But the Jews incited<n id="1" /> the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out<n id="2" /> of their region.

<p class="otpoetry"><b><i>so that the rest of humanityi>b><n id="1" /> <b><i>may seek the Lord,i>b>p> <p class="otpoetry"><b><i>namely,i>b><n id="2" /> <b><i>all the Gentilesi>b><n id="3" /> <b><i>I have called to be my own,i>b>&#8217;<n id="4" /> <b><i>says the Lord,i>b><n id="5" /> <i>who makes these thingsi>

<p class="bodytext">Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided<n id="1" /> to send men chosen from among them, Judas called Barsabbas and Silas,<n id="2" /> leaders among the brothers, to Antioch<n id="3" /> with Paul and Barnabas.

<t /><p class="bodytext">After some days Paul said to Barnabas, &#8220;Let&#8217;s return<n id="1" /> and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord<n id="2" /> to see how they are doing.&#8221;<n id="3" />

A<n id="1" /> woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth<n id="2" /> from the city of Thyatira,<n id="3" /> a God-fearing woman, listened to us.<n id="4" /> The Lord opened her heart to respond<n id="5" /> to what Paul was saying.

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If<n id="2" /> you consider me to be a believer in the Lord,<n id="3" /> come and stay in my house.&#8221; And she persuaded<n id="4" /> us.p>

explaining and demonstrating<n id="1" /> that the Christ<n id="2" /> had to suffer and to rise from the dead,<n id="3" /> saying,<n id="4" /> &#8220;This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.&#8221;<n id="5" />

But the Jews became jealous,<n id="1" /> and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace,<n id="2" /> they formed a mob<n id="3" /> and set the city in an uproar.<n id="4" /> They attacked Jason&#8217;s house,<n id="5" /> trying to find Paul and Silas<n id="6" /> to bring them out to the assembly.<n id="7" />

These Jews<n id="1" /> were more open-minded<n id="2" /> than those in Thessalonica,<n id="3" /> for they eagerly<n id="4" /> received<n id="5" /> the message, examining<n id="6" /> the scriptures carefully every day<n id="7" /> to see if these things were so.

<p class="bodytext">Now when Silas and Timothy arrived<n id="1" /> from Macedonia,<n id="2" /> Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming<n id="3" /> the word, testifying<n id="4" /> to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.<n id="5" />

But some itinerant<n id="1" /> Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name<n id="2" /> of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by<n id="3" /> evil spirits, saying, &#8220;I sternly warn<n id="4" /> you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.&#8221;

After the city secretary<n id="1" /> quieted the crowd, he said, &#8220;Men of Ephesus, what person<n id="2" /> is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper<n id="3" /> of the temple of the great Artemis<n id="4" /> and of her image that fell from heaven?<n id="5" />

On the first day<n id="1" /> of the week, when we met<n id="2" /> to break bread, Paul began to speak<n id="3" /> to the people, and because he intended<n id="4" /> to leave the next day, he extended<n id="5" /> his message until midnight.

<t /><p class="bodytext">We went on ahead<n id="1" /> to the ship and put out to sea<n id="2" /> for Assos,<n id="3" /> intending<n id="4" /> to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way.<n id="5" /> He<n id="6" /> himself was intending<n id="7" /> to go there by land.<n id="8" />

<p class="bodytext">When they arrived, he said to them, &#8220;You yourselves know how I lived<n id="1" /> the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot<n id="2" /> in the province of Asia,<n id="3" />

But I do not consider my life<n id="1" /> worth anything<n id="2" /> to myself, so that<n id="3" /> I may finish my task<n id="4" /> and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news<n id="5" /> of God&#8217;s grace.p>

After we sighted Cyprus<n id="1" /> and left it behind on our port side,<n id="2" /> we sailed on to Syria and put in<n id="3" /> at Tyre,<n id="4" /> because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

When<n id="1" /> our time was over,<n id="2" /> we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied<n id="3" /> us outside of the city. After<n id="4" /> kneeling down on the beach and praying,<n id="5" />

When they heard this, they praised<n id="1" /> God. Then they said to him, &#8220;You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews<n id="2" /> there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers<n id="3" /> of the law.<n id="4" />

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" />