Paul went to the city called Corinth

1After that, Paul left Athens, and he went to a city called Corinth.

2In Corinth, he met a Jewish man and his wife. His name was Aquila, and her name was Priscilla. Aquila was born in a country called Pontus, but he used to live in a city called Rome. Before this time, the big boss in Rome, called Claudius, told all the Jewish people to get out of Rome. So Aquila and Priscilla left Rome and went to live in Corinth.

3Aquila and Priscilla made tents. That was their work. And Paul made tents too, so he stayed with them in Corinth, and they worked together.

4Every Saturday the Jews in Corinth met together in the Jewish meeting house there. Paul met with them there too. He talked a lot with those Jewish people, and he talked to the Greek people there too. He tried to get them to believe in Jesus.

5Then Silas and Timothy came to Corinth from Macedonia country, and after that, Paul spent all of his time telling God’s good news to the Jewish people. He told them, “Jesus is the Christ, the man that God promised to send to save us.”

6But those Jewish people wouldn’t listen to Paul, and they said bad things about him. So Paul shook the dirt from his clothes, to show them that they were wrong, and he said to them, “I told you God’s good news, but you didn’t listen. So you can’t blame me for anything that happens to you now. You can only blame yourselves. From now on, I will go and tell God’s word to the people that are not Jews.”

7So Paul stopped going to the Jewish meeting house, and he moved to live with a man that was not a Jew, but he respected God. His name was Titius Justus, and he lived in the house next door to the Jewish meeting house.

8Another man, Crispus, was the boss of the Jewish meeting house. Crispus and everyone in his family believed in Jesus. And a lot of other people in Corinth heard Paul talk about Jesus, and they believed in him too. So the other Christians baptised them all in water.

9One night, Paul had something like a dream, and our leader Jesus said to him, “Don’t be frightened, but keep on telling the people in this city about me. Don’t stop talking about me.

10I am with you, and nobody will attack you. Nobody will hurt you. You see, I’ve got a lot of people in this city.”

11So Paul kept on teaching God’s word to people in Corinth. He stayed there and did that for one and a half years.

A Roman boss didn’t judge Paul

12Later on, a new man became the Roman boss over Corinth, and of the country around it, called Akaya. That new boss’s name was Gallio. The Jewish leaders got together, and they grabbed Paul, and they took him to the judge’s seat in the court house of that new boss. They blamed Paul,

13and they told that boss, “This man is teaching people wrong. He is telling them to break our Jewish law. He is telling them the wrong way to show respect to God.”

14Then Paul got up to talk, but Gallio said, “Wait.” And he said to the Jewish leaders, “I will not listen to you mob. You are only arguing about words, and names, and your own Jewish laws. I will not judge those Jewish things. You mob look after that yourselves. This man didn’t do anything bad, and he didn’t break our Roman law, so I will not listen to you.”

16Then Gallio sent those Jewish leaders away from the judge’s seat.

17There were people watching that court, and they grabbed the leader of a Jewish meeting house. His name was Sosthenes. They beat him up right there in front of the judge’s seat. Gallio saw them hitting him, but he didn’t do anything to stop them.

Priscilla and Aquila went to Ephesus with Paul

18Paul kept on living in Corinth for some time, then he said goodbye to the Christians there, and he went to the town called Centria, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him. After they got to Centria, Paul cut all the hair off his head. You see, at some time before this, Paul made a strong promise to God, and then at this time, he did what he promised to do. And in Jewish culture, after people finish doing what they promise to God, they cut off their hair. After that, Paul got on a ship to go to Syria country, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him.

19That ship stopped half-way, at a town called Ephesus. They got off that ship there, and Paul went into the Jewish meeting house in Ephesus, and he talked to the Jewish people there. They asked him to stay there longer, but he said, “No, sorry, I’ve got to say goodbye and keep going. But if God wants me to come back here one day, I will come back.” Then he got on a ship to go to Syria country, and he sailed away from Ephesus. But Priscilla and Aquila stayed there.

Paul went to Jerusalem, then to other places

22Paul stayed on that ship until he got to the town called Caesarea. Then he left the ship, and he kept going by road to Jerusalem city, and he said hello to the Christians there. Then he went north to Antioch, a city in Syria country.

23Paul spent some time with the Christians in Antioch, then he left and went again to Galatia and Frigia countries. He taught the Christians in those places more about Jesus, to make them strong for him.

Priscilla and Aquila told Apollos more about Jesus

24At that time, there was a Jewish man living in a town called Alexandria. His name was Apollos. Somebody there taught him some things about Jesus. He could talk really good, and he knew God’s book properly, and he liked to teach people about Jesus. He taught them the things he knew, but he didn’t know the whole story about Jesus. He only knew the message John the Baptiser taught to people. Apollos went to Ephesus, and he went to the Jewish meeting house there, and he talked strongly to everyone, and he told them all the things that he knew about Jesus. Priscilla and Aquila heard him talk, and they said to him, “Come with us, and we will tell you more about Jesus.” So he went with them, and they told him the rest of the story about Jesus, and they told him how God saves people.

Apollos helped the Christians in Akaya country

27Later on, Apollos told the other Christians in Ephesus, “I want to go to Akaya country.” They said, “That’s good. You go there.” And they wrote a letter to the Christians in Akaya, and told them, “Be friendly to Apollos.” So Apollos went to the city called Corinth in Akaya country. Before that time, God was good to some of the Corinth people, and he helped them believe in Jesus. After Apollos got to Corinth, he really helped those new Christians there.

28But some of the Jewish leaders didn’t believe in Jesus, so Apollos argued strongly with them all the time. And he talked to everyone, showing them that God’s book tells us about the man that God promised to send to save us, the man that is called the Christ. And he showed them that Jesus is that man.