Romans 15:31

²and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.

⁴begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints.

¹It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,

²⁵But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.

¹⁷When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. ¹⁸The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. ¹⁹When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. ²⁰They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. ²¹They have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children and not to walk after the customs. ²²What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. ²³Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. ²⁴Take them and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the law. ²⁵But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written our decision that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day purified himself and went with them into the temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them. ²⁷When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him, ²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!” ²⁹For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰All the city was moved and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. Immediately the doors were shut. ³¹As they were trying to kill him, news came up to the commanding officer of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

²Then the high priest and the principal men of the Jews informed him against Paul, and they begged him,

²⁴Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom all the multitude of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.

¹¹persecutions, and sufferings—those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.

¹²When it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³There were more than forty people who had made this conspiracy. ¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵Now therefore, you with the council inform the commanding officer that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to judge his case more exactly. We are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

¹⁶But Paul’s sister’s son heard they were lying in wait, and he came and entered into the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Paul summoned one of the centurions and said, “Bring this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to tell him.”

¹⁸So he took him and brought him to the commanding officer and said, “Paul, the prisoner, summoned me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commanding officer took him by the hand, and going aside, asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰He said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though intending to inquire somewhat more accurately concerning him. ²¹Therefore don’t yield to them, for more than forty men lie in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, looking for the promise from you.”

²²So the commanding officer let the young man go, charging him, “Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.”

²³He called to himself two of the centurions, and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred men armed with spears, at the third hour of the night.”^24[+] He asked them to provide mounts, that they might set Paul on one, and bring him safely to Felix the governor.