Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²He called a child and had him stand among them.

³“Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.

⁶“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes.

⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

⁹And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hellfire.

¹⁰“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.

¹¹

¹²What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray?

¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

¹⁴In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

¹⁵“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

¹⁶But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.

¹⁷If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?”

²²“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.

²³“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

²⁴When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.

²⁵Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

²⁶“At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything’

²⁷Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.

²⁸“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

²⁹“At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

³⁰But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed.

³¹When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened.

³²Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.

³³Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

³⁴And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed.

³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”

¹The LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: This is what the LORD has commanded:

³Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, sheep, or goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp,

⁴instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before his tabernacle — that person will be considered guilty. He has shed blood and is to be cut off from his people.

⁵This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they have been offering in the open country. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting and offer them as fellowship sacrifices to the LORD.

⁶The priest will then splatter the blood on the LORD’s altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting and burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁷They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons that they have prostituted themselves with. This will be a permanent statute for them throughout their generations.

⁸“Say to them: Anyone from the house of Israel or from the aliens who reside among them who offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice

⁹but does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD, that person is to be cut off from his people.

¹⁰“Anyone from the house of Israel or from the aliens who reside among them who eats any blood, I will turn against that person who eats blood and cut him off from his people.

¹¹For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.

¹²Therefore I say to the Israelites: None of you and no alien who resides among you may eat blood.

¹³“Any Israelite or alien residing among them, who hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten must drain its blood and cover it with dirt.

¹⁴Since the life of every creature is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You are not to eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it must be cut off.

¹⁵“Every person, whether the native or the resident alien, who eats an animal that died a natural death or was mauled by wild beasts is to wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will remain unclean until evening; then he will be clean.

¹⁶But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, he will bear his iniquity.”

¹If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

³And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant,

⁵is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

⁶Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

¹³Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love — but the greatest of these is love.

¹The elder: To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

²Dear friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and are in good health, just as your whole life is going well.

³For I was very glad when fellow believers came and testified to your fidelity to the truth — how you are walking in truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.

⁵Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.

⁶They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God,

⁷since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans.

⁸Therefore, we ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

⁹I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.

¹⁰This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words. And he is not satisfied with that! He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.

¹¹Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

¹²Everyone speaks well of Demetrius — even the truth itself. And we also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

¹³I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink.

¹⁴I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵Peace to you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.

¹There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:

²a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot;

³a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build;

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

⁵a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

⁶a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

⁷a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What does the worker gain from his struggles?

¹⁰I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.

¹¹He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

¹³It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.

¹⁴I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him.

¹⁵Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. However, God seeks justice for the persecuted.

¹⁶I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness.

¹⁷I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.”

¹⁸I said to myself, “This happens so that God may test the children of Adam and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”

¹⁹For the fate of the children of Adam and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile.

²⁰All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.

²¹Who knows if the spirits of the children of Adam go upward and the spirits of animals go downward to the earth?

²²I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.

²Let the redeemed of the LORD proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe

³and has gathered them from the lands — from the east and the west, from the north and the south.

⁴Some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live.

⁵They were hungry and thirsty; their spirits failed within them.

⁶Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress.

⁷He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.

⁸Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

⁹For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.

¹⁰Others sat in darkness and gloom  — prisoners in cruel chains  —

¹¹because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the counsel of the Most High.

¹²He broke their spirits with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

¹³Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he saved them from their distress.

¹⁴He brought them out of darkness and gloom and broke their chains apart.

¹⁵Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

¹⁶For he has broken down the bronze gates and cut through the iron bars.

¹⁷Fools suffered affliction because of their rebellious ways and their iniquities.

¹⁸They loathed all food and came near the gates of death.

¹⁹Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he saved them from their distress.

²⁰He sent his word and healed them; he rescued them from the Pit.

²¹Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

²²Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and announce his works with shouts of joy.

²³Others went to sea in ships, conducting trade on the vast water.

²⁴They saw the LORD’s works, his wondrous works in the deep.

²⁵He spoke and raised a stormy wind that stirred up the waves of the sea.

²⁶Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths, their courage melting away in anguish,

²⁷they reeled and staggered like a drunkard, and all their skill was useless.

²⁸Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.

²⁹He stilled the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

³⁰They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet. Then he guided them to the harbor they longed for.

³¹Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

³²Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.

³³He turns rivers into desert, springs into thirsty ground,

³⁴and fruitful land into salty wasteland, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

³⁵He turns a desert into a pool, dry land into springs.

³⁶He causes the hungry to settle there, and they establish a city where they can live.

³⁷They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest.

³⁸He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; he does not let their livestock decrease.

³⁹When they are diminished and are humbled by cruel oppression and sorrow,

⁴⁰he pours contempt on nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

⁴¹But he lifts the needy out of their suffering and makes their families multiply like flocks.

⁴²The upright see it and rejoice, and all injustice shuts its mouth.

⁴³Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things and consider the LORD’s acts of faithful love.

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

²Whoever lives with integrity fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises him.

³The proud speech of a fool brings a rod of discipline, but the lips of the wise protect them.

⁴Where there are no oxen, the feeding trough is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of an ox.

⁵An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness utters lies.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to the perceptive.

⁷Stay away from a foolish person; you will gain no knowledge from his speech.

⁸The sensible person’s wisdom is to consider his way, but the stupidity of fools deceives them.

⁹Fools mock at making reparation, but there is goodwill among the upright.

¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, and no outsider shares in its joy.

¹¹The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

¹²There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

¹³Even in laughter a heart may be sad, and joy may end in grief.

¹⁴The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves, and a good one, what his deeds deserve.

¹⁵The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps.

¹⁶A wise person is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered and is careless.

¹⁷A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and one who schemes is hated.

¹⁸The inexperienced inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹The evil bow before those who are good, and the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

²⁰A poor person is hated even by his neighbor, but there are many who love the rich.

²¹The one who despises his neighbor sins, but whoever shows kindness to the poor will be happy.

²²Don’t those who plan evil go astray? But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.

²³There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.

²⁴The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the foolishness of fools produces foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness rescues lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.

²⁶In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence and his children have a refuge.

²⁷The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

²⁸A large population is a king’s splendor, but a shortage of people is a ruler’s devastation.

²⁹A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness.

³⁰A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

³¹The one who oppresses the poor person insults his Maker, but one who is kind to the needy honors him.

³²The wicked one is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous one has a refuge in his death.

³³Wisdom resides in the heart of the discerning; she is known even among fools.

³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵A king favors a prudent servant, but his anger falls on a disgraceful one.

¹Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, the LORD’s temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.

²However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the LORD’s name had not been built.

³Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

⁵At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?”

⁶And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

⁷“LORD my God, you have now made your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership.

⁸Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted.

⁹So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

¹⁰Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this.

¹¹So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice,

¹²I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again.

¹³In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life.

¹⁴If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”

¹⁵Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

¹⁷One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house.

¹⁸On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.

¹⁹During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.

²⁰She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him in her arms, and she put her dead son in my arms.

²¹When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”

²²“No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.” The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.

²³The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’”

²⁴The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king.

²⁵And the king said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!” But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”

²⁷The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”

²⁸All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.

¹In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah,

²but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.

³Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

⁴On the day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet,

⁵eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their clothes, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the LORD.

⁶Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!”

⁷But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.

⁸However, there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field — wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions.

⁹Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one that King Asa had made in the encounter with King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king — all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.

¹¹When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,

¹²they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great pool in Gibeon.

¹³When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced.

¹⁴All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah.

¹⁵But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.

¹⁶Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam — men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon.

¹⁷They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt,

¹⁸away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

¹Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience to this day.”

²The high priest Ananias ordered those who were standing next to him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?”

⁴Those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?”

⁵“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”

⁶When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all.

⁹The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party got up and argued vehemently: “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, take him away from them, and bring him into the barracks.

¹¹The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

¹²When it was morning, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who had formed this plot.

¹⁴These men went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse that we won’t eat anything until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵So now you, along with the Sanhedrin, make a request to the commander that he bring him down to you as if you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly. But, before he gets near, we are ready to kill him.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul’s sister, hearing about their ambush, came and entered the barracks and reported it to Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him, brought him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took him by the hand, led him aside, and inquired privately, “What is it you have to report to me?”

²⁰“The Jews,” he said, “have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they are going to hold a somewhat more careful inquiry about him.

²¹Don’t let them persuade you, because there are more than forty of them lying in ambush — men who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready, waiting for your consent.”

²²So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Don’t tell anyone that you have informed me about this.”

²³He summoned two of his centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready with seventy cavalry and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight.

²⁴Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”

²⁵He wrote the following letter:

²⁶Claudius Lysias, To the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.

²⁷When this man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I arrived with my troops and rescued him because I learned that he is a Roman citizen.

²⁸Wanting to know the charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down before their Sanhedrin.

²⁹I found out that the accusations were concerning questions of their law, and that there was no charge that merited death or imprisonment.

³⁰When I was informed that there was a plot against the man, I sent him to you right away. I also ordered his accusers to state their case against him in your presence.

³¹So the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris as they were ordered.

³²The next day, they returned to the barracks, allowing the cavalry to go on with him.

³³When these men entered Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴After he read it, he asked what province he was from. When he learned he was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers also get here.” He ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.