Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him,

²“Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

³Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?

⁴For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’

⁵But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’

⁶In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.

⁷You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

⁸‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

⁹Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ ”

¹⁰Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand.

¹¹It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

¹²Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”

¹³Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted,

¹⁴so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.”

¹⁶“Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked.

¹⁷“Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.

¹⁸But the words you speak come from the heart — that’s what defiles you.

¹⁹For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

²⁰These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

²¹Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”

²³But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep — the people of Israel.”

²⁵But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”

²⁸“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

²⁹Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down.

³⁰A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and he healed them all.

³¹The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

³²Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint along the way.”

³³The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the wilderness for such a huge crowd?”

³⁴Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”

³⁵So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground.

³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd.

³⁷They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.

³⁸There were 4,000 men who were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children.

³⁹Then Jesus sent the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of Magadan.

¹And the LORD said to Moses,

²“The following instructions are for those seeking ceremonial purification from a skin disease. Those who have been healed must be brought to the priest,

³who will examine them at a place outside the camp. If the priest finds that someone has been healed of a serious skin disease,

⁴he will perform a purification ceremony, using two live birds that are ceremonially clean, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.

⁵The priest will order that one bird be slaughtered over a clay pot filled with fresh water.

⁶He will take the live bird, the cedar stick, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop branch, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.

⁷The priest will then sprinkle the blood of the dead bird seven times on the person being purified of the skin disease. When the priest has purified the person, he will release the live bird in the open field to fly away.

⁸“The persons being purified must then wash their clothes, shave off all their hair, and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean and may return to the camp. However, they must remain outside their tents for seven days.

⁹On the seventh day they must again shave all the hair from their heads, including the hair of the beard and eyebrows. They must also wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water. Then they will be ceremonially clean.

¹⁰“On the eighth day each person being purified must bring two male lambs and a one-year-old female lamb, all with no defects, along with a grain offering of six quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil, and a cup of olive oil.

¹¹Then the officiating priest will present that person for purification, along with the offerings, before the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

¹²The priest will take one of the male lambs and the olive oil and present them as a guilt offering, lifting them up as a special offering before the LORD.

¹³He will then slaughter the male lamb in the sacred area where sin offerings and burnt offerings are slaughtered. As with the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest. It is a most holy offering.

¹⁴The priest will then take some of the blood of the guilt offering and apply it to the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

¹⁵“Then the priest will pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand.

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

¹⁷The priest will then apply some of the oil in his palm over the blood from the guilt offering that is on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

¹⁸The priest will apply the oil remaining in his hand to the head of the person being purified. Through this process, the priest will purify the person before the LORD.

¹⁹“Then the priest must present the sin offering to purify the person who was cured of the skin disease. After that, the priest will slaughter the burnt offering

²⁰and offer it on the altar along with the grain offering. Through this process, the priest will purify the person who was healed, and the person will be ceremonially clean.

²¹“But anyone who is too poor and cannot afford these offerings may bring one male lamb for a guilt offering, to be lifted up as a special offering for purification. The person must also bring two quarts of choice flour moistened with olive oil for the grain offering and a cup of olive oil.

²²The offering must also include two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever the person can afford. One of the pair must be used for the sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

²³On the eighth day of the purification ceremony, the person being purified must bring the offerings to the priest in the LORD’s presence at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

²⁴The priest will take the lamb for the guilt offering, along with the olive oil, and lift them up as a special offering to the LORD.

²⁵Then the priest will slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering. He will take some of its blood and apply it to the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

²⁶“The priest will also pour some of the olive oil into the palm of his own left hand.

²⁷He will dip his right finger into the oil in his palm and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD.

²⁸The priest will then apply some of the oil in his palm over the blood from the guilt offering that is on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person being purified.

²⁹The priest will apply the oil remaining in his hand to the head of the person being purified. Through this process, the priest will purify the person before the LORD.

³⁰“Then the priest will offer the two turtledoves or the two young pigeons, whichever the person can afford.

³¹One of them is for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, to be presented along with the grain offering. Through this process, the priest will purify the person before the LORD.

³²These are the instructions for purification for those who have recovered from a serious skin disease but who cannot afford to bring the offerings normally required for the ceremony of purification.”

³³Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

³⁴“When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.

³⁵The owner of such a house must then go to the priest and say, ‘It appears that my house has some kind of mildew.’

³⁶Before the priest goes in to inspect the house, he must have the house emptied so nothing inside will be pronounced ceremonially unclean.

³⁷Then the priest will go in and examine the mildew on the walls. If he finds greenish or reddish streaks and the contamination appears to go deeper than the wall’s surface,

³⁸the priest will step outside the door and put the house in quarantine for seven days.

³⁹On the seventh day the priest must return for another inspection. If he finds that the mildew on the walls of the house has spread,

⁴⁰the priest must order that the stones from those areas be removed. The contaminated material will then be taken outside the town to an area designated as ceremonially unclean.

⁴¹Next the inside walls of the entire house must be scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in the unclean place outside the town.

⁴²Other stones will be brought in to replace the ones that were removed, and the walls will be replastered.

⁴³“But if the mildew reappears after all the stones have been replaced and the house has been scraped and replastered,

⁴⁴the priest must return and inspect the house again. If he finds that the mildew has spread, the walls are clearly contaminated with a serious mildew, and the house is defiled.

⁴⁵It must be torn down, and all its stones, timbers, and plaster must be carried out of town to the place designated as ceremonially unclean.

⁴⁶Those who enter the house during the period of quarantine will be ceremonially unclean until evening,

⁴⁷and all who sleep or eat in the house must wash their clothing.

⁴⁸“But if the priest returns for his inspection and finds that the mildew has not reappeared in the house after the fresh plastering, he will pronounce it clean because the mildew is clearly gone.

⁴⁹To purify the house the priest must take two birds, a stick of cedar, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.

⁵⁰He will slaughter one of the birds over a clay pot filled with fresh water.

⁵¹He will take the cedar stick, the hyssop branch, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them into the blood of the slaughtered bird and into the fresh water. Then he will sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²When the priest has purified the house in exactly this way,

⁵³he will release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. Through this process, the priest will purify the house, and it will be ceremonially clean.

⁵⁴“These are the instructions for dealing with serious skin diseases, including scabby sores;

⁵⁵and mildew, whether on clothing or in a house;

⁵⁶and a swelling on the skin, a rash, or discolored skin.

⁵⁷This procedure will determine whether a person or object is ceremonially clean or unclean. “These are the instructions regarding skin diseases and mildew.”

¹I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.

²In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.

³All of them ate the same spiritual food,

⁴and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

⁶These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,

⁷or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”

⁸And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.

⁹Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.

¹⁰And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.

¹¹These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

¹²If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.

¹³The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

¹⁴So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

¹⁵You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true.

¹⁶When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?

¹⁷And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.

¹⁸Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?

¹⁹What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods?

²⁰No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons.

²¹You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.

²²What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?

²³You say, “I am allowed to do anything” — but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything” — but not everything is beneficial.

²⁴Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.

²⁵So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience.

²⁶For “the earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.”

²⁷If someone who isn’t a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience.

²⁸(But suppose someone tells you, “This meat was offered to an idol.” Don’t eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you.

²⁹It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks?

³⁰If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it?

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

³²Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God.

³³I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.

¹Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

²This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God.

³But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

⁴But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

⁵Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them.

⁶But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

⁷Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

⁸But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

¹⁰This is real love — not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.

¹²No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

¹³And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

¹⁴Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

¹⁵All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.

¹⁶We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

¹⁷And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

¹⁸Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

¹⁹We love each other because he loved us first.

²⁰If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

²¹And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.

³You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I — and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.

⁴You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’

⁵I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

⁶I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

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

⁸So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the LORD commanded them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before!

¹¹Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the LORD had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.

¹²So the LORD blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

¹³He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters.

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

¹⁵In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.

¹⁶Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren.

¹⁷Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.

¹Let all that I am praise the LORD. O LORD my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and majesty.

²You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;

³you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind.

⁴The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants.

⁵You placed the world on its foundation so it would never be moved.

⁶You clothed the earth with floods of water, water that covered even the mountains.

⁷At your command, the water fled; at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.

⁸Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.

⁹Then you set a firm boundary for the seas, so they would never again cover the earth.

¹⁰You make springs pour water into the ravines, so streams gush down from the mountains.

¹¹They provide water for all the animals, and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees.

¹³You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.

¹⁴You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth —

¹⁵wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD are well cared for — the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷There the birds make their nests, and the storks make their homes in the cypresses.

¹⁸High in the mountains live the wild goats, and the rocks form a refuge for the hyraxes.

¹⁹You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You send the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about.

²¹Then the young lions roar for their prey, stalking the food provided by God.

²²At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest.

²³Then people go off to their work, where they labor until evening.

²⁴O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.

²⁶See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

²⁷They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.

²⁸When you supply it, they gather it. You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied.

²⁹But if you turn away from them, they panic. When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.

³⁰When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of the LORD continue forever! The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!

³²The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!

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

³⁵Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth; let the wicked disappear forever. Let all that I am praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

¹The LORD detests the use of dishonest scales, but he delights in accurate weights.

²Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

³Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.

⁴Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.

⁵The godly are directed by honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.

⁶The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them.

⁷When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.

⁸The godly are rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead.

⁹With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

¹⁰The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the wicked die.

¹¹Upright citizens are good for a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.

¹²It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor; a sensible person keeps quiet.

¹³A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

¹⁴Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers.

¹⁵There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt; it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

¹⁶A gracious woman gains respect, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

¹⁷Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.

¹⁸Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.

¹⁹Godly people find life; evil people find death.

²⁰The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but he delights in those with integrity.

²¹Evil people will surely be punished, but the children of the godly will go free.

²²A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³The godly can look forward to a reward, while the wicked can expect only judgment.

²⁴Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.

²⁵The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

²⁶People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need.

²⁷If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

²⁸Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.

²⁹Those who bring trouble on their families inherit the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise.

³⁰The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends.

³¹If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, what will happen to wicked sinners?

¹Once again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the LORD told him.

²So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel — from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south — so I may know how many people there are.”

³But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God let you live to see a hundred times as many people as there are now! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?”

⁴But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the people of Israel.

⁵First they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the town in the valley, in the direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazer,

⁶then to Gilead in the land of Tahtim-hodshi and to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.

⁷Then they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south to Judah as far as Beersheba.

⁸Having gone through the entire land for nine months and twenty days, they returned to Jerusalem.

⁹Joab reported the number of people to the king. There were 800,000 capable warriors in Israel who could handle a sword, and 500,000 in Judah.

¹⁰But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, LORD, for doing this foolish thing.”

¹¹The next morning the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message:

¹²“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

¹³So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three years of famine throughout your land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me.”

¹⁴“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁵So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.

¹⁶But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷When David saw the angel, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep — what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”

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

¹⁹So David went up to do what the LORD had commanded him.

²⁰When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

²¹“Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked. David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the LORD there, so that he will stop the plague.”

²²“Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar.

²³I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the LORD your God accept your sacrifice.”

²⁴But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.

²⁵David built an altar there to the LORD and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the LORD answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people. He had been saying,

²“This is what the LORD says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’

³The LORD also says: ‘The city of Jerusalem will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”

⁴So these officials went to the king and said, “Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!”

⁵King Zedekiah agreed. “All right,” he said. “Do as you like. I can’t stop you.”

⁶So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.

⁷But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,

⁸so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him.

⁹“My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”

¹⁰So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope.

¹²Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready,

¹³they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard — the palace prison — where he remained.

¹⁴One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the LORD’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”

¹⁵Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

¹⁶So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the LORD our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down.

¹⁸But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’”

¹⁹“But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”

²⁰Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the LORD. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.

²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me:

²²All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying, ‘What fine friends you have! They have betrayed and misled you. When your feet sank in the mud, they left you to your fate!’

²³All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die!

²⁵My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’

²⁶If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”

²⁷Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king.

²⁸And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

¹When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia.

²While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled down to Greece,

³where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

⁵They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas.

⁶After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week.

⁷On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

⁸The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps.

⁹As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eutychus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally, he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below.

¹⁰Paul went down, bent over him, and took him into his arms. “Don’t worry,” he said, “he’s alive!”

¹¹Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord’s Supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left.

¹²Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved.

¹³Paul went by land to Assos, where he had arranged for us to join him, while we traveled by ship.

¹⁴He joined us there, and we sailed together to Mitylene.

¹⁵The next day we sailed past the island of Kios. The following day we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day later we arrived at Miletus.

¹⁶Paul had decided to sail on past Ephesus, for he didn’t want to spend any more time in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to get to Jerusalem, if possible, in time for the Festival of Pentecost.

¹⁷But when we landed at Miletus, he sent a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus, asking them to come and meet him.

¹⁸When they arrived he declared, “You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now

¹⁹I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews.

²⁰I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes.

²¹I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike — the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²“And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me,

²³except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

²⁴But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus — the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

²⁵“And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the Kingdom will ever see me again.

²⁶I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,

²⁷for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know.

²⁸“So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock — his church, purchased with his own blood — over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.

²⁹I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

³¹Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you — my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you.

³²“And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.

³³“I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes.

³⁴You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me.

³⁵And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

³⁶When he had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them.

³⁷They all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye.

³⁸They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they escorted him down to the ship.