In the neighborhood of this place were the estates of the chief man of the island, Publius by name, who invited us in and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius was lying sick with a fever and dysentery, and Paul went in to him and prayed and laid his hands upon him and healed him. When that happened the other people on the island who had sicknesses came to him and were treated; and they honored us with many honors, and when we sailed away they gave us all that we needed.
After three months we sailed aboard an Alexandrian ship which had wintered at the island. It carried the insignia of Castor and Pollux. And we went to Syracuse and stayed there three days, and removing from there proceeded to Rhegium. And after one day, with the arrival of a south wind, we reached Puteoli on the second day. There we found brothers, and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we went to Rome. And from Rome the brothers, who had heard about us, came out to meet us as far as the Appian Forum, and the Three Taverns; and when he saw them Paul gave thanks to God, and took courage.
When we entered Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
It happened that after three days he called together those who were the chief men among the Jews; and when they were gathered together he said to them: Men and brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or contrary to the laws of our fathers, I was turned over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans; who after interrogating me wanted to set me free because there was nothing in my case that deserved death. But when the Jews objected I was forced to appeal to Caesar, though not as one who had any charge to bring against my own people. For this reason I have invited you, to see you and to talk with you; because it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains. They said to him: We have received no letters about you from Judaea, nor has any of the brothers arrived and reported or spoken any evil of you. But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that people everywhere speak against it.
Then they agreed on a day with him and came to him at his lodgings in greater numbers, and he lectured to them from dawn until evening, testifying to the Kingdom of God and trying to persuade them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. And some were persuaded by what was said, and others would not believe; and they broke up, at variance with each other, as Paul said one thing to them: Well did the Holy Spirit speak through the prophet Isaiah to your fathers, saying: Go to this people and say: With your hearing you shall hear and not understand, and you shall use your sight and look but not see. For the heart of this people is stiffened, and they hear with difficulty, and they have closed their eyes; so that they may never see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, and with their hearts understand and tum back, so that I can heal them.
Let it be known to you that this salvation of God was sent forth to the Gentiles; and they will listen.
He remained a full two years, in his own rented place, and he received all who came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, quite openly, without any interference.
LETTERS
The Letter to the Romans
1PAUL, THE SLAVE OF JESUS CHRIST, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which God proclaimed through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was born, in the way of the flesh, from the seed of David; but who is declared to be the son of God in power, which is according to the spirit of sanctity, by his resurrection from the dead; Jesus Christ our Lord, from whom we have received grace, and the rank of apostle to make the faith obeyed among all the nations for the sake of his name; among which nations you also are called by Jesus Christ; to all who in Rome are the beloved of God, chosen saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
First I thank my God through Jesus Christ concerning all of you, that your faith is proclaimed through all the world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his son, is my witness how constantly I make mention of you always in my prayers, asking if somehow at last I may be guided by the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening, that is, for you to be comforted among yourselves through our faith in each other, yours and mine. I do not wish you not to realize, brothers, that I have often proposed to come to you (but I have been prevented until now), so that I may make some harvesting among you as among the rest of the nations. To Greeks and Barbarians, wise and unwise, I am indebted; thus for my part I am eager to bring the gospel to you in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, Jew and Greek; since the justice of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, as it is written: The righteous man shall live by faith.
For from heaven is revealed the anger of God against all the impiety and unrighteousness of people who in their unrighteousness suppress the truth; since what can be known about God is plain to them because God made it plain to them. Since the creation of the world, what is his and invisible, his eternal power and divinity, has been perceived by the mind through what he has made, so that they have no excuse; because, while knowing God, they did not glorify or thank him as God, but they were beguiled in their reasonings and their uncomprehending hearts were made dark. They thought that they were wise but they were fools, and they gave up the glory of imperishable God in exchange for the likeness of an image, of perishable man, or of creatures that fly and walk on all fours and crawl.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to immorality, to the disgracing of their own bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is to be praised forevermore. Amen. Because of this God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. For their females changed their natural relations into what is against nature; and so likewise the males, forsaking the natural intercourse with the female, were inflamed with desire for each other, males for males, acting shamefully and receiving the retribution due them for their misguided ways. And as they did not see fit to keep God in mind, so God delivered them over to a state of mind that was unworthy, and to unbecoming conduct; being filled with every wrong, wickedness, greed, badness; stuffed with envy bloodthirstiness contentiousness treachery malignity; whisperers gossips god haters violent proud pretentious; devisers of evil, disobedient to parents; mindless faithless loveless pitiless; who though they knew well about the verdict of God, that those who do such things deserve death, nevertheless not only do them but encourage others who do.
11 Thus you, whoever you are, who are human, and judge, have no defense. In judging another you convict yourself, for you who judge do the same thing; but we know that the judgment of God is truly against those who do such things. Then you, who are human, and judge those who do such things while you do them yourself, do you count on escaping the jud^nent of God? Or do you misunderstand the wealth of his goodness and forbearance and patience, not realizing that the goodness of God means to lead you to repentance? Through your hardness and your unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself anger on the day of anger and the revelation of the righteous jud^nent of God, who will give to each according to his actions: to those who, through steadfastness in doing good, strive for glory and honor and incorruptibility, he will give everlasting life; but for those who out of contentiousness are disobedient to the truth but obey unrighteousness there shall be rage and anger, affliction and anguish for every soul of a man who does evil, Jew first, but also Greek; but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, Jew first, but also Greek, for there is no discrimination with God.