King James Version · Under Rome
Acts 13
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Now there were in that was at certain and teachers; as , and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with , and . As they ministered to , and , the Ghost said, Separate me and for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had and , and on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Ghost, departed unto ; and from thence they sailed to . And when they were at , they preached the word of in the of the : and they had also to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto , they found a certain , a false , a , whose name was Bar–jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, , a prudent man; who called for and , and to hear the word of . But Elymas the (for so is his name by ) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the . Then , (who also is called ,) filled with the Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all , wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of ? And now, behold, the hand of is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a ; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, , being astonished at the doctrine of . Now when and his company loosed from , they came to in Pamphylia: and departing from them returned to . But when they departed from , they came to , and went into the on the , and sat down. And after the reading of and the of the sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that , give audience. The of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of , and with an high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in . And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of , he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until the . And afterward they a king: and gave unto them the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of , by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he up unto them to be their king; to whom also he gave , and said, I have found the son of , a man after mine own , which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man’s hath according to his promise unto Israel a , : When had first preached before his coming the of to all the people of Israel. And as fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of , and whosoever among you feareth , to you is the word of this sent. For they that at , and their , because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of which are read every , they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of in him, yet they that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a . But him from : And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from to , who are his unto the people. And we declare unto you , how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath up again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he him up from , now no more to return to corruption, he said on this , I will give you the sure of . Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine One to see corruption. For , after he had his own generation by the will of , fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of : And by him all that are from all things, from which ye could not be by of . Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in ; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and : for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no , though a man declare it unto you. And when the were gone out of the , the besought that these words might be preached to them the next . Now when was broken up, many of the and religious proselytes followed and : who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the of . And the next came almost the whole city together to hear the word of . But when the saw the , they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by , contradicting and blaspheming. Then and waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of , lo, we turn to the . For so hath commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a of the , that thou shouldest be for unto the ends of the earth. And when the heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of : and as many as were ordained to . And the word of was published throughout all the region. But the stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and persecution against and , and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off of their feet against them, and came unto . And were filled with joy, and with the Ghost.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.