Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

²Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

³Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow.

⁴As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep.

⁶But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it.

⁸Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown.

⁹Let anyone who has ears listen.”

¹⁰Then the disciples came up and asked him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?”

¹¹He answered, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them.

¹²For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

¹³That is why I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.

¹⁴Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, but never understand; you will look and look, but never perceive.

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back — and I would heal them.

¹⁶“Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

¹⁷For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but didn’t see them, to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.

¹⁸“So listen to the parable of the sower:

¹⁹When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.

²⁰And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

²¹But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

²²Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²³But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”

²⁴He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.

²⁶When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

²⁸“‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up? ’ the servants asked him.

²⁹“‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’”

³¹He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

³²It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

³⁴Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and he did not tell them anything without a parable,

³⁵so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: I will open my mouth in parables; I will declare things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷He replied: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;

³⁸the field is the world; and the good seed — these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one,

³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness.

⁴²They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let anyone who has ears listen.

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

⁴⁶When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish,

⁴⁸and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones.

⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,

⁵⁰and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes.”

⁵²“Therefore,” he said to them, “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there.

⁵⁴He went to his hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

⁵⁵Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all these things?”

⁵⁷And they were offended by him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.”

⁵⁸And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Tell the Israelites: When a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean seven days, as she is during the days of her menstrual impurity.

³The flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised on the eighth day.

⁴She will continue in purification from her bleeding for thirty-three days. She must not touch any holy thing or go into the sanctuary until completing her days of purification.

⁵But if she gives birth to a female child, she will be unclean for two weeks as she is during her menstrual impurity. She will continue in purification from her bleeding for sixty-six days.

⁶“When her days of purification are complete, whether for a son or daughter, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.

⁷He will present them before the LORD and make atonement on her behalf; she will be clean from her discharge of blood. This is the law for a woman giving birth, whether to a male or female.

⁸But if she doesn’t have sufficient means for a sheep, she may take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. Then the priest will make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.”

¹Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all have knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

²If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it.

³But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.

⁴About eating food sacrificed to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”

⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth — as there are many “gods” and many “lords” —

⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.

⁷However, not everyone has this knowledge. Some have been so used to idolatry up until now that when they eat food sacrificed to an idol, their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

⁸Food will not bring us close to God. We are not worse off if we don’t eat, and we are not better if we do eat.

⁹But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁰For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, won’t his weak conscience be encouraged to eat food offered to idols?

¹¹So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ died, is ruined by your knowledge.

¹²Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ.

¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.

¹My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.

²He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

³This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commands.

⁴The one who says, “I have come to know him,” and yet doesn’t keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

⁵But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:

⁶The one who says he remains in him should walk just as he walked.

⁷Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.

⁸Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

⁹The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.

¹⁰The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

¹¹But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹²I am writing to you, little children, since your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁴I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, God’s word remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions — is not from the Father, but is from the world.

¹⁷And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

¹⁸Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. By this we know that it is the last hour.

¹⁹They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

²⁰But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

²¹I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

²²Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.

²³No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.

²⁴What you have heard from the beginning is to remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

²⁵And this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life.

²⁶I have written these things to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

²⁷As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.

²⁸So now, little children, remain in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹If you know that he is righteous, you know this as well: Everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

¹The LORD answered Job:

²Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who argues with God give an answer.

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷Get ready to answer me like a man; When I question you, you will inform me.

⁸Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him.

¹²Look on every proud person and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

¹³Hide them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.

¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle.

¹⁶Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

¹⁸His bones are bronze tubes; his limbs are like iron rods.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield food for him, while all sorts of wild animals play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants, hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.

²²Lotus plants cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him while he looks on, or pierce his nose with snares?

¹A prayer of a suffering person who is weak and pours out his lament before the LORD. [1] LORD, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come before you.

²Do not hide your face from me in my day of trouble. Listen closely to me; answer me quickly when I call.

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.

⁴My heart is suffering, withered like grass; I even forget to eat my food.

⁵Because of the sound of my groaning, my flesh sticks to my bones.

⁶I am like an eagle owl, like a little owl among the ruins.

⁷I stay awake; I am like a solitary bird on a roof.

⁸My enemies taunt me all day long; they ridicule and use my name as a curse.

⁹I eat ashes like bread and mingle my drinks with tears

¹⁰because of your indignation and wrath; for you have picked me up and thrown me aside.

¹¹My days are like a lengthening shadow, and I wither away like grass.

¹²But you, LORD, are enthroned forever; your fame endures to all generations.

¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her — the appointed time has come.

¹⁴For your servants take delight in its stones and favor its dust.

¹⁵Then the nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory,

¹⁶for the LORD will rebuild Zion; he will appear in his glory.

¹⁷He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute and will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸This will be written for a later generation, and a people who have not yet been created will praise the LORD:

¹⁹He looked down from his holy heights — the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth  —

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to set free those condemned to die,

²¹so that they might declare the name of the LORD in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem,

²²when peoples and kingdoms are assembled to serve the LORD.

²³He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.

²⁴I say: “My God, do not take me in the middle of my life! Your years continue through all generations.

²⁵Long ago you established the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but you will endure; all of them will wear out like clothing. You will change them like a garment, and they will pass away.

²⁷But you are the same, and your years will never end.

²⁸Your servants’ children will dwell securely, and their offspring will be established before you.”

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹David spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the grasp of Saul.

²He said: The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,

³my God, my rock where I seek refuge. My shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, you save me from violence.

⁴I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I was saved from my enemies.

⁵For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of destruction terrified me.

⁶The ropes of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

⁷I called to the LORD in my distress; I called to my God. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry for help reached his ears.

⁸Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the heavens trembled; they shook because he burned with anger.

⁹Smoke rose from his nostrils, and consuming fire came from his mouth; coals were set ablaze by it.

¹⁰He bent the heavens and came down, total darkness beneath his feet.

¹¹He rode on a cherub and flew, soaring on the wings of the wind.

¹²He made darkness a canopy around him, a gathering of water and thick clouds.

¹³From the radiance of his presence, blazing coals were ignited.

¹⁴The LORD thundered from heaven; the Most High made his voice heard.

¹⁵He shot arrows and scattered them; he hurled lightning bolts and routed them.

¹⁶The depths of the sea became visible, the foundations of the world were exposed at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

¹⁷He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he pulled me out of deep water.

¹⁸He rescued me from my powerful enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.

²⁰He brought me out to a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

²¹The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; he repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²²For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not turned from my God to wickedness.

²³Indeed, I let all his ordinances guide me and have not disregarded his statutes.

²⁴I was blameless before him and kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁵So the LORD repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.

²⁶With the faithful you prove yourself faithful, with the blameless you prove yourself blameless,

²⁷with the pure you prove yourself pure; but with the crooked you prove yourself shrewd.

²⁸You rescue an oppressed people, but your eyes are set against the proud — you humble them.

²⁹LORD, you are my lamp; the LORD illuminates my darkness.

³⁰With you I can attack a barricade, and with my God I can leap over a wall.

³¹God — his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

³²For who is God besides the LORD? And who is a rock? Only our God.

³³God is my strong refuge; he makes my way perfect.

³⁴He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me securely on the heights.

³⁵He trains my hands for war; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁶You have given me the shield of your salvation; your help exalts me.

³⁷You make a spacious place beneath me for my steps, and my ankles do not give way.

³⁸I pursue my enemies and destroy them; I do not turn back until they are wiped out.

³⁹I wipe them out and crush them, and they do not rise; they fall beneath my feet.

⁴⁰You have clothed me with strength for battle; you subdue my adversaries beneath me.

⁴¹You have made my enemies retreat before me; I annihilate those who hate me.

⁴²They look, but there is no one to save them — they look to the LORD, but he does not answer them.

⁴³I pulverize them like dust of the earth; I crush them and trample them like mud in the streets.

⁴⁴You have freed me from the feuds among my people; you have preserved me as head of nations; a people I had not known serve me.

⁴⁵Foreigners submit to me cringing; as soon as they hear, they obey me.

⁴⁶Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their fortifications.

⁴⁷The LORD lives — blessed be my rock! God, the rock of my salvation, is exalted.

⁴⁸God — he grants me vengeance and casts down peoples under me.

⁴⁹He frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my adversaries; you rescue me from violent men.

⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks to you among the nations, LORD; I will sing praises about your name.

⁵¹He is a tower of salvation for his king; he shows loyalty to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

¹In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

²“Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah’s reign until today.

³Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁴So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. At Jeremiah’s dictation, Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the LORD had spoken to Jeremiah.

⁵Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the temple of the LORD,

⁶so you must go and read from the scroll — which you wrote at my dictation  — the words of the LORD in the hearing of the people at the temple of the LORD on a day of fasting. Read his words in the hearing of all the Judeans who are coming from their cities.

⁷Perhaps their petition will come before the LORD, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people are intense.”

⁸So Baruch son of Neriah did everything the prophet Jeremiah had commanded him. At the LORD’s temple he read the LORD’s words from the scroll.

⁹In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people of Jerusalem and all those coming in from Judah’s cities into Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD.

¹⁰Then at the LORD’s temple, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the LORD’s temple, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll.

¹¹When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the scroll,

¹²he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace. All the officials were sitting there — Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹³Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.

¹⁴Then all the officials sent word to Baruch through Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, saying, “Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went to them.

¹⁵They said to him, “Sit down and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.

¹⁶When they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must surely tell the king all these things.”

¹⁷Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”

¹⁸Baruch said to them, “At his dictation. He recited all these words to me while I was writing on the scroll in ink.”

¹⁹The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide and tell no one where you are.”

²⁰Then, after depositing the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, the officials came to the king at the courtyard and reported everything in the hearing of the king.

²¹The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi then read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king.

²²Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him.

²³As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll with a scribe’s knife and throw the columns into the fire in the hearth until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth.

²⁴As they heard all these words, the king and all of his servants did not become terrified or tear their clothes.

²⁵Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them.

²⁶Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah, but the LORD hid them.

²⁷After the king had burned the scroll and the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

²⁸“Take another scroll, and once again write on it the original words that were on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.

²⁹You are to proclaim concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll, asking, “Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without people or animals?”

³⁰Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out to be exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night.

³¹I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen.’”

³²Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, Judah’s king, had burned in the fire. And many other words like them were added.

¹After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

²where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them,

³and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

⁴He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

⁵When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

⁶When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent.

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

¹³“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”

¹⁴As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or of a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

¹⁵But if these are questions about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of such things.”

¹⁶So he drove them from the tribunal.

¹⁷And they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.

¹⁸After staying for some time, Paul said farewell to the brothers and sisters and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken.

¹⁹When they reached Ephesus he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and debated with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he declined,

²¹but he said farewell and added, “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²On landing at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, then went down to Antioch.

²³After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the Scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

²⁵He had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John’s baptism.

²⁶He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. After Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

²⁷When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

²⁸For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.