From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God’s chosen people, who are living away from their land. You’re scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
From John. To the seven churches in the province of Asia. May you receive grace and peace from the one who is, and who was, and who is to come; from the seven spirits that are in front of God’s throne;
There he met a Jew named Aquila, who was originally from Pontus. Aquila had recently moved from Italy with his wife Priscilla after the emperor Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
Paul and his group traveled all through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, looking for a place to stop and preach the word. But the Holy Spirit didn’t let them stop there, or farther west in the province of Asia, either.
But members of a group called the Synagogue of the Freedmen began to oppose him. Some of them were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. Others were Jews from Cilicia and Asia. They all began to argue with Stephen.
The voice said, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the difficulties we went through in the province of Asia. We were in great distress—far more than we could stand. We even thought we were going to die.
The churches in the province of Asia send you their greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets in their house.
Also please greet the church that meets in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person in the province of Asia to believe in Christ.
Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus because didn’t want to spend too much time in the province of Asia. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem because he wanted to be there if possible by the day of Pentecost.
Our work is in danger of losing its good name, and the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be abandoned. Now she is worshiped all over our province and in the whole world, but soon people may not treat her as a goddess anymore.”
Stephen replied, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still living near the Euphrates River, before he moved to Harran.
Several men went with him. They were Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.
The seven days of cleansing were almost over when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They grabbed him and stirred up the whole crowd,
I had already been made pure and clean in the Jewish way when they found me offering sacrifices in the temple courtyard. There was no crowd with me, and I wasn’t stirring up any trouble.
We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia. When we headed out to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, came with us.