<p class="otpoetry">&#8216;<b><i>Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish!i>b><n id="1" />p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>For I am doing a work in your days,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><i><b>a work you would never believe, even if someone tells youb>.i>&#8217;&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

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

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

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

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now after all these things had taken place,<n id="1" /> Paul resolved<n id="2" /> to go to Jerusalem,<n id="3" /> passing through Macedonia<n id="4" /> and Achaia.<n id="5" /> He said,<n id="6" /> &#8220;After I have been there, I must also see Rome.&#8221;<n id="7" />

They have been informed about you &#8211; that you teach all the Jews now living<n id="1" /> among the Gentiles to abandon<n id="2" /> Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children<n id="3" /> or live<n id="4" /> according to our customs.

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

<p class="bodytext">Then when Paul noticed<n id="1" /> that part of them were Sadducees<n id="2" /> and the others Pharisees,<n id="3" /> he shouted out in the council,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection<n id="5" /> of the dead!&#8221;

He replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council<n id="2" /> tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him.

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

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

&#8220;Men, I can see the voyage is going to end<n id="1" /> in disaster<n id="2" /> and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.&#8221;<n id="3" />

So they began to leave,<n id="1" /> unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: &#8220;The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors<n id="2" /> through the prophet Isaiah

I do not want you to be unaware,<n id="1" /> brothers and sisters,<n id="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.<n id="3" />

Although they fully know<n id="1" /> God&#8217;s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,<n id="2" /> they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.<n id="3" />p>

And why not say, &#8220;Let us do evil so that good may come of it&#8221;? &#8211; as some who slander us allege that we say.<n id="1" /> (Their<n id="2" /> condemnation is deserved!)p>

<p class="bodytext">Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under<n id="1" /> the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

(as it is written, &#8220;<b><i>I have made you the father of many nationsi>b>&#8221;).<n id="1" /> He is our father<n id="2" /> in the presence of God whom he believed &#8211; the God who<n id="3" /> makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.<n id="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.<n id="1" />

For the scripture says to Pharaoh:<n id="1" /> &#8220;<i><b>For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in youb>, <b>and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earthb>i>.&#8221;<n id="2" />