Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Jesus was approached by Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, who asked,

²“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat.”

³He answered them, “Why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition?

⁴For God said: Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple,”

⁶he does not have to honor his father.’ In this way, you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.

⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:

⁸ This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁹ They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.”

¹⁰Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand:

¹¹It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth — this defiles a person.”

¹²Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”

¹³He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.

¹⁴Leave them alone! They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁶“Do you still lack understanding?” he asked.

¹⁷“Don’t you realize that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?

¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.

¹⁹For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

²⁰These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”

²¹When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”

²³Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”

²⁴He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.

²⁹Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there,

³⁰and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them.

³¹So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

³²Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

³³The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd?”

³⁴“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them. “Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

³⁵After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,

³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

³⁷They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces — seven large baskets full.

³⁸Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.

³⁹After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“This is the law concerning the person afflicted with a skin disease on the day of his cleansing. He is to be brought to the priest,

³who will go outside the camp and examine him. If the skin disease has disappeared from the afflicted person,

⁴the priest will order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed.

⁵Then the priest will order that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in a clay pot.

⁶He is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them all into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.

⁷He will then sprinkle the blood seven times on the one who is to be cleansed from the skin disease. He is to pronounce him clean and release the live bird over the open countryside.

⁸The one who is to be cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe with water; he is clean. Afterward he may enter the camp, but he must remain outside his tent for seven days.

⁹He is to shave off all his hair again on the seventh day: his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; he is clean.

¹⁰“On the eighth day he must take two unblemished male lambs, an unblemished year-old ewe lamb, a grain offering of six quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and one-third of a quart of olive oil.

¹¹The priest who performs the cleansing will place the person who is to be cleansed, together with these offerings, before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

¹²The priest is to take one male lamb and present it as a guilt offering, along with the one-third quart of olive oil, and he will present them as a presentation offering before the LORD.

¹³He is to slaughter the male lamb at the place in the sanctuary area where the sin offering and burnt offering are slaughtered, for like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is especially holy.

¹⁴The priest is to take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

¹⁵Then the priest will take some of the one-third quart of olive oil and pour it into his left palm.

¹⁶The priest will dip his right finger into the oil in his left palm and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.

¹⁷From the oil remaining in his palm the priest will put some on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.

¹⁸What is left of the oil in the priest’s palm he is to put on the head of the one to be cleansed. In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD.

¹⁹The priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he will slaughter the burnt offering.

²⁰The priest is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. The priest will make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

²¹“But if he is poor and cannot afford these, he is to take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be presented in order to make atonement for him, along with two quarts of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, one-third of a quart of olive oil,

²²and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whatever he can afford, one to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

²³On the eighth day he is to bring these things for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the LORD.

²⁴The priest will take the male lamb for the guilt offering and the one-third quart of olive oil, and present them as a presentation offering before the LORD.

²⁵After he slaughters the male lamb for the guilt offering, the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

²⁶Then the priest will pour some of the oil into his left palm.

²⁷With his right finger the priest will sprinkle some of the oil in his left palm seven times before the LORD.

²⁸The priest will also put some of the oil in his palm on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the same place as the blood of the guilt offering.

²⁹What is left of the oil in the priest’s palm he is to put on the head of the one to be cleansed to make atonement for him before the LORD.

³⁰He is to then sacrifice one type of what he can afford, either the turtledoves or young pigeons,

³¹one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, sacrificing what he can afford together with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make atonement before the LORD for the one to be cleansed.

³²This is the law for someone who has a skin disease and cannot afford the cost of his cleansing.”

³³The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron:

³⁴“When you enter the land of Canaan that I am giving you as a possession, and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,

³⁵the owner of the house is to come and tell the priest: Something like mildew contamination has appeared in my house.

³⁶The priest must order them to clear the house before he enters to examine the contamination, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. Afterward the priest will come to examine the house.

³⁷He will examine it, and if the contamination in the walls of the house consists of green or red indentations that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,

³⁸the priest is to go outside the house to its doorway and quarantine the house for seven days.

³⁹The priest is to return on the seventh day and examine it. If the contamination has spread on the walls of the house,

⁴⁰the priest must order that the stones with the contamination be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city.

⁴¹He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and have the plaster that is scraped off dumped in an unclean place outside the city.

⁴²Then they are to take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

⁴³“If the contamination reappears in the house after the stones have been pulled out, and after the house has been scraped and replastered,

⁴⁴the priest is to come and examine it. If the contamination has spread in the house, it is harmful mildew; the house is unclean.

⁴⁵It must be torn down with its stones, its beams, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place.

⁴⁶Whoever enters the house during any of the days the priest quarantines it will be unclean until evening.

⁴⁷Whoever lies down in the house is to wash his clothes, and whoever eats in it is to wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“But when the priest comes and examines it, if the contamination has not spread in the house after it was replastered, he is to pronounce the house clean because the contamination has disappeared.

⁴⁹He is to take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house,

⁵⁰and he is to slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot containing fresh water.

⁵¹He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²He will purify the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.

⁵³Then he is to release the live bird into the open countryside outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

⁵⁴“This is the law for any skin disease or mildew, for a scaly outbreak,

⁵⁵for mildew in clothing or on a house,

⁵⁶and for a swelling, scab, or spot,

⁵⁷to determine when something is unclean or clean. This is the law regarding skin disease and mildew.”

¹Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea,

²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³They all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless God was not pleased with most of them, since they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things took place as examples for us, so that we will not desire evil things as they did.

⁷Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.

⁸Let us not commit sexual immorality as some of them did, and in a single day twenty-three thousand people died.

⁹Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes.

¹⁰And don’t complain as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

¹³No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁴So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying.

¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

¹⁹What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

²²Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

²⁵Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience,

²⁶since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it.

²⁷If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.

²⁹I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

³²Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God,

³³just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

¹Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

¹⁰Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world’s Savior.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God — God remains in him and he in God.

¹⁶And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

¹⁷In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted.

³You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know.

⁴You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.”

⁵I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

⁶Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them; I am dust and ashes.

⁷After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then my servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”

⁹Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and doubled his previous possessions.

¹¹All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to him and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the LORD had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold earring.

¹²So the LORD blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned fourteen thousand sheep and goats, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.

¹⁵No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.

¹⁶Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁷Then Job died, old and full of days.

¹My soul, bless the LORD! LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor.

²He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy,

³laying the beams of his palace on the waters above, making the clouds his chariot, walking on the wings of the wind,

⁴and making the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.

⁵He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken.

⁶You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the water stood above the mountains.

⁷At your rebuke the water fled; at the sound of your thunder they hurried away  —

⁸mountains rose and valleys sank  — to the place you established for them.

⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.

¹⁰He causes the springs to gush into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They supply water for every wild beast; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the sky live beside the springs; they make their voices heard among the foliage.

¹³He waters the mountains from his palace; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of your labor.

¹⁴He causes grass to grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth,

¹⁵wine that makes human hearts glad — making his face shine with oil — and bread that sustains human hearts.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD flourish, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷There the birds make their nests; storks make their homes in the pine trees.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the festivals; the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals stir.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

²²The sun rises; they go back and lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.

²⁴How countless are your works, LORD! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small.

²⁶There the ships move about, and Leviathan, which you formed to play there.

²⁷All of them wait for you to give them their food at the right time.

²⁸When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.

³⁰When you send your breath, they are created, and you renew the surface of the ground.

³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works.

³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles; he touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

³³I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him; I will rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth and wicked people be no more. My soul, bless the LORD! Hallelujah!

¹Dishonest scales are detestable to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

²When arrogance comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the treacherous destroys them.

⁴Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath, but righteousness rescues from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless clears his path, but the wicked person will fall because of his wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright rescues them, but the treacherous are trapped by their own desires.

⁷When the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes.

⁸The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in.

⁹With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued.

¹⁰When the righteous thrive, a city rejoices; when the wicked die, there is joyful shouting.

¹¹A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks sense, but a person with understanding keeps silent.

¹³A gossip goes around revealing a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

¹⁴Without guidance, a people will fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.

¹⁵If someone puts up security for a stranger, he will suffer for it, but the one who hates such agreements is protected.

¹⁶A gracious woman gains honor, but violent people gain only riches.

¹⁷A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel person brings ruin on himself.

¹⁸The wicked person earns an empty wage, but the one who sows righteousness, a true reward.

¹⁹Genuine righteousness leads to life, but pursuing evil leads to death.

²⁰Those with twisted minds are detestable to the LORD, but those with blameless conduct are his delight.

²¹Be assured that a wicked person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

²²A beautiful woman who rejects good sense is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³The desire of the righteous turns out well, but the hope of the wicked leads to wrath.

²⁴One person gives freely, yet gains more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

²⁵A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.

²⁶People will curse anyone who hoards grain, but a blessing will come to the one who sells it.

²⁷The one who searches for what is good seeks favor, but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him.

²⁸Anyone trusting in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.

²⁹The one who brings ruin on his household will inherit the wind, and a fool will be a slave to someone whose heart is wise.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and a wise person captivates people. 

³¹If the righteous will be repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and sinful.

¹The LORD’s anger burned against Israel again, and he stirred up David against them to say: “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab, the commander of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba and register the troops so I can know their number.”

³Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times more than they are  — while my lord the king looks on! But why does my lord the king want to do this?”

⁴Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the king’s presence to register the troops of Israel.

⁵They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and then proceeded toward Gad and Jazer.

⁶They went to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites and continued on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

⁷They went to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Afterward, they went to the Negev of Judah at Beer-sheba.

⁸When they had gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹Joab gave the king the total of the registration of the troops. There were eight hundred thousand valiant armed men from Israel and five hundred thousand men from Judah.

¹⁰David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, LORD, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.”

¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the LORD had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:

¹²“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am offering you three choices. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’”

¹³So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, consider carefully what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”

¹⁴David answered Gad, “I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the LORD’s hands because his mercies are great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men died.

¹⁶Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the LORD relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the LORD, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and my father’s family.”

¹⁸Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

¹⁹David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the LORD had commanded.

²⁰Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.

²¹Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the LORD, so the plague on the people may be halted.”

²²Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

²³Your Majesty, Araunah gives everything here to the king.” Then he said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

²⁴The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for twenty ounces of silver.

²⁵He built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD was receptive to prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel ended.

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will retain his life like the spoils of war and will live.’

³This is what the LORD says: ‘This city will most certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon’s army, and he will capture it.’”

⁴The officials then said to the king, “This man ought to die, because he is weakening the morale of the warriors who remain in this city and of all the people by speaking to them in this way. This man is not pursuing the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he’s in your hands since the king can’t do anything against you.”

⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official in the king’s palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,

⁸Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king:

⁹“My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here thirty men under your authority and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king’s palace to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

¹²Ebed-melech the Cushite called down to Jeremiah, “Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did this.

¹³They pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he remained in the guard’s courtyard.

¹⁴King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance of the LORD’s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will kill me, won’t you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

¹⁶King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private, “As the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who intend to take your life.”

¹⁷Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned, and you and your household will survive.

¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it, and you yourself will not escape from them.’”

¹⁹But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans. They may hand me over to the Judeans to abuse me.”

²⁰“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD in what I am telling you, so it may go well for you and you can live.

²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is the verdict that the LORD has shown me:

²²‘All the women who remain in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and will say to you, “Your trusted friends misled you and overcame you. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.”

²³All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape from them, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon and this city will burn.’”

²⁴Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation or you will die.

²⁵The officials may hear that I have spoken with you and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; don’t hide anything from us and we won’t kill you. Also, what did the king say to you?’

²⁶If they do, tell them, ‘I was bringing before the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

²⁷All the officials did come to Jeremiah, and they questioned him. He reported the exact words to them the king had commanded, and they quit speaking with him because the conversation had not been overheard.

²⁸Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was there when it happened.

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.

²And when he had passed through those areas and offered them many words of encouragement, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. The Jews plotted against him when he was about to set sail for Syria, and so he decided to go back through Macedonia.

⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

⁹and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.”

¹¹After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.

¹²They brought the boy home alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.

¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, the next day we arrived off Chios. The following day we crossed over to Samos, and the day after, we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

¹⁸When they came to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

²⁰You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house.

²¹I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there,

²³except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

²⁴But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

²⁶Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,

²⁷because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.

³¹Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears.

³²“And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me.

³⁵In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.

³⁷There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.