Chapter 18
1 After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth .
2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race , who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla , because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome . He came to them ,
3 and because he practiced the same trade , he lived with them and worked , for by trade they were tent makers.
4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks .
5 When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia , Paul was compelled by the Spirit , testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ .
6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them , " Your blood be on your own heads ! I am clean . From now on , I will go to the Gentiles !"
7 He departed there and went into the house of a certain man named Justus , one who worshiped God , whose house was next door to the synagogue .
8 Crispus , the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house . Many of the Corinthians , when they heard, believed and were baptized.
9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision , "Don’ t be afraid , but speak and don’ t be silent ;
10 for I am with you , and no one will attack you to harm you , for I have many people in this city ."
11 He lived there a year and six months , teaching the word of God among them .
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
13 saying , " This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law ."
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth , Gallio said to the Jews , " If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime , you Jews , it would be reasonable that I should bear with you ;
15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law , look to it yourselves . For I don’ t want to be a judge of these matters ."
16 So he drove them from the judgment seat.
17 Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes , the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’ t care about any of these things .
18 Paul , having stayed after this many more days , took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria , together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow .
19 He came to Ephesus , and he left them there ; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews .
20 When they asked him to stay with them a longer time , he declined;
21 but taking his leave of them , he said , " I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills ." Then he set sail from Ephesus .
22 When he had landed at Caesarea , he went up and greeted the assembly , and went down to Antioch.
23 Having spent some time there , he departed and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia , in order , establishing all the disciples .
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race , an eloquent man , came to Ephesus . He was mighty in the Scriptures .
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord ; and being fervent in spirit , he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus , although he knew only the baptism of John .
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue . But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him , they took him aside , and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him ; and wrote to the disciples to receive him . When he had come , he greatly helped those who had believed through grace ;
28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews , publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ .