Acts of the Apostles 18

¹ After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,

² where he met a Jew called Aquila whose family came from Pontus. He and his wife Priscil a hadrecently left Italy because an edict of Claudius had expel ed al the Jews from Rome. Paul went to visit them,

³ and when he found they were tentmakers, of the same trade as himself, he lodged with them, and theyworked together.

⁴ Every Sabbath he used to hold debates in the synagogues, trying to convert Jews as wel as Greeks.

⁵ After Silas and Timothy had arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted al his time to preaching, declaringto the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

⁶ When they turned against him and started to insult him, he took his cloak and shook it out in front ofthem, saying, 'Your blood be on your own heads; from now on I wil go to the gentiles with a clear conscience.'

⁷ Then he left the synagogue and moved to the house next door that belonged to a worshipper of Godcal ed Justus.

⁸ Crispus, president of the synagogue, and his whole household, al became believers in the Lord. ManyCorinthians when they heard this became believers and were baptised.

⁹ One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, 'Be fearless; speak out and do not keep silence:

¹⁰ I am with you. I have so many people that belong to me in this city that no one wil attempt to hurtyou.'

¹¹ So Paul stayed there preaching the word of God among them for eighteen months.

¹² But while Gal io was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul and brought himbefore the tribunal, saying,

¹³ 'We accuse this man of persuading people to worship God in a way that breaks the Law.'

¹⁴ Before Paul could open his mouth, Gal io said to the Jews, 'Listen, you Jews. If this were amisdemeanour or a crime, it would be in order for me to listen to your plea;

¹⁵ but if it is only quibbles about words and names, and about your own Law, then you must deal with ityourselves -- I have no intention of making legal decisions about these things.'

¹⁶ Then he began to hustle them out of the court,

¹⁷ and at once they all turned on Sosthenes, the synagogue president, and beat him in front of thetribunal. Gal io refused to take any notice at al .

¹⁸ After staying on for some time, Paul took leave of the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied byPriscil a and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut off, because of a vow he had made.

¹⁹ When they reached Ephesus, he left them, but first he went alone to the synagogue to debate with theJews.

²⁰ They asked him to stay longer, but he declined,

²¹ though when he took his leave he said, 'I wil come back another time, God wil ing.' Then he sailedfrom Ephesus.

²² He landed at Caesarea and went up to greet the church. Then he came down to Antioch

²³ where he spent a short time before continuing his journey through the Galatian country and thenthrough Phrygia, encouraging al the followers.

²⁴ An Alexandrian Jew named Apol os now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, with a soundknowledge of the scriptures, and yet,

²⁵ though he had been given instruction in the Way of the Lord and preached with great spiritual fervourand was accurate in al the details he taught about Jesus, he had experienced only the baptism of John.

²⁶ He began to teach fearlessly in the synagogue and, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, theyattached themselves to him and gave him more detailed instruction about the Way.

²⁷ When Apol os thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking thedisciples to welcome him. When he arrived there he was able by God's grace to help the believers considerably

²⁸ by the energetic way he refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating from the scriptures that Jesus wasthe Christ.