Knox Bible

1

Paul left Athens after this, and went to Corinth.

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Here he met a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who, with his wife Priscilla, had lately come from Italy, when Claudius decreed that all Jews should leave Rome. He paid them a visit:

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then, since they were brothers of the same craft (both were tent-makers) he stayed and worked with them.

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Every sabbath he held a disputation in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks by confronting them with the name of the Lord Jesus.

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Just at the time when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was much occupied with preaching, while he bore witness to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

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But they set their faces against it and talked blasphemy, until he shook the dust out of his garments, and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clear of it; I will go to the Gentiles henceforward.

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So he left them, and went to the house of one Titius Justus, a worshipper of the true God, who lived next door to the synagogue.

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But Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, learned to believe in the Lord, and so did all his household; and by now many of the Corinthians listened and found faith, and were baptized.

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And the Lord said to Paul in a vision at night, Do not be afraid, speak out, and refuse to be silenced;

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I am with thee, and none shall come near to do thee harm; I have a great following in this city.

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So he remained there a year and six months, preaching the word of God among them.

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Then, when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul, and dragged him before the judgement-seat.

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This fellow, they said, is persuading men to worship God in a manner the law forbids.

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Paul was just opening his mouth to speak, when Gallio said to the Jews, It would be only right for me to listen to you Jews with patience, if we had here some wrong done, or some malicious contrivance;

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but the questions you raise are a matter of words and names, of the law which holds good among yourselves. You must see to it; I have no mind to try such cases.

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And he drove them away from the judgement-seat.

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Thereupon there was a general onslaught upon Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, who was beaten before the judgement-seat; but all this caused Gallio no concern.✻

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Paul stayed on many days yet, then took leave of the brethren and sailed off to Syria; before he left Cenchrae he shaved his head, since he was under a vow.✻ He took Priscilla and Aquila with him,

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but left them behind when he reached Ephesus. He himself went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews,

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who asked him to make a longer stay. But he would not consent;

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he said, as he took leave of them, I will come back to you again, if it is God’s will, and departed from Ephesus by sea.

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On landing at Caesarea, he went up from there to greet the church, then went down again to Antioch,

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where he spent some time; he left it to make an orderly progress through the Galatian and Phrygian country, where he established all the disciples in the faith.✻

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Meanwhile a Jewish visitor came to Ephesus, Apollo by name; he was born in Alexandria, and was an eloquent man, well grounded in the scriptures.

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He had had instruction in the way of the Lord;✻ and, with a spirit full of zeal, used to preach and teach about the life of Jesus accurately enough, although he knew of no baptism except that of John.

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So he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue, whereupon Priscilla and Aquila, who had been listening, made friends with him, and explained the way of God to him more particularly.

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He was meaning to continue his journey into Achaia; in this the brethren encouraged him, and wrote asking the disciples there to welcome him. His visit was a welcome reinforcement to the believers;

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he spared no pains to refute the Jews publicly, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.