22. But Saul became more and more powerful in proving that Jesus is the Messiah. His proofs were so strong that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not argue with him.
23. After many days, some Jews made plans to kill Saul.
24. They were watching the city gates day and night. They wanted to kill Saul, but he learned about their plan.
25. One night some followers that Saul had taught helped him leave the city. They put him in a basket and lowered it down through a hole in the city wall.
26. Then Saul went to Jerusalem. He tried to join the group of followers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe that he was really a follower of Jesus.
27. But Barnabas accepted Saul and took him to the apostles. He told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. Then he told them how boldly Saul had spoken for the Lord in Damascus.
28. And so Saul stayed with the followers and went all around Jerusalem speaking boldly for the Lord.
29. He often had arguments with the Greek-speaking Jews, who began making plans to kill him.
30. When the believers learned about this, they took Saul to Caesarea, and from there they sent him to the city of Tarsus.
31. The church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, these groups of believers became stronger in faith and showed their respect for the Lord by the way they lived. So the church everywhere grew in numbers.
32. Peter was traveling through all the areas around Jerusalem, and he stopped to visit the believers who lived in Lydda.