Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

²Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them.

³Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁴So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

⁵“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

⁶But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷“What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.

⁸So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.

⁹And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

¹⁰“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.

¹¹

¹²“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?

¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away!

¹⁴In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵“If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

¹⁶But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

¹⁷If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

¹⁸“I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

¹⁹“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.

²⁰For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

²¹Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

²²“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

²³“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him.

²⁴In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

²⁵He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold — along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned — to pay the debt.

²⁶“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’

²⁷Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

²⁸“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

²⁹“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded.

³⁰But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

³¹“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.

³²Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me.

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

³⁴Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

³⁵“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,

²“Give the following instructions to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel. This is what the LORD has commanded.

³“If any native Israelite sacrifices a bull or a lamb or a goat anywhere inside or outside the camp

⁴instead of bringing it to the entrance of the Tabernacle to present it as an offering to the LORD, that person will be as guilty as a murderer. Such a person has shed blood and will be cut off from the community.

⁵The purpose of this rule is to stop the Israelites from sacrificing animals in the open fields. It will ensure that they bring their sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle, so he can present them to the LORD as peace offerings.

⁶Then the priest will be able to splatter the blood against the LORD’s altar at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and he will burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

⁷The people must no longer be unfaithful to the LORD by offering sacrifices to the goat idols. This is a permanent law for them, to be observed from generation to generation.

⁸“Give them this command as well. If any native Israelite or foreigner living among you offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice

⁹but does not bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle to offer it to the LORD, that person will be cut off from the community.

¹⁰“And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people,

¹¹for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.

¹²That is why I have said to the people of Israel, ‘You must never eat or drink blood — neither you nor the foreigners living among you.’

¹³“And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you goes hunting and kills an animal or bird that is approved for eating, he must drain its blood and cover it with earth.

¹⁴The life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the people of Israel, ‘You must never eat or drink blood, for the life of any creature is in its blood.’ So whoever consumes blood will be cut off from the community.

¹⁵“And if any native-born Israelites or foreigners eat the meat of an animal that died naturally or was torn up by wild animals, they must wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water. They will remain ceremonially unclean until evening, but then they will be clean.

¹⁶But if they do not wash their clothes and bathe themselves, they will be punished for their sin.”

¹If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

³If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

⁵or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

⁶It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

⁷Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

⁹Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!

¹⁰But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

¹²Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.

¹This letter is from John, the elder. I am writing to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

²Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit.

³Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth.

⁴I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.

⁵Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you.

⁶They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing for such teachers in a manner that pleases God.

⁷For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers.

⁸So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

⁹I wrote to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us.

¹⁰When I come, I will report some of the things he is doing and the evil accusations he is making against us. Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church.

¹¹Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.

¹²Everyone speaks highly of Demetrius, as does the truth itself. We ourselves can say the same for him, and you know we speak the truth.

¹³I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to write it with pen and ink.

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

¹⁵Peace be with you. Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there.

¹For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

²A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.

³A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.

⁴A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

⁵A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

⁶A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

⁷A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

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

⁹What do people really get for all their hard work?

¹⁰I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.

¹¹Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

¹²So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.

¹³And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

¹⁴And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.

¹⁵What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

¹⁶I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!

¹⁷I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”

¹⁸I also thought about the human condition — how God proves to people that they are like animals.

¹⁹For people and animals share the same fate — both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!

²⁰Both go to the same place — they came from dust and they return to dust.

²¹For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth?

²²So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.

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

²Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

³For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.

⁴Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless.

⁵Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died.

⁶“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.

⁷He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live.

⁸Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

⁹For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

¹⁰Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery.

¹¹They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High.

¹²That is why he broke them with hard labor; they fell, and no one was there to help them.

¹³“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

¹⁴He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains.

¹⁵Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

¹⁶For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron.

¹⁷Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins.

¹⁸They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door.

¹⁹“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

²⁰He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.

²¹Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

²²Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.

²³Some went off to sea in ships, plying the trade routes of the world.

²⁴They, too, observed the LORD’s power in action, his impressive works on the deepest seas.

²⁵He spoke, and the winds rose, stirring up the waves.

²⁶Their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths; the sailors cringed in terror.

²⁷They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits’ end.

²⁸“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

²⁹He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves.

³⁰What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!

³¹Let them praise the LORD for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

³²Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.

³³He changes rivers into deserts, and springs of water into dry, thirsty land.

³⁴He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands, because of the wickedness of those who live there.

³⁵But he also turns deserts into pools of water, the dry land into springs of water.

³⁶He brings the hungry to settle there and to build their cities.

³⁷They sow their fields, plant their vineyards, and harvest their bumper crops.

³⁸How he blesses them! They raise large families there, and their herds of livestock increase.

³⁹When they decrease in number and become impoverished through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,

⁴⁰the LORD pours contempt on their princes, causing them to wander in trackless wastelands.

⁴¹But he rescues the poor from trouble and increases their families like flocks of sheep.

⁴²The godly will see these things and be glad, while the wicked are struck silent.

⁴³Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD.

¹A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

²Those who follow the right path fear the LORD; those who take the wrong path despise him.

³A fool’s proud talk becomes a rod that beats him, but the words of the wise keep them safe.

⁴Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

⁵An honest witness does not lie; a false witness breathes lies.

⁶A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding.

⁷Stay away from fools, for you won’t find knowledge on their lips.

⁸The prudent understand where they are going, but fools deceive themselves.

⁹Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.

¹⁰Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy.

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

¹²There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

¹³Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains.

¹⁴Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.

¹⁵Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.

¹⁶The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.

¹⁷Short-tempered people do foolish things, and schemers are hated.

¹⁸Simpletons are clothed with foolishness, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

¹⁹Evil people will bow before good people; the wicked will bow at the gates of the godly.

²⁰The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many “friends.”

²¹It is a sin to belittle one’s neighbor; blessed are those who help the poor.

²²If you plan to do evil, you will be lost; if you plan to do good, you will receive unfailing love and faithfulness.

²³Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!

²⁴Wealth is a crown for the wise; the effort of fools yields only foolishness.

²⁵A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is a traitor.

²⁶Those who fear the LORD are secure; he will be a refuge for their children.

²⁷Fear of the LORD is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death.

²⁸A growing population is a king’s glory; a prince without subjects has nothing.

²⁹People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

³⁰A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

³¹Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors him.

³²The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.

³³Wisdom is enshrined in an understanding heart; wisdom is not found among fools.

³⁴Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

³⁵A king rejoices in wise servants but is angry with those who disgrace him.

¹Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the LORD and the wall around the city.

²At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the LORD had not yet been built.

³Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.

⁴The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.

⁵That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

⁶Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

⁷“Now, O LORD my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.

⁸And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!

⁹Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.

¹¹So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies —

¹²I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!

¹³And I will also give you what you did not ask for — riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!

¹⁴And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

¹⁵Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet.

¹⁶Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled.

¹⁷“Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house.

¹⁸Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.

¹⁹“But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it.

²⁰Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her.

²¹And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”

²²Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.” “No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

²³Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other.

²⁴All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.

²⁵Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”

²⁶Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child — please do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”

²⁷Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!”

²⁸When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.

¹But in midautumn of that year, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and had been one of the king’s high officials, went to Mizpah with ten men to meet Gedaliah. While they were eating together,

²Ishmael and his ten men suddenly jumped up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor.

³Ishmael also killed all the Judeans and the Babylonian soldiers who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah.

⁴The next day, before anyone had heard about Gedaliah’s murder,

⁵eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria to worship at the Temple of the LORD. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves, and had brought along grain offerings and frankincense.

⁶Ishmael left Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he reached them, he said, “Oh, come and see what has happened to Gedaliah!”

⁷But as soon as they were all inside the town, Ishmael and his men killed all but ten of them and threw their bodies into a cistern.

⁸The other ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey that they had hidden away.

⁹The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one dug by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with corpses.

¹⁰Then Ishmael made captives of the king’s daughters and the other people who had been left under Gedaliah’s care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard. Taking them with him, he started back toward the land of Ammon.

¹¹But when Johanan son of Kareah and the other military leaders heard about Ishmael’s crimes,

¹²they took all their men and set out to stop him. They caught up with him at the large pool near Gibeon.

¹³The people Ishmael had captured shouted for joy when they saw Johanan and the other military leaders.

¹⁴And all the captives from Mizpah escaped and began to help Johanan.

¹⁵Meanwhile, Ishmael and eight of his men escaped from Johanan into the land of Ammon.

¹⁶Then Johanan son of Kareah and the other military leaders took all the people they had rescued in Gibeon — the soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom Ishmael had captured after he killed Gedaliah.

¹⁷They took them all to the village of Geruth-kimham near Bethlehem, where they prepared to leave for Egypt.

¹⁸They were afraid of what the Babylonians would do when they heard that Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonian king.

¹Gazing intently at the high council, Paul began: “Brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience!”

²Instantly Ananias the high priest commanded those close to Paul to slap him on the mouth.

³But Paul said to him, “God will slap you, you corrupt hypocrite! What kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that?”

⁴Those standing near Paul said to him, “Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?”

⁵“I’m sorry, brothers. I didn’t realize he was the high priest,” Paul replied, “for the Scriptures say, ‘You must not speak evil of any of your rulers.’ ”

⁶Paul realized that some members of the high council were Sadducees and some were Pharisees, so he shouted, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!”

⁷This divided the council — the Pharisees against the Sadducees —

⁸for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection or angels or spirits, but the Pharisees believe in all of these.

⁹So there was a great uproar. Some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees jumped up and began to argue forcefully. “We see nothing wrong with him,” they shouted. “Perhaps a spirit or an angel spoke to him.”

¹⁰As the conflict grew more violent, the commander was afraid they would tear Paul apart. So he ordered his soldiers to go and rescue him by force and take him back to the fortress.

¹¹That night the Lord appeared to Paul and said, “Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome as well.”

¹²The next morning a group of Jews got together and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty of them in the conspiracy.

¹⁴They went to the leading priests and elders and told them, “We have bound ourselves with an oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵So you and the high council should ask the commander to bring Paul back to the council again. Pretend you want to examine his case more fully. We will kill him on the way.”

¹⁶But Paul’s nephew — his sister’s son — heard of their plan and went to the fortress and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called for one of the Roman officers and said, “Take this young man to the commander. He has something important to tell him.”

¹⁸So the officer did, explaining, “Paul, the prisoner, called me over and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took his hand, led him aside, and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”

²⁰Paul’s nephew told him, “Some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the high council tomorrow, pretending they want to get some more information.

²¹But don’t do it! There are more than forty men hiding along the way ready to ambush him. They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are ready now, just waiting for your consent.”

²²“Don’t let anyone know you told me this,” the commander warned the young man.

²³Then the commander called two of his officers and ordered, “Get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. Also take 200 spearmen and 70 mounted troops.

²⁴Provide horses for Paul to ride, and get him safely to Governor Felix.”

²⁵Then he wrote this letter to the governor:

²⁶“From Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings!

²⁷“This man was seized by some Jews, and they were about to kill him when I arrived with the troops. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I removed him to safety.

²⁸Then I took him to their high council to try to learn the basis of the accusations against him.

²⁹I soon discovered the charge was something regarding their religious law — certainly nothing worthy of imprisonment or death.

³⁰But when I was informed of a plot to kill him, I immediately sent him on to you. I have told his accusers to bring their charges before you.”

³¹So that night, as ordered, the soldiers took Paul as far as Antipatris.

³²They returned to the fortress the next morning, while the mounted troops took him on to Caesarea.

³³When they arrived in Caesarea, they presented Paul and the letter to Governor Felix.

³⁴He read it and then asked Paul what province he was from. “Cilicia,” Paul answered.

³⁵“I will hear your case myself when your accusers arrive,” the governor told him. Then the governor ordered him kept in the prison at Herod’s headquarters.