Acts 9:2

“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”

Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”

and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil;

Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?”

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

A revelation. Yahweh’s word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh;

and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”

They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

“For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed,

For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.

He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.

For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.

You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, with all of its plunder, to Yahweh your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

From Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took a great quantity of bronze.

That your way may be known on earth, and your salvation among all nations,

For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people.

For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.

But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.

“Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath (and they shall have their sides east and west), Dan, one portion.

but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.

“All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren’t they Jerusalem?

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles.

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

and laid hands on the apostles, then put them in public custody.

They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,

But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.

He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the assemblies.

“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today.

When the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. When he understood that he was from Cilicia, he said,

When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.

But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”

When they had appointed him a day, many people came to him at his lodging. He explained to them, testifying about God’s Kingdom, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening.

not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;

I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day

Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

He turned their heart to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.

The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.

“Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As Yahweh lives.’

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!”

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”

Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.

She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.

But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.

As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross.

But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them.

that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.

But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him,

Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.

Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.

When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.

When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands on him,

Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

But this I confess to you, that after the Way, which they call a sect, so I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets;

But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.”

to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus, and lived there, and reigned in Damascus.

then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

Of Damascus: “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news. They have melted away. There is sorrow on the sea. It can’t be quiet.

“ ‘ “Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer Hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

and they bound him, and led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.

More believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.

The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,

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.

asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem; plotting to kill him on the way.

“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,

He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.