Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him.

²Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise.

³They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?”

⁴Looking up, they noticed that the stone — which was very large — had been rolled away.

⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed.

⁶“Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.

⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there just as he told you.’”

⁸They went out and ran from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid. [Some of the earliest mss conclude with 16:8.] [

⁹Early on the first day of the week, after he had risen, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

¹⁰She went and reported to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping.

¹¹Yet, when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe it.

¹²After this, he appeared in a different form to two of them walking on their way into the country.

¹³And they went and reported it to the rest, who did not believe them either.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he had risen.

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

¹⁶Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

¹⁹So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.]

¹Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took

²two hundred and fifty prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses.

³They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.

⁵Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to him, who is set apart, and the one he will let come near him. He will let the one he chooses come near him.

⁶Korah, you and all your followers are to do this: take firepans, and tomorrow

⁷place fire in them and put incense on them before the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is set apart. It is you Levites who have gone too far!”

⁸Moses also told Korah, “Now listen, Levites!

⁹Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself, to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them?

¹⁰He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are pursuing the priesthood as well.

¹¹Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him?”

¹²Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come!

¹³Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?

¹⁴Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”

¹⁵Then Moses became angry and said to the LORD, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”

¹⁶So Moses told Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow — you, they, and Aaron.

¹⁷Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the LORD  — 250 firepans. You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.”

¹⁸Each man took his firepan, placed fire in it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹After Korah assembled the whole community against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole community.

²⁰The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron,

²¹“Separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.”

²²But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “God, God who gives breath to all, when one man sins, will you vent your wrath on the whole community?”

²³The LORD replied to Moses,

²⁴“Tell the community: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

²⁶He warned the community, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

²⁷So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.

²⁸Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD sent me to do all these things and that it was not of my own will:

²⁹If these men die naturally as all people would, and suffer the fate of all, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them along with all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the LORD.”

³¹Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open.

³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah’s people, and all their possessions.

³³They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.

³⁴At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled because they thought, “The earth may swallow us too!”

³⁵Fire also came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were presenting the incense.

³⁶Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

³⁷“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the firepans from the burning debris, because they are holy, and scatter the fire far away.

³⁸As for the firepans of those who sinned at the cost of their own lives, make them into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, for they presented them before the LORD, and the firepans are holy. They will be a sign to the Israelites.”

³⁹So the priest Eleazar took the bronze firepans that those who were burned had presented, and they were hammered into plating for the altar,

⁴⁰just as the LORD commanded him through Moses. It was to be a reminder for the Israelites that no unauthorized person outside the lineage of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD and become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹The next day the entire Israelite community complained about Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴²When the community assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the LORD’s glory appeared.

⁴³Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Get away from this community so that I may consume them instantly.” But they fell facedown.

⁴⁶Then Moses told Aaron, “Take your firepan, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the community and make atonement for them, because wrath has come from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

⁴⁷So Aaron took his firepan as Moses had ordered, ran into the middle of the assembly, and saw that the plague had begun among the people. After he added incense, he made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted.

⁴⁹But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who died because of the Korah incident.

⁵⁰Aaron then returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, since the plague had been halted.

¹Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received,

²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit  — just as you were called to one hope at your calling —

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

⁷Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

⁸For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people.

⁹But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.

¹¹And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

¹²equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head  — Christ.

¹⁶From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.

¹⁷Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts.

¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts.

¹⁹They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

²⁰But that is not how you came to know Christ,

²¹assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus,

²²to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,

²³to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

²⁴and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.

²⁶Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,

²⁷and don’t give the devil an opportunity.

²⁸Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.

²⁹No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.

³⁰And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption.

³¹Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.

³²And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

¹Then Job answered:

²Yes, I know what you’ve said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?

³If one wanted to take him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

⁴God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.

⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.

¹⁰He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹¹If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him; if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

¹²If he snatches something, who can stop him? Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”

¹³God does not hold back his anger; Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

¹⁴How then can I answer him or choose my arguments against him?

¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

¹⁷He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He doesn’t let me catch my breath but fills me with bitter experiences.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

²⁰Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

²¹Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life.

²²It is all the same. Therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

²³When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.

²⁶They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷If I said, “I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile,”

²⁸I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know you will not acquit me.

²⁹Since I will be found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you dip me in a pit of mud, and my own clothes despise me!

³²For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court.

³³There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own.

¹A song of ascents. Of David. [1] How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

²It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes.

³It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has appointed the blessing — life forevermore.

¹Wisdom has built her house; she has carved out her seven pillars.

²She has prepared her meat; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

³She has sent out her female servants; she calls out from the highest points of the city:

⁴“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

⁵“Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed.

⁶Leave inexperience behind, and you will live; pursue the way of understanding.

⁷The one who corrects a mocker will bring abuse on himself; the one who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.

⁸Don’t rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke the wise, and he will love you.

⁹Instruct the wise, and he will be wiser still; teach the righteous, and he will learn more.

¹⁰“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

¹¹For by me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit; if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”

¹³Folly is a rowdy woman; she is gullible and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits by the doorway of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city,

¹⁵calling to those who pass by, who go straight ahead on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!” To the one who lacks sense, she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten secretly is tasty!”

¹⁸But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at Samaria’s gate, six quarts of fine flour will sell for a half ounce of silver and twelve quarts of barley will sell for a half ounce of silver.’”

²Then the captain, the king’s right-hand man, responded to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha announced, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

³Now four men with a skin disease were at the entrance to the city gate. They said to each other, “Why just sit here until we die?

⁴If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s surrender to the Arameans’ camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

⁵So the diseased men got up at twilight to go to the Arameans’ camp. When they came to the camp’s edge, they discovered that no one was there,

⁶for the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a large army. The Arameans had said to each other, “The king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us.”

⁷So they had gotten up and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had fled for their lives.

⁸When these diseased men came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they picked up the silver, gold, and clothing and went off and hid them. They came back and entered another tent, picked things up, and hid them.

⁹Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our punishment will catch up with us. So let’s go tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰The diseased men came and called to the city’s gatekeepers and told them, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there — no human sounds. There was nothing but tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.”

¹¹The gatekeepers called out, and the news was reported to the king’s household.

¹²So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and go into the city.’”

¹³But one of his servants responded, “Please, let messengers take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate is like the entire Israelite community who will die, so let’s send them and see.”

¹⁴The messengers took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.”

¹⁵So they followed them as far as the Jordan. They saw that the whole way was littered with clothes and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in their haste. The messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. It was then that six quarts of fine flour sold for a half ounce of silver and twelve quarts of barley sold for a half ounce of silver, according to the word of the LORD.

¹⁷The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man, to be in charge of the city gate, but the people trampled him in the gate. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king had come to him.

¹⁸When the man of God had said to the king, “About this time tomorrow twelve quarts of barley will sell for a half ounce of silver and six quarts of fine flour will sell for a half ounce of silver at Samaria’s gate,”

¹⁹this captain had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” Elisha had said, “You will in fact see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

²⁰This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the city gate, and he died.

¹Then I looked, and there above the expanse over the heads of the cherubim was something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli.

²The LORD spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with blazing coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in as I watched.

³Now the cherubim were standing to the south of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.

⁴Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherub to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the LORD’s glory.

⁵The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶After the LORD commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from inside the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel.

⁷Then the cherub reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took some and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸The cherubim appeared to have the form of human hands under their wings.

⁹I looked, and there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. The luster of the wheels was like the gleam of beryl.

¹⁰In appearance, all four looked alike, like a wheel within a wheel.

¹¹When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved. But wherever the head faced, they would go in that direction, without pivoting as they went.

¹²Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, wings, and the wheels that the four of them had, were full of eyes all around.

¹³As I listened the wheels were called “the wheelwork.”

¹⁴Each one had four faces: one was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵The cherubim ascended; these were the living creatures I had seen by the Chebar Canal.

¹⁶When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when they lifted their wings to rise from the earth, even then the wheels did not veer away from them.

¹⁷When the cherubim stopped, the wheels stood still, and when they ascended, the wheels ascended with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

¹⁸Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

¹⁹The cherubim lifted their wings and ascended from the earth right before my eyes; the wheels were beside them as they went. The glory of the God of Israel was above them, and it stopped at the entrance to the eastern gate of the LORD’s house.

²⁰These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Chebar Canal, and I recognized that they were cherubim.

²¹Each had four faces and each had four wings, with what looked something like human hands under their wings.

²²Their faces looked like the same faces I had seen by the Chebar Canal. Each creature went straight ahead.

¹After we tore ourselves away from them, we set sail straight for Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

²Finding a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we boarded and set sail.

³After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray,

⁶we said farewell to one another and boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we completed our voyage from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

⁸The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.

⁹This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, both we and the local people pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴Since he would not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this we got ready and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also went with us and brought us to Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷When we reached Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

¹⁹After greeting them, he reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.

²¹But they have been informed about you — that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

²²So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you’ve come.

²³Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have made a vow.

²⁴Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.

²⁵With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶So the next day, Paul took the men, having purified himself along with them, and entered the temple, announcing the completion of the purification days when the offering would be made for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,

²⁸shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What’s more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

³¹As they were trying to kill him, word went up to the commander of the regiment that all Jerusalem was in chaos.

³²Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

³⁶for the mass of people followed, yelling, “Get rid of him!”

³⁷As he was about to be brought into the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “Am I allowed to say something to you?” He replied, “You know how to speak Greek?

³⁸Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?”

³⁹Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”

⁴⁰After he had given permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with his hand to the people. When there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic: