The Apostle Paul’s Social Media Account

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus · Damascus
Guys, I was heading to Damascus, and you’ll never believe this. You know that guy Jesus whose name I’ve been trying to stamp out among those "Christians?" HE APPEARED TO ME! Seriously! I was totally blind for like three days but now I can see, and I know God wants me to preach about Jesus now! Sorry, I just can’t do the Pharisee thing any more.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
Saul. Buddy. You were on a dusty road at noon in the Syrian sun with no hat and you’d been "breathing threats" for weeks straight. That’s heatstroke, not a vision.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Did anyone with him actually see this "Jesus"? Because I talked to two of the guys in his travel party and they said they heard something but saw nobody. Interesting how the only eyewitness is the guy who went blind.

 Office of the High Priest @TempleAuthority_Official
For clarity: the letters of authorization issued to Saul of Tarsus for the Damascus synagogues are hereby REVOKED. Any synagogue receiving him should contact Jerusalem immediately.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Totally fair, I wasn’t going to use them anyway 😅

 Office of the High Priest @TempleAuthority_Official
This account will not be engaging further.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
"Hanged on a tree is cursed of God." Deuteronomy 21:23. You quoted that verse at my cousin’s synagogue LAST MONTH as proof this man couldn’t be Messiah. What changed, the verse or you?

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Working on a thread about that actually. Short version: what if he became a curse for us?

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
That is the most Pharisee sentence I have ever read and somehow also the most heretical.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
Deuteronomy 13 is very clear. If a prophet or dreamer arises and gives you a sign, and the sign comes to pass, but he leads you after another god, you shall not listen to him. The LORD is testing you. A blinding light is precisely the kind of sign the Torah warns us about. Please speak with me before you speak in my synagogue.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Respectfully, Rabbi, I’m not following another god. Same God of Abraham. I’m just saying the Messiah came.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
Then where is the peace? Where is the Temple restored? Where are the exiles gathered? Where is Rome? The Messiah does things, Saul. He doesn’t just die.

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Remember when you used to correct everyone’s halakha in the study hall? You were "advancing beyond many of your own age." Now you’re taking spiritual direction from a guy named Ananias who your own warrant had his name on.

 Tobiah @TobiahTheTentmaker
wait the guy he was coming to ARREST is the one who healed him?? that’s actually kind of a crazy plot twist ngl

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Tobiah don’t help

 Shimon ben Gamaliel @ShimonBG
My father once said that if this movement is of men it will fail on its own, and if it’s of God we can’t stop it. I don’t think he meant "so go join it." Please call home. Abba is very confused.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
Of course. Another one goes soft. Rome is crucifying our people by the hundreds and the response is "love your enemies"? A "messiah" who got killed by the occupiers is the occupiers’ favorite kind of messiah.

 Deborah of Tarsus @DeborahHomeTown
Tarsus gave you the best education in the empire and THIS is what you do with it. Your mother is not taking calls.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Honestly the saddest part is he’ll probably keep the zeal and just point it somewhere new. Give it a year and he’ll be writing angry letters to people telling them THEY’RE the ones who got it wrong.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
…

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
I’m not going to dignify that.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Galatians, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry in advance.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Not Jewish-as-in-opposed here, Jewish-as-in-one-of-the-Christians-you-arrested. Some of us are going to need a minute before we believe this isn’t an elaborate sting operation.

 Barnabas @SonOfEncouragement
I’ll vouch for him. Give him a chance.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Barnabas you vouch for everyone

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus · Damascus
Update: preached in the synagogues here this week. Some people are listening! Also some people are VERY upset. Taking a little break to think and pray. Heading to Arabia for a while. Not running away, just processing. 🙏

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
"Some people are listening." Saul, three of them were Greeks who wandered in looking for the bathhouse.

 Lysias of Corinth @LysiasTheGreek
In fairness the man is very compelling. I came in for directions and stayed for an hour. Still not sure what a "Messiah" is.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
That’s exactly the problem.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
"Arabia." Nobody goes to Arabia to pray. People go to Arabia when Jerusalem wants to talk to them.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Mount Sinai is in Arabia, Yehudah. Moses went there. Elijah went there. Maybe I need to go back to where the Law was given and figure out what it was pointing at.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
Comparing yourself to Moses and Elijah in the same week you abandoned the Pharisees is a choice.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Still waiting on that thread about Deuteronomy 21:23, by the way.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
It’s turning into more of a letter.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Of course it is.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Okay, let’s do this properly since he keeps posting Isaiah 53 at people. "He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows." Read the context. Isaiah 41, 44, 49: "You are my servant, Israel." The suffering servant is the nation. Our people, crushed by the empires, bearing the sins of the nations around us. Ripping one chapter out and pasting a Galilean carpenter into it is not exegesis. It’s arts and crafts.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
What if the servant is Israel, and the Messiah is Israel reduced to one faithful person?

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
I hate that this is interesting.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
It’s still wrong. But I hate that it’s interesting.

 Rabbi Akiva’s Great-Grandfather @NotFamousYet
The resurrection of the dead happens at the END of the age. ALL the righteous rise together. That’s the whole point. One guy getting up early isn’t "resurrection," it’s cutting in line.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Firstfruits. The rest of the harvest is coming.

 Rabbi Akiva’s Great-Grandfather @NotFamousYet
Then where’s the harvest, Saul? I’m looking out my window. Same Romans. Same taxes. Same graves.

 Caiaphas Fan Account @SadduceeSolidarity
Hilarious watching Pharisees argue about which resurrection is the real one when there is no resurrection. It’s not in the Torah. Read Moses. This is what happens when you add traditions.

 Shimon ben Gamaliel @ShimonBG
Not now, Sadducees.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Not now, Sadducees.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Genuinely not now, Sadducees.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
Let me guess. Next he says the Law is done. No more circumcision, no more kosher, Gentiles walk right in and eat pork at our table. Mark my words.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
I would never say the Law is bad.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
That’s not what I asked.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
🙏

 Damascus Daily @DamascusDailyNews
BREAKING: Reports of a man being lowered over the city wall in a large basket at night. City gates had been watched for several days at the request of the governor under King Aretas. More as it develops.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
I wonder who that could be.

 Tobiah @TobiahTheTentmaker
wait was that him?? he escaped in a BASKET?? the guy who used to drag people out of their houses for prison??

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Tobiah. Please.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
I have no comment, but if I ever make a list of my accomplishments, this will be on it, and it will not be in the impressive column.

 Deborah of Tarsus @DeborahHomeTown
Your mother would like to know if you are eating.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Update from Jerusalem: he’s here. He wants to meet the apostles. Most of us are hiding behind Barnabas.

 Barnabas @SonOfEncouragement
He’s fine! He’s staying with Peter for two weeks. They’re getting along great.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Peter says he talks a LOT.

 Simon Peter @TheRockGalilee
In fairness I also talk a lot.

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Some of us remember standing outside the city with him when Stephen was stoned. He held the coats. He nodded along. And now we’re supposed to believe he’s been preaching that same man’s message in Damascus? Either he lied to us then or he’s lying to us now.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
I wasn’t lying then. I was wrong then. There’s a difference, and I’ll carry it the rest of my life.

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
…

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Deleted my reply. Still think you’re wrong. But okay.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
Final word from me. Saul, I don’t doubt you saw something. I doubt what you think it means. The Shema still says the LORD is one. If this road leads you away from that, it is the wrong road, however bright the light was.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
For us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are, and one Lord, Jesus Messiah, through whom all things are. Still the Shema, Rabbi. I’m just reading it with new eyes. Literally.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
We’ll be arguing about that sentence for two thousand years.

 Saul of Tarsus @SaulBenjamin_Tarsus
Probably!

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations · Antioch
Some of you have asked why I publicly called out Cephas at the church meal last night. Thread. 🧵

1/ When Cephas first came to Antioch, he ate with the Gentile believers. Same table, same bread, no problem.

2/ Then some men arrived from James in Jerusalem. Suddenly Cephas moved to another table. Then the other Jewish believers followed him. Then EVEN BARNABAS.

3/ So I said it to his face, in front of everyone: if you, a Jew, have been living like a Gentile, how can you now force Gentiles to live like Jews?

4/ We are made right with God through the faithfulness of Messiah, not by works of the Law. If righteousness came through the Law, then Messiah died for nothing.

5/ That’s it. That’s the thread. I love Cephas. He was wrong.

 Handle Change Watch @WhoChangedTheirNameNow
@SaulBenjamin_Tarsus is now @PaulApostleToTheNations

 Deborah of Tarsus @DeborahHomeTown
We named you after the first king of Israel and you went with the Latin word for "small." Your mother has seen this.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I am the least of the apostles. It’s on brand.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
I SAID THIS. Page one. I said he’d have Jews and Gentiles eating at the same table within the year. Nobody listened. Screenshot this.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
Credit where it’s due. You called it.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
Next he says circumcision doesn’t matter. Watch.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. What counts is a new creation.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
I am going to start charging for these predictions.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
Let me be the boring voice of reason. The dietary laws were given to Israel to make us holy, which means set apart. You cannot be set apart and also eat everything with everyone. That’s not a technicality, Paul. That’s the covenant. The food is how the nations know we belong to God.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
And Abraham was counted righteous before he was circumcised, Rabbi. The promise came first. The nations were always meant to be blessed in him.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
Blessed through Israel. Not by Israel dissolving into them.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
This is the actual argument and everyone should read it twice.

 Simon Peter @TheRockGalilee
Yes, he said it in front of everybody. Yes, it was embarrassing. Yes, he was mostly right. No, I don’t want to talk about the rooster thing again.

 Tobiah @TobiahTheTentmaker
what rooster thing

 Simon Peter @TheRockGalilee
Nothing. Different time. Go to bed, Tobiah.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Speaking for some of the Jerusalem folks: nobody "sent" anyone to spy. James just wanted the brothers to check on how things were going. Some of us still keep the Law, and we’re still Jews. Following Messiah didn’t make us stop being Israel. Paul doesn’t get to decide that for us.

 James the Just @JamesBrotherOfTheLord
Let’s not do this on here. Let’s talk in Jerusalem.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I’ll be there. Bringing Titus. 👀

 James the Just @JamesBrotherOfTheLord
Paul.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Honestly this is the most coherent thing I’ve seen from the Jesus people. They can’t agree with each other on whether to keep Torah, but they all agree the rest of us should be persuaded. Get your house in order before you knock on mine.

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
In fairness to them, Hillel and Shammai argued for an entire generation and we called it scholarship.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Hillel and Shammai never claimed a dead man settled the argument.

 Barnabas @SonOfEncouragement
I made a mistake at that table and I’ve owned it. But I’d ask everyone to remember we’re still on the same side.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
We are! Love you, brother. Ready for the next trip? I was thinking we revisit the cities from last time.

 Barnabas @SonOfEncouragement
Great! I’ll bring John Mark.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
The one who abandoned us in Pamphylia?

 Barnabas @SonOfEncouragement
He deserves a second chance. You of all people should know about second chances.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
That’s different.

 Antioch Community Board @AntiochNeighbors
Update: Barnabas and John Mark have sailed for Cyprus. Paul has left for Syria and Cilicia with Silas. Both parties describe the split as "a sharp disagreement." Please stop asking the deacons which one is right.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
Two years ago he was blind on a road. Now he’s fought with the Rock AND the Son of Encouragement in the same season. Remarkable stamina.

 Rabbi Akiva’s Great-Grandfather @NotFamousYet
"Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity." Psalm 133. Just putting it out there.

 Galatia Regional Group @GalatianBelievers
Hi, some teachers came through here saying we need to be circumcised to really belong. Some of the men are scheduling appointments. Paul, any thoughts?

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
O foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you?

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
Full response coming by letter. Writing the end of it myself. You’ll recognize it by the large letters.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Called it. Page one. "Angry letters." I said Galatians was in trouble.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
Welcome to the prediction business, Eleazar.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
Also, regarding those teachers who are so eager about the knife, I have a suggestion for them. It’ll be in the letter.

 Simon Peter @TheRockGalilee
Brother, maybe don’t put that one in writing.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
Too late. Galatians 5:12. It’s canon now.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations · Caesarea
Heading up to Jerusalem for Pentecost with the offering from the Gentile churches. Some prophets here are saying I’ll be bound and handed over. Agabus literally tied himself up with my belt to demonstrate. I’m ready not only to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. See you all soon! 🙏

 Luke the Physician @DrLukeAntioch
For the record, we all begged him not to go. Noting this for the account I’m writing.

 Tobiah @TobiahTheTentmaker
he used a belt as a visual aid?? these people are so dramatic

 James the Just @JamesBrotherOfTheLord
Welcome home, brother. Quick thing. There are rumors you teach Jews to abandon Moses and stop circumcising their sons. Four men here are completing a Nazirite vow. Go with them, purify yourself, pay their expenses. Then everyone will know the rumors are false.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
Done. To the Jews I became as a Jew.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
So he keeps Torah when it’s useful. Noted.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I keep it because I’m a Jew, Miriam. I just don’t think it’s the price of admission for anyone else.

 Temple Watch Asia @AsianJewsForTheTemple
URGENT: The man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, the Law, and this place is IN THE TEMPLE. We saw him in the city with Trophimus the Ephesian. He has brought Greeks past the barrier and defiled the holy place!

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I did NOT bring Trophimus into the Temple. You saw us walking in the street.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
I believe him on this one, for what it’s worth. But Paul, you have spent fifteen years telling Gentiles they have full access to God without the Law. You can’t be shocked that people assume you also gave them access to the inner court.

 Tribune Claudius Lysias @CohortCommander_Jerusalem
The whole city was in an uproar and the crowd was beating a man, so we took him into custody. I asked if he was the Egyptian who led four thousand assassins into the desert. He replied in excellent Greek. Then he asked to address the crowd. I said yes. That was a mistake.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
They were quiet for his whole speech. Then he said "God sent me to the Gentiles" and they started throwing dust in the air. You should’ve cut him off at "I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel."

 Tribune Claudius Lysias @CohortCommander_Jerusalem
Update: we stretched him out to be flogged and examined, and THEN he asks the centurion if it’s legal to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t been condemned. I paid a fortune for my citizenship. He says he was born one. Anyway, he’s not being flogged.

 Deborah of Tarsus @DeborahHomeTown
His father worked very hard for that citizenship and it is good to see it used.

 Shimon ben Gamaliel @ShimonBG
Was at the Sanhedrin hearing. Paul looked around, saw half the council were Sadducees and half were Pharisees, and shouted "I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees, and I’m on trial concerning the resurrection of the dead!" The room immediately split. Pharisees started defending him. The Romans had to physically extract him.

 Caiaphas Fan Account @SadduceeSolidarity
Cheap trick.

 Former Student of Gamaliel @HillelHouseAlum
Cheap, yes. Effective, also yes. He always did know where the fault lines were.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
"I can’t do the Pharisee thing anymore." Page one. Apparently he can when he needs to.

 The Forty @OathboundForty
We, the undersigned, have bound ourselves by an oath not to eat or drink until we have killed Paul.

 Paul’s Nephew @SonOfPaulsSister
Just told the tribune about your little ambush plan. He’s sending him to Caesarea tonight with 470 soldiers. Thought you should know.

 The Forty @OathboundForty
…

 Rabbi Akiva’s Great-Grandfather @NotFamousYet
Vows made in haste may be annulled by a court of three. Please. Eat something.

 Governor Felix @Felix_ProcuratorJudea
After hearing the case, I’ve decided to keep the prisoner in Caesarea while I learn more about the Way. He and I have had several conversations. He talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, and I told him to go away until a more convenient time. I would also welcome any financial gestures from his friends.

 Luke the Physician @DrLukeAntioch
It has now been two years.

 Governor Felix @Felix_ProcuratorJudea
A convenient time has not yet arisen.

 Governor Festus @PorciusFestus
New governor here. Inherited a prisoner. The Jewish leaders want him tried in Jerusalem. I asked Paul if he’d go there and stand trial before me.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I’m standing before Caesar’s tribunal, which is where I ought to be tried. I’ve done no wrong to the Jews, as you know very well. If I’m guilty of something worthy of death, I won’t refuse to die. But if there’s nothing to their charges, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.

 Governor Festus @PorciusFestus
You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Did he just escalate a provincial religious dispute to the Emperor of Rome. On purpose.

 King Agrippa II @HerodAgrippa_Official
Heard Paul’s defense today with Bernice and Festus. Festus shouted that his great learning had driven him mad. Paul turned to me and asked if I believe the prophets. I said, "In a short time you’d persuade me to be a Christian." He said he wished everyone listening would become what he is, except for these chains.

Afterward, Festus and I agreed: this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.

 Yehudah ben Matthias @YehudahOfJerusalem
Let that sink in. The King of the Jews and the Roman governor both thought he was innocent. He’d have walked. And instead he chose to go to NERO.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
You don’t flee to Rome for justice. Rome is where the crosses come from. I’ll add this to the predictions page.

 Jacob the Disciple @FollowerOfTheWay_Jerusalem
Not saying it was a mistake. Not saying it wasn’t.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
The night after the Sanhedrin, the Lord stood beside me and said, "Take courage. As you testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome." I wasn’t appealing for an acquittal. I was appealing for a ticket.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
That is either the most faithful thing I have ever heard or the most reckless. I genuinely can’t tell anymore, and I’ve known you twenty-five years.

 Luke the Physician @DrLukeAntioch
Travel update: Paul warned the centurion not to sail past Fair Havens this late in the season. The centurion listened to the ship’s owner instead. We have now been in a storm for fourteen days and thrown the cargo overboard. Paul just stood up and said "I told you so, BUT take heart, no one will die." Then he made everybody eat breakfast.

 The Forty @OathboundForty
Must be nice.

 Malta Islanders @MelitaLocals
Shipwreck survivors washed up on our beach. We built a fire. A viper bit one of the prisoners and we thought, well, justice has caught up with him. He shook it off into the fire and nothing happened. We waited for him to swell up and die. He did not. We now think he is a god.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations
I am not a god. Please stop.

 Lysias of Corinth @LysiasTheGreek
This happened to him in Lystra too. Half the crowd worships him, the other half stones him. It’s like a pattern.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations · Rome
Arrived in Rome! Living in a rented house with a soldier guarding me. Chained, but welcoming everyone who comes. Proclaiming the kingdom of God with all boldness and without hindrance. 🙏

 Rome Synagogue Elders @SynagogueOfTheHebrews_Rome
We received no letters from Judea about you, and no one has spoken badly of you. But we do want to hear your views, because we know this sect is spoken against everywhere.

 Rome Synagogue Elders @SynagogueOfTheHebrews_Rome
Update: he talked from morning till evening, from Moses and the prophets. Some of us were persuaded. Some of us were not. He then quoted Isaiah at us as we were leaving, which felt unnecessary.

 Miriam bat Shimon @MiriamKeepsShabbat
Twenty-five years and he still ends arguments by quoting Isaiah at people who are walking away.

 Rome Urban News @RomaDiurna
A great fire has destroyed much of the city. The Emperor has identified the Christians as responsible. Arrests are ongoing.

 Hananiah the Zealot @NoKingButGod
I didn’t want to be right about this one.

 Eleazar the Scribe @EleazarWritesTorah
Neither did I.

 Rabbi Nahum of Damascus @BeitKnessetDamascus
I have argued with this man since the week he arrived in Damascus blind. I think he was wrong about the Law. I think he was wrong about the Messiah. I think he caused more division among our people than any one man of our generation. I also think he never once lied to me, and he never once stopped believing that the God of Israel keeps His promises. If they kill him, they kill a Jew who loved the Torah enough to fight about it for thirty years. May his memory be a blessing. I suspect it will be argued over for a long time.

 Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus @PaulApostleToTheNations · Rome
I’m already being poured out like a drink offering. The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

Demas left me for the world. Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm, and the Lord will repay him. At my first defense nobody stood with me. May it not be held against them. The Lord stood with me.

Only Luke is with me.

Timothy, come before winter. Bring Mark with you. He’s useful to me for ministry.

And bring the cloak I left at Troas, and the books. Especially the parchments.