Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, scribes, and the entire Council immediately held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led Him away, and turned Him over to Pilate.

²Pilate questioned Him: “So You are the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, “It is as you say.”

³And the chief priests started accusing Him of many things.

⁴But Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You offer nothing in answer? See how many charges they are bringing against You!”

⁵But Jesus said nothing further in answer, so Pilate was amazed.

⁶Now at the Passover Feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.

⁷And the one named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the revolt.

⁸And the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.

⁹Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

¹⁰For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

¹²And responding again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted back, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁵Intent on satisfying the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

¹⁶Now the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman cohort.

¹⁷And they *dressed Him in purple, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;

¹⁸and they began saluting Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

¹⁹And they repeatedly beat His head with a reed and spit on Him, and kneeling, they bowed down before Him.

²⁰And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple cloak off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him.

²¹And they *compelled a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to carry His cross.

²²Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

²³And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.

²⁴And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man would take.

²⁵Now it was the third hour when they crucified Him.

²⁶The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷And they *crucified two rebels with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

²⁸

²⁹Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

³⁰save Yourself by coming down from the cross!”

³¹In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself!

³²Let this Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

³³When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.

³⁴At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “ELOI, ELOI, LEMA SABAKTANEI?” which is translated, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”

³⁵And when some of the bystanders heard Him, they began saying, “Look! He is calling for Elijah!”

³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.”

³⁷But Jesus let out a loud cry, and died.

³⁸And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

³⁹And when the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw that He died in this way, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰Now there were also some women watching from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.

⁴¹When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and serve Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

⁴²When evening had already come, since it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

⁴³Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself also waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁴⁴Now Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead.

⁴⁵And after learning this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

⁴⁶Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb which had been cut out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching to see where He was laid.

¹Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where you are going to live, which I am giving you,

³and you make an offering by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or as a voluntary offering or at your appointed times, to make a soothing aroma to the LORD from the herd or from the flock,

⁴then the one who presents his offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil,

⁵and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, a fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

⁶Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil;

⁷and for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the LORD.

⁸And when you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to the LORD,

⁹then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil;

¹⁰and you shall offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the LORD.

¹¹‘This is how it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats.

¹²According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for each one according to their number.

¹³Everyone who is a native shall do these things in this way, in presenting an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the LORD.

¹⁴Now if a stranger resides among you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wants to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the LORD, just as you do so shall he do.

¹⁵As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who resides among you, a permanent statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.

¹⁶There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the stranger who resides with you.’ ”

¹⁷Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I am bringing you,

¹⁹then it shall be, that when you eat from the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the LORD.

²⁰Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a loaf as an offering; as an offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up.

²¹From the first of your dough you shall give to the LORD an offering throughout your generations.

²²‘But when you unintentionally do wrong and fail to comply with all these commandments which the LORD has spoken to Moses,

²³that is, all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses from the day that the LORD gave commandments and onward, throughout your generations,

²⁴then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull as a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an unintentional wrong, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their unintentional wrong.

²⁶So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, as well as the stranger who resides among them, for guilt was attributed to all the people through an unintentional wrong.

²⁷‘Also, if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering.

²⁸And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who goes astray by an unintentional sin, making atonement for him so that he may be forgiven.

²⁹You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong unintentionally.

³⁰But the person who does wrong defiantly, whether he is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

³¹Since he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’ ”

³²Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation;

³⁴and they placed him in custody, because it had not been decided what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”

³⁶So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³⁷The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁸“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a violet thread.

³⁹It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves,

⁴⁰so that you will remember and do all My commandments and be holy to your God.

⁴¹I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God.”

¹For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

²if indeed you have heard of the administration of God’s grace which was given to me for you;

³that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before briefly.

⁴By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

⁵which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

⁶to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

⁷of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.

⁸To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,

⁹and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;

¹⁰so that the multifaceted wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

¹¹This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

¹²in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

¹³Therefore I ask you not to become discouraged about my tribulations in your behalf, since they are your glory.

¹⁴For this reason I bend my knees before the Father,

¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self,

¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,

¹⁹and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

²¹to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

²“How long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

⁴If your sons sinned against Him, Then He turned them over to the power of their wrongdoing.

⁵If you will search for God And implore the compassion of the Almighty,

⁶If you are pure and upright, Surely now He will stir Himself for you And restore your righteous estate.

⁷Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.

⁸“Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers.

⁹For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?

¹¹“Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?

¹²While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant.

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,

¹⁴His confidence is fragile, And his trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He depends on his house, but it does not stand; He holds on to it, but it does not endure.

¹⁶He flourishes before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden.

¹⁷His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones.

¹⁸If he is removed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.

²⁰Behold, God will not reject a person of integrity, Nor will He help evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with joyful shouting.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will no longer exist.”

¹Remember, LORD, in David’s behalf, All his affliction;

²How he swore to the LORD And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,

³“I certainly will not enter my house, Nor lie on my bed;

⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids,

⁵Until I find a place for the LORD, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶Behold, we heard about it in Ephrathah, We found it in the field of Jaar.

⁷Let’s go into His dwelling place; Let’s worship at His footstool.

⁸Arise, LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.

⁹May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And may Your godly ones sing for joy.

¹⁰For the sake of Your servant David, Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

¹¹The LORD has sworn to David A truth from which He will not turn back: “I will set upon your throne one from the fruit of your body.

¹²If your sons will keep My covenant And My testimony which I will teach them, Their sons also will sit upon your throne forever.”

¹³For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it as His dwelling place.

¹⁴“This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

¹⁵I will abundantly bless her food; I will satisfy her needy with bread.

¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her godly ones will sing aloud for joy.

¹⁷I will make the horn of David spring forth there; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed.

¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, But upon himself his crown will gleam.”

¹Does not wisdom call, And understanding raise her voice?

²On top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

³Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

⁴“To you, people, I call, And my voice is to mankind.

⁵You naive ones, understand prudence; And, you fools, understand wisdom!

⁶Listen, for I will speak noble things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.

⁷For my mouth will proclaim truth; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.

⁹They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Accept my instruction and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride, arrogance, the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.

¹⁴Advice is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine.

¹⁵By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly.

¹⁷I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold; And my yield better than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,

²¹To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.

²²“The LORD created me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.

²³From eternity I was established, From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.

²⁴When there were no ocean depths, I was born, When there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was born;

²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world.

²⁷When He established the heavens, I was there; When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed,

²⁹When He set a boundary for the sea So that the water would not violate His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth;

³⁰Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was His delight daily, Rejoicing always before Him,

³¹Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of mankind.

³²“Now then, sons, listen to me, For blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Listen to instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it.

³⁴Blessed is the person who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

³⁵For one who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD.

³⁶But one who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death.”

¹Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too cramped for us.

²Please let us go to the Jordan, and let us each take from there a beam, and let us construct a place there for ourselves, to live there.” So he said, “Go.”

³Then one of them said, “Please agree and go with your servants.” And he said, “I will go.”

⁴So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

⁵But it happened that as one of them was cutting down a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Oh, my master! It was borrowed!”

⁶Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there, and made the iron float.

⁷Then he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

⁸Now the king of Aram was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “In such and such a place shall be my camp.”

⁹But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful that you do not pass this place, because the Arameans are coming down there.”

¹⁰And the king of Israel sent scouts to the place about which the man of God had told him; so he warned him, so that he was on his guard there, more than once or twice.

¹¹Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this matter; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?”

¹²One of his servants said, “No, my lord, the king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³So he said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send men and take him.” And it was told to him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”

¹⁴So he sent horses and chariots and a substantial army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵Now when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “This is hopeless, my master! What are we to do?”

¹⁶And he said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.”

¹⁷Then Elisha prayed and said, “LORD, please, open his eyes so that he may see.” And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

¹⁸And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness in accordance with the word of Elisha.

¹⁹Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city; follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he brought them to Samaria.

²⁰When they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, so that they may see.” So the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

²¹Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

²²But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set bread and water before them, so that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.”

²³So he provided a large feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

²⁴Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad the king of Aram gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria.

²⁵So there was a severe famine in Samaria; and behold, they kept besieging it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.

²⁶And as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord the king!”

²⁷But he said, “If the LORD does not help you, from where am I to help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?”

²⁸Then the king said to her, “What is on your mind?” And she said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son so that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

²⁹So we cooked my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, so that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

³⁰When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes—and he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body.

³¹Then he said, “May God do so to me and more so, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.”

³²Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from his presence; but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent a man to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door shut against him. Is the sound of his master’s feet not behind him?”

³³While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him and he said, “Behold, this evil is from the LORD; why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

¹Then He cried out in my presence with a loud voice, saying, “Come forward, you executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.”

²And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his smashing weapon in his hand; and among them was one man clothed in linen with a scribe’s kit at his waist. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³Then the glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose waist was the scribe’s kit.

⁴And the LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a mark on the foreheads of the people who groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”

⁵But to the others He said in my presence, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.

⁶Utterly kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple.

⁷He also said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city.

⁸And as they were striking the people and I alone was left, I fell on my face and cried out, saying, “Oh, Lord GOD! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹Then He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘The LORD has abandoned the land, and the LORD does not see!’

¹⁰But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”

¹¹Then behold, the man clothed in linen, at whose waist was the scribe’s kit, reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

¹After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had encouraged them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.

²When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

³And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

⁵Now these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.

⁶We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and reached them at Troas within five days; and we stayed there for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

⁸There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered together.

⁹And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, Eutychus was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.

¹⁰But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for he is still alive.”

¹¹When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.

¹²They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

¹³But we went ahead to the ship and set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for that was what he had arranged, intending himself to go by land.

¹⁴And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

¹⁵Sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus.

¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to lose time in Asia; for he was hurrying, if it might be possible for him to be in Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church.

¹⁸And when they came to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

¹⁹serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

²⁰how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

²¹solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

²³except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.

²⁴But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.

²⁵“And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.

²⁶Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all people.

²⁷For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

²⁸Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

²⁹I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

³²And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

³³I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me.

³⁵In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’  ”

³⁶When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

³⁷And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him,

³⁸grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.