Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.

³If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁵“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

⁸Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

⁹And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

¹²And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant,

¹⁶and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”

¹⁷And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

¹⁸In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”

²¹And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

²²And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

²³And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

²⁹And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.

³⁰And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.

³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

³³ “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.

³⁴When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

³⁵ And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

³⁶ Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

³⁷Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’

³⁹And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

⁴⁴And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

⁴⁶And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

¹The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

³I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

⁴And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,

⁵then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.

⁶“If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

⁷Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

⁸Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

⁹For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

¹⁰“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

¹¹If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them.

¹³If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

¹⁴If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.

¹⁵If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.

¹⁶If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

¹⁷“If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁸If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

¹⁹You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked one's relative; they shall bear their iniquity.

²⁰If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

²¹If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

²²“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

²³And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

²⁴But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

²⁵You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.

²⁶You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

²⁷“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.”

¹Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.

²On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

³And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

⁴If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

⁵I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia,

⁶and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go.

⁷For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.

⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

⁹for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am.

¹¹So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.

¹²Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

¹³Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

¹⁴Let all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵Now I urge you, brothers — you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints —

¹⁶be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.

¹⁷I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence,

¹⁸for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.

¹⁹The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

²⁰All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.

²²If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!

²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

²⁴My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

² “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

³I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.

⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

⁶Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

⁸“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

⁹“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

¹²“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

¹³“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

¹⁵So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

¹⁶Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

¹⁸“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

¹⁹ “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

²¹I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

²²Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,

²³and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

²⁴But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

²⁵Only hold fast what you have until I come.

²⁶ The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,

²⁷and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

²⁸And I will give him the morning star.

²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

¹There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind:

²a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

⁴For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.

⁵Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he.

⁶Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good — do not all go to the one place?

⁷All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

⁸For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he.

¹¹The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?

¹²For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

¹The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

²The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!

³Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.

⁴The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

⁶He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

⁷He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

¹Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

³The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

⁷Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince.

⁸A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.

⁹Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.

¹³If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.

¹⁵He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

¹⁸One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction.

²⁰A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.

²¹He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.

²⁶To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

¹In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

²The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.

³The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.

⁴And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.

⁵He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.

⁶The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.

⁹So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar.

¹⁰He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon,

¹²“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.

¹³And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

¹⁴So Solomon built the house and finished it.

¹⁵He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

¹⁶He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.

¹⁷The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.

¹⁸The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.

¹⁹The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar.

²¹And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold.

²²And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

²³In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high.

²⁴Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.

²⁵The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form.

²⁶The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub.

²⁷He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house.

²⁸And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms.

³⁰The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

³¹For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided.

³²He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square,

³⁴and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

³⁵On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.

³⁶He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

³⁷In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv.

³⁸And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros,

²“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them,

³because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

⁴Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’

⁵But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods.

⁶Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day.

⁷And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant?

⁸Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth?

⁹Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁰They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

¹¹“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah.

¹²I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt.

¹³I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence,

¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.”

¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah:

¹⁶“As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

¹⁷But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster.

¹⁸But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹And the women said, “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer:

²¹“As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind?

²²The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.”

²⁴Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

²⁵Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows!

²⁶Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.’

²⁷Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them.

²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.

²⁹This shall be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm:

³⁰Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”

¹So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews,

³especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews.

⁵They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,

⁷to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king!

⁸Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.

¹¹And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

¹³At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles — to whom I am sending you

¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²²To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass:

²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”

²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”

²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am — except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”

³²And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”