The Bible in Poetry: The Acts of the Apostles 5

 

Extracted from the Bible In Poetry

From Genesis to Revelation

The Acts of the Apostles 5


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They sailed over the sea of Cilicia and then along to Pamphylia,
Then they came to Myra and there found a ship of Alexandria;
Sailing along to Italy they were told of coming danger by Paul,
Preferring to hear from the captain they did not heed Paul at all.

Seeing no sun for many days they came upon a frightful storm,
Paul breaking his silence reminded them of what he had warned;
The angel of the Lord whom I fear he said, tells us not to fear,
“There will be no loss of life,” said He, “so do be of good cheer.”
  
Paul must be brought before Caesar; God a promise had made,
Nothing can change the word of God or from His will evade;
Paul took charge of the situation and told them all to take meat,
Fourteen days they had taken nothing now they needed to eat.

Paul took bread and gave thanks in the presence of them all,
They took bread and then did eat; they responded to his call;
There were in that ship over two hundred and seventy souls,
They were forced to jettison food; saving lives was their goal.

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Finally the ship was run aground; no way it could be moved,
Halting where two seas had met it was now stuck in a groove;
They wanted to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away,
The centurion wanting to save Paul kept them from that idea.

Those that were able to swim cast themselves into the surf,
Others used pieces of board and they too attained dry earth;
And so it had come to pass that they all escaped safe to land,
It was really by the hand of God not by the savvy of any man.

Melita was that known island, the land to which they escaped,
Paul while bending by the fire was stung by a venomous snake;
The barbarians thought as they saw it hang from the apostle’s hand,
Though Paul had escaped the sea he had to be a murderous man.
 

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Paul shook the snake in the fire; it had done his hand no harm;
The barbarians saw him as a god possessing abundant charm;
The chief of that same island was a man by name of Publius,
To all them that were shipwrecked he had been very courteous.

His father lay sick with a fever for he had contracted dysentery,
Paul prayed and laid hands upon him and rid him of his misery;
Many more sufferers on the island with divers sorts of disease,
Coming to the apostle believing from their sickness were healed.

Aboard another ship of Alexandria Paul continued on his cruise,
Again traversing the high seas and the next stop was Syracuse;
From there they sailed to Rhegium and on to Puteoli next day,
Spent seven days with the brethren and then were on their way.
 
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Finally they came to Rome after a hazardous trip long and hard,
The centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard;
Paul was not kept with the others; a soldier guarded him alone,
The moment that he had long awaited, Paul had come to Rome.

Calling the chief of the Jews together he made an appeal to them,
He spoke about his innocence; about his treatment in Jerusalem;
As a result of this injustice, with Caesar he sought an audience
But they had received no letters; there was not a single reference.

On the day they had appointed he had spoken concerning Jesus,
Both of the Law of Moses and the prophets, especially Esaias;
He had spoken to them in detail; from morning until the evening,
Some of them would heed his word but some did not believe him.

Hearts of them were waxed gross and ears were dull of hearing,
Rejecting God’s word from the very start they had no understanding;
With the Gentiles it will be different; they will listen to the word,
About Jesus’ love and faithfulness, they will be glad they heard.
  
When Paul had spoken these words that’s when they went away,
After reasoning among themselves they had nothing more to say;
But Paul had continued to preach the word of God with confidence,
For two whole years he preached given every available instance.


Stewart Russell © 2013

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