Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,

²"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

³And he sent his servants to call those who had [previously] been invited to the wedding feast, but they refused to come.

⁴Then he sent out some other servants, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Look, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened calves are butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'

⁵But they paid no attention [they disregarded the invitation, treating it with contempt] and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.

⁶The rest [of the invited guests] seized his servants and mistreated them [insulting and humiliating them] and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged [when he heard this], and sent his soldiers and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding [feast] is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹So go to the main highways that lead out of the city, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.'

¹⁰Those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all the people they could find, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests [sitting at the banquet table].

¹¹"But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed [appropriately] in wedding clothes,

¹²and he said, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wearing the wedding clothes [that were provided for you]?' And the man was speechless and without excuse.

¹³Then the king said to the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the darkness outside; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].'

¹⁴For many are called (invited, summoned), but few are chosen."

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and conspired together plotting how to trap Him by [distorting] what He said.

¹⁶They sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are sincere and that You teach the way of God truthfully, without concerning Yourself about [what] anyone [thinks or says of Your teachings]; for You are impartial and do not seek anyone's favor [and You treat all people alike, regardless of status].

¹⁷Tell us then, what do You think? Is it permissible [according to Jewish law and tradition] to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?"

¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, asked, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹Show me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius [a day's wage].

²⁰And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"

²¹They said, "[ The Emperor Tiberius] Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

²²When they heard this, they were caught off guard, and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection [of the dead], came to Him and asked Him a question,

²⁴saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, leaving no children, his brother as next of kin shallmarry his widow, and raise children for his brother.'

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother.

²⁶The second also [died childless], and the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸So in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

²⁹But Jesus replied to them, "You are all wrong because you know neither the Scriptures [which teach the resurrection] nor the power of God [for He is able to raise the dead].

³⁰For in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven [who do not marry nor produce children].

³¹But as to the resurrection of the dead—have you not read [in the Scripture] what God said to you:

³²'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

³³When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴Now when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced (muzzled) the Sadducees, they gathered together.

³⁵One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him:

³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

³⁷And Jesus replied to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].'

⁴⁰The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments."

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were [still] gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

⁴²"What do you [Pharisees] think of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."

⁴³Jesus asked them, "How is it then that David by the inspiration of the Spirit, calls Him 'Lord,' saying,

⁴⁴'The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son, the Messiah), "Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies under Your feet"'?

⁴⁵So then, if David calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) 'Lord,' how is He David's son?"

⁴⁶No one was able to say a word to Him in answer, nor from that day on did anyone dare to question Him again.

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: 'No one shall defile himself [that is, become ceremonially unclean] for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial],

²except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother,

³also his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may become unclean.

⁴He shall not become unclean as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself.

⁵The priests shall not shave their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their body.

⁶They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they present the offerings by fire to the LORD, the food of their God; so they shall be holy.

⁷They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute, nor a woman who is divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.

⁸You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy.

⁹The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.

¹⁰'But he who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the [sacred] garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes [in mourning],

¹¹nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself [by doing so, even] for his father or for his mother;

¹²nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane (make ceremonially unclean) the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the LORD.

¹³He shall take a wife in her virginity.

¹⁴He may not marry a widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by prostitution, but he is to marry a virgin from his own people,

¹⁵so that he will not profane or dishonor his children among his people; for I am the LORD who sanctifies the high priest.'"

¹⁶Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷"Say to Aaron, 'Throughout their generations none of your descendants who has any [physical] defect shall approach [the altar] to present the food of his God.

¹⁸For no man who has a defect shall approach [God's altar as a priest]: no man who is blind or lame, or who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb,

¹⁹or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand,

²⁰or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles.

²¹No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a [physical] defect and is disfigured or deformed is to approach [the altar] to present the offerings of the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he shall not approach [the altar] to present the food of his God.

²²He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things,

²³but he shall not go within the veil or approach the altar [of incense], because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries; for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.'"

²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the Israelites.

¹Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah) by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, and to all the saints (God's people) throughout Achaia (southern Greece):

²Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,

⁴who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

⁵For just as Christ's sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must].

⁶But if we are troubled and distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted and encouraged, it is for your comfort, which works [in you] when you patiently endure the same sufferings which we experience.

⁷And our hope for you [our confident expectation of good for you] is firmly grounded [assured and unshaken], since we know that just as you share as partners in our sufferings, so also you share as partners in our comfort.

⁸For we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about our trouble in [the west coast province of] Asia [Minor], how we were utterly weighed down, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life [itself].

⁹Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death [and were convinced that we would die, but this happened] so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

¹⁰He rescued us from so great a threat of death, and will continue to rescue us. On Him we have set our hope. And He will again rescue us [from danger and draw us near],

¹¹while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then thanks will be given by many persons on our behalf for the gracious gift [of deliverance] granted to us through the prayers of many [believers].

¹²This is our [reason for] proud confidence: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [in general], and especially toward you, with pure motives and godly sincerity, not in human wisdom, but in the grace of God [that is, His gracious lovingkindness that leads people to Christ and spiritual maturity].

¹³For we write you nothing other than what you read and understand [there is no double meaning in what we say]. And I hope you will [accurately] understand [divine things] until the end;

¹⁴just as you have [already] partially understood us, [and one day will recognize] that you can be proud of us just as we are of you, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁵It was with this confidence that I planned at first to visit you, so that you might receive twice a token of grace;

¹⁶that is, [I wanted] to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and [then] to come back to you [on my return] from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷So then, was I indecisive or capricious when I was [originally] planning this? Or the things I plan, do I plan in a self-serving way like a worldly man, ready to say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no" [at the same time]?

¹⁸But [as surely as] God is faithful and means what He says, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No" [at the same time].

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but has proved to be "Yes" in Him [true and faithful, the divine "Yes" affirming God's promises].

²⁰For as many as are the promises of God, in Christ they are [all answered] "Yes." So through Him we say our "Amen" to the glory of God.

²¹Now it is God who establishes and confirms us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and who has anointed us [empowering us with the gifts of the Spirit];

²²it is He who has also put His seal on us [that is, He has appropriated us and certified us as His] and has given us the [Holy] Spirit in our hearts as a pledge [like a security deposit to guarantee the fulfillment of His promise of eternal life].

²³But I call on God as my soul's witness, that it was to spare you [pain and discouragement] that I did not come again to Corinth—

²⁴not that we rule [like dictators] over your faith, but rather we work with you for [the increase of] your joy; for in your faith you stand firm [in your strong conviction that Jesus of Nazareth—the Messiah—is the Son of God, through whom we obtain eternal salvation].

¹"To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Sardis write: "These are the words of Him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: 'I know your deeds; you have a name (reputation) that you are alive, but [in reality] you are dead.

²Wake up, and strengthen and reaffirm what remains [of your faithful commitment to Me], which is about to die; for I have not found [any of] your deeds completed in the sight of My God or meeting His requirements.

³So remember and take to heart the lessons you have received and heard. Keep and obey them, and repent [change your sinful way of thinking, and demonstrate your repentance with new behavior that proves a conscious decision to turn away from sin]. So then, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

⁴But you [still] have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes [that is, contaminated their character and personal integrity with sin]; and they will walk with Me [dressed] in white, because they are worthy (righteous).

⁵He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God] will accordingly be dressed in white clothing; and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, and I will confess and openly acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels [saying that he is one of Mine].

⁶He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches.'

⁷"And to the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Philadelphia write: "These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, He who has the key [to the house] of David, He who opens and no one will [be able to] shut, and He who shuts and no one opens:

⁸'I know your deeds. See, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut, for you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not renounced or denied My name.

⁹Take note, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet and make them know [without any doubt] that I have loved you.

¹⁰Because you have kept the word of My endurance [My command to persevere], I will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial, that hour which is about to come on the whole [inhabited] world, to test those who live on the earth.

¹¹I am coming quickly. Hold tight what you have, so that no one will take your crown [by leading you to renounce the faith].

¹²He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God; he will most certainly never be put out of it, and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My [own] new name.

¹³He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches.'

¹⁴"To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in Laodicea write: "These are the words of the Amen, the trusted and faithful and true Witness, the Beginning and Origin of God's creation:

¹⁵'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold (invigorating, refreshing) nor hot (healing, therapeutic); I wish that you were cold or hot.

¹⁶So because you are lukewarm (spiritually useless), and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth [rejecting you with disgust].

¹⁷Because you say, "I am rich, and have prospered and grown wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked [without hope and in great need],

¹⁸I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see.

¹⁹Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God's will].

²⁰Behold, I stand at the door [of the church] and continually knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me.

²¹He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne.

²²He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

¹A good name is better than precious perfume, And the day of one's death better than the day of one's birth.

²It is better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that [day of death] is the end of every man, And the living will take it to heart and solemnly ponder its meaning.

³Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad (deep in thought) the heart may be happy [because it is growing in wisdom].

⁴The heart of the wise [learns when it] is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is [senseless] in the house of pleasure.

⁵It is better to listen to the rebuke of the wise man and pursue wisdom Than for one to listen to the song of fools and pursue stupidity.

⁶For like the crackling of [burning] thorn bushes under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool; And this too is vanity (futility).

⁷For oppression makes a wise man foolish, And a bribe corrupts the [good judgment of the] heart.

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning; Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit (pride).

⁹Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger dwells in the heart of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

¹¹Wisdom along with an inheritance is good And an [excellent] advantage for those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom is a protection even as money is a protection, But the [excellent] advantage of knowledge is that wisdom shields and preserves the lives of its possessors.

¹³Consider the work of God: Who can make straight what He has bent?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider that God has made the one as well as the other, So that man will not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything during my [fleeting] days of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives a long life in [spite of] his wickedness.

¹⁶Do not be excessively righteous [like those given to self-conceit], and do not be overly wise (pretentious)—why should you bring yourself to ruin?

¹⁷Do not be excessively or willfully wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you take hold of one thing (righteousness) and also not let go of the other (wisdom); for the one who fears and worships God [with awe-filled reverence] will come forth with both of them.

¹⁹Wisdom strengthens the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who always does good and who never sins.

²¹Also, do not take seriously everything that is said, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you,

²²for you also know that you too have cursed others many times.

²³I have tested all this with wisdom. I said, "I will be wise [independently of God]," but true wisdom was far from me.

²⁴Whatever has been is far off, deeply remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it [for it is beyond the grasp of man]?

²⁵I turned around and directed my heart to know, to investigate and to seek [skillful and godly] wisdom and the reason for things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [leading to stupidity and recklessness].

²⁶And I discovered that [of all irrational sins none has been so destructive in beguiling one away from God as immoral women for] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is [composed of] snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken captive by her [evil].

²⁷"Behold, I have discovered this," says the Preacher, "while adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

²⁸which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand [who pleases God], but I have not found [such] a woman among all these [a thousand in my harem].

²⁹Behold, I have found only this [as a reason]: God made man upright and uncorrupted, but they [both men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil]."

¹Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!) I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the congregation.

²Great are the works of the LORD, Studied by all those who delight in them.

³Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever.

⁴He has made His wonderful acts to be remembered; The LORD is gracious and merciful and full of loving compassion.

⁵He has given food to those who fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence]; He will remember His covenant forever.

⁶He has declared and made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations.

⁷The works of His hands are truth and [absolute] justice; All His precepts are sure (established, reliable, trustworthy).

⁸They are upheld forever and ever; They are done in [absolute] truth and uprightness.

⁹He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name—[inspiring reverence and godly fear].

¹⁰The [reverent] fear of the LORD is the beginning (the prerequisite, the absolute essential, the alphabet) of wisdom; A good understanding and a teachable heart are possessed by all those who do the will of the Lord; His praise endures forever.

¹He who [willfully] separates himself [from God and man] seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom.

²A [closed-minded] fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his personal opinions [unwittingly displaying his self-indulgence and his stupidity].

³When the wicked man comes [to the depth of evil], contempt [of all that is pure and good] also comes, And with inner baseness (dishonor) comes outer shame (scorn).

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters [copious and difficult to fathom]; The fountain of [mature, godly] wisdom is like a bubbling stream [sparkling, fresh, pure, and life-giving].

⁵To show respect to the wicked person is not good, Nor to push aside and deprive the righteous of justice.

⁶A fool's lips bring contention and strife, And his mouth invites a beating.

⁷A fool's mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul.

⁸The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten]; They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon].

⁹He who is careless in his work Is a brother to him who destroys.

¹⁰The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs to it and is safe and set on high [far above evil].

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, And like a high wall [of protection] in his own imagination and conceit.

¹²Before disaster the heart of a man is haughty and filled with self-importance, But humility comes before honor.

¹³He who answers before he hears [the facts]— It is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴The spirit of a man sustains him in sickness, But as for a broken spirit, who can bear it?

¹⁵The mind of the prudent [always] acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise [always] seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift [given in love or courtesy] makes room for him And brings him before great men.

¹⁷The first one to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and cross-examines him.

¹⁸To cast lots puts an end to quarrels And decides between powerful contenders.

¹⁹A brother offended is harder to win over than a fortified city, And contentions [separating families] are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach will be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; He will be satisfied with the consequence of his words.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.

²²He who finds a [ true and faithful] wife finds a good thing And obtains favor and approval from the LORD.

²³The poor man pleads, But the rich man answers roughly.

²⁴The man of too many friends [chosen indiscriminately] will be broken in pieces and come to ruin, But there is a [true, loving] friend who [is reliable and] sticks closer than a brother.

¹Now Solomon built his own house (palace) in thirteen years, and he finished all of his house [in that time].

²He also built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was a hundred cubits (150 ft.), its width fifty cubits (75 ft.), and its height thirty cubits (45 ft.), upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

³And it was covered with cedar [as a roof] on the supporting beams that were upon the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.

⁴There were artistic window frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁵All the doorways and doorposts [and windows] had squared [artistic] frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

⁶He also made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits (75 ft.) and its width thirty cubits (45 ft.). There was a porch in front, and pillars and a threshold in front of them.

⁷He made the hall for the throne where he was to judge, the Hall of Judgment; it was paneled with cedar from [one] floor to [another] floor.

⁸His house where he was to live, the other courtyard behind the hall, was of similar workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.

⁹All these were of expensive stones, of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside; even from the foundation to the coping, and from the outside to the great courtyard.

¹⁰The foundation was of expensive stones, large stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

¹¹And above [the foundation] were expensive stones, stones cut according to measure, and cedar.

¹²So the great courtyard all around had three rows of cut stone and a row of cedar beams like the inner courtyard of the house of the LORD, and the porch of the house.

¹³Now King Solomon sent word and brought Hiram [a skilled craftsman] from Tyre.

¹⁴He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Hiram was filled with wisdom, understanding, and skill for doing any [kind of] work in bronze. So he came to King Solomon and did all his [bronze] work.

¹⁵He cast the two pillars of bronze; the one pillar was eighteen cubits high, and a [measuring] line of twelve cubits measured the circumference of both.

¹⁶He also made two capitals (crowns) of cast bronze to put on the tops of the pillars; the height of one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

¹⁷There were nets of network (lattice-work) and twisted threads (wreaths) of chainwork for the capitals which were on the tops of the pillars, seven for one capital and seven for the other.

¹⁸So Hiram made the pillars [in this manner], and two rows around on the one network to cover the capitals which were on the top of the pomegranates; and he did the same for the other capital.

¹⁹The capitals which were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work (design), four cubits.

²⁰The capitals were on the two pillars and also above and close to the rounded projection which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around both capitals.

²¹Hiram set up the pillars at the porch of the temple; he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin (may he establish), and he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz (in it is strength).

²²On the tops of the pillars was lily work (design). So the work of the pillars was finished.

²³Now he made the Sea (basin) of cast metal, ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, five cubits high and thirty cubits in circumference.

²⁴Under its brim were gourds encircling it ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the Sea; the gourds were in two rows, cast in one piece with it.

²⁵It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east; the Sea was set on top of them, and all their rear parts pointed inward.

²⁶It was a hand width thick, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.

²⁷Then Hiram made ten bronze stands [for smaller basins]; the length of each stand was four cubits, its width was four cubits and its height was three cubits.

²⁸This was the design of the stands: they had borders between the frames.

²⁹On the borders between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the frames there was a pedestal above. Beneath the lions and oxen were borders of hanging work.

³⁰Now each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and its four feet had supports [for a basin]. Beneath the basin were cast supports with borders at each side.

³¹Its opening inside the crown at the top measured a cubit, and its opening was round like the design of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. Also on its opening were carvings, and their borders were square, not round.

³²Underneath the borders were four wheels, and the axles of the wheels were on the stand. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half.

³³The wheels were made like a chariot wheel: their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast.

³⁴Now there were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were part of the stand itself.

³⁵On the top of the stand there was a circular piece half a cubit high, and on the top of the stand its supports and borders were part of it.

³⁶And on the surface of its supports and its borders Hiram engraved cherubim, lions, and palm-shaped decorations, according to the [available] space for each, with borders all around.

³⁷He made the ten stands like this: they all had one casting, one measure, and one form.

³⁸Then he made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths and was four cubits, and there was one basin on each of the ten stands.

³⁹Then he placed the bases, five on the right [or south] side of the house and five on the left [or north] side; and he set the Sea [of cast metal] on the right side of the house toward the southeast.

⁴⁰Now Hiram made the basins and the shovels and the bowls. So Hiram finished all the work which he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD:

⁴¹the two pillars and the [two] bowls of the capitals which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals which were on top of the pillars;

⁴²and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars;

⁴³the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands;

⁴⁴one Sea (basin), and the twelve oxen under the Sea;

⁴⁵the pails, the shovels, and the bowls; all these utensils which Hiram made for King Solomon in the house of the LORD were of polished bronze.

⁴⁶In the plain of the Jordan [River] the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

⁴⁷Solomon left all the utensils unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

⁴⁸Solomon made all the [other] furniture which was in the house of the LORD: the [incense] altar of gold; the table of gold on which was the bread of the Presence;

⁴⁹the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the Holy of Holies (inner sanctuary); with the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold;

⁵⁰the cups, snuffers, bowls, spoons, firepans—of pure gold; and the hinges of gold [both] for the doors of the inner house, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the house, the main room [the Holy Place].

⁵¹So all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was completed. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and the utensils—and he put them in the treasuries of the Lord's house.

¹The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

²"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch:

³'You said, "Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and sighing and I find no rest."'

⁴Say this to him, 'The LORD speaks in this way, "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will uproot, that is, the whole land."

⁵And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring disaster on all flesh,' says the LORD, 'but I will give your life to you [as your only reward and] as a prize of war wherever you go.'"

¹Now when it was determined that we (including Luke) would sail for Italy, they turned Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan Regiment named Julius.

²And going aboard a ship from Adramyttian which was about to sail for the ports along the [west] coast [province] of Asia [Minor], we put out to sea; and Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, accompanied us.

³The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, treating Paul with [thoughtful] consideration, allowed him to go to his friends there and be cared for and refreshed.

⁴From there we put out to sea and sailed to the leeward (sheltered) side of Cyprus [for protection from weather] because the winds were against us.

⁵When we had sailed across the sea along the coasts of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia [on the south coast of Asia Minor].

⁶There the centurion [Julius] found an Alexandrian ship [a grain ship of the Roman fleet] sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

⁷For a number of days we sailed slowly and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus; then, because the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the leeward (sheltered) side of Crete, off Salmone;

⁸and hugging the shore with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea [on the south side of Crete].

⁹Now much time had been lost, and navigation was dangerous, because even [the time for] the fast (Day of Atonement) was already over, so Paul began to strongly warn them,

¹⁰saying, "Men, I sense [after careful thought and observation] that this voyage will certainly be a disaster and with great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

¹¹However, the centurion [Julius, ranking officer on board] was persuaded by the pilot and the owner of the ship rather than by what Paul said.

¹²Because the harbor was not well situated for wintering, the majority [of the sailors] decided to put to sea from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

¹³So when the south wind blew softly, thinking that they had obtained their goal, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, hugging the coast.

¹⁴But soon afterward a violent wind, called Euraquilo [a northeaster, a tempestuous windstorm like a typhoon], came rushing down from the island;

¹⁵and when the ship was caught in it and could not head against the wind [to gain stability], we gave up and [letting her drift] were driven along.

¹⁶We ran under the shelter of a small island [twenty-five miles south of Crete] called Clauda, and with great difficulty we were able to get the ship's skiff on the deck and secure it.

¹⁷After hoisting the skiff [on board], they used support lines [for frapping] to undergird and brace the ship's hull; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis [off the north coast of Africa], they let down the sea anchor and lowered the sails and were driven along [backwards with the bow into the wind].

¹⁸On the next day, as we were being violently tossed about by the storm [and taking on water], they began to jettison the cargo;

¹⁹and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle (spare lines, blocks, miscellaneous equipment) overboard with their own hands [to further reduce the weight].

²⁰Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm kept raging about us, from then on all hope of our being saved was [growing worse and worse and] gradually abandoned.

²¹After they had gone a long time without food [because of seasickness and stress], Paul stood up before them and said, "Men, you should have followed my advice and should not have set sail from Crete, and brought on this damage and loss.

²²But even now I urge you to keep up your courage and be in good spirits, because there will be no loss of life among you, but only loss of the ship.

²³For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,

²⁴and said, 'Stop being afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has given you [the lives of] all those who are sailing with you.'

²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I believe God and have complete confidence in Him that it will turn out exactly as I have been told;

²⁶but we must run [the ship] aground on some island."

²⁷The fourteenth night had come and we were drifting and being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land.

²⁸So they took soundings [using a weighted line] and found [the depth to be] twenty fathoms (120 feet); and a little farther on they sounded again and found [the depth to be] fifteen fathoms (90 feet).

²⁹Then fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern [to slow the ship] and kept wishing for daybreak to come.

³⁰But as the sailors were trying to escape [secretly] from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow,

³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men remain on the ship, you cannot be saved."

³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes that held the skiff and let it fall and drift away.

³³While they waited for the day to dawn, Paul encouraged them all [and told them] to have some food, saying, "This is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly on watch and going without food, having eaten nothing.

³⁴So I urge you to eat some food, for this is for your survival; for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish."

³⁵Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, and he broke it and began to eat.

³⁶Then all of them were encouraged and their spirits improved, and they also ate some food.

³⁷All told there were two hundred and seventy-six of us aboard the ship.

³⁸After they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the wheat [from Egypt] overboard into the sea.

³⁹When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, and they decided to run the ship ashore there if they could.

⁴⁰So they cut the cables and severed the anchors and left them in the sea while at the same time unlashing the ropes of the rudders; and after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed steadily for the beach.

⁴¹But striking a reef with waves breaking in on either side, they ran the ship aground. The prow (forward point) stuck fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up under the [violent] force of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would dive overboard and swim [to land] and escape;

⁴³but the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from [carrying out] their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore;

⁴⁴and [he commanded] the rest to follow, some on [floating] planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it was that all of them were brought safely to land.