Acts 18:11-19

¹¹So Paul stayed in Corinth for one and a half years, teaching God’s word to people.

¹²Later a man called Gallio became the new Roman boss of that country called Achaia. The Jewish leaders agreed together about what they wanted to do, then they grabbed Paul and took him to the courtroom of that new boss. They blamed Paul,

¹³and told the boss, “This man is teaching people wrong. He is telling them to break our Jewish law. He is telling them the wrong way to show respect for God.”

¹⁴Then Paul got up to talk, but Gallio said, “Wait.” And he said to the Jews, “I will not listen to you mob. If this man did something bad, or if he broke our Roman law, then I will listen to you.

¹⁵But you are only arguing about words, and names, and your own Jewish laws, so I will not listen to you. I will not judge these Jewish things. You mob look after that yourselves.”

¹⁶Then Gallio threw those Jewish leaders out of the courtroom.

¹⁷Then the people there grabbed the leader of the Jewish meeting house, called Sosthenes, and they beat him up right there in front of the courthouse. Gallio saw them hitting him, but he didn’t do anything to stop them.

¹⁸Paul kept on living with the Christians in Corinth for some time, then he said goodbye to them and went to the town called Cenchrea. Priscilla and Aquila went with Paul. Then Paul cut all the hair off his head. You see, Paul made a strong promise to God, and in their culture, after they do that they cut their hair off.

¹⁹Then Paul and Priscilla and Aquila got on a ship and went to a town called Ephesus. They got off that ship there. Paul went into the Jewish meeting house in Ephesus and talked to the Jews there. They asked him to stay there longer, but he said, “No, sorry, I’ve got to say goodbye and keep going. But I will come back here one day, if God wants me to.” Then, he got on a ship and sailed away from that town. But Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus.