<p class="bodytext">Paul looked directly<n id="1" /> at the council<n id="2" /> and said, &#8220;Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience<n id="3" /> before God to this day.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">But when the son of Paul&#8217;s sister heard about the ambush,<n id="1" /> he came and entered<n id="2" /> the barracks<n id="3" /> and told Paul.

The commanding officer<n id="1" /> took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, &#8220;What is it that you want<n id="2" /> to report to me?&#8221;

For we have found<n id="1" /> this man to be a troublemaker,<n id="2" /> one who stirs up riots<n id="3" /> among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader<n id="4" /> of the sect of the Nazarenes.<n id="5" />

which I was doing when they found me in the temple, ritually purified,<n id="1" /> without a crowd or a disturbance.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Then Felix,<n id="1" /> who understood the facts<n id="2" /> concerning the Way<n id="3" /> more accurately,<n id="4" /> adjourned their hearing,<n id="5" /> saying, &#8220;When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.&#8221;<n id="6" />

Rather they had several points of disagreement<n id="1" /> with him about their own religion<n id="2" /> and about a man named Jesus<n id="3" /> who was dead, whom Paul claimed<n id="4" /> to be alive.

<p class="bodytext">When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven<n id="1" /> across the Adriatic Sea,<n id="2" /> about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land.<n id="3" />

But they encountered a patch of crosscurrents<n id="1" /> and ran the ship aground; the bow stuck fast and could not be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force<n id="2" /> of the waves.

<p class="bodytext">Now in the region around that place<n id="1" /> were fields belonging to the chief official<n id="2" /> of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.

So for this reason I have asked to see you and speak with you, for I am bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel.&#8221;<n id="1" />

But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know<n id="1" /> that people<n id="2" /> everywhere speak against<n id="3" /> it.&#8221;p>

There is danger not only that this business of ours will come into disrepute,<n id="1" /> but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis<n id="2" /> will be regarded as nothing,<n id="3" /> and she whom all the province of Asia<n id="4" /> and the world worship will suffer the loss of her greatness.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

To the same apostles<n id="1" /> also, after his suffering,<n id="2" /> he presented himself alive with many convincing proofs. He was seen by them over a forty-day period<n id="3" /> and spoke about matters concerning the kingdom of God.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts<n id="1" /> of the earth.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Brothers,<n id="1" /> I can speak confidently<n id="2" /> to you about our forefather<n id="3" /> David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

But Peter said, &#8220;Ananias, why has Satan filled<n id="1" /> your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of<n id="2" /> the land?

saying, &#8220;We gave<n id="1" /> you strict orders<n id="2" /> not to teach in this name.<n id="3" /> Look,<n id="4" /> you have filled Jerusalem<n id="5" /> with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man&#8217;s blood<n id="6" /> on us!&#8221;

After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census,<n id="1" /> and incited people to follow him in revolt.<n id="2" /> He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered.

So he replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather<n id="2" /> Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,