Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

²Large crowds followed him, and he cured them there.

³Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”

⁴He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’

⁵and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?

⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

⁷They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?”

⁸He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

⁹And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”

¹³Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them;

¹⁴but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

¹⁶Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

¹⁷And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;

¹⁹Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁰The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

²²When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

²⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

²Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: I am the LORD your God.

³You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.

⁴My ordinances you shall observe and my statutes you shall keep, following them: I am the LORD your God.

⁵You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the LORD.

⁶None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the LORD.

⁷You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

⁸You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father.

⁹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born abroad.

¹⁰You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness.

¹¹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father, since she is your sister.

¹²You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh.

¹³You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s flesh.

¹⁴You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.

¹⁵You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law: she is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

¹⁶You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.

¹⁷You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are your flesh; it is depravity.

¹⁸And you shall not take a woman as a rival to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.

¹⁹You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.

²⁰You shall not have sexual relations with your kinsman’s wife, and defile yourself with her.

²¹You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

²²You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

²³You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion.

²⁴Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled themselves.

²⁵Thus the land became defiled; and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

²⁶But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides among you

²⁷(for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled);

²⁸otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

²⁹For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people.

³⁰So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you, and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.

¹Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

²For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.

³On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

⁴Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church.

⁵Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

⁶Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

⁷It is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played?

⁸And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

⁹So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many different kinds of sounds in the world, and nothing is without sound.

¹¹If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

¹²So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church.

¹³Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret.

¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive.

¹⁵What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also.

¹⁶Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you;

¹⁹nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.

²¹In the law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people; yet even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord.

²²Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

²⁴But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all.

²⁵After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship him, declaring, “God is really among you.”

²⁶What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

²⁷If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret.

²⁸But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God.

²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

³⁰If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person be silent.

³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.

³²And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets,

³³for God is a God not of disorder but of peace. (As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.

³⁵If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

³⁶Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?)

³⁷Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual powers, must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.

³⁸Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized.

³⁹So, my friends, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues;

⁴⁰but all things should be done decently and in order.

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:

²May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.

³Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

⁴For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

⁶And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.

⁷Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

⁸Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones.

⁹But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

¹⁰But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct.

¹¹Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah’s rebellion.

¹²These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted;

¹³wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones,

¹⁵to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

¹⁶These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.

¹⁷But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

¹⁸for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.”

¹⁹It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.

²⁰But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;

²¹keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

²²And have mercy on some who are wavering;

²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

²⁴Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,

²⁵to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

¹Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed — with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power — with no one to comfort them.

²And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive;

³but better than both is the one who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

⁵Fools fold their hands and consume their own flesh.

⁶Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind.

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun:

⁸the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.

¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone?

¹²And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king, who will no longer take advice.

¹⁴One can indeed come out of prison to reign, even though born poor in the kingdom.

¹⁵I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun, follow that youth who replaced the king;

¹⁶there was no end to all those people whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!

²Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.

³I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations.

⁴For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.

⁶Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.

⁷God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.

⁸Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.

⁹Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

¹¹Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.

¹²O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.

¹³With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

¹A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

⁵A fool despises a parent’s instruction, but the one who heeds admonition is prudent.

⁶In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the minds of fools.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves the one who pursues righteousness.

¹⁰There is severe discipline for one who forsakes the way, but one who hates a rebuke will die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD, how much more human hearts!

¹²Scoffers do not like to be rebuked; they will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.

¹⁴The mind of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the poor are hard, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of vegetables where love is than a fatted ox and hatred with it.

¹⁸Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife, but those who are slow to anger calm contention.

¹⁹The way of the lazy is overgrown with thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.

²⁰A wise child makes a glad father, but the foolish despise their mothers.

²¹Folly is a joy to one who has no sense, but a person of understanding walks straight ahead.

²²Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed.

²³To make an apt answer is a joy to anyone, and a word in season, how good it is!

²⁴For the wise the path of life leads upward, in order to avoid Sheol below.

²⁵The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but maintains the widow’s boundaries.

²⁶Evil plans are an abomination to the LORD, but gracious words are pure.

²⁷Those who are greedy for unjust gain make trouble for their households, but those who hate bribes will live.

²⁸The mind of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil.

²⁹The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the body.

³¹The ear that heeds wholesome admonition will lodge among the wise.

³²Those who ignore instruction despise themselves, but those who heed admonition gain understanding.

³³The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility goes before honor.

¹King Solomon was king over all Israel,

²and these were his high officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;

³Elihoreph and Ahijah sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;

⁴Benaiah son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

⁵Azariah son of Nathan was over the officials; Zabud son of Nathan was priest and king’s friend;

⁶Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.

⁷Solomon had twelve officials over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household; each one had to make provision for one month in the year.

⁸These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

⁹Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;

¹⁰Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher);

¹¹Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (he had Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife);

¹²Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

¹³Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);

¹⁴Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath, Solomon’s daughter, as his wife);

¹⁶Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

¹⁷Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

¹⁸Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

¹⁹Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of King Sihon of the Amorites and of King Og of Bashan. And there was one official in the land of Judah.

²⁰Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate and drank and were happy.

²¹Solomon was sovereign over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

²²Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of choice flour, and sixty cors of meal,

²³ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.

²⁴For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates; and he had peace on all sides.

²⁵During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all of them under their vines and fig trees.

²⁶Solomon also had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

²⁷Those officials supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

²⁸They also brought to the required place barley and straw for the horses and swift steeds, each according to his charge.

²⁹God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore,

³⁰so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

³¹He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.

³²He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

³³He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish.

³⁴People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

¹Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached

²the prophet Jeremiah and said, “Be good enough to listen to our plea, and pray to the LORD your God for us — for all this remnant. For there are only a few of us left out of many, as your eyes can see.

³Let the LORD your God show us where we should go and what we should do.”

⁴The prophet Jeremiah said to them, “Very well: I am going to pray to the LORD your God as you request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you; I will keep nothing back from you.”

⁵They in their turn said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to everything that the LORD your God sends us through you.

⁶Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

⁷At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

⁸Then he summoned Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest,

⁹and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea before him:

¹⁰If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you.

¹¹Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, as you have been; do not be afraid of him, says the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to rescue you from his hand.

¹²I will grant you mercy, and he will have mercy on you and restore you to your native soil.

¹³But if you continue to say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ thus disobeying the voice of the LORD your God

¹⁴and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war, or hear the sound of the trumpet, or be hungry for bread, and there we will stay,’

¹⁵then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to settle there,

¹⁶then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there, in the land of Egypt; and the famine that you dread shall follow close after you into Egypt; and there you shall die.

¹⁷All the people who have determined to go to Egypt to settle there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; they shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I am bringing upon them.

¹⁸“For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Just as my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an object of execration and horror, of cursing and ridicule. You shall see this place no more.

¹⁹The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go to Egypt. Be well aware that I have warned you today

²⁰that you have made a fatal mistake. For you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, tell us and we will do it.’

²¹So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you.

²²Be well aware, then, that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and settle.”

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor.

²When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: “Your Excellency, because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight.

³We welcome this in every way and everywhere with utmost gratitude.

⁴But, to detain you no further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness.

⁵We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

⁶He even tried to profane the temple, and so we seized him.

⁷

⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn from him concerning everything of which we accuse him.”

⁹The Jews also joined in the charge by asserting that all this was true.

¹⁰When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied: “I cheerfully make my defense, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation.

¹¹As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

¹²They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city.

¹³Neither can they prove to you the charge that they now bring against me.

¹⁴But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets.

¹⁵I have a hope in God — a hope that they themselves also accept — that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

¹⁶Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience toward God and all people.

¹⁷Now after some years I came to bring alms to my nation and to offer sacrifices.

¹⁸While I was doing this, they found me in the temple, completing the rite of purification, without any crowd or disturbance.

¹⁹But there were some Jews from Asia — they ought to be here before you to make an accusation, if they have anything against me.

²⁰Or let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council,

²¹unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, ‘It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

²²But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, “When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.”

²³Then he ordered the centurion to keep him in custody, but to let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.

²⁴Some days later when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak concerning faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁵And as he discussed justice, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.”

²⁶At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul, and for that reason he used to send for him very often and converse with him.

²⁷After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and since he wanted to grant the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.