Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

²Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples

³and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

⁴And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:

⁵ the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

⁶And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

⁷As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

⁸What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

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

¹⁰This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

¹¹Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,

¹⁴and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

¹⁵ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁶“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

¹⁷“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not 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 at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

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

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

²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

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

²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;

²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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

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

¹Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.

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

³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

⁴And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.”

⁵So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the LORD has kindled.

⁷And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying,

⁹“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.

¹⁰You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,

¹¹and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.”

¹²Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the grain offering that is left of the LORD's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy.

¹³You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons' due, from the LORD's food offerings, for so I am commanded.

¹⁴But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel.

¹⁵The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the LORD, and it shall be yours and your sons' with you as a due forever, as the LORD has commanded.”

¹⁶Now Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying,

¹⁷“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD?

¹⁸Behold, its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.”

¹⁹And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the LORD have approved?”

²⁰And when Moses heard that, he approved.

¹When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

²Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

³Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

⁴So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?

⁵I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,

⁶but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

⁷To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸But you yourselves wrong and defraud — even your own brothers!

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you. 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“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

¹³“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” — and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

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

¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

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

¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

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

¹This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

²that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,

³knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.

⁴They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

⁵For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,

⁶and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

⁷But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

⁹The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

¹¹Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

¹²waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

¹³But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

¹⁵And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

¹⁶as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

¹⁷You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

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. Amen.

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

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

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

⁹when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.

¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

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

¹⁸Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

²¹You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

³⁰The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?

¹Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!

²Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

³Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

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

¹My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

²keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;

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

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,

⁵to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.

⁶For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,

⁷and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,

⁸passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house

⁹in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.

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

¹²now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.

¹³She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,

¹⁴“I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;

¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.

¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;

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

¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.

¹⁹For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;

²⁰he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”

²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.

²²All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast

²³till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.

²⁴And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,

²⁶for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.

²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

¹Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, “We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!”

²So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

³And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

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

⁵So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him.

⁶And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.”

⁷And there went out after him Joab's men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

⁸When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out.

⁹And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

¹⁰But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹¹And one of Joab's young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.”

¹²And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him.

¹³When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in.

¹⁵And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.

¹⁶Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’”

¹⁷And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”

¹⁸Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter.

¹⁹I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?”

²⁰Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!

²¹That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.”

²²Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

²³Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites;

²⁴and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder;

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

²⁶and Ira the Jairite was also David's priest.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all of its cities:

²“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

³You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.’

⁴Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword.

⁵You shall die in peace. And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so people shall burn spices for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word, declares the LORD.”

⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

⁷when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained.

⁸The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them,

⁹that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother.

¹⁰And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free.

¹¹But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves.

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

¹³“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,

¹⁴‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.’ But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.

¹⁵You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name,

¹⁶but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷“Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the LORD. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts —

¹⁹the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.

²⁰And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

²¹And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.

²²Behold, I will command, declares the LORD, and will bring them back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.”

¹Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

²He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

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

⁴As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

⁶And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

⁷And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

⁸So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

⁹And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,

¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.

¹³And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

¹⁴One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

¹⁵And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.

¹⁷She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

¹⁸And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

²⁰And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.

²¹They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

²³And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

²⁴Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

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

²⁶and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

²⁹And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.

³⁰Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹And they 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 and to all who were in his house.

³³And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

³⁵But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

³⁶And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.”

³⁷But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.”

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

³⁹So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

⁴⁰So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.