Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me.

³And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.”

⁴Now this took place so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:

⁵“SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, HUMBLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A DONKEY.’ ”

⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,

⁷and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on the cloaks.

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

⁹Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

¹³And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘MY HOUSE WILL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a DEN OF ROBBERS.”

¹⁴And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and He healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant,

¹⁶and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘FROM THE MOUTHS OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?”

¹⁷And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”

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

²²And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

²³When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”

²⁴But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you onequestion, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.”

²⁷And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

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

²⁹But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went.

³⁰And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he 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 that the tax collectors and prostituteswill get 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 prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not evenhave second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A FENCE AROUND IT, AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and he leased it to vine-growers and went on a journey.

³⁴And when theharvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.

³⁵And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

³⁶Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them.

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

³⁸But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’

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

⁴⁰Therefore, when theowner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”

⁴¹They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴²Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘A STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?

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

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

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

⁴⁶And although they sought to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a prophet.

¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Anyone from the sons of Israel or from the strangers residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech, shall certainly be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

³I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his children to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name.

⁴If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his children to Molech, so as not to put him to death,

⁵then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the prostitute with him, by playing the prostitute with Molech.

⁶‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the prostitute with them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

⁷You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

⁸So you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

⁹‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall certainly be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and has brought his own death upon himself.

¹⁰‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

¹¹If there is a man who sleeps with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death, they have brought their own deaths upon themselves.

¹²If there is a man who sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed incest, and have brought their own deaths upon themselves.

¹³If there is a man who sleeps with a male as those who sleep with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they must be put to death. They have brought their own deaths upon themselves.

¹⁴If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is an outrageous sin; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no such outrageous sin in your midst.

¹⁵If there is a man who has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you shall also kill the animal.

¹⁶If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they must be put to death. They have brought their own deaths upon themselves.

¹⁷‘If there is a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he bears his guilt.

¹⁸If there is a man who sleeps with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood; so both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

¹⁹You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister, for such a one has uncovered his blood relative; they will bear their guilt.

²⁰If there is a man who sleeps with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness; they will bear their sin. They will die childless.

²¹If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is detestable; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.

²²‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.

²³Furthermore, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I am going to drive out before you, because they did all these things; therefore I have felt disgust for them.

²⁴So I have said to you, “You are to take possession of their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has singled you out from the peoples.

²⁵You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground, which I have distinguished for you as unclean.

²⁶So you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have singled you out from the peoples to be Mine.

²⁷‘Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; they have brought their own deaths upon themselves.’ ”

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

²On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections need to be made when I come.

³When I arrive, whomever you approve, I will send them with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem;

⁴and if it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.

⁵But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia; for I am going through Macedonia,

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

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

⁸But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost;

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

¹⁰Now if Timothy comes, see that he has no reason to be afraid while among you, for he is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am.

¹¹So do not look down on him, anyone. But send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers.

¹²Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has the opportunity.

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

¹⁴All that you do must be done in love.

¹⁵Now I urge you, brothers and sisters: you know the household of Stephanas, that they are the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to ministry to the saints;

¹⁶I urge that you also be subject to such as these and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

¹⁷I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, because they have supplied what was lacking on your part.

¹⁸For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

¹⁹The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

²⁰All the brothers and sisters greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹The greeting is in my own hand—that of Paul.

²²If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha!

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 One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

²‘I know your deeds and your labor and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people, and you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

³and you haveperseverance and have endured on account of My name, and have not become weary.

⁴But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

⁵Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do thedeeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

⁶But you have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

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

⁸“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:

⁹‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the slander by those who say 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, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days.Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

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

¹²“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:

¹³‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold firmly to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put astumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

¹⁵So you too, have some who in the same way hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

¹⁶Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.

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

¹⁸“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and feet like burnished bronze, says this:

¹⁹‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith, and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first.

²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

²¹I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.

²²Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent ofher deeds.

²³And I will kill her children withplague, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches theminds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

²⁴But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.

²⁵Nevertheless what you have, hold firmly until I come.

²⁶The one who overcomes, and the one who keeps My deeds until the end, I will give him authority over thenations;

²⁷AND HE SHALLRULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE SHATTERED, as I also have received authority from My Father;

²⁸and I will give him the morning star.

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

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread among mankind:

²a person to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to enjoy these things, but a foreigner enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction.

³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

⁴for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness.

⁵It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet it is better off than that man.

⁶Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—do not all go to one and the same place?”

⁷All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not satisfied.

⁸For what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living?

⁹What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with the one who is mightier than he is.

¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person?

¹²For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person what will happen after him under the sun?

¹The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

²The LORD will stretch out Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

³Your people will volunteer freely on the day of Your power; In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.

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

⁵The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

⁶He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.

⁷He will drink from the brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head.

¹Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

²A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully, And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

³The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts.

⁴An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

⁵One who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; One who rejoices at disaster will not go unpunished.

⁶Grandchildren are the crown of the old, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

⁷Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.

⁸A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹One who conceals an offense seeks love, But one who repeats a matter separates close friends.

¹⁰A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool.

¹¹A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.

¹³One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.

¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

¹⁵One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

¹⁶Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

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

¹⁸A person lacking in sense shakes hands And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

¹⁹One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.

²⁰One who has a crooked mind finds nothing good, And one who is corrupted in his language falls into evil.

²¹He who fathers a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy.

²²A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person accepts a bribe from an inside pocket To pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is in the presence of one who has understanding, 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 gave birth to him.

²⁶It is also not good to fine the righteous, Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

²⁷One who withholds his words has knowledge, And one who has a cool spirit is a person of understanding.

²⁸Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

¹Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, that is, the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

²And the house which King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits in its length, and twenty cubits in its width, and its height was thirty cubits.

³The porch in front of the main room of the house was twenty cubits in length, corresponding to the width of the house, and its width along the front of the house was ten cubits.

⁴Also for the house he made windows with artistic frames.

⁵Against the wall of the house he built stories encompassing the walls of the house around both the main room and the inner sanctuary; so he made side chambers all around.

⁶The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around so that the beams would not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷The house, while it was being built, was built of stone finished at the quarry, and neither hammer, nor axe, nor any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.

⁸The doorway for the lowest side chamber was on the right side of the house; and they would go up by a winding staircase to the middle story, and from the middle to the third.

⁹So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.

¹⁰He also built the stories against the whole house, each five cubits high; and they were attached to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying,

¹²“As for this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will fulfill My word with you which I spoke to David your father.

¹³And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not abandon My people Israel.”

¹⁴So Solomon built the house and finished it.

¹⁵He built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the ceiling he paneled the walls on the inside with wood, and he paneled the floor of the house with boards of juniper.

¹⁶He also built twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the ceiling; he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.

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

¹⁸There was cedar inside the house, carved in the shape of gourds and open flowers; everything was cedar, there was no stone visible.

¹⁹Then he prepared an inner sanctuary inside the house in order to place there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

²⁰The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width, and twenty cubits in height; and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also paneled the altar with cedar.

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

²²He overlaid the entire house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the entire altar which was by the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

²³And in the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.

²⁴The one wing of the first cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the first cherub was five cubits; from the end of one wing to the end of the other wing were ten cubits.

²⁵The second cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of the same measurement and the same form.

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

²⁷He placed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, and the wings of the cherubim spread out so that the wing of the one was touching the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall. And their wings were touching end to end in the center of the house.

²⁸He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹Then he carved all the surrounding walls of the house with engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, for the inner and outer sanctuaries.

³⁰And he overlaid the floor of the house with gold, for the inner and outer sanctuaries.

³¹And for the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood, the lintel, and five-sided doorposts.

³²So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he overlaid the cherubim and the palm trees with gold.

³³So too he made for the entrance of the main room four-sided doorposts of olive wood,

³⁴and two doors of juniper wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots, and the two leaves of the other door turned on pivots.

³⁵He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold plated on the carved work.

³⁶And he built the inner courtyard with three rows of cut stone and a row 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, that is, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and in accordance with all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.

¹The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying,

²“This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them,

³because of their wickedness which they committed to provoke Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers.

⁴Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying, “Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate.”

⁵But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods.

⁶Therefore My wrath and My anger gushed out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become ruins and a desolation as it is this day.

⁷Now then, this is what the LORD God of armies, the God of Israel says: “Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, to eliminate from yourselves man and woman, child and infant from among Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant,

⁸provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you are entering to reside, so that you may be eliminated and become a curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?

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

¹⁰Yet they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in My Law or My statutes, which I placed before you and before your fathers.” ’

¹¹“Therefore this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to set My face against you for a disaster, even to eliminate all Judah.

¹²And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have set their minds on entering the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the sword or meet their end by famine. From the small to the great, they will die by the sword and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation, and a disgrace.

¹³And I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with plague.

¹⁴So there will be no survivor or refugee for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are longing to return to live; for none will return except a few refugees.’ ”

¹⁵Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying,

¹⁶“As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you!

¹⁷But we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune.

¹⁸But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and have met our end by the sword and by famine.”

¹⁹“And,” said the women, “when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image, and poured out drink offerings to her?”

²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and women—even to all the people who were giving him such an answer—saying,

²¹“As for the smoking sacrifices that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land, did the LORD not remember them, and did all of this not come into His mind?

²²So the LORD was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; so your land has become a place of ruins, an object of horror, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day.

²³Since you have burned sacrifices and have sinned against the LORD and not obeyed the voice of the LORD nor walked in His Law, His statutes, or His testimonies, therefore this disaster has happened to you, as it has this day.”

²⁴Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!

²⁵This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” By all means fulfill your vows, and be sure to perform your vows!’

²⁶In return, hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the LORD, ‘that My name shall never be invoked again by the mouth of anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord GOD lives.”

²⁷Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will meet their end by the sword or by famine until they are completely gone.

²⁸Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah few in number. Then all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs.

²⁹And this will be the sign to you,’ declares the LORD, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will assuredly stand against you for harm.’

³⁰This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to hand Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, to those who seek his life, just as I handed Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’ ”

¹Now Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul extended his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

²“Regarding all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

³especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴“So then, all Jews know my way of life since my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and in Jerusalem,

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

⁶And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;

⁷the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. For this hope, O king, I am being accused by Jews.

⁸Why is it considered incredible among you people if God raises the dead?

⁹“So I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, after receiving authority from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being put to death.

¹¹And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was extremely enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.

¹²“While so engaged, as I was journeying 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, shining around me and those who were journeying with me.

¹⁴And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘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 get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a servant and a witness not only to the things in which you have seen Me, but also to the things in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

¹⁸to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from thepower of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁹“For that reason, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but continually proclaimed to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem, and then all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they are to repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance.

²¹For these reasons some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me.

²²So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place,

²³as to whether the Christ was to suffer, and whether, as first from the resurrection of the dead, He would proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴While Paul was stating these things in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵But Paul *said, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; on the contrary, I am speaking out with truthful and rational words.

²⁶For the king knows about these matters, and I also speak to him with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.

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

²⁸Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you are going to persuade me to make a Christian of myself.”

²⁹And Paul said, “I would wish to God that even in a short or long time not only you, but also all who hear me this day would become such as I myself am, except for these chains.”

³⁰The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,

³¹and when they had gone out, they began talking to one another, saying, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.”

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