20 After the furor died down, Sha’ul sent for the talmidim and encouraged them, then took his leave and set out on his way to Macedonia. ² He went through that area, and, after saying much to encourage them, passed on to Greece, ³ where he spent three months. As he was preparing to set sail for Syria, he discovered a plot against him by the unbelieving Jews; so he changed his mind and decided to return by way of Macedonia. ⁴ Sopater from Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; as did Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ These men went on and waited for us in Troas, ⁶ while we sailed from Philippi after the Days of Matzah. Five days later, we met them in Troas, where we spent a week.

⁷ On Motza’ei-Shabbat, when we were gathered to break bread, Sha’ul addressed them. Since he was going to leave the next day, he kept talking until midnight. ⁸ Now there were many oil lamps burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting, ⁹ and there was a young fellow named Eutychus sitting on the window-sill. As Sha’ul’s drash went on and on, Eutychus grew sleepier and sleepier; until finally he went sound asleep and fell from the third story to the ground. When they picked him up, he was dead. ¹⁰ But Sha’ul went down, threw himself onto him, put his arms around him and said, “Don’t be upset, he’s alive!” ¹¹ Then he went back upstairs, broke the bread and ate. He continued talking with them till daylight, then left. ¹² So, greatly relieved, they brought the boy home alive.

¹³ We went on ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, where we were planning to take Sha’ul aboard — he had arranged this because he wanted to go there by land. ¹⁴ After he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵ The next day, we sailed from there and arrived off Chios; the following day, we crossed over to Samos; and the day after that, we reached Miletus. ¹⁶ For Sha’ul had decided to bypass Ephesus on his voyage, in order to avoid losing time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to get to Yerushalayim, if possible in time to celebrate Shavu‘ot.

¹⁷ But he did send from Miletus to Ephesus, summoning the elders of the Messianic community. ¹⁸ When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, I was with you the whole time, ¹⁹ serving the Lord with much humility and with tears, in spite of the tests I had to undergo because of the plots of the unbelieving Jews. ²⁰ You know that I held back nothing that could be helpful to you, and that I taught you both in public and from house to house, ²¹ declaring with utmost seriousness the same message to Jews and Greeks alike: turn from sin to God; and put your trust in our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.

²² “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Yerushalayim. I don’t know what will happen to me there, ²³ other than that in every city the Ruach HaKodesh keeps warning me that imprisonment and persecution await me. ²⁴ But I consider my own life of no importance to me whatsoever, as long as I can finish the course ahead of me, the task I received from the Lord Yeshua — to declare in depth the Good News of God’s love and kindness.

²⁵ “Now, listen! I know that none of you people among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom will ever see me again. ²⁶ Therefore, I testify on this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. ²⁷ For I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸ “Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the Ruach HaKodesh has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God’s Messianic community, which he won for himself at the cost of his own Son’s blood. ²⁹ I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you; and they won’t spare the flock. ³⁰ Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the talmidim after themselves. ³¹ So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!

³² “And now I entrust you to the care of the Lord and to the message of his love and kindness, for it can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who have been set apart for God.

³³ “I have not wanted for myself anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands of mine have provided not only for my own needs, but for the needs of my co-workers as well. ³⁵ In everything I have given you an example of how, by working hard like this, you must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Yeshua himself, ‘There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.’”

³⁶ When he had finished speaking, Sha’ul kneeled down with them all and prayed. ³⁷ They were all in tears as they threw their arms around his neck and kissed him farewell. ³⁸ What saddened them the most was his remark that they would never see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

21 After we had torn ourselves away from the Ephesian elders, we set sail and made a straight run to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ² On finding a ship that was crossing over to Phoenicia, we embarked and set sail. ³ After sighting Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria and landed at Tzor, because that was where the ship was unloading its cargo. ⁴ Having searched out the talmidim there, we remained for a week. Guided by the Spirit, they told Sha’ul not to go up to Yerushalayim; ⁵ but when the week was over, we left to continue our journey. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the town. Kneeling on the beach and praying, ⁶ we said good-bye to each other. Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷ When the voyage from Tzor was over, we arrived at Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers and stayed with them overnight. ⁸ The following day, we left and came to Caesarea, where we went to the home of Philip the proclaimer of the Good News, one of the Seven, and stayed with him. ⁹ He had four unmarried daughters with the gift of prophecy.

¹⁰ While we were staying there, a prophet named Agav came down from Y’hudah ¹¹ to visit us. He took Sha’ul’s belt, tied up his own hands and feet and said, “Here is what the Ruach HaKodesh says: the man who owns this belt — the Judeans in Yerushalayim will tie him up just like this and hand him over to the Goyim.” ¹² When we heard this, both we and the people there begged him not to go up to Yerushalayim; ¹³ but Sha’ul answered, “What are you doing, crying and trying to weaken my resolve? I am prepared not only to be tied up, but even to die in Yerushalayim for the name of the Lord Yeshua.” ¹⁴ And when he would not be convinced, we said, “May the Lord’s will be done,” and kept quiet.

¹⁵ So at the end of our stay, we packed and went up to Yerushalayim; ¹⁶ and with us went some of the talmidim from Caesarea. They brought us to the home of the man with whom we were to stay, Mnason from Cyprus, who had been a talmid since the early days.

¹⁷ In Yerushalayim, the brothers received us warmly. ¹⁸ The next day Sha’ul and the rest of us went in to Ya‘akov, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, Sha’ul described in detail each of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts.

²⁰ On hearing it, they praised God; but they also said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Judeans, and they are all zealots for the Torah. ²¹ Now what they have been told about you is that you are teaching all the Jews living among the Goyim to apostatize from Moshe, telling them not to have a b’rit-milah for their sons and not to follow the traditions.

²² “What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. ²³ So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. ²⁴ Take them with you, be purified with them, and pay the expenses connected with having their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to these rumors which they have heard about you; but that, on the contrary, you yourself stay in line and keep the Torah.

²⁵ “However, in regard to the Goyim who have come to trust in Yeshua, we all joined in writing them a letter with our decision that they should abstain from what had been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled and from fornication.”

²⁶ The next day Sha’ul took the men, purified himself along with them and entered the Temple to give notice of when the period of purification would be finished and the offering would have to be made for each of them. ²⁷ The seven days were almost up when some unbelieving Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the crowd and grabbed him. ²⁸ “Men of Isra’el, help!” they shouted. “This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some Goyim into the Temple and defiled this holy place!” ²⁹ (They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and assumed that Sha’ul had brought him into the Temple.)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Sha’ul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. ³¹ But while they were attempting to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Yerushalayim was in turmoil. ³² Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Sha’ul.

³³ Then the commander came up, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Everyone in the crowd shouted something different; so, since he couldn’t find out what had happened because of the uproar, he ordered him brought to the barracks. ³⁵ When Sha’ul got to the steps, he actually had to be carried by the soldiers, because the mob was so wild — ³⁶ the crowd kept following and screaming, “Kill him!”

³⁷ As Sha’ul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “Is it all right if I say something to you?” The commander said, “You know Greek! ³⁸ Say, aren’t you that Egyptian who tried to start a revolution a while back, and led four thousand armed terrorists out into the desert?” ³⁹ Sha’ul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; and I ask your permission to let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰ Having received permission, Sha’ul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When they finally became still, he addressed them in Hebrew:

22 “Brothers and fathers! Listen to me as I make my defense before you now!” ² When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they settled down more; so he continued: ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamli’el in every detail of the Torah of our forefathers. I was a zealot for God, as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted to death the followers of this Way, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. ⁵ The cohen hagadol and the whole Sanhedrin can also testify to this. Indeed, after receiving letters from them to their colleagues in Dammesek, I was on my way there in order to arrest the ones in that city too and bring them back to Yerushalayim for punishment.

⁶ “As I was traveling and approaching Dammesek, around noon, suddenly a brilliant light from heaven flashed all around me! ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?’ ⁸ I answered, ‘Sir, who are you?’ ‘I am Yeshua from Natzeret,’ he said to me, ‘and you are persecuting me!’ ⁹ Those who were with me did see the light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ I said ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up, and go into Dammesek, and there you will be told about everything that has been laid out for you to do.’ ¹¹ I had been blinded by the brightness of the light, so my companions led me by the hand into Dammesek.

¹² “A man named Hananyah, an observant follower of the Torah who was highly regarded by the entire Jewish community there, ¹³ came to me, stood by me and said, ‘Brother Sha’ul, see again!’ And at that very moment, I recovered my sight and saw him. ¹⁴ He said, ‘The God of our fathers^[a] determined in advance that you should know his will, see the Tzaddik and hear his voice; ¹⁵ because you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, immerse yourself and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.’

¹⁷ “After I had returned to Yerushalayim, it happened that as I was praying in the Temple, I went into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Yeshua. ‘Hurry!’ he said to me, ‘Get out of Yerushalayim immediately, because they will not accept what you have to say about me.’ ¹⁹ I said, ‘Lord, they know themselves that in every synagogue I used to imprison and flog those who trusted in you; ²⁰ also that when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there too, in full agreement; I was even looking after the clothes of the ones who were killing him!’ ²¹ But he said, ‘Get going! For I am going to send you far away — to the Goyim!’”

²² They had been listening to him up to this point; but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Rid the earth of such a man! He’s not fit to live!” ²³ They were screaming, waving their clothes and throwing dust into the air; ²⁴ so the commander ordered him brought into the barracks and directed that he be interrogated and whipped, in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this.

²⁵ But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha’ul said to the captain standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn’t even had a trial?” ²⁶ When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, “Do you realize what you’re doing? This man is a Roman citizen!” ²⁷ The commander came and said to Sha’ul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. ²⁸ The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money.” “But I was born to it,” Sha’ul said. ²⁹ At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.

³⁰ However, the next day, since he wanted to know the specific charge the Judeans were bringing against him, he released him and ordered the head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin to meet. Then he brought Sha’ul down and put him in front of them.

23 Sha’ul looked straight at them and said, “Brothers, I have been discharging my obligations to God with a perfectly clear conscience, right up until today.” ² But the cohen hagadol, Hananyah, ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Sha’ul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Will you sit there judging me according to the Torah, yet in violation of the Torah order me to be struck?” ⁴ The men nearby said, “This is the cohen hagadol of God that you’re insulting!” ⁵ Sha’ul said, “I didn’t know, brothers, that he was the cohen hagadol; for it says in the Torah, ‘You are not to speak disparagingly of a ruler of your people.’”^[b]

⁶ But knowing that one part of the Sanhedrin consisted of Tz’dukim and the other of P’rushim, Sha’ul shouted, “Brothers, I myself am a Parush and the son of P’rushim; and it is concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am being tried!” ⁷ When he said this, an argument arose between the P’rushim and the Tz’dukim, and the crowd was divided. ⁸ For the Tz’dukim deny the resurrection and the existence of angels and spirits; whereas the P’rushim acknowledge both. ⁹ So there was a great uproar, with some of the Torah-teachers who were on the side of the P’rushim standing up and joining in — “We don’t find anything wrong with this man; and if a spirit or an angel spoke to him, what of it?” ¹⁰ The dispute became so violent that the commander, fearing that Sha’ul would be torn apart by them, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force and bring him back into the barracks.

¹¹ The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage! For just as you have borne a faithful witness to me in Yerushalayim, so now you must bear witness in Rome.”

¹² The next day, some of the Judeans formed a conspiracy. They took an oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Sha’ul; ¹³ more than forty were involved in this plot. ¹⁴ They went to the head cohanim and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Sha’ul. ¹⁵ What you are to do is make it appear to the commander that you and the Sanhedrin want to get more accurate information about Sha’ul’s case, so that he will bring him down to you; while we, for our part, are prepared to kill him before he ever gets here.”

¹⁶ But the son of Sha’ul’s sister got wind of the planned ambush, and he went into the barracks and told Sha’ul. ¹⁷ Sha’ul called one of the officers and said, “Take this man up to the commander; he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, “The prisoner Sha’ul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.” ¹⁹ The commander took him by the hand, led him aside privately and asked, “What is it you have to tell me?” ²⁰ He said, “The Judeans have agreed to ask you tomorrow to bring Sha’ul down to the Sanhedrin on the pretext that they want to investigate his case more thoroughly. ²¹ But don’t let yourself be talked into it, because more than forty men are lying in wait for him. They have taken an oath neither to eat nor to drink until they kill him; and they are ready now, only waiting for you to give your consent to their request.”

²² The commander let the young man go, cautioning him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.” ²³ Then he summoned two of the captains and said, “Get two hundred infantry soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight, and seventy mounted cavalry and two hundred spearmen; ²⁴ also provide replacements for Sha’ul’s horse when it gets tired; and bring him through safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵ And the commander wrote the following letter:

Greetings!

³¹ So the soldiers, following their orders, took Sha’ul during the night and brought him to Antipatris, ³² then returned to the barracks after leaving the cavalry to go on with him. ³³ The cavalry took him to Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and handed Sha’ul over to him. ³⁴ The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. On learning he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a full hearing after your accusers have also arrived,” and ordered him to be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.

24 After five days, the cohen hagadol Hananyah came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they presented their case against Sha’ul to the governor. ² Sha’ul was called, and Tertullus began to make the charges: “Felix, your Excellency, it is because of you that we enjoy unbroken peace, and it is your foresight that has brought to this nation ³ so many reforms in so many areas. It is with the utmost gratitude that we receive this. ⁴ But, in order not to take up too much of your time, I beg your indulgence to give us a brief hearing.

⁵ “We have found this man a pest. He is an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Natzratim. ⁶ He even tried to profane the Temple, but we arrested him. ^{7 [c] 8} By questioning this man yourself, you will be able to learn all about the things of which we are accusing him.” ⁹ The Judeans also joined in the accusation and alleged that these were the facts.

¹⁰ When the governor motioned for Sha’ul to speak, he replied, “I know that you have been judge over this nation for a number of years, so I am glad to make my defense. ¹¹ As you can verify for yourself, it has not been more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Yerushalayim; ¹² and neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues nor anywhere else in the city did they find me either arguing with anyone or collecting a crowd. ¹³ Nor can they give any proof of the things of which they are accusing me.

¹⁴ “But this I do admit to you: I worship the God of our fathers^[d] in accordance with the Way (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets. ¹⁵ And I continue to have a hope in God — which they too accept — that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶ Indeed, it is because of this that I make a point of always having a clear conscience in the sight of both God and man.

¹⁷ “After an absence of several years, I came to Yerushalayim to bring a charitable gift to my nation and to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸ It was in connection with the latter that they found me in the Temple. I had been ceremonially purified, I was not with a crowd, and I was not causing a disturbance. ¹⁹ But some Jews from the province of Asia — they ought to be here before you to make a charge if they have anything against me! ²⁰ Or else, let these men themselves say what crime they found me guilty of when I stood in front of the Sanhedrin, ²¹ other than this one thing which I shouted out when I was standing among them: ‘I am on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead!’”

²² But Felix, who had rather detailed knowledge of things connected with the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³ He ordered the captain to keep Sha’ul in custody, but to let him have considerable liberty and not prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.

²⁴ After some days, Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Sha’ul and listened to him as he spoke about trusting in the Messiah Yeshua. ²⁵ But when Sha’ul began to discuss righteousness, self-control and the coming Judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “For the time being, go away! I will send for you when I get a chance.” ²⁶ At the same time, he hoped that Sha’ul would offer him a bribe; so he sent for him rather often and kept talking with him.

²⁷ After two years, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; but because Felix wanted to grant the Judeans a favor, he left Sha’ul still a prisoner.

25 Three days after Festus had entered the province, he went up from Caesarea to Yerushalayim. ² There the head cohanim and the Judean leaders informed him of the case against Sha’ul, and they asked him ³ to do them the favor of having the man sent to Yerushalayim. (They had plotted to have him ambushed and killed en route.) ⁴ Festus replied that Sha’ul was being kept under guard in Caesarea, and that he was about to go there shortly himself. ⁵ “So,” he said, “let competent men among you come down with me and press charges against the man, if he has done something wrong.”

⁶ After staying with them at most eight or ten days, Festus went down to Caesarea; and on the following day, he took his seat in court and ordered Sha’ul to be brought in. ⁷ When he arrived, the Judeans who had come down from Yerushalayim stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him which they could not prove. ⁸ In reply, Sha’ul said, “I have committed no offense — not against the Torah to which the Jews hold, not against the Temple, and not against the Emperor.”

⁹ But Festus, wanting to do the Judeans a favor, asked Sha’ul, “Would you be willing to go up to Yerushalayim and be tried before me there on these charges?” ¹⁰ Sha’ul replied, “I am standing right now in the court of the Emperor, and this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Judeans, as you very well know. ¹¹ If I am a wrongdoer, if I have done something for which I deserve to die, then I am ready to die. But if there is nothing to these charges which they are bringing against me, no one can give me to them just to grant a favor! I appeal to the Emperor!” ¹² Then Festus, after talking with his advisers, answered, “You have appealed to the Emperor; you will go to the Emperor!”

¹³ After some days, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were staying on there for some time, Festus had the opportunity to acquaint the king with Sha’ul’s situation. “There is a man here,” he said, “who was left behind in custody by Felix. ¹⁵ When I was in Yerushalayim, the head cohanim and the elders of the Judeans informed me about him and asked me to pronounce judgment against him. ¹⁶ My answer to them was that it is not the custom with Romans to give up an accused man just to grant a favor, before he has met his accusers face to face and had the opportunity to defend himself against the charge. ¹⁷ So when they arrived here with me, I did not delay, but took my seat in court the next day and ordered the man brought in.

¹⁸ “When the accusers stood up, instead of charging him with some serious crime as I had expected, ¹⁹ they disputed with him about certain points of their own religion, and particularly about somebody called Yeshua, who had died, but who Sha’ul claimed was alive. ²⁰ Being at a loss as to how to investigate such questions, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Yerushalayim and be tried on these matters there. ²¹ But since Sha’ul appealed to be kept in custody and have his case decided by His Imperial Majesty, I ordered him held until I could send him to the Emperor.”

²² Agrippa said to Festus, “I myself have been wanting to hear the man.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, “You will hear him.”

²³ So the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with much pageantry; they entered the audience room accompanied by military commanders and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Sha’ul was brought in. ²⁴ Festus said, “King Agrippa and all of you here with us, do you see this man? The whole Judean community has complained to me about him both in Yerushalayim and here, crying that he shouldn’t be allowed to remain alive. ²⁵ But I discovered that he had done nothing that deserves a death sentence. Now when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶ However, I have nothing specific to write to His Majesty about him. This is why I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa — so that after we have examined him, I might have something to write. ²⁷ It seems irrational to me to send a prisoner without also indicating what the charges against him are.”

26 Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “You have permission to speak on your own behalf.” Then Sha’ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that it is before you today that I am defending myself against all the charges made against me by Jews, ³ because you are so well informed about all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then! All Jews know how I lived my life from my youth on, both in my own country and in Yerushalayim. ⁵ They have known me for a long time; and if they are willing, they can testify that I have followed the strictest party in our religion — that is, I have lived as a Parush. ⁶ How ironic it is that I stand on trial here because of my hope in the promise made to our fathers! ⁷ It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews! ⁸ Why do you people consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I used to think it was my duty to do all I could to combat the name of Yeshua from Natzeret; ¹⁰ and in Yerushalayim I did so. After receiving authority from the head cohanim, I myself threw many of God’s people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them, I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.

¹² “On one such occasion, I was traveling to Dammesek with the full authority and power of the head cohanim. ¹³ I was on the road, and it was noon, your Majesty, when I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground; and then I heard a voice saying to me, in Hebrew, ‘Sha’ul! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me? It’s hard on you to be kicking against the ox-goads!’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ and the Lord answered, ‘I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me! ¹⁶ But get up, and stand on your feet! I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve and bear witness to what you have already seen of me, and to what you will see when I appear to you in the future. ¹⁷ I will deliver you from the People and from the Goyim. I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes; so that they will turn from darkness to light, from the power of the Adversary to God, and thus receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who have been separated for holiness by putting their trust in me.’

¹⁹ “So, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision from heaven! ²⁰ On the contrary, I announced first in Dammesek, then in Yerushalayim and throughout Y’hudah, and also to the Goyim, that they should turn from their sins to God and then do deeds consistent with that repentance. ²¹ It was because of these things that Jews seized me in the Temple and tried to kill me. ²² However, I have had God’s help; so to this day, I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what both the prophets and Moshe said would happen — ²³ that the Messiah would die, and that he, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to both the People and the Goyim.”

²⁴ But just as he reached this point in his defense, Festus shouted at the top of his voice, “Sha’ul, you’re out of your mind! So much learning is driving you crazy!”

²⁵ But Sha’ul said, “No, I am not ‘crazy,’ Festus, your Excellency; on the contrary, I am speaking words of truth and sanity. ²⁶ For the king understands these matters, so to him I express myself freely, because I am sure that none of these things have been hidden from him. After all, they didn’t happen in some back alley. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe!”

²⁸ Agrippa said to Sha’ul, “In this short time, you’re trying to convince me to become Messianic?” ²⁹ Sha’ul replied, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish to God that not only you, but also everyone hearing me today, might become just like me except for these chains!”

³⁰ Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and the others sitting with them. ³¹ After they had left, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing that deserves either death or prison.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, “If he hadn’t appealed to the Emperor, he could have been released.”

27 Once it had been decided that we should set sail for Italy, they handed Sha’ul and some other prisoners over to an officer of the Emperor’s Regiment named Julius. ² We embarked in a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. ³ The next day, we landed at Tzidon; and Julius considerately allowed Sha’ul to go visit his friends and receive what he needed. ⁴ Putting to sea from there, we sailed close to the sheltered side of Cyprus because the winds were against us, ⁵ then across the open sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia; and so we reached Myra in Lycia.

⁶ There the Roman officer found an Alexandrian vessel sailing to Italy and put us aboard. ⁷ For a number of days we made little headway, and we arrived off Cnidus only with difficulty. The wind would not let us continue any farther along the direct route; so we ran down along the sheltered side of Crete from Cape Salmone; ⁸ and, continuing to struggle on, hugging the coast, we reached a place called Pleasant Harbor, near the town of Lasea.

⁹ Since much time had been lost, and continuing the voyage was risky, because it was already past Yom-Kippur, Sha’ul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be a catastrophe, not only with huge losses to the cargo and the ship but with loss of our lives as well.” ¹¹ However, the officer paid more attention to the pilot and the ship’s owner than to what Sha’ul said. ¹² Moreover, since the harbor was not well suited to sitting out the winter, the majority reached the decision to sail on from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, another harbor in Crete, and wintering there, where it is protected from the southwest and northwest winds.

¹³ When a gentle southerly breeze began to blow, they thought that they had their goal within grasp; so they raised the anchor and started coasting by Crete close to shore. ¹⁴ But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon. ¹⁵ The ship was caught up and unable to face the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.

¹⁶ As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat. ¹⁷ They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting. ¹⁸ But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison non-essentials; ¹⁹ and the third day, they threw the ship’s sailing equipment overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ For many days neither the sun nor the stars appeared, while the storm continued to rage, until gradually all hope of survival vanished.

²¹ It was then, when they had gone a long time without eating, that Sha’ul stood up in front of them and said, “You should have listened to me and not set out from Crete; if you had, you would have escaped this disastrous loss. ²² But now, my advice to you is to take heart; because not one of you will lose his life — only the ship will be lost. ²³ For this very night, there stood next to me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. ²⁴ He said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Sha’ul! you have to stand before the Emperor. Look! God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So, men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told will come true. ²⁶ Nevertheless, we have to run aground on some island.”

²⁷ It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land. ²⁸ So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet. ²⁹ Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.

³⁰ At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship — they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow. ³¹ Sha’ul said to the officer and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.

³³ Just before daybreak, Sha’ul urged them all to eat, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head.” ³⁵ When he had said this, he took bread, said the b’rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves. ³⁷ Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship. ³⁸ After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.

³⁹ When day broke, they didn’t recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. ⁴¹ But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.

⁴² At this point the soldiers’ thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape. ⁴³ But the officer, wanting to save Sha’ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore, ⁴⁴ and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.

28 After our escape, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² Its people showed extraordinary kindness — it was cold and it had started to rain, so they lit a bonfire and welcomed us all. ³ Sha’ul had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand. ⁴ The islanders saw the creature hanging from Sha’ul’s hand and said to one another, “This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ They waited, expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing that nothing amiss was happening to him, they reversed their opinion and said he was a god.

⁷ Nearby were lands belonging to the governor of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us in a friendly manner and put us up for three days. ⁸ Now it so happened that Publius’ father was lying in bed, sick with fever attacks and dysentery. Sha’ul went in to him, prayed, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ After this happened, the rest of those on the island who had ailments came and were healed. ¹⁰ They heaped honors on us; and when the time came for us to sail, they provided the supplies we needed.

¹¹ After three months, we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria called “Twin Gods,” which had passed the winter at the island. ¹² We landed at Syracuse and stayed three days. ¹³ From there, we arrived at Rhegium by tacking; but after one day, a south wind sprang up; so we made it to Puteoli the second day. ¹⁴ There we found brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went on toward Rome.

¹⁵ The brothers there had heard about us and came as far as Appian Market and Three Inns to meet us. When Sha’ul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. ¹⁶ And when we arrived at Rome, the officer allowed Sha’ul to stay by himself, though guarded by a soldier.

¹⁷ After three days Sha’ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence. ¹⁹ But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor — not that I had any charge to make against my own people. ²⁰ This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra’el that I have this chain around me.”

²¹ They said to him, “We have not received any letters about you from Y’hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²² But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it.”

²³ So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, ²⁵ while others refused to believe.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha’ul had made one final statement: “The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,

²⁸ Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Goyim, and they will listen!” ^29 [f]

³⁰ Sha’ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him, ³¹ openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.