Wandering: Jacob's Story of Un/Fortunate Events

The Kingdom Driven Author

Reckless Faith

How to Know God's Will and Follow It

Overflowing: Living Abundantly in a Broken Culture

Songs of Advent

Fear or Hope? The Most Important Choice You Make Every Day

Reading With the People of God #7 Commitment

Esther: Daring Faith for Such a Time as This

Help and Hope in a Divided World

New International Version

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 <div class="p">1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.</div><div class="p"> 5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.</div><div class="p"> 6The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. &#8220;Quick, get up!&#8221; he said, and the chains fell off Peter&#8217;s wrists.</div><div class="p"> 8Then the angel said to him, &#8220;Put on your clothes and sandals.&#8221; And Peter did so. &#8220;Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,&#8221; the angel told him. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.</div><div class="p"> 11Then Peter came to himself and said, &#8220;Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod&#8217;s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter&#8217;s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, &#8220;Peter is at the door!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;You&#8217;re out of your mind,&#8221; they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, &#8220;It must be his angel.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. &#8220;Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,&#8221; he said, and then he left for another place.</div><div class="p"> </div>
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 <div class="p">16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, &#8220;These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.&#8221; 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, &#8220;In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!&#8221; At that moment the spirit left her.</div><div class="p"> 19When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, &#8220;These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.</div><div class="p"> 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone&#8217;s chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, &#8220;Don&#8217;t harm yourself! We are all here!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, &#8220;Sirs, what must I do to be saved?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31They replied, &#8220;Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved&#8212;you and your household.&#8221; 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God&#8212;he and his whole household.</div><div class="p"> 35When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: &#8220;Release those men.&#8221; 36The jailer told Paul, &#8220;The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37But Paul said to the officers: &#8220;They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia&#8217;s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.</div>
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The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

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 <div class="label">27</div><div class="s1">Paul Sails for Rome</div><div class="p"> 1When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. 2We boarded a ship from Adramyttium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.</div><div class="p"> 3The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs. 4From there we put out to sea again and passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. 5When we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. 6There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board. 7We made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off Cnidus. When the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone. 8We moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.</div><div class="p"> 9Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement.#27:9 That is, Yom Kippur So Paul warned them, 10&#8220;Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.&#8221; 11But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. 12Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.</div><div class="s1">The Storm</div><div class="p"> 13When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. 14Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. 15The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. 16As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, 17so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor#27:17 Or the sails and let the ship be driven along. 18We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19On the third day, they threw the ship&#8217;s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.</div><div class="p"> 21After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: &#8220;Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, &#8216;Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.&#8217; 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Shipwreck</div><div class="p"> 27On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic#27:27 In ancient times the name referred to an area extending well south of Italy. Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet#27:28 Or about 37 meters deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet#27:28 Or about 27 meters deep. 29Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, &#8220;Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.&#8221; 32So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.</div><div class="p"> 33Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. &#8220;For the last fourteen days,&#8221; he said, &#8220;you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food&#8212;you haven&#8217;t eaten anything. 34Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.&#8221; 35After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.</div><div class="p"> 39When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.</div><div class="p"> 42The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43But the centurion wanted to spare Paul&#8217;s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.</div>
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 <div class="p">1Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, &#8220;This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.&#8221; 5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.</div><div class="p"> 7There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. 8His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Arrival at Rome</div><div class="p"> 11After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island&#8212;it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. 12We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. 13From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. 14There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. 15The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. </div>
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