Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

²Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples

³and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

⁴Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:

⁵The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,

⁶and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”

⁷As these men were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?

⁸What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who wear soft clothes are in royal palaces.

⁹What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written: See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.

¹¹“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has appeared, but the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence, and the violent have been seizing it by force.

¹³For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

¹⁴And if you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come.

¹⁵Let anyone who has ears listen.

¹⁶“To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children:

¹⁷We played the flute for you, but you didn’t dance; we sang a lament, but you didn’t mourn!

¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent:

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago.

²²But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

²⁴But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants.

²⁶Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure.

²⁷All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

²⁸“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

¹Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his own firepan, put fire in it, placed incense on it, and presented unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them to do.

²Then fire came from the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

³Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has spoken: I will demonstrate my holiness to those who are near me, and I will reveal my glory before all the people.” And Aaron remained silent.

⁴Moses summoned Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come here and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.”

⁵So they came forward and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your clothes, or else you will die, and the LORD will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may weep over the conflagration the LORD ignited.

⁷You must not go outside the entrance to the tent of meeting or you will die, for the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said.

⁸The LORD spoke to Aaron:

⁹“You and your sons are not to drink wine or beer when you enter the tent of meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

¹⁰You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,

¹¹and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given to them through Moses.”

¹²Moses spoke to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar: “Take the grain offering that is left over from the fire offerings to the LORD, and eat it prepared without yeast beside the altar, because it is especially holy.

¹³You must eat it in a holy place because it is your portion and your sons’ from the fire offerings to the LORD, for this is what I was commanded.

¹⁴But you and your sons and your daughters may eat the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution in any ceremonially clean place, because these portions have been assigned to you and your children from the Israelites’ fellowship sacrifices.

¹⁵They are to bring the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the presentation offering, together with the offerings of fat portions made by fire, to present as a presentation offering before the LORD. It will belong permanently to you and your children, as the LORD commanded.”

¹⁶Then Moses inquired carefully about the male goat of the sin offering, but it had already been burned up. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s surviving sons, and asked,

¹⁷“Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? For it is especially holy, and he has assigned it to you to take away the guilt of the community and make atonement for them before the LORD.

¹⁸Since its blood was not brought inside the sanctuary, you should have eaten it in the sanctuary area, as I commanded.”

¹⁹But Aaron replied to Moses, “See, today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the LORD’s sight?”

²⁰When Moses heard this, it was acceptable to him.

¹If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

²Or don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?

³Don’t you know that we will judge angels — how much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have such matters, do you appoint as your judges those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame! Can it be that there is not one wise person among you who is able to arbitrate between fellow believers?

⁶Instead, brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷As it is, to have legal disputes against one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

⁸Instead, you yourselves do wrong and cheat — and you do this to brothers and sisters!

⁹Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males,

¹⁰no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

¹¹And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

¹³“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will do away with both of them. However, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not!

¹⁶Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh.

¹⁷But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

¹⁹Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

²⁰for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

¹Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder,

²so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.

³Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires,

⁴saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

⁵They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water.

⁶Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded.

⁷By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

⁹The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

¹¹Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness

¹²as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat.

¹³But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace.

¹⁵Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.

¹⁶He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.

¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

¹Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:

²Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words?

³Get ready to answer me like a man; when I question you, you will inform me.

⁴Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone

⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garment and total darkness its blanket,

¹⁰when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place,

¹¹when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?

¹²Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,

¹³so it may seize the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth is changed as clay is by a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised in violence is broken.

¹⁶Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the extent of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where darkness lives,

²⁰so you can lead it back to its border? Are you familiar with the paths to its home?

²¹Don’t you know? You were already born; you have lived so long!

²²Have you entered the place where the snow is stored? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail,

²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle?

²⁴What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain or clears the way for lightning,

²⁶to bring rain on an uninhabited land, on a desert with no human life,

²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grass to sprout?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who fathered the drops of dew?

²⁹Whose womb did the ice come from? Who gave birth to the frost of heaven

³⁰when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?

³¹Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

³²Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you impose its authority on earth?

³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?

³⁵Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Do they report to you: “Here we are”?

³⁶Who put wisdom in the heart or gave the mind understanding?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven

³⁸when the dust hardens like cast metal and the clods of dirt stick together?

³⁹Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of young lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait within their lairs?

⁴¹Who provides the raven’s food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

¹A psalm of thanksgiving. [1] Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to God!

²Serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

³Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we are his — his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.

⁵For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.

¹My son, obey my words, and treasure my commands.

²Keep my commands and live, and guard my instructions as you would the pupil of your eye.

³Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your relative.

⁵She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a wayward woman with her flattering talk.

⁶At the window of my house I looked through my lattice.

⁷I saw among the inexperienced, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking sense.

⁸Crossing the street near her corner, he strolled down the road to her house

⁹at twilight, in the evening, in the dark of the night.

¹⁰A woman came to meet him dressed like a prostitute, having a hidden agenda.

¹¹She is loud and defiant; her feet do not stay at home.

¹²Now in the street, now in the squares, she lurks at every corner.

¹³She grabs him and kisses him; she brazenly says to him,

¹⁴“I’ve made fellowship offerings; today I’ve fulfilled my vows.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you, to search for you, and I’ve found you.

¹⁶I’ve spread coverings on my bed  — richly colored linen from Egypt.

¹⁷I’ve perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink deeply of lovemaking until morning. Let’s feast on each other’s love!

¹⁹My husband isn’t home; he went on a long journey.

²⁰He took a bag of silver with him and will come home at the time of the full moon.”

²¹She seduces him with her persistent pleading; she lures with her flattering talk.

²²He follows her impulsively like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding toward a trap

²³until an arrow pierces its liver, like a bird darting into a snare  — he doesn’t know it will cost him his life.

²⁴Now, sons, listen to me, and pay attention to the words from my mouth.

²⁵Don’t let your heart turn aside to her ways; don’t stray onto her paths.

²⁶For she has brought many down to death; her victims are countless.

²⁷Her house is the road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

¹Now a wicked man, a Benjaminite named Sheba son of Bichri, happened to be there. He blew the ram’s horn and shouted: We have no portion in David, no inheritance in Jesse’s son. Each man to his tent, Israel!

²So all the men of Israel deserted David and followed Sheba son of Bichri, but the men of Judah from the Jordan all the way to Jerusalem remained loyal to their king.

³When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and placed them under guard. He provided for them, but he was not intimate with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

⁴The king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah to me within three days and be here yourself.”

⁵Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time allotted him.

⁶So David said to Abishai, “Sheba son of Bichri will do more harm to us than Absalom. Take your lord’s soldiers and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and elude us.”

⁷So Joab’s men, the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the warriors marched out under Abishai’s command; they left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

⁸They were at the great stone in Gibeon when Amasa joined them. Joab was wearing his uniform and over it was a belt around his waist with a sword in its sheath. As he approached, the sword fell out.

⁹Joab asked Amasa, “Are you well, my brother?” Then with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.

¹⁰Amasa was not on guard against the sword in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it and spilled his intestines out on the ground. Joab did not stab him again, and Amasa died. Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

¹¹One of Joab’s young men had stood over Amasa saying, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!”

¹²Now Amasa had been writhing in his blood in the middle of the highway, and the man had seen that all the troops stopped. So he moved Amasa from the highway to the field and threw a garment over him because he realized that all those who encountered Amasa were stopping.

¹³When he was removed from the highway, all the men passed by and followed Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.

¹⁴Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah. All the Berites came together and followed him.

¹⁵Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel of Beth-maacah. They built a siege ramp against the outer wall of the city. While all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to make it collapse,

¹⁶a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here and let me speak with him.”

¹⁷When he had come near her, the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” “I am,” he replied. “Listen to the words of your servant,” she said to him. He answered, “I’m listening.”

¹⁸She said, “In the past they used to say, ‘Seek counsel in Abel,’ and that’s how they settled disputes.

¹⁹I am one of the peaceful and faithful in Israel, but you’re trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the LORD’s inheritance?”

²⁰Joab protested: “Never! I would never devour or demolish!

²¹That is not the case. There is a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, who has rebelled against King David. Deliver this one man, and I will withdraw from the city.” The woman replied to Joab, “Watch! His head will be thrown over the wall to you.”

²²The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram’s horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his own tent. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

²³Joab commanded the whole army of Israel; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites;

²⁴Adoram was over forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was court historian;

²⁵Sheva was court secretary; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

²⁶and in addition, Ira the Jairite was David’s priest.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his whole army, all the kingdoms of the lands under his control, and all other peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities:

²“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it.

³As for you, you will not escape from him but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face; you will go to Babylon.

⁴“‘Yet hear the LORD’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

⁵you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your ancestors, the kings of old who came before you. “Oh, master!” will be the lament for you, for I have spoken this word. This is the LORD’s declaration.’”

⁶So the prophet Jeremiah related all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem

⁷while the king of Babylon’s army was attacking Jerusalem and all of Judah’s remaining cities — that is, Lachish and Azekah, for they were the only ones left of Judah’s fortified cities.

⁸This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them.

⁹As a result, each was to let his male and female Hebrew slaves go free, and no one was to enslave his fellow Judean.

¹⁰All the officials and people who entered into covenant to let their male and female slaves go free — in order not to enslave them any longer — obeyed and let them go free.

¹¹Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had let go free and forced them to become slaves again.

¹²Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

¹³“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying,

¹⁴‘At the end of seven years, each of you must let his fellow Hebrew who sold himself to you go. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free from your service.’ But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention.

¹⁵Today you repented and did what pleased me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me at the house that bears my name.

¹⁶But you have changed your minds and profaned my name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been let go free to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

¹⁷“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each for his fellow Hebrew and for his neighbor. I hereby proclaim freedom for you  — this is the LORD’s declaration — to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.

¹⁸As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

¹⁹The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf —

²⁰all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

²¹I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their lives, to the king of Babylon’s army that is withdrawing.

²²I am about to give the command — this is the LORD’s declaration — and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”

¹Paul went on to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek.

²The brothers and sisters at Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him.

³Paul wanted Timothy to go with him; so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem for the people to observe.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

⁶They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷When they came to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸Passing by Mysia they went down to Troas.

⁹During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!”

¹⁰After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, the next day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and a leading city of the district of Macedonia. We stayed in that city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there.

¹⁴A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.

¹⁵After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

¹⁶Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling.

¹⁷As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.”

¹⁸She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away.

¹⁹When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews

²¹and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.

²⁴Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.

²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”

²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”

³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.

³³He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.

³⁴He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.

³⁵When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.”

³⁶The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.”

³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town.

⁴⁰After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.