Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,

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

³He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?

⁴For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”—

⁶then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.

⁷Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

⁸‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

⁹And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

¹⁰When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand:

¹¹Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”

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

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

¹⁴Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

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

¹⁶So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?

¹⁷Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?

¹⁸But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

²⁰These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

²¹Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

²³But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”

²⁴But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

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

²⁸Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

²⁹Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.

³⁰Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.

³¹So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

³³Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”

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

³⁵So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.

³⁶And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.

³⁷So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left.

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

³⁹And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“This shall be the law of the leper 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 examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper,

⁴then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

⁵And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water.

⁶As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.

⁷And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field.

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

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

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

¹¹Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

¹²And the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

¹³Then he shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy.

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

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

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

¹⁷And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering.

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

¹⁹“Then the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.

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

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

²²and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford: one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

²³He shall bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the LORD.

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

²⁵Then he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, 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.

²⁷Then the priest 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 tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering.

²⁹The 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 one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he can afford—

³¹such as he is able to afford, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the LORD.

³²This is the law for one who had a leprous sore, who cannot afford the usual cleansing.”

³³And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

³⁴“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession,

³⁵and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’

³⁶then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house.

³⁷And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall,

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; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house,

⁴⁰then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city.

⁴¹And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust 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 mortar and plaster the house.

⁴³“Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered,

⁴⁴then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean.

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

⁴⁶Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening.

⁴⁷And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸“But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

⁴⁹And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop.

⁵⁰Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water;

⁵¹and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet.

⁵³Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.

⁵⁴“This is the law for any leprous sore and scale,

⁵⁵for the leprosy of a garment and of a house,

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

⁵⁷to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”

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

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

³all ate the same spiritual food,

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

⁵But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

⁷And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

⁸Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;

⁹nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;

¹⁰nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

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

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

¹³No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

¹⁷For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

¹⁸Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

¹⁹What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

²⁰Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.

²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

²³All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

²⁴Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.

²⁵Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake;

²⁶for “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”

²⁷If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake.

²⁸But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness.”

²⁹“Conscience,” I say, not your own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another man’s conscience?

³⁰But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?

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

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

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

¹Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of 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 of God,

³and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

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

⁵They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

⁶We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might 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 seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been 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 the Son as Savior of the world.

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

¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

¹⁸There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love Him because He first loved us.

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

²¹And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

¹Then Job answered the LORD and said:

²“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

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

⁴Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

⁵“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.

⁶Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because 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 as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job.

¹⁰And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

¹¹Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.

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

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

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

¹⁵In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.

¹⁷So Job died, old and full of days.

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

²Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.

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

⁴Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.

⁵You who laid the foundations of the earth, So that it should not be moved forever,

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

⁷At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.

⁸They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them.

⁹You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, That they may not return to cover the earth.

¹⁰He sends the springs into the valleys; They flow among the hills.

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

¹²By them the birds of the heavens have their home; They sing among the branches.

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

¹⁴He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth,

¹⁵And wine that makes glad the heart of man, Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD are full of sap, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

¹⁷Where the birds make their nests; The stork has her home in the fir trees.

¹⁸The high hills are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He appointed the moon for seasons; The sun knows its going down.

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

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

²²When the sun rises, they gather together 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 You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions—

²⁵This great and wide sea, In which are innumerable teeming things, Living things both small and great.

²⁶There the ships sail about; There is that Leviathan Which You have made to play there.

²⁷These all wait for You, That You may give them their food in due season.

²⁸What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good.

²⁹You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

³⁰You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.

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

³²He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, 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 meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners be consumed from the earth, And the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.

²When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

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

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

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

⁶The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.

⁷When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes.

⁸The righteous is delivered from trouble, And it comes to the wicked instead.

⁹The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, But through knowledge the righteous will be delivered.

¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

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

¹²He who is devoid of wisdom despises his neighbor, But a man of understanding holds his peace.

¹³A talebearer reveals secrets, But he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

¹⁴Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

¹⁵He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, But one who hates being surety is secure.

¹⁶A gracious woman retains honor, But ruthless men retain riches.

¹⁷The merciful man does good for his own soul, But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.

¹⁸The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.

¹⁹As righteousness leads to life, So he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death.

²⁰Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their ways are His delight.

²¹Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.

²²As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, So is a lovely 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, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.

²⁵The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.

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

²⁷He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.

²⁸He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage.

²⁹He who troubles his own house 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 he who wins souls is wise.

³¹If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, How much more the ungodly and the sinner.

¹Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

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

³And Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?”

⁴Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.

⁵And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer.

⁶Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon;

⁷and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba.

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

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

¹⁰And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

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

¹²“Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”

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

¹⁴And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

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

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain 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, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

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

¹⁹So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

²⁰Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

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

²²Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

²³All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

²⁴Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs 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 heeded the prayers 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 Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,

²“Thus says the LORD: ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’

³Thus says the LORD: ‘This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”

⁴Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.”

⁶So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

⁷Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,

⁸Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying:

⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.”

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

¹¹So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

¹²Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

¹⁴Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”

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

¹⁶So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give 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 surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.

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

¹⁹And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.”

²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.

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

²²‘Now behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say: “Your close friends have set upon you And prevailed against you; Your feet have sunk in the mire, And they have turned away again.”

²³‘So they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

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

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

²⁶then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard.

²⁸Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.

²Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece

³and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas.

⁶But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

⁷Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

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

⁹And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, “Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.”

¹¹Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed.

¹²And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted.

¹³Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot.

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

¹⁵We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus.

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

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

¹⁸And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews;

²⁰how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house,

²¹testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,

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

²⁴But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵“And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

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

²⁷For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

²⁸Therefore take heed to yourselves and to 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.

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

³⁰Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

³¹Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

³²“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.

³⁴Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me.

³⁵I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He 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.

³⁷Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him,

³⁸sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.