Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Him.

²And very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

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

⁴And looking up, they *noticed that the stone had been rolled away; for it was extremely large.

⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed.

⁶But he *said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; see, here is the place where they laid Him.

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

⁸And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

⁹[[ Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.

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

¹¹And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it.

¹²Now after that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.

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

¹⁴Later He appeared to the eleven disciples themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen from the dead.

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

¹⁶The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.

¹⁷These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

¹⁸they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received 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 signs that followed.]] [[ And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself also sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. ]]

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

²and they stood before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation chosen in the assembly, men of renown.

³They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

⁴When Moses heard this, he fell on his face;

⁵and he spoke to Korah and all his group, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will make known who is His, and who is holy, and will bring that one near to Himself; indeed, the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to Himself.

⁶Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and your whole group,

⁷and put fire in them, and place incense upon them in the presence of the LORD tomorrow; and the man whom the LORD chooses shall be the one who is holy. You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi!”

⁸Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi:

⁹Is it too small an honor for you that the God of Israel has singled you out from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to perform the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

¹⁰and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? But are you seeking the priesthood as well?

¹¹Therefore you and your whole group are the ones gathered together against the LORD; but as for Aaron, who is he, that you grumble against him?”

¹²Then Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, “We will not come up.

¹³Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also appoint yourself as master over us?

¹⁴Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!”

¹⁵Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Pay no attention to their offering! I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them.”

¹⁶Moses said to Korah, “You and all your group be present before the LORD tomorrow, you and they along with Aaron.

¹⁷And each of you take his censer and put incense on it, and each of you bring his censer before the LORD, 250 censers; also you and Aaron shall each bring his censer.”

¹⁸So they took, each one his own censer, and put fire on it, and placed incense on it; and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with Moses and Aaron.

¹⁹So Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,

²¹“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, so that I may consume them instantly.”

²²But they fell on their faces and said, “God, the God of the spirits of humanity, when one person sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?”

²³Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁴“Speak to the congregation, saying, ‘Get away from the areas around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ”

²⁵Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him,

²⁶and he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Get away now from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin!”

²⁷So they moved away from the areas around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, along with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.

²⁸Then Moses said, “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these deeds; for it is not my doing.

²⁹If these men die the death of all mankind, or if they suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.

³⁰But if the LORD brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them with everything that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have been disrespectful to the LORD.”

³¹And as he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open;

³²and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions.

³³So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

³⁴Then all Israel who were around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!”

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

³⁶Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

³⁷“Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, that he shall pick up the censers from the midst of the burned area, because they are holy; and you are to scatter the burning coals further away.

³⁸As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their own lives, have them made into hammered sheets as plating for the altar, since they did present them before the LORD and they are holy; and they shall serve as a sign to the sons of Israel.”

³⁹So the priest Eleazar took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered, and they hammered them out as plating for the altar,

⁴⁰as a reminder to the sons of Israel so that no layman, anyone who was not of the descendants of Aaron, would approach to burn incense before the LORD; then he would not become like Korah and his group—just as the LORD had spoken to him through Moses.

⁴¹But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the LORD’S people!”

⁴²It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared.

⁴³Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵“Get away from among this congregation so that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces.

⁴⁶And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put fire in it from the altar, and place incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD, the plague has begun!”

⁴⁷Then Aaron took it just as Moses had spoken, and he ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.

⁴⁸And he took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to a halt.

⁴⁹But those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who died on account of Korah.

⁵⁰Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been brought to a halt.

¹Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

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

³being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;

⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

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

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

⁸Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE the captives, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.”

⁹(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

¹⁰He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

¹¹And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers,

¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ;

¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

¹⁵but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,

¹⁶from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

¹⁷So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds,

¹⁸being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

¹⁹and they, having become callous, have given themselves up to indecent behavior for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

²⁰But you did not learn Christ in this way,

²¹if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

²²that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

²³and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

²⁴and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another.

²⁶BE ANGRY, AND yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

²⁷and do not give the devil an opportunity.

²⁸The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.

²⁹Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

³⁰Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

³¹All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.

³²Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

¹Then Job responded,

²“In truth I know that this is so; But how can a person be in the right with God?

³If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.

⁴Wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who has defied Him without harm?

⁵It is God who removes the mountains, and they do not know how, When He overturns them in His anger.

⁶It is He who shakes the earth from its place, And its pillars tremble;

⁷Who commands the sun not to shine, And puts a seal on the stars;

⁸Who alone stretches out the heavens, And tramples down the waves of the sea;

⁹Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the constellations of the south.

¹⁰It is He who does great things, the unfathomable, And wondrous works without number.

¹¹If He were to pass by me, I would not see Him; Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.

¹²If He were to snatch away, who could restrain Him? Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back His anger; Beneath Him the helpers of Rahab cower.

¹⁴How then can I answer Him, And choose my words before Him?

¹⁵For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my Judge.

¹⁶If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.

¹⁷For He bruises me with a storm And multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He will not allow me to get my breath, But He saturates me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?

²⁰Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.

²¹I am guiltless; I do not take notice of myself; I reject my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’

²³If the whip kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is handed over to the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?

²⁵“Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good.

²⁶They slip by like reed boats, Like an eagle that swoops on its prey.

²⁷Though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put my face in order and be cheerful,’

²⁸I am afraid of all my pains, I know that You will not acquit me.

²⁹I am guilty, Why then should I struggle in vain?

³⁰If I washed myself with snow, And cleansed my hands with lye,

³¹Then You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would loathe me.

³²For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him— That we may go to court together!

³³There is no arbitrator between us, Who can place his hand upon us both.

³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not the dread of Him terrify me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear Him; But I am not like that in myself.

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to live together in unity!

²It is like the precious oil on the head, Running down upon the beard, As on Aaron’s beard, The oil which ran down upon the edge of his robes.

³It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For the LORD commanded the blessing there—life forever.

¹Wisdom has built her house, She has carved out her seven pillars;

²She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; She has also set her table;

³She has sent out her attendants, she calls out From the tops of the heights of the city:

⁴“Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks understanding she says,

⁵“Come, eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed.

⁶Abandon your foolishness and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.”

⁷One who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And one who rebukes a wicked person gets insults for himself.

⁸Do not rebuke a scoffer, or he will hate you; Rebuke a wise person and he will love you.

⁹Give instruction to a wise person and he will become still wiser; Teach a righteous person and he will increase his insight.

¹⁰The 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 multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.

¹²If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff, you alone will suffer from it.

¹³A woman of foolishness is boisterous, She has a lack of understanding and knows nothing.

¹⁴She sits at the doorway of her house, On a seat by the high places of the city,

¹⁵Calling to those who pass by, Who are going straight on their paths:

¹⁶“Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,” And to him who lacks understanding she says,

¹⁷“Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

¹⁸But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

¹Then Elisha said, “Listen to the word of the LORD; this is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ”

²The royal officer on whose hand the king was leaning responded to the man of God and said, “Even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this thing happen?” Then he said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

³Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?

⁴If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ then the famine is in the city and we will die there; but if we sit here, we will also die. Now then come, and let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they spare us, we will live; and if they kill us, then we will die.”

⁵So they got up at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there.

⁶For the Lord had made the army of the Arameans hear a sound of chariots, a sound of horses, that is, the sound of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians against us, to attack us!”

⁷So they got up and fled at twilight, and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—indeed the camp itself, just as it was; and they fled for their lives.

⁸When these men with leprosy came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, gold, and clothes, and they went and hid them; then they returned and entered another tent, and carried valuables from there also, and went and hid them.

⁹Then they said to one another, “We are not doing the right thing. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent about it; if we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now then come, let’s go and inform the king’s household.”

¹⁰So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We came to the camp of the Arameans, and behold, there was no one there, nor a human voice; only the horses tied and the donkeys tied, and the tents just as they were.”

¹¹And the gatekeepers called and announced it inside the king’s house.

¹²Then the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry; so they have left the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and get into the city.’ ”

¹³One of his servants responded and said, “Please, have some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city. Behold, they will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it; behold, they will be like all the multitude of Israel who have already perished, so let us send them and see.”

¹⁴Therefore they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the army of the Arameans, saying, “Go and see.”

¹⁵They went after them to the Jordan, and behold, all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away when they fled in a hurry. Then the messengers returned and informed the king.

¹⁶So the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. Then a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in accordance with the word of the LORD.

¹⁷Now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hand he leaned to be in charge of the gate; but the people trampled on him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.

¹⁸So it happened just as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, “Two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”

¹⁹At that time the royal officer had responded to the man of God and said, “Now even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could such a thing as this happen?” And he had said, “Behold, you are going to see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”

²⁰And this is what happened to him, for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died.

¹Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them.

²And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.

³Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.

⁴Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

⁵Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel.

⁷Then the cherub reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took them and went out.

⁸The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.

⁹Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish stone.

¹⁰And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel.

¹¹When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went.

¹²And their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels were covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them.

¹³The wheels were called, as I heard, the whirling wheels.

¹⁴And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

¹⁵Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them.

¹⁷When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

¹⁸Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.

¹⁹When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’S house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.

²⁰These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim.

²¹Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands.

²²As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.

¹Now when we had parted from them and had set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos, and on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara;

²and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³When we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for the ship was to unload its cargo there.

⁴After looking up the disciples, we stayed there for seven days; and they kept telling Paul, through the Spirit, not to set foot in Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another.

⁶Then we boarded the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and after greeting the brothers and sisters, we stayed with them for a day.

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

⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses.

¹⁰As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹And he came to us and took Paul’s belt and bound 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 hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ”

¹²When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging 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 even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴And since he would not be persuaded, we became quiet, remarking, “The will of the Lord be done!”

¹⁵After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple of long standing with whom we were to stay.

¹⁷After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us gladly.

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

¹⁹After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰And when they heard about them, they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law;

²¹and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.

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

²³Therefore, do as we tell you: we have four men who have a vow upon themselves;

²⁴take them along and purify yourself together with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads; and then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also conform, keeping the Law.

²⁵But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we sent a letter, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and what is strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁶Then Paul took along the men, and the next day, after purifying himself together with them, he went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him,

²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who instructs everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even 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 thought that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰Then the whole city was provoked and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.

³¹While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

³²He immediately took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done.

³⁴But among the crowd, some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.

³⁵When Paul got to the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;

³⁶for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “Away with him!”

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek?

³⁸Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”

³⁹But Paul said, “I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”

⁴⁰When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying,