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Acts has 28 Chapters.

Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28

Acts 26

¹And Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence: ²I think myself happy, king Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before thee this day touching all the things whereof I am accused by the Jews: ³especially because thou art expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. ⁴My manner of life then from my youth up, which was from the beginning among mine own nation and at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; ⁵having knowledge of me from the first, if they be willing to testify, that after the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand [here] to be judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; ⁷unto which i our twelve tribes, earnestly serving [God] night and day, hope to attain. And concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, O king! ⁸Why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead? ⁹I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰And this I also did in Jerusalem: and I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. ¹¹And punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove to make them blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities. ¹²Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, ¹³at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them that journeyed with me. ¹⁴And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the goad. ¹⁵And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. ¹⁶But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee; ¹⁷ delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, ¹⁸to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me. ¹⁹Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: ²⁰but declared both to them of Damascus first and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judaea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. ²¹For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed to kill me. ²²Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come; ²³how that the Christ must suffer, [and] how that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles. ²⁴And as he thus made his defense, Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad. ²⁵But Paul saith, I am not mad, most excellent Festus; but speak forth words of truth and soberness. ²⁶For the king knoweth of these things, unto whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him; for this hath not been done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. ²⁸And Agrippa i unto Paul, With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. ²⁹And Paul [said], I would to God, that whether with little or with much, not thou only, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds. ³⁰ And the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them: ³¹and when they had withdrawn, they spake one to another, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. ³²And Agrippa said unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.

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Acts 27

¹And when it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band. ²And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail unto the places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. ³And the next day we touched at Sidon: and Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him leave to go unto his friends and refresh himself. ⁴And putting to sea from thence, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. ⁵And when we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, [a city] of Lycia. ⁶And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy; and he put us therein. ⁷And when we had sailed slowly many days, and were come with difficulty over against Cnidus, the wind not further suffering us, we sailed under the lee of Crete, over against Salmone; ⁸and with difficulty coasting along it we came unto a certain place called Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea. ⁹And when much time was spent, and the voyage was now dangerous, because the Fast was now already gone by, Paul admonished them, ¹⁰and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the lading and the ship, but also of our lives. ¹¹ But the centurion gave more heed to the master and to the owner of the ship, than to those things which were spoken by Paul. ¹²And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to put to sea from thence, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, and winter [there; which is] a haven of Crete, looking northeast and south-east. ¹³And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close in shore. ¹⁴But after no long time there beat down from it a tempestuous wind, which is called Euraquilo: ¹⁵and when the ship was caught, and could not face the wind, we gave way [to it,] and were driven. ¹⁶And running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were able, with difficulty, to secure the boat: ¹⁷and when they had hoisted it up, they used helps, under-girding the ship; and, fearing lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and so were driven. ¹⁸And as we labored exceedingly with the storm, the next day they began to throw the [the freight] overboard; ¹⁹and the third day they cast out with their own hands the tackling of the ship. ²⁰And when neither sun nor stars shone upon [us] for many days, and no small tempest lay on [us,] all hope that we should be saved was now taken away. ²¹And when they had been long without food, then Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have set sail from Crete, and have gotten this injury and loss. ²²And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of life among you, but [only] of the ship. ²³For there stood by me this night an angel of the God whose I am, whom also I serve, ²⁴ saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar: and lo, God hath granted thee all them that sail with thee. ²⁵ Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me. ²⁶But we must be cast upon a certain island. ²⁷But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven to and fro in the [sea of] Adria, about midnight the sailors surmised that they were drawing near to some country: ²⁸and they sounded, and found twenty fathoms; and after a little space, they sounded again, and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹And fearing lest haply we should be cast ashore on rocky ground, they let go four anchors from the stern, and wished for the day. ³⁰And as the sailors were seeking to flee out of the ship, and had lowered the boat into the sea, under color as though they would lay out anchors from the foreship, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. ³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. ³³And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take some food, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye wait and continue fasting, having taken nothing. ³⁴Wherefore I beseech you to take some food: for this is for your safety: for there shall not a hair perish from the head of any of you. ³⁵And when he had said this, and had taken bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all; and he brake it, and began to eat. ³⁶ Then were they all of good cheer, and themselves also took food. ³⁷And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. ³⁸And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. ³⁹ And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they perceived a certain bay with a beach, and they took counsel whether they could drive the ship upon it. ⁴⁰And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosing the bands of the rudders; and hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. ⁴¹But lighting upon a place where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the foreship struck and remained unmoveable, but the stern began to break up by the violence [of the waves]. ⁴²And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any [of them] should swim out, and escape. ⁴³But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, stayed them from their purpose; and commanded that they who could swim should cast themselves overboard, and get first to the land; ⁴⁴and the rest, some on planks, and some on [other] things from the ship. And so it came to pass, that they all escaped safe to the land.

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Acts 28

¹And when we were escaped, then we knew that the island was called Melita. ²And the barbarians showed us no common kindness; for they kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. ³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out by reason of the heat, and fastened on his hand. ⁴And when the barbarians saw the [venomous] creature hanging from his hand, they said one to another, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped from the sea, yet Justice hath not suffered to live. ⁵Howbeit he shook off the creature into the fire, and took no harm. ⁶But they expected that he would have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but when they were long in expectation and beheld nothing amiss came to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. ⁷Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us, and entertained us three days courteously. ⁸And it was so, that the father of Publius lay sick of fever and dysentery: unto whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laying his hands on him healed him. ⁹And when this was done, the rest also that had diseases in the island came, and were cured: ¹⁰who also honored us with many honors; and when we sailed, they put on board such things as we needed. ¹¹And after three months we set sail in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island, whose sign was The Twin Brothers. ¹²And touching at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. ¹³And from thence we made a circuit, and arrived at Rhegium: and after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli; ¹⁴where we found brethren, and were entreated to tarry with them seven days: and so we came to Rome. ¹⁵And from thence the brethren, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as The Market of Appius and The Three Taverns; whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. ¹⁶And when we entered into Rome, Paul was suffered to abide by himself with the soldier that guarded him. ¹⁷And it came to pass, that after three days he called together those that were the chief of the Jews: and when they were come together, he said unto them, I, brethren, though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our fathers, yet was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans: ¹⁸who, when they had examined me, desired to set me at liberty, because there was no cause of death in me. ¹⁹But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had aught whereof to accuse my nation. ²⁰For this cause therefore did I entreat you to see and to speak with [me]: for because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. ²¹And they said unto him, We neither received letters from Judaea concerning thee, nor did any of the brethren come hither and report or speak any harm of thee. ²²But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against. ²³And when they had appointed him a day, they came to him into his lodging in great number; to whom he expounded [the matter,] testifying the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening. ²⁴And some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. ²⁵And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers, ²⁶saying, Go thou unto this people, and say, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: ²⁷For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest, haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.

²⁸Be it known therefore unto you, that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: they will also hear. ²⁹ [And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, having much disputing among themselves.] ³⁰And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him, ³¹preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, none forbidding him.

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