Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
15
After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem.
16
Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.
17
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly.
18
The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present.
19
After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20
When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law.
21
They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.
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What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.
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So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow.
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Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law.
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But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled
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and from fornication.”
26
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.
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When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him,
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shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
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For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
30
Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
31
While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
32
Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33
Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done.
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Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another; and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
35
When Paul
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came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers.
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The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Away with him!”
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Just as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” The tribune
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replied, “Do you know Greek?
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Then you are not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”
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Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city; I beg you, let me speak to the people.”
40
When he had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence; and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew
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language, saying:
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“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you.”
2
When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew,
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they became even more quiet. Then he said:
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“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
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I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison,
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as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.
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“While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.
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I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
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I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth
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whom you are persecuting.’
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Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
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I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’
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Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus.
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“A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there,
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came to me; and standing beside me, he said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him.
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Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice;
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for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard.
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And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’
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“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance
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and saw Jesus
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saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
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And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.
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And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.’
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Then he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
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Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”
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And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air,
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the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him.
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But when they had tied him up with thongs,
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Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?”
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When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.”
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The tribune came and asked Paul,
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“Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”
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The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”
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Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
PAUL AND THE JEWS
Paul first appears as consenting to the death of Stephen (8.1). After his vision of the resurrected Jesus (ch 9), he becomes one of the most important preachers of the gospel, particularly among Gentiles. His preaching often produces hostile reactions from Jews. In Pisidian Antioch (13.50) Jews drive Paul out of the district; in Iconium Jews seek to stone Paul (14.5); in Thessalonica, the jealousy of Jews leads them to set the city in an uproar (17.1–9); in Corinth Jews attack Paul and bring him before Gallio the proconsul of the region (18.1–13); in Achaea he disputes with Jews in public (18.28); in Greece he was apparently the target of a plot (20.3); in Jerusalem some Jews from Asia Minor accuse Paul of teaching against the Temple and the law (21.27–30). While in Jerusalem he is arrested for bringing disorder and speaking treason against the emperor (17.6–7), causing people to worship contrary to the law and the Temple (18.13; 21.28; 24.6), and for being an agitator (24.5). According to the presentation in Acts, these accusations are unfounded and often inspired by jealousy and antagonism toward the preaching about Jesus.
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Since he wanted to find out what Paul
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was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.
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While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, “Brothers,
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up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.”
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Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.
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At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”
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Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”
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And Paul said, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.’”
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When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection
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of the dead.”
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When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
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(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)
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Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”
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When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.