Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

²He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’

³and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

⁴A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

⁵When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.

⁶“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?

⁹Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

¹¹How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

¹²Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

²⁰Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

²⁵For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

²⁶What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

¹The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean.

³Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:

⁴“ ‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean.

⁵Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁶Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁷“ ‘Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁸“ ‘If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁹“ ‘Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean,

¹⁰and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹¹“ ‘Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹²“ ‘A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.

¹³“ ‘When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean.

¹⁴On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the LORD to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest.

¹⁵The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the LORD for the man because of his discharge.

¹⁶“ ‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening.

¹⁷Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.

¹⁸When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹⁹“ ‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

²⁰“ ‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean.

²¹Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

²²Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

²³Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

²⁴“ ‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

²⁵“ ‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.

²⁶Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period.

²⁷Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

²⁸“ ‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean.

²⁹On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

³⁰The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge.

³¹“ ‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’ ”

³²These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen,

³³for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

¹Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

²I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you.

³But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

⁵But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.

⁶For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.

⁷A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;

⁹neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

¹⁰It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

¹²For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

¹⁶If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

¹⁸In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.

¹⁹No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.

²⁰So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat,

²¹for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.

²²Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,

²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

²⁶For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.

²⁹For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

³⁰That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

³¹But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.

³²Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

³³So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together.

³⁴Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

²This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

³In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

⁴for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

⁵Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

⁷For there are three that testify:

⁸the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

⁹We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.

¹⁰Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.

¹¹And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

¹⁶If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.

¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

¹⁸We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.

¹⁹We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

²⁰We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

²¹Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

¹The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

²“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

³What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?

⁴Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

⁵The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

⁶The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

⁷All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

⁸All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

⁹What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

¹¹No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

¹²I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

¹Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

²Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

³Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

⁴Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

⁵Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

⁶you his servants, the descendants of Abraham, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.

⁷He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations,

⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

¹¹“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

¹²When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,

¹³they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:

¹⁵“Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”

¹⁶He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food;

¹⁷and he sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave.

¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons,

¹⁹till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true.

²⁰The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free.

²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed,

²²to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham.

²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes,

²⁵whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

²⁷They performed his signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness and made the land dark— for had they not rebelled against his words?

²⁹He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die.

³⁰Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.

³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.

³²He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land;

³³he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number;

³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil.

³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood.

³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night.

⁴⁰They asked, and he brought them quail; he fed them well with the bread of heaven.

⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.

⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy;

⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—

⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the LORD.

¹Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.

²Good people obtain favor from the LORD, but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.

³No one can be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.

⁴A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

⁵The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm.

⁸A person is praised according to their prudence, and one with a warped mind is despised.

⁹Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

¹⁰The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

¹¹Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

¹²The wicked desire the stronghold of evildoers, but the root of the righteous endures.

¹³Evildoers are trapped by their sinful talk, and so the innocent escape trouble.

¹⁴From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, and the work of their hands brings them reward.

¹⁵The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

¹⁶Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.

¹⁷An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.

¹⁸The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁹Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

²⁰Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.

²¹No harm overtakes the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble.

²²The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.

²³The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves, but a fool’s heart blurts out folly.

²⁴Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

²⁵Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.

²⁶The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.

²⁸In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.

¹When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.

²So his attendants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”

³Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

⁴The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.

⁵Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him.

⁶(His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

⁷Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support.

⁸But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah.

⁹Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah,

¹⁰but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

¹¹Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David knows nothing about it?

¹²Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.

¹³Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’

¹⁴While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and add my word to what you have said.”

¹⁵So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.

¹⁶Bathsheba bowed down, prostrating herself before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked.

¹⁷She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’

¹⁸But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it.

¹⁹He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant.

²⁰My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

²¹Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.”

²²While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.

²³And the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.

²⁴Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne?

²⁵Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’

²⁶But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite.

²⁷Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

²⁸Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him.

²⁹The king then took an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble,

³⁰I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”

³¹Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself before the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

³²King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king,

³³he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon.

³⁴There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’

³⁵Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”

³⁶Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so declare it.

³⁷As the LORD was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!”

³⁸So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon.

³⁹Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”

⁴⁰And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

⁴¹Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, “What’s the meaning of all the noise in the city?”

⁴²Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.”

⁴³“Not at all!” Jonathan answered. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king.

⁴⁴The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king’s mule,

⁴⁵and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That’s the noise you hear.

⁴⁶Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne.

⁴⁷Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed

⁴⁸and said, ‘Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.’ ”

⁴⁹At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed.

⁵⁰But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar.

⁵¹Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ ”

⁵²Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.”

⁵³Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”

¹In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it.

²And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.

³Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon.

⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah.

⁵But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him.

⁶There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah.

⁷Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

⁸The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

⁹Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people.

¹⁰But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

¹¹Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard:

¹²“Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.”

¹³So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon

¹⁴sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

¹⁵While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him:

¹⁶“Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.

¹⁷But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear.

¹⁸I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.’ ”

¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

²We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail.

³After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.

⁴We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

⁵When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

⁶After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

⁷We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven.

⁹He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.

¹⁷When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly.

¹⁸The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

²¹They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

²²What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come,

²³so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

²⁹(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)

³⁰The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers.

³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?” “Do you speak Greek?” he replied.

³⁸“Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?”

³⁹Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After receiving the commander’s permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic: