sect, since everyone speaks against it.
23 So many came to visit Paul, where he talked all day about God, Jesus, the law of Moses, and the prophets.
24 Some of them believed him, and some didn't.
30-31 And Paul lived in a rented house for two years, preaching to everyone and no one could stop him.
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The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
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