So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

保罗既看见这异象，我们随即想要往马其顿去，以为神召我们传福音给那里的人听。

保罗既看见这异象，我们就立即设法往马其顿去，认为上帝呼召我们传福音给那里的人。

保罗既看见这异象，我们就立即设法往马其顿去，认为神呼召我们传福音给那里的人。

保罗见了这个异象，确信是上帝呼召我们到马其顿去传福音，就立刻准备动身。

保罗见了这异象，我们就认定是神呼召我们去传福音给他们，于是立刻设法前往马其顿。

当保罗看见这异象之后，我们就认定是神召唤我们去传福音给他们，于是立刻设法前往马其顿省。

保羅既看見這異象，我們隨即想要往馬其頓去，以為神召我們傳福音給那裏的人聽。

保羅既看見這異象，我們就立即設法往馬其頓去，認為上帝呼召我們傳福音給那裏的人。

保羅既看見這異象，我們就立即設法往馬其頓去，認為神呼召我們傳福音給那裏的人。

保羅見了這個異象，確信是上帝呼召我們到馬其頓去傳福音，就立刻準備動身。

保羅見了這異象，我們就認定是神呼召我們去傳福音給他們，於是立刻設法前往馬其頓。

保羅既看見那異象，我們隨即想法子要往馬其頓去，推斷這是上帝呼召我們去向他們傳福音。

當保羅看見這異象之後，我們就認定是神召喚我們去傳福音給他們，於是立刻設法前往馬其頓省。

保羅見此異象、遂圖往馬其頓、蓋意主召我儕宣福音於彼也、○

保羅既見異象、吾儕意謂主召我傳福音於馬其頓、故欲往、

保羅既見異象、我儕欲往瑪其頓、以為天主召我儕傳福音於其地之人、

葆樂既見異象、乃知天主命吾儕傳福音於馬其頓、吾儕遂急圖一往。

After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia. We decided that God had called us to preach the good news there.

And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

When he had seen the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

And when he had seen the vision, straightway we sought to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel unto them.

After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them.

And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

After Paul saw the vision, we attempted immediately to go over to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them.

When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me.But I had no peace of mind because my dear brother Titus hadn’t yet arrived with a report from you. So I said good bye and went on to Macedonia to find him.

About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.

After saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, we sailed straight to the island of Cos. The next day we reached Rhodes and then went to Patara.There we boarded a ship sailing for Phoenicia.We sighted the island of Cyprus, passed it on our left, and landed at the harbor of Tyre, in Syria, where the ship was to unload its cargo.We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week. These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem.When we returned to the ship at the end of the week, the entire congregation, including women and children, left the city and came down to the shore with us. There we knelt, prayed,and said our farewells. Then we went aboard, and they returned home.The next stop after leaving Tyre was Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed for one day.The next day we went on to Caesarea and stayed at the home of Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven men who had been chosen to distribute food.He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy.Several days later a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea.He came over, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said,“ The Holy Spirit declares,‘ So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.’”When we heard this, we and the local believers all begged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.But he said,“ Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”When it was clear that we couldn’t persuade him, we gave up and said,“ The Lord’s will be done.”After this we packed our things and left for Jerusalem.Some believers from Caesarea accompanied us, and they took us to the home of Mnason, a man originally from Cyprus and one of the early believers.When we arrived, the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem welcomed us warmly.The next day Paul went with us to meet with James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say,“ Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.”

I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands.

And there they preached the Good News.

When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment.Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a ship whose home port was Adramyttium on the northwest coast of the province of Asia; it was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast of the province.The next day when we docked at Sidon, Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit with friends so they could provide for his needs.Putting out to sea from there, we encountered strong headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course, so we sailed north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland.Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of Lycia.There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board.We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past the cape of Salmone.We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.“ Men,” he said,“ I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on— shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.”But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul.And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor— a poor place to spend the winter— most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength( called a“ northeaster”) burst across the island and blew us out to sea.The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.We sailed along the sheltered side of a small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat being towed behind us.Then the sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship and were driven before the wind.The next day, as gale force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard.The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said,“ Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss.But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down.For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me,and he said,‘ Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said.But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”About midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria, the sailors sensed land was near.They dropped a weighted line and found that the water was 120 feet deep. But a little later they measured again and found it was only 90 feet deep.At this rate they were afraid we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship.But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers,“ You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.”So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat.“ You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,” he said.“ Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.”Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat—all 276 of us who were on board.After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard.When morning dawned, they didn’t recognize the coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to shore by running the ship aground.So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward shore.But they hit a shoal and ran the ship aground too soon. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break apart.The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape.But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta.The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us.As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand.The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other,“ A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days.As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him.Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.It was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island— an Alexandrian ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.Our first stop was Syracuse, where we stayed three days.From there we sailed across to Rhegium. A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the coast to Puteoli.There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.The brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged and thanked God.When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.

So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis.From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests.“ If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said,“ come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting,“ These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.”

Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him, while we traveled by ship.He joined us there, and we sailed together to Mitylene.The next day we sailed past the island of Kios. The following day we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day later we arrived at Miletus.

So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”

They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week.On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps.