Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.”

²Jesus replied, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

³Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives across the valley from the Temple. Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him privately and asked him,

⁴“Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled?”

⁵Jesus replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you,

⁶for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.

⁷And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.

⁸Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

⁹“When these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.

¹⁰For the Good News must first be preached to all nations.

¹¹But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

¹²“A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed.

¹³And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴“The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he should not be.” (Reader, pay attention!) “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills.

¹⁵A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack.

¹⁶A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat.

¹⁷How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days.

¹⁸And pray that your flight will not be in winter.

¹⁹For there will be greater anguish in those days than at any time since God created the world. And it will never be so great again.

²⁰In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a single person will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.

²¹“Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it.

²²For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.

²³Watch out! I have warned you about this ahead of time!

²⁴“At that time, after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light,

²⁵the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷And he will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world — from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.

²⁸“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.

²⁹In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that his return is very near, right at the door.

³⁰I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene before all these things take place.

³¹Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.

³²“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

³³And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert !

³⁴“The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.

³⁵You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return — in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak.

³⁶Don’t let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning.

³⁷I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch for him!”

¹The LORD now said to Moses,

²“Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.”

³So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran.

⁴These were the tribes and the names of their leaders: Tribe — Leader Reuben — Shammua son of Zaccur

⁵Simeon — Shaphat son of Hori

⁶Judah — Caleb son of Jephunneh

⁷Issachar — Igal son of Joseph

⁸Ephraim — Hoshea son of Nun

⁹Benjamin — Palti son of Raphu

¹⁰Zebulun — Gaddiel son of Sodi

¹¹Manasseh son of Joseph — Gaddi son of Susi

¹²Dan — Ammiel son of Gemalli

¹³Asher — Sethur son of Michael

¹⁴Naphtali — Nahbi son of Vophsi

¹⁵Gad — Geuel son of Maki

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent out to explore the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name Joshua.)

¹⁷Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the land: “Go north through the Negev into the hill country.

¹⁸See what the land is like, and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹See what kind of land they live in. Is it good or bad? Do their towns have walls, or are they unprotected like open camps?

²⁰Is the soil fertile or poor? Are there many trees? Do your best to bring back samples of the crops you see.” (It happened to be the season for harvesting the first ripe grapes.)

²¹So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.

²²Going north, they passed through the Negev and arrived at Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai — all descendants of Anak — lived. (The ancient town of Hebron was founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Zoan.)

²³When they came to the valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also brought back samples of the pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the valley of Eshcol (which means “cluster”), because of the cluster of grapes the Israelite men cut there.

²⁵After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned

²⁶to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.

²⁷This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country — a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.

²⁸But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak!

²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”

³⁰But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

³¹But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”

³²So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.

³³We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

¹This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

²May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

³All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

⁴Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

⁵God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

⁶So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

⁷He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

⁸He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

⁹God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ — which is to fulfill his own good plan.

¹⁰And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ — everything in heaven and on earth.

¹¹Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

¹²God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God.

¹³And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.

¹⁴The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

¹⁵Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere,

¹⁶I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,

¹⁷asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

¹⁸I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called — his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

¹⁹I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power

²⁰that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.

²¹Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else — not only in this world but also in the world to come.

²²God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

²³And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

¹Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

²It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

³No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.

⁴And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

⁵And there will be no night there — no need for lamps or sun — for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

⁶Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon. ”

⁷“Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. ”

⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

⁹But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”

¹⁰Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.

¹¹Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

¹²“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.

¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.

¹⁵Outside the city are the dogs — the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.”

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.

¹⁸And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.

¹⁹And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

²⁰He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.

¹Then Job spoke again:

²“If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,

³they would outweigh all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke impulsively.

⁴For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me.

⁵Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?

⁶Don’t people complain about unsalted food? Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg?

⁷My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

⁸“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.

⁹I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.

¹⁰At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.

¹²Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?

¹³No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

¹⁴“One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring

¹⁶when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.

¹⁷But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat.

¹⁸The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die.

¹⁹The caravans from Tema search for this water; the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.

²⁰They count on it but are disappointed. When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.

²¹You, too, have given no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

²²But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged for anything of yours for myself?

²³Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies, or to save me from ruthless people?

²⁴Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Show me what I have done wrong.

²⁵Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to?

²⁶Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation?

²⁷You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend.

²⁸Look at me! Would I lie to your face?

²⁹Stop assuming my guilt, for I have done no wrong.

³⁰Do you think I am lying? Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

¹From the depths of despair, O LORD, I call for your help.

²Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer.

³LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?

⁴But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.

⁵I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.

⁶I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

⁷O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows.

⁸He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.

¹My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger —

²if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said —

³follow my advice and save yourself, for you have placed yourself at your friend’s mercy. Now swallow your pride; go and beg to have your name erased.

⁴Don’t put it off; do it now! Don’t rest until you do.

⁵Save yourself like a gazelle escaping from a hunter, like a bird fleeing from a net.

⁶Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

⁷Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,

⁸they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.

⁹But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up?

¹⁰A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest —

¹¹then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

¹²What are worthless and wicked people like? They are constant liars,

¹³signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.

¹⁴Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble.

¹⁵But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.

¹⁶There are six things the LORD hates — no, seven things he detests:

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent,

¹⁸a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong,

¹⁹a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

²⁰My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.

²¹Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.

²²When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you.

²³For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.

²⁴It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.

²⁵Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.

²⁶For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.

²⁷Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?

²⁸Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?

²⁹So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.

³⁰Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.

³¹But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.

³²But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys himself.

³³He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame will never be erased.

³⁴For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

³⁵He will accept no compensation, nor be satisfied with a payoff of any size.

¹One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the LORD. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.”

²“What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,” she replied.

³And Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors.

⁴Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.”

⁵So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another.

⁶Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

⁷When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, “Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.”

⁸One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat.

⁹She said to her husband, “I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God.

¹⁰Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.”

¹¹One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest.

¹²He said to his servant Gehazi, “Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.” When she appeared,

¹³Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?’” “No,” she replied, “my family takes good care of me.”

¹⁴Later Elisha asked Gehazi, “What can we do for her?” Gehazi replied, “She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man.”

¹⁵“Call her back again,” Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway,

¹⁶“Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!” “No, my lord!” she cried. “O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.”

¹⁷But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said.

¹⁸One day when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters.

¹⁹Suddenly he cried out, “My head hurts! My head hurts!” His father said to one of the servants, “Carry him home to his mother.”

²⁰So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap. But around noontime he died.

²¹She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there.

²²She sent a message to her husband: “Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.”

²³“Why go today?” he asked. “It is neither a new moon festival nor a Sabbath.” But she said, “It will be all right.”

²⁴So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, “Hurry! Don’t slow down unless I tell you to.”

²⁵As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, “Look, the woman from Shunem is coming.

²⁶Run out to meet her and ask her, ‘Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child?’” “Yes,” the woman told Gehazi, “everything is fine.”

²⁷But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi began to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is deeply troubled, but the LORD has not told me what it is.”

²⁸Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, ‘Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up’?”

²⁹Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Get ready to travel ; take my staff and go! Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.”

³⁰But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.” So Elisha returned with her.

³¹Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened. There was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elisha and told him, “The child is still dead.”

³²When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed.

³³He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the LORD.

³⁴Then he lay down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, and his hands on the child’s hands. And as he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again!

³⁵Elisha got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!

³⁶Then Elisha summoned Gehazi. “Call the child’s mother!” he said. And when she came in, Elisha said, “Here, take your son!”

³⁷She fell at his feet and bowed before him, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she took her son in her arms and carried him downstairs.

³⁸Elisha now returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. One day as the group of prophets was seated before him, he said to his servant, “Put a large pot on the fire, and make some stew for the rest of the group.”

³⁹One of the young men went out into the field to gather herbs and came back with a pocketful of wild gourds. He shredded them and put them into the pot without realizing they were poisonous.

⁴⁰Some of the stew was served to the men. But after they had eaten a bite or two they cried out, “Man of God, there’s poison in this stew!” So they would not eat it.

⁴¹Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” Then he threw it into the pot and said, “Now it’s all right; go ahead and eat.” And then it did not harm them.

⁴²One day a man from Baal-shalishah brought the man of God a sack of fresh grain and twenty loaves of barley bread made from the first grain of his harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”

⁴³“What?” his servant exclaimed. “Feed a hundred people with only this?” But Elisha repeated, “Give it to the people so they can eat, for this is what the LORD says: Everyone will eat, and there will even be some left over!”

⁴⁴And when they gave it to the people, there was plenty for all and some left over, just as the LORD had promised.

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD:

²“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: “The end is here! Wherever you look — east, west, north, or south — your land is finished.

³No hope remains, for I will unleash my anger against you. I will call you to account for all your detestable sins.

⁴I will turn my eyes away and show no pity. I will repay you for all your detestable sins. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁵“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster after disaster is coming your way!

⁶The end has come. It has finally arrived. Your final doom is waiting!

⁷O people of Israel, the day of your destruction is dawning. The time has come; the day of trouble is near. Shouts of anguish will be heard on the mountains, not shouts of joy.

⁸Soon I will pour out my fury on you and unleash my anger against you. I will call you to account for all your detestable sins.

⁹I will turn my eyes away and show no pity. I will repay you for all your detestable sins. Then you will know that it is I, the LORD, who is striking the blow.

¹⁰“The day of judgment is here; your destruction awaits! The people’s wickedness and pride have blossomed to full flower.

¹¹Their violence has grown into a rod that will beat them for their wickedness. None of these proud and wicked people will survive. All their wealth and prestige will be swept away.

¹²Yes, the time has come; the day is here! Buyers should not rejoice over bargains, nor sellers grieve over losses, for all of them will fall under my terrible anger.

¹³Even if the merchants survive, they will never return to their business. For what God has said applies to everyone — it will not be changed! Not one person whose life is twisted by sin will ever recover.

¹⁴“The trumpet calls Israel’s army to mobilize, but no one listens, for my fury is against them all.

¹⁵There is war outside the city and disease and famine within. Those outside the city walls will be killed by enemy swords. Those inside the city will die of famine and disease.

¹⁶The survivors who escape to the mountains will moan like doves, weeping for their sins.

¹⁷Their hands will hang limp, their knees will be weak as water.

¹⁸They will dress themselves in burlap; horror and shame will cover them. They will shave their heads in sorrow and remorse.

¹⁹“They will throw their money in the streets, tossing it out like worthless trash. Their silver and gold won’t save them on that day of the LORD’s anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their greed can only trip them up.

²⁰They were proud of their beautiful jewelry and used it to make detestable idols and vile images. Therefore, I will make all their wealth disgusting to them.

²¹I will give it as plunder to foreigners, to the most wicked of nations, and they will defile it.

²²I will turn my eyes from them as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.

²³“Prepare chains for my people, for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence.

²⁴I will bring the most ruthless of nations to occupy their homes. I will break down their proud fortresses and defile their sanctuaries.

²⁵Terror and trembling will overcome my people. They will look for peace but not find it.

²⁶Calamity will follow calamity; rumor will follow rumor. They will look in vain for a vision from the prophets. They will receive no teaching from the priests and no counsel from the leaders.

²⁷The king and the prince will stand helpless, weeping in despair, and the people’s hands will tremble with fear. I will bring on them the evil they have done to others, and they will receive the punishment they so richly deserve. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

¹Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

²There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome.

³Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.

⁴Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.

⁵And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.

⁶But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads — I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles.”

⁷Then he left and went to the home of Titius Justus, a Gentile who worshiped God and lived next door to the synagogue.

⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in his household believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also heard Paul, became believers, and were baptized.

⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent!

¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.”

¹¹So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.

¹²But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, some Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the governor for judgment.

¹³They accused Paul of “persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to our law.”

¹⁴But just as Paul started to make his defense, Gallio turned to Paul’s accusers and said, “Listen, you Jews, if this were a case involving some wrongdoing or a serious crime, I would have a reason to accept your case.

¹⁵But since it is merely a question of words and names and your Jewish law, take care of it yourselves. I refuse to judge such matters.”

¹⁶And he threw them out of the courtroom.

¹⁷The crowd then grabbed Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him right there in the courtroom. But Gallio paid no attention.

¹⁸Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that, then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and went to nearby Cenchrea. There he shaved his head according to Jewish custom, marking the end of a vow. Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him.

¹⁹They stopped first at the port of Ephesus, where Paul left the others behind. While he was there, he went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews.

²⁰They asked him to stay longer, but he declined.

²¹As he left, however, he said, “I will come back later, God willing.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

²²The next stop was at the port of Caesarea. From there he went up and visited the church at Jerusalem and then went back to Antioch.

²³After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers.

²⁴Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt.

²⁵He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism.

²⁶When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.

²⁷Apollos had been thinking about going to Achaia, and the brothers and sisters in Ephesus encouraged him to go. They wrote to the believers in Achaia, asking them to welcome him. When he arrived there, he proved to be of great benefit to those who, by God’s grace, had believed.

²⁸He refuted the Jews with powerful arguments in public debate. Using the Scriptures, he explained to them that Jesus was the Messiah.