Jerusalem

and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”

You can verify for yourself that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.

Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem,

to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove.

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these charges?”

While I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented their case and requested a judgment against him.

Since I was at a loss as to how to investigate these matters, I asked if he was willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.

Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.

Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.

After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints there.

For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,

Then, on my arrival, I will send letters with those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels