Acts 28:13-31

¹³Then we traveled on by ship and arrived at Rhegium port in Italy. The next day, the wind was blowing from behind us, so we sailed along fast. The day after that, we reached Puteoli town, where we left the ship.

¹⁴In Puteoli we met some believers who invited us to stay with them for a week. After visiting them, we left there and started to travel by land to Rome.

¹⁵A group of believers who lived in Rome had heard that we (exc) were coming. So they came out from Rome to meet us. Some of them met us at the town called ❛The Market on Appian Road❜, and others met us at the town called ❛The Three Inns❜. When Paul saw those believers, he thanked God and was encouraged.

¹⁶After we (exc) arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted { a Roman official who was responsible for guarding Paul permitted Paul} to live in a house by himself. But there was always a soldier there to guard him.

¹⁷After Paul had been there three days, he sent a message to the Jewish leaders to come and talk with him. So they came, and Paul said to them, “My fellow Jews, although I have not opposed our people nor spoken against the customs of our ancestors, our leaders in Jerusalem seized MTY me. But before they could kill me, a Roman commander rescued me and later sent me to Caesarea for Roman authorities/officials to put me on trial.

¹⁸The Roman authorities/officials questioned me and wanted to release me, because I had not done any bad thing for which I should be executed {they should kill me}.

¹⁹But when the Jewish leaders SYN there opposed what the Roman authorities wanted to do, I had to formally request that the Emperor judge me here in Rome. But my reason for doing that was not that I wanted to accuse our leaders about anything.

²⁰So I have requested you to come here so that I can tell you why I am a prisoner. It is because I believe in MTY our Messiah, the one God long ago promised to send to us (inc) Jews.”

²¹Then the Jewish leaders said, “We (exc) have not received any letters from our fellow Jews in Judea about you. Also, none of our fellow Jews who have arrived here from Judea has said anything bad about you.

²²But we (exc) want to hear what you (sg) think about this Christian sect/group, because we know that in many places HYP bad things are being said {people are saying bad things} about it.”

²³So they talked with Paul and decided that they would come back on another day to hear him. When that day arrived, those Jews came back to the place where Paul was staying, and they brought more Jews with them. Paul talked to them from morning until evening. He talked to them about how God wants to rule people's lives MET. He tried to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah by reminding them what Moses and the other prophets had written MTY.

²⁴Some of those Jews believed that what was said by Paul {what Paul said} about Jesus was true, but others did not believe that it was true.

²⁵So they began to argue with one another. Paul realized that some of them did not want to listen to him, so when they were about to leave, he said, “The Holy Spirit said something to your/our(incl) ancestors. He spoke these words to Isaiah the prophet, and what he said is also true about you:

²⁶Go to your fellow Israelites and tell them, ‘You repeatedly listen to the message of God, but you never understand what God is saying. You repeatedly look at and see the things that God is doing, but you never understand what they mean.

²⁷God also said to the prophet, These people do not understand, because they have become stubborn. They have ears, but they do not understand what they hear, and they have closed their eyes because they do not want to see. If they wanted to obey what I say to them, they might understand what they see me doing and what they hear me saying. Then they might turn from their sinful behavior and I would save them.’

²⁸That is what God said to the prophet Isaiah about our ancestors. But you Jews today do not want to believe God's message. Therefore, I am telling you that God has sent to the non-Jews this message about how he saves people, and they will listen and accept it!”

³⁰For two whole years Paul stayed there in a house that he rented. Many people came to see him, and he received them all gladly and talked with them.

³¹He preached and taught people about how God could rule their lives MET and taught them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He did that without being afraid, and no one tried to stop him.