Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then some 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 bread.”

³And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁴For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘THE ONE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TOBE PUT TO DEATH.’

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has beengiven to God,”

⁶he is not tohonor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

⁷You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:

⁸‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

⁹AND IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’ ”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand!

¹¹It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”

¹²Then the disciples came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”

¹³But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

¹⁴Leave them alone; they are blind guidesof blind people. And if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”

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

¹⁶Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding?

¹⁷Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and iseliminated?

¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person.

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, andslanderous statements.

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

²¹Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

²³But He did not answer her with even a word. And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us!”

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

²⁵But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶Yet He answered and said, “It is notgood to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷And she said, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at once.

²⁹Departing from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there.

³⁰And large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.

³¹So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I feel compassion for thepeople, because theyhave remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

³³The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

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

³⁵And He directed the people to sit down on the ground;

³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.

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

³⁹And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“This shall be the law of the person with leprosy on the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest;

³and the priest shall go out to a place outside of the camp. Then the priest shall look, and if the leprous infection has been healed in the person with leprosy,

⁴then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds, cedar wood, a scarlet string, and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.

⁵The priest shall also give orders to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.

⁶As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood, the scarlet string, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the running water.

⁷He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

⁸The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair, and bathe in water and be clean. And afterward he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days.

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

¹⁰“Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil;

¹¹and the priest who is going to pronounce him clean shall present the person to be cleansed and the offerings before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

¹²Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it as a guilt offering, with the log of oil, and present them as a wave offering before the LORD.

¹³Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary—for the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy.

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

¹⁵The priest shall also take some of the log of oil, and pour it into his left palm;

¹⁶the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the LORD.

¹⁷Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering;

¹⁸as for the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put it on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD.

¹⁹The priest shall next offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering.

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

²¹“But if he is poor and his means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a guilt offering as a wave offering to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil,

²²and two turtledoves or two young doves, which are within his means. The one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.

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

²⁴The priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall offer them as a wave offering before the LORD.

²⁵Next he shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering; and the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

²⁶The priest shall also pour some of the oil into his left palm;

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

²⁸The priest shall then put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.

²⁹Moreover, the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before the LORD.

³⁰He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young doves, which are within his means.

³¹He shall offer what he can afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed.

³²This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his cleansing.”

³³The LORD further spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

³⁴“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a spot of leprosy on a house in the land of your possession,

³⁵then the one who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘Something like a spot of leprosy has become visible to me in the house.’

³⁶The priest shall then command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to look at the spot, so that everything in the house need not become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to look at the house.

³⁷So he shall look at the spot, and if the spot on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish depressions and appears deeper than the surface,

³⁸the priest shall come out of the house, to the doorway, and quarantine the house for seven days.

³⁹Then the priest shall return on the seventh day and make an inspection. If the spot has indeed spread on the walls of the house,

⁴⁰the priest shall order them to pull out the stones with the spot on them and throw them away at an unclean place outside the city.

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

⁴²Then they shall take other stones and replace the discarded stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house.

⁴³“If, however, the spot breaks out again in the house after he has pulled out the stones and scraped the house, and after it has been replastered,

⁴⁴then the priest shall come in and make an inspection. If he sees that the spot has indeed spread in the house, it is a malignant spot in the house; it is unclean.

⁴⁵The owner shall therefore tear down the house, its stones, its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place.

⁴⁶Moreover, whoever goes into the house during the time that he has quarantined it, becomes unclean until evening.

⁴⁷Likewise, whoever lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“If, on the other hand, the priest comes in and makes an inspection and the spot has not indeed spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean because the spot has not reappeared.

⁴⁹To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, a scarlet string, and hyssop,

⁵⁰and he shall slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.

⁵¹Then he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet string, with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet string.

⁵³However, he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

⁵⁴This is the law for any spot of leprosy—even for a scale,

⁵⁵and for the leprous garment or house,

⁵⁶and for a swelling, for a scab, and for a bright spot—

⁵⁷to teach when they are unclean and when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy.

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

²and they all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

³and they all ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were spread out in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them.

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND TO DRINK, AND ROSE UP TO PLAY.”

⁸Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.

⁹Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.

¹⁰Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

¹²Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to wise people; you then, judge what I say.

¹⁶Is the cup of blessing which we bless not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸Look at the people of Israel; are those who eat the sacrifices not partners in the altar?

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

²⁰No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners 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.

²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

²³All things are permitted, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted, but not all things build people up.

²⁴No one is to seek his own advantage, but rather that of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions, for the sake of conscience;

²⁶FOR THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND ALL IT CONTAINS.

²⁷If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions, for the sake of conscience.

²⁸But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of that one who informed you and for the sake of conscience;

²⁹Now by “conscience” I do not mean your own, but the other person’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered about that for which I give thanks?

³¹Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God.

³²Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God;

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

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because 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 have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.

⁴You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

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

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

⁷Beloved, let’s love one another; for 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.

⁹By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.

¹⁰In this is love, not that we 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 remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit.

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

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

¹⁶We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

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

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

¹⁹We love, because He first loved us.

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

²¹And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

¹Then Job answered the LORD and said,

²“I know that You can do all things, And that no plan is impossible for You.

³‘Who is this who conceals advice without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I do not know.

⁴‘Please listen, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’

⁵I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You;

⁶Therefore I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes.”

⁷It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so as not to do with you as your foolishness deserves, because you have not spoken of Me what is trustworthy, as My servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.

¹⁰The LORD also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased double all that Job had.

¹¹Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold.

¹²The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

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

¹⁵In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritances among their brothers.

¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.

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

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

²Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.

³He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks on the wings of the wind;

⁴He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers.

⁵He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.

⁶You covered it with the deep sea as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains.

⁷They fled from Your rebuke, At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.

⁸The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

⁹You set a boundary so that they will not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth.

¹⁰He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains;

¹¹They give drink to every animal of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the sky dwell beside them; They lift up their voices from among the branches.

¹³He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.

¹⁴He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of mankind, So that they may produce food from the earth,

¹⁵And wine, which makes a human heart cheerful, So that he makes his face gleam with oil, And food, which sustains a human heart.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

¹⁷Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the juniper trees.

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

¹⁹He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting.

²⁰You appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the animals of the forest prowl about.

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

²²When the sun rises they withdraw, And they lie down in their dens.

²³A person goes out to his work And to his labor until evening.

²⁴LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.

²⁵There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great.

²⁶The ships move along there, And Leviathan, which You have formed to have fun in it.

²⁷They all wait for You To give them their food in due season.

²⁸You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.

²⁹You hide Your face, they are terrified; You take away their breath, they perish And return to their dust.

³⁰You 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;

³²He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He 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 my being.

³⁴May my praise be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners be removed from the earth And may the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, 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 dishonor; But with the humble there is wisdom.

³The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them.

⁴Riches do not benefit on the day of wrath, But righteousness rescues from death.

⁵The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.

⁶The righteousness of the upright will rescue them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed.

⁷When a wicked person dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of strong people perishes.

⁸The righteous is rescued from trouble, But the wicked takes his place.

⁹With his mouth the godless person destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be rescued.

¹⁰When things go well for the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting.

¹¹By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked, it is torn down.

¹²One who despises his neighbor lacks sense, But a person of understanding keeps silent.

¹³One who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, But one who is trustworthy conceals a matter.

¹⁴Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in an abundance of counselors there is victory.

¹⁵One who is a guarantor for a stranger will certainly suffer for it, But one who hates being a guarantor is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman attains honor, And ruthless men attain riches.

¹⁷A merciful person does himself good, But the cruel person does himself harm.

¹⁸A wicked person earns deceptive wages, But one who sows righteousness gets a true reward.

¹⁹One who is steadfast in righteousness attains life, But one who pursues evil attains his own death.

²⁰The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their walk are His delight.

²¹Be assured, the evil person will not go unpunished, But the descendants of the righteous will be rescued.

²²As a ring of gold in a pig’s snout So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

²³The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.

²⁴There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, And there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in poverty.

²⁵A generous person will be prosperous, And one who gives others plenty of water will himself be given plenty.

²⁶One who withholds grain, the people will curse him, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

²⁷One who diligently seeks good seeks favor, But one who seeks evil, evil will come to him.

²⁸One who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.

²⁹One who troubles his own house will inherit wind, And the foolish will be servant to the wise-hearted.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And one who is wise gains souls.

³¹If the righteous will be repaid on the earth, How much more the wicked and the sinner!

¹Now the anger of the LORD burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”

²So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so 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 can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

⁴Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel.

⁵They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad and toward Jazer.

⁶Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon,

⁷then they came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba.

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

⁹And Joab gave the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰Now David’s heart troubled him after he had counted the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, LORD, please overlook the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

¹¹When David got up in the morning, the word of the LORD came to Gad the prophet, David’s seer, saying,

¹²“Go and speak to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: “I am imposing upon you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.” ’ ”

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

¹⁴Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

¹⁶When the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented of the disaster and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now drop 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 down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house!”

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

¹⁹Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded.

²⁰And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; so Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king.

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

²²Araunah then said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, here are the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood.

²³Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God be favorable to you.”

²⁴However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will certainly buy it from you for a price; for 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.

²⁵Then David built there an altar to the LORD, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the LORD responded to prayer for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

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

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Anyone who stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who surrenders to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as plunder, and stay alive.’

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

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “Please have this man put to death, since he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking words like these to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm.”

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

⁶So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

⁷But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin;

⁸and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying,

⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom, and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they pulled Jeremiah out with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah sent word and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the LORD; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me.”

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

¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made this life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to these men who are seeking your life.”

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

¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hands.’ ”

¹⁹Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am in fear of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for they may hand me over to them, and they will abuse me.”

²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over. Please obey the LORD in what I am saying to you, so that it may go well for you and you may live.

²¹But if you keep refusing to surrender, this is the word which the LORD has shown me:

²²‘Behold, all of the women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say, “Your close friends Have misled and overpowered you; While your feet were sunk in the mire, They turned back.”

²³They are also going to bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.’ ”

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

²⁵But if the officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’

²⁶then you are to say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”

²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the conversation had not been overheard.

²⁸So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had encouraged them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

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

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

⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵Now these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and reached them at Troas within five days; and we stayed there for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

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

⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.”

¹¹When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

¹³But we went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

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

¹⁵Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to lose time in Asia; for he was hurrying, if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church.

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

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

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

²²And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

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

²⁷For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you 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;

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

³¹Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

³²And now I entrust 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 have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me.

³⁵In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  ”

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

³⁷And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.