Acts 18

1After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

2There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,

3and because he had the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

4Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

6But when they opposed him and spoke abusively, he shook out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

7Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

8Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his whole household, and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

9One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but keep on speaking and do not be silent,

10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.”

11So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,

13saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

14Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If this were a matter of some crime or serious wrongdoing, you Jews, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you.

15But since these are questions about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I do not want to be a judge of these things.”

16And he drove them away from the judgment seat.

17Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

18Paul stayed on in Corinth for quite a while longer. Then he said goodbye to the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut off, because he had taken a vow.

19They arrived at Ephesus, and he left them there. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

20When they asked him to stay longer, he declined,

21but as he said goodbye, he told them, “I will come back to you, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

22When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

23After spending some time there, he set out and traveled from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures.

25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

27When he wanted to go over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who had believed through grace,

28for he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.