Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

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

³He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁴For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

⁵But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”

⁶he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

⁸ “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

⁹in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

¹⁰And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:

¹¹ it is 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 and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

¹⁴Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.”

¹⁶And he said, “Are you also still without understanding?

¹⁷Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?

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

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

²⁰ These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

²¹And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

²²And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

²³But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”

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

²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

²⁶And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”

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

²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

²⁹Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.

³⁰And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,

³¹so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

³³And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?”

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

³⁵And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground,

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

³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

³⁸Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,

³and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,

⁴the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.

⁵And the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.

⁶He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.

⁷And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed of the leprous disease. Then he shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird go into the open field.

⁸And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he may come into the camp, but live outside his tent seven days.

⁹And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

¹⁰“And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil.

¹¹And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

¹²And the priest shall take one of the male lambs and offer it for a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

¹³And he shall kill the lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.

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

¹⁵Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand

¹⁶and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.

¹⁷And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and 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.

¹⁸And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.

¹⁹The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.

²⁰And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

²¹“But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil;

²²also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

²³And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the LORD.

²⁴And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD.

²⁵And he shall kill the lamb of the guilt offering. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

²⁶And the priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,

²⁷and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD.

²⁸And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, in the place where the blood of the guilt offering was put.

²⁹And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD.

³⁰And he shall offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons, whichever he can afford,

³¹one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who is being cleansed.

³²This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”

³³The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

³⁴“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,

³⁵then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’

³⁶Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house.

³⁷And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface,

³⁸then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.

³⁹And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house,

⁴⁰then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city.

⁴¹And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city.

⁴²Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other plaster and plaster the house.

⁴³“If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it,

⁴⁴then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean.

⁴⁵And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place.

⁴⁶Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening,

⁴⁷and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed.

⁴⁹And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop,

⁵⁰and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water

⁵¹and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn.

⁵³And he shall let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”

⁵⁴This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch,

⁵⁵for leprous disease in a garment or in a house,

⁵⁶and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot,

⁵⁷to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.

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

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

³and all ate the same spiritual food,

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

⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

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

⁷Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

⁸We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

⁹We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

¹⁰nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

¹²Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

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

¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?

¹⁹What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer 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 partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

²²Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

²³“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.

²⁴Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

²⁶For “the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.”

²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience —

²⁹I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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

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

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,

³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

⁴Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

⁵They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

⁶We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

¹⁶So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

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

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us.

²⁰If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

²¹And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

¹Then Job answered the LORD and said:

²“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

³‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

⁴‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

¹⁰And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

¹¹Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

¹²And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.

¹⁵And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.

¹⁷And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

¹Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

²covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.

³He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;

⁴he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.

⁵He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.

⁶You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

⁸The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.

⁹You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

¹⁰You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills;

¹¹they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

¹³From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

¹⁴You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth

¹⁵and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.

²²When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens.

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

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

²⁵Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.

²⁶There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

²⁷These all look to you, to give them their food in due season.

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

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

³⁰When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

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

³²who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!

³³I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!

¹A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.

²When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

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

⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.

⁷When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

⁸The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.

⁹With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

¹²Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

¹³Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

¹⁴Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman gets honor, and violent men get riches.

¹⁷A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.

¹⁸The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

¹⁹Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.

²⁰Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

²¹Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

²²Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

²⁴One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

²⁵Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

²⁶The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.

²⁸Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

²⁹Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

³¹If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

³But Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

⁴But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.

⁵They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer.

⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon,

⁷and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.

⁸So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

¹⁰But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

¹¹And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²“Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’”

¹³So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”

¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁵So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

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

¹⁹So David went up at Gad's word, as the LORD commanded.

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

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

²²Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

²³All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

²⁴But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

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

²“Thus says the LORD: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live.

³Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.”

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.”

⁶So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern — the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate —

⁸Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king,

⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes.

¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so.

¹³Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

¹⁴King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.”

¹⁵Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.

¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.”

¹⁹King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.”

²⁰Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.

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

²²Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying, “‘Your trusted friends have deceived you and prevailed against you; now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they turn away from you.’

²³All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.

²⁵If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’

²⁶then you shall say to them, ‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard.

²⁸And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

¹After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

³There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.

⁵These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas,

⁶but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

⁹And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”

¹¹And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed.

¹²And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

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

¹⁵And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,

²¹testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

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

²⁷for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

²⁸Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

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

³⁰and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

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

³³I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

³⁵In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him,

³⁸being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.