Acts 18:1-17

Founding the Corinthian Church

1 After this, he^[a] left from Athens and went to Corinth,

2 where he found a Jewish man named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius^[b] 41-54; he expelled all Jews from Rome in a.d. 49. had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul^[c] came to them,

3 and being of the same occupation, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with preaching the message^[d] and solemnly testified to the Jews that the Messiah is Jesus.

6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes^[e] and told them, "Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

7 So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed the Lord, along with his whole household; and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

9 Then the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, "Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking and don't be silent.

10 For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city."

11 And he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the judge's bench.

13 "This man," they said, "persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!"

14 And as Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of a crime or of moral evil, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

15 But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I don't want to be a judge of such things."

16 So he drove them from the judge's bench.

17 Then they all^[f] seized Sosthenes,^[g] the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judge's bench. But none of these things concerned Gallio.